Reavers (Book 3) (8 page)

Warships of the Navy, along with everything else the military constructed, had gleaming white walls made from the finest and strongest of materials.  After all, they had the entire budget of the government at their disposal.  Corporations, on the other hand, had a bottom line to keep their eyes on.  Extravagant construction was out of the question.  So every trade ship was more or less identical, their design a result of the accountant’s black art.

As the pirates made their way down the corridors, Tardos felt incredibly out of place.  His demon suit clashed horribly with the greenish gray walls surrounding the group.  As they progressed, the crew of the ship was nowhere to be seen.  When it was clear Rosalyn was after their cargo, every last one of them must have fled the cargo hold and surrounding sections.  They no doubt waited anxiously for the pirates to take what they wanted and leave.

“Cake walk,” Revel said confidently, as he surveyed the cargo bay with his eyes.

The prize was a tad underwhelming: countless large crates, most of them filled with
D rations
.  It was widely accepted that starvation was preferable to the nearly inedible foodstuff that kept the military going.  However, Tardos was just content that it would be over soon.  No one in their right mind would fight over D rations.  Revel snapped his fingers and pointed at four crewmembers and then a crate.  Being one of the selected, Tardos quickly moved to assist the other three with the indicated crate.

As Revel moved the small transport they had taken with them from Rosalyn’s ship, the four lifted the crate.  Tardos’ edge instantly fell.  The crate was impossibly heavy and he was completely overwhelmed.  A pair of hands came out of nowhere and held the crate firmly.

Stepping back, Tardos watched as Kevin took his place and easily hefted the crate onto the transport.  From the ease of his movements, Tardos couldn’t help but wonder if he had even needed the help of the other three.  Tardos chuckled to himself as he imagined Kevin easily juggling the heavy crates.  Taking a seat on one of the crates, he watched the others work.  No one complained, as they all knew he wasn’t strong enough to be anything more than a hindrance.

“He’s amazing, isn’t he?” Sasha asked, a fair bit of wonder in her voice.

“Try not to be too impressed,” Tardos said with a smile.  “I doubt there are many who couldn’t make
me
look like a weakling.”

“Don’t count yourself short,” Revel said, taking a seat as he gestured for the others to keep working.  “I’d trade half the crew for a few more of him.”

“I’d settle for just the one.”  Sasha spoke as if in a daydream.

Both Revel and Tardos started laughing as the girl broke out in a blush, realizing she’d spoken out loud.

“So, what are my chances of getting into maintenance?” Tardos asked Revel, as he wiped a tear away from his eye after his laughter subsided.

“Why would you want to join
them
in the first place?” Revel asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Obviously, I’m not cut out for this,” he said, gesturing to the hard working pirates.  “Combat and moving freight is a young man’s game.”

“I suppose,” Revel said thoughtfully, “although, I’d set my sights a bit higher if I were you.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ve got a good head on your shoulders; anyone can see that.  You should try out for a position on the bridge.”

“Are you kidding?  My mind wanders so badly that I’m thinking of buying it a leash.”

The pirates near enough to hear all burst into laughter, despite themselves.

“If you have time to laugh,” Revel bellowed, “you’re not working hard enough!”

As the pirates doubled their efforts, he stood and started directing them personally.

“Speaking of setting one’s sights, are you going to go after him?” Tardos asked Sasha.

“Excuse me?”  She nearly started coughing at the surprise.

“I may be an old fool, but I’m not blind.  You have a thing for Kevin.  Time is too short to hide from risk.  Might as well take chances and enjoy yourself while you can.”

“I don’t think he likes me much,” Sasha said in a low voice.

“I wouldn’t say that.  It took that boy seven entire days to muscle up the nerve to tell me to shut my mouth.  In a single day, he worked up the courage to speak to you.  And I doubt you are seven times more annoying than I am.”

As he winked at the girl, a smile of confidence filled her face.  For the next hour the two watched as Kevin and the others stole crate after crate.

“Okay, we’ve got what we came for!” Revel shouted.  “Let’s pack it up and get out of here.

With a content smile, Tardos hopped off the crate and joined the others.  Most of the contents of the massive bay had been stripped clean in an amazingly short amount of time.  As they walked through the nearly empty bay, Revel took an inventory with his eyes.  Sasha, on the other hand, only had eyes for Kevin.

As Tardos chuckled to himself, a strange light filled the bay.  Searching for the source, the pirates spun around with rifles drawn.  Several lights had popped out of the greenish gray ceiling and were coating everything in a sickly yellow glow.  Abruptly, Kevin grabbed Sasha and Tardos’ hands and bolted for the main door to the cargo bay.

“What are you playing at?” Revel shouted in a mixture of confusion and anger.

As the pirates gave desperate chase, Kevin pulled ahead.  Asking questions was impossible as Tardos strained to keep up with the forceful hand dragging him along.  Kevin’s eyes were locked on something in the distance with a fevered intensity.  All the color drained from Tardos as he realized what was fascinating Kevin.  The cargo bay doors were silently sealing ahead of them.

Despite Kevin’s speed, it was clear they weren’t going to make it in time.  Without warning, Kevin came to a dead stop and used their momentum to push Sasha and Tardos forward.  Tardos heard an unnatural popping sound from behind him as he tripped and started to roll along the ground.  As the two ground to a halt, Tardos struggled to regain his footing.  As he stood on wobbly legs, he realized they had just barely cleared the cargo bay doors.  Still inside, Kevin was standing firm with a satisfied look on his face.

“Take care of her!” the boy shouted as the doorway sealed between them.

“Report!” Rosalyn demanded.  “What are those Union dogs up to now?”

“They seem to be depressurizing their cargo bay,” a bridge officer said in a panic.

“They are going to kill everyone!” the woman at the communications terminal said in shock.

“They are about to expose the contents of the cargo bay to the void of space.  Those suits of yours are not rated for operating in vacuum,” Andreas said in annoyance.

“Gloat later!” Rosalyn said as she kicked the woman at the communications terminal out of her chair.

With a single hostile glance from the captain, Andreas knew what she needed him to do.  Jumping over the captain’s chair, he shoved the man at the tactical station out of his way.

“I warned you,” Rosalyn said in an icy cold voice as the communication link opened between the two ships.

“We seem to be experiencing some technical difficulties.  We are working . . .” the ITU captain said, obviously stalling.

“Make peace with whatever form of divinity you worship, because you are about to meet it.”  Rosalyn cut transmission.

Andreas launched a full battery of missiles.  Arcing away from Rosalyn’s ship, the missiles homed in on their targets.  In a single sweep of small explosions, the surface of the trade ship was scarred.

“All missiles hit their intended targets,” Andreas said.  “They’ve lost power.”

“Status of the cargo bay?” Rosalyn asked, quickly moving to Andreas’ terminal.

Andreas stared at the monitor without speaking.

“Report!” Rosalyn demanded.

“They are venting atmosphere,” Andreas said slowly.  “We failed to disable them in time.”

Rosalyn staggered back and fell into her chair.  Not only had she lost the new crewmembers on their first raid, but she’d also lost Revel.  He’d been with her almost as long as Andreas.  She couldn’t count how many successful raids they had done as a team.  She slammed her fist against the arm of her chair.

“Andreas, I want you to do something for me,” Rosalyn said in a slow, emotionless voice.

“What do you need Rosy?”

“Take whoever’s left and kill every last person on that ship.  Spare none.”

With a single nod, Andreas rose and headed to leave the bridge.  The bridge crew solemnly returned to their stations.  The woman Rosalyn had kicked out of the way rubbed her sore shoulder.  As she retook her seat, she instantly froze.

“We’re getting something,” she shouted in a panic.

“What now?” Rosalyn asked in a harsh tone.

“It hard to make out.  I’ve got a weak signal.”

“Who is it?  The Union dog begging for his life?” Rosalyn asked apathetically.

“It’s one of ours!” the woman shouted in annoyance at her lack of interest.

Rosalyn instantly bolted out of her chair and once again kicked the woman out of the way.  Quickly moving her hands over the terminal, the captain worked to clear the static from the transmission.

“Can anyone hear me?” a weak voice asked from the terminal.

“Who is this?” Rosalyn asked hopefully.

“You sound like you’ve just conducted a funeral,” Revel said mockingly.  “You should know by now I don’t die
that
easily.”

“They vented the cargo bay.  How are you still alive?”

“Well, that’s a bad news, good news kind of thing.  And while I’d love to walk you through it, we do need a rescue sooner rather than later.”

“It’s on its way; hold on.”

“Way ahead of you on that.”

Rosalyn reached into her pocket and quickly sent a message to Andreas’ pad.

“Forget vengeance; get in there and get our men out,” she sent with a multitude of spelling errors due to her haste.

“I’m not going to be able to use this to make you reconsider your choice in combat armor, am I?” Andreas’ response was perfectly composed without a hint of haste or error.

Andreas removed his hand from his pocket before Rosalyn could remotely berate him.  He had gotten the message and, from its flawed nature, was certain time was against him.  Manhandling the crewmembers still in their bunks, he dragged them through the corridors of the ship as they attempted to suit up.  They all knew better than to ask questions when Andreas was this intense.

Running as fast as they could, the group boarded the ITU ship and stormed down the corridors.  The corridors were bathed in a dull red illumination, the universal signal that the ship was in a bad way.  Just as they were about to reach the cargo bay a single streak of light flashed at them.  The pirates quickly took firing positions as Andreas waved them to wait.

“If I’m addressing a member of the Legion’s crew, I order you to toss your rifle where we can see it,” Andreas shouted.

As soon as he spoke, a single rifle slid along the floor.  Following behind it were Tardos and Sasha, both with their hands in the air as if they had been caught by a Protectorate detail.

“How did you know it was us?” Tardos asked, as Andreas and his men moved past them.

“No one else would be
that
bad of a shot.”

As Tardos rolled his eyes, Andreas signaled for the pirates to open fire on the large bulkhead.

“What are you doing?” Sasha asked in a defeated voice.

“Getting our men out of there,” Andreas said flatly.

Sasha could only stare at him in disbelief.  The greenish gray metal started to change colors as the heat of the rifle blasts slowly started to melt through.  When they finally breached the bulkhead, a gentle current started sucking air through the tiny hole.  As they increased the size of the hole, its pull increased dramatically.  When the hole was finally large enough for a full-grown pirate to fit through, Andreas raised his hand to stop his men.  As soon as the blasts ceased, a head popped out of the hole.

“What took you so blasted long?” Revel asked with a smirk.

“You pompous . . .” Andreas muttered.

“Is Kevin alright?” Sasha shouted over Andreas.

“He’s alive,” Revel said flatly.  “We’re not in the best shape, but we are alive.”

“Let’s get out of this death trap,” Tardos said with a sigh of relief.

Revel pushed the trapped men toward the opening as the gathered pirates on the other side pulled them out against the suction.  Slowly but surely, they got every last person out of the cargo bay.  The rescued men looked sickly and slightly pale.  Without waiting any longer than necessary, Andreas and the rest of the pirates made their way back to their own ship.  Rosalyn was waiting for them.

“How bad is it?” she asked as the two ships separated.

“They managed to open the outer doors, but thankfully only just barely,” Revel said, panting slightly.  “I managed to seal our freight transport to the floor plating before we lost pressure.”