Chapter 17
By the time Perkins had warned Dak of the trap and to get off the freighter, it was already too late. Craing security hover drones, hundreds of them, seemed to appear out of nowhere. Helmet cams showed what came next. An ambush. Bright plasma bolts targeted the team members quickly and efficiently. In less than five seconds, Dak, along with five SEALs, was dead. Perkins sat mesmerized.
“XO, our hull’s been breeched; we’ve been boarded, sir!” Grimes shouted, now working both tactical and comms.
“Damage?” Perkins asked.
“Um … Actually, none, sir,” Grimes said, confused. “And the AI continues to be unresponsive.”
“Get a security team—”
“Sir, those SEALs—they were our security team.”
* * *
Mollie recognized the sound of the general quarters’ klaxon. She also knew exactly what she was supposed to do. Before that, she needed to get to her mother.
"Lilly, what's going on?" Mollie asked aloud as she headed down Deck 4’s corridor toward their cabin. "Hello? Lilly? Are you there?" Mollie yelled above the sound of the alarm.
Nan rushed from their cabin, still zipping up her jumpsuit. "Mollie, what's going on?"
"I don’t know. But Dad told me what to do if ever I heard that sound."
“What?”
“Hide.”
Nan grabbed Mollie’s hand and together they headed for the DeckPort.
* * *
They wore old and battered combat suits, which only covered their torsos and upper thighs. Tattoos covered thick, muscular arms. They moved with purpose. Their energy weapons held at the ready. Bristol raised his hand in a gesture to let them know he was one of them. He counted forty raiders in all as they continued forward, away from the two breeched areas. Moments later, the missing sections returned. One of the raiders, the largest, stood before Bristol.
“Good work, little brother. I knew you could pull this off. Now take me to the bridge.”
Bristol was unprepared for his brother’s abruptness. Where was the gratitude? If anything, he should be asking for permission to come aboard his ship.
“I don’t have all day. Lead on, Seaman Bristol,” his brother said smirking.
Bristol moved to the front of the group and led them to the closest DeckPort. Bristol entered first. The pirate captain hesitated and then followed. One by one, they reemerged on Deck 4. Captain Stalls stopped in his tracks. Nan and Mollie stood before him. Stalls made a gesture and twenty of his men continued on toward the bridge. He ran his fingers through his long, black, somewhat messy hair.
“Please excuse the commotion,” he said in an accented voice. He was smiling and obviously taken with Nan. “I am Captain Stalls.”
“You’re a pirate?”
“That I am.”
“What are you going to do with us?”
“We have no interest in hurting you. It’s the ship we want.”
Realization was dawning on Bristol. Obviously he’d been misled. His brother never had intended to hand over the ship to him. He’d been na?ve. How could I have been so stupid? Bristol continued watching the enamored pirate captain speak to the woman. All of the men seemed to be transfixed by her. Seriously? He’d seen this before. More than a few of the men onboard The Lilly had a major hard-on for that one. Bristol’s own sexual orientation was no secret—simply put, he played for the other team. But he wasn’t blind; she was striking. He just didn’t care.
Nan was smiling, engaging Stalls as well as some of the others. They’re not buying this, are they? That’s when Bristol noticed Mollie was no longer standing at her mother’s side. She had slowly slid her way back down the bulkhead. Before anyone noticed, she was sprinting toward the DeckPort.
“Run, Mollie!” Nan screamed in the distance.
“I’ll get her,” Bristol said, rushing after her. He had no idea what deck she was headed for, so he took a guess and used his nano-configured devices to take him to Deck 2.
* * *
Halfway down the corridor, Mollie heard him yell after her.
“Wait. Please. I’m not going to hurt you.” She ran fast, but every time she looked back, the tall, solemn-looking man in a battle suit had further closed in on her. Halfway down Deck 2’s corridor, she knew she wasn’t going to make it all the way to the Zoo. He was too fast. She wished Lilly could help her—why won’t you help me, Lilly?
“Hey, I’m not going to hurt you, kid. Just stop running. Truth is, they’re after me too.”
Mollie yelled back, “You’re trying to trick me. I’m not dumb enough to fall for that. Go away!” She had a stitch in her side and she was spent. Half walking and half running, she turned to face the man behind her. “My daddy will hurt you if you come near me. You know who he is, don’t you?”
“Of course I do, and I’m not going to hurt you. I want to help you. But I need to hide too. I’ve, um, made a big mistake.”
Mollie had given up running and was stopped several paces in front of her pursuer. “You were going to steal my dad’s ship and give it to that bunch of pirates.”
As Bristol moved closer, Mollie stepped back, keeping her distance. He smiled down at her. “I need your help. It’s Mollie, isn’t it?”
They circled around, now both facing in the opposite direction they had been in. Jack, broom in hand, emerged from the Zoo. Once behind Bristol he swung, Mickey Mantle style, striking the back of Bristol’s head. The broom handle snapped in half and Bristol fell unconscious to the deck.
“This way, hurry,” Jack said, grabbing Mollie’s hand and heading back toward the Zoo.
“Did you kill him?” Mollie asked.
“I don’t think we were that lucky. He’ll definitely have a bad headache, though.”
Mollie looked back over her shoulder. Bristol was defiantly still alive. “Jack, he’s moving. He’s getting up.”
Jack went directly to the access panel for HAB 4. Several keystrokes, and the portal window opened. Jack took Mollie’s hand again and they stepped into the habitat.
“He’s coming, Jack. Close it!” Jack hesitated, then scurried over to the inside panel and started to enter the code again.
Beep beep. “Damn!” Jack said under his breath.
The sound of Bristol’s running footfalls was getting closer. Mollie looked over at Jack. “What are you doing, Jack, he’s coming!”
“Well, I usually just let the thing time out. It’s a different code to close the thing.”
Mollie saw Bristol running toward them. He was looking from one side of the corridor to the other, seeing which habitat they had gone into. Then he was directly in front of her, but facing the wrong way. He turned and saw her. He dove.
Beep beep beep.
Bristol’s forehead impacted the portal window even before his hands did. Again, the seaman was sent to the deck in a heap. Still conscious, he turned and looked directly up at Mollie. She couldn’t hear his worlds but she definitely could read his lips.
You’re dead, little girl.
* * *
Captain Stalls entered The Lilly’s bridge. His men were already positioned and pointing their weapons. The bridge crew stood together with their arms raised.
“First things first. Who, may I ask, is Lieutenant Commander Perkins?”
“I’m Perkins,” the XO said, taking a step forward and looking as defiant as possible under the circumstances.
Captain Stalls tilted his head and smiled. “Mr. Perkins. I have been looking forward to meeting you. It’s not every day one meets someone with such strong convictions.” Stalls continued to walk around the perimeter of the bridge while he spoke in a soft, unthreatening voice. “To have the stones to fire on—not one, but two vessels, destroying them and taking the lives of hundreds of men and women so easily … Well, that really does take a certain kind of man, doesn’t it?
Until that particular moment, Perkins hadn’t really considered the lives of the pirate crews—or thought about the implications. He suddenly felt sick. Sick and ashamed.
Red-faced and out of breath, Chief Horris rushed onto the bridge. Startled, pirate weapons pointed in his direction.
“What the hell’s going on here?” Horris barked, his eyes now leveled on Captain Stalls.
“Isn’t it obvious? Your ship has been boarded and I am now in command. Who are you? What is your position on this vessel?”
“I’m Chief Horris. I’m chief of engineering. You won’t get away with this.”
“Seems I already have, Mr. Horris,” Stalls said, and gestured to one of his men to move the chief over to where the rest of the bridge crew stood.
Stalls brought his attention back to Perkins. “You see, Mr. Perkins, even for a pirate, there is a code of conduct. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve done some very disagreeable things in my life. Things I’m not proud of. But killing hundreds of men and women before a single shot has been fired …” Captain Stalls stopped walking and now stood directly in front of Perkins. The pirate was easily one of the largest men he had ever seen, and Perkins could not hold his stare. He looked away. Stalls grabbed him by the chin, forcing him to look up into his eyes.
“And that is why I am forced to do something particularly unpleasant. Better I do it than make someone else do it, don’t you think?”
Captain Stalls pulled a dagger from his inside sleeve, so quickly, it was as if the knife had always been there in his hand. Coming closer now, face to face in an almost intimate gesture, Stalls thrust his knife upward, piercing the skin directly below the sternum, driving the blade into Perkins’ heart—rupturing his right ventricle. He was dead on his feet. He toppled to the floor. Captain Stalls continued to look at Perkins’ lifeless body. The screams from the bridge crew pulled his attention back to the here and now.
“Throw him out an airlock,” Stalls said to his men.
“No, wait!” Chief Horris said, taking a step forward, hands up in submission. “Please. At the very least, let us conduct a brief memorial service for him. He was a highly religious man. We have a morgue on board.”
Stalls looked at the portly chief, his red face looking ready to explode. “Very well, never let it be said I don’t have compassion. Take his body, but return back here directly.” Stalls turned to one of his men, “Watch him, stay with him,” He then turned to the remaining crew members.
“I truly apologize. Understand, the crews of those vessels were my family. So careless an act could not go unpunished.” With that, Captain Stalls headed off the bridge, then stopped momentarily and addressed a fellow pirate. “Find my brother. We need to have access to the ship’s AI.”
“Aye, Captain.”