Chapter 29
Brian was having difficulty with Bristol and his injured hand, so Jason asked Rustling Leaves to carry him. Jason felt a wave of guilt; Rustling Leaves had, again, become their de facto pack-mule.
“Get Bristol into a MediPod, then split up. Ricket, head to Deck 4B to try to re-establish communications with the AI. Rustling Leaves, you’ll join Billy and Three Horns down on Deck 2. Bristol, you make one sound, and you won’t live to regret it,” Jason said.
They all left the Zoo at a hurried pace. Billy and Three Horns stayed to the back of the pack and would head off to the lower decks once they reached the DeckPort.
Studying his HUD, Jason counted fifteen pirates on Deck 4. Most were concentrated on the bridge; others were milling about here and there throughout the deck. There were only a handful of his fellow crewmembers—although there hadn’t been that many to begin with.
Jason was the first to go through the DeckPort. The corridor was nearly unrecognizable. Trash, various types of equipment, and food trays from the mess littered the floor. They split up with Rustling Leaves and Bristol heading off toward Medical. Jason, Rizzo, Orion and Traveler moved forward toward the officer’s quarters and the bridge. Jason heard noises ahead around a corner and held up a hand for his team to hold.
Jason NanoTexted Nan.
Establish outbound NanoText hail: Crew Member Nan Reynolds:
Capt. Jason Reynolds:
I’m close—can you hold out a little longer?
Nan didn’t bother to NanoText, opting to use standard voice NanoCom.
“He’s a lunatic! I’ve locked myself in the bathroom. He’s trying to kick down the door; for God’s sake, get your ass in here!”
“Just a couple of minutes. You should be safe in there. We need to take back the bridge first. Just try to hold on.” Jason hated leaving her, knew he’d pay for this decision later. But he also knew if he didn’t deal with the insurgents close by on the bridge first, all would be lost anyway.
Jason signaled his team to move forward. Still out of sight of the main corridor, Ricket and Rustling Leaves, with Bristol squirming under one arm, headed off toward Medical. Where several forward ship corridors intersected, Jason peered around the corner. Two of the biggest men he had ever seen were standing sentry outside of his cabin. Jason checked that his MultiGun configuration was set for the most powerful of the stun settings. On the count of three, they all rushed toward the bridge. Jason fired as soon as he’d turned the corner, hitting both raiders in the chest before they had time to draw their weapons. Neither went down. Both raiders wore their weapons gunslinger-style and holsters low at their hips. Their sidearms were more like shortened rifles than pistols. Both moved with practiced ease, separating away from each other, then dropping to one knee. They could be twins, long black hair worn in ponytails. Sleeveless, tattooed, muscular arms drew weapons and fired simultaneously. Jason took the brunt of the energy bolts to his upper chest, his battle suit still working enough to save his life once more. On the ground, a warning signal flashed in Jason’s HUD. Battle suit integrity was at critically-low levels. He watched as the two pirates continued to take multiple plasma fire to their bodies—black craters erupted on their upper torsos. They screamed out in pain and scrambled to an adjacent corridor up farther toward the bridge. The floor shook from behind, and Jason knew Traveler was making his move. In all likelihood, they were used to being the biggest, baddest boys on the block, so when they encountered the charging thousand-pound rhino warrior barreling down on them, they hesitated. It was only a second or two, but long enough for Traveler to move ten yards closer. Traveler’s hammer was already moving in a sideways swing, hitting the left raider just below his ear, caving in the side of his head. Jason, Orion, and Rizzo concentrated their fire on the other pirate. He too went down.
Jason hailed each team member at the same time: “Forget using anything less on these guys other than the highest plasma pulse setting.”
Billy came back on comms, “Cap, we’re at a bit of a stalemate down here. We could use some more help. Both sides are pinned down. Three Horn’s not looking too good either. Think he might be down for the count.”
“Hang on as long as you can, Billy. We’ll get down there as soon as we take back Deck 4.”
Together, Jason’s team sprinted toward the bridge. Three more raiders rushed out with weapons drawn. One went down with a shot to his head. The other two dived and rolled and came up shooting. These guys are good, Jason thought. Again, both raiders concentrated their fire on the biggest target, Traveler, leaving their flanks exposed for Orion and Rizzo to bring them down with two shots each.
According to his HUD, there were six more raiders held up on the bridge. Obviously, the element of surprise was gone. They rushed forward with Traveler in the lead, his bulk shielding them from another barrage of plasma fire. The rhino’s chest took simultaneous blasts—numerous black craters smoldered and pocked his hide. Traveler used his energy weapon and took down two of the raiders. Jason moved left while Rizzo moved right. Four raiders were left, each were within inches of fellow crewmembers. Their weapons pointed at their heads.
“Jason, stop!”
Her voice came from behind at the bridge entrance. She was wearing a short black dress, one strap hung loosely down her arm. The side of her face was pink and swollen; a trickle of blood was at the corner of her mouth. The blade of a long thin knife was at her neck. Standing behind her, with his arm wrapped around her shoulders, was a mountain of a man, easily a head taller than Jason. Smiling and confident, his eyes were leveled on Jason.
Stalls spoke slowly and calmly. “Captain Reynolds, please instruct your men to lay down their weapons. Do so now or your ex-wife loses her life.”
Jason hesitated, then hailed the other teams and spoke aloud. “Stop fighting. Lay down your weapons.”
“Excellent. I can see you are a man of reason.” Jason noticed that Stalls, as well as the other raiders, had ear-comms devices. Jason’s own NanoCom went active.
“Cap, what do you want us to do? Are we giving up?” Billy asked.
Jason had run out of ideas. “Hold, Billy. Don’t do anything for now.”
Nan looked terrified. Jason looked at her and nodded, tried to convey a sense of calm. He’d run out of ideas, he knew Stalls would not hesitate to kill Nan. Sounds came from behind them.
“Put me down! Put me down!”
Jason recognized the squeaky voice. It was Bristol.
Stalls moved Nan further forward onto the bridge and spun around to see what was happening. Rustling Leaves, his arm outstretched, was holding Bristol by the neck several feet in the air. Bristol kicked and flailed, his face red and angry. Jason noticed that Bristol now had all ten of his fingers fully intact.
“Put me down!”
Stalls’ irritation was evident as he watched his brother pulling at Rustling Leave’s fingers.
“There is a way out of this, Stalls,” Jason said.
Stalls didn’t say anything but looked over toward Jason.
“Let’s make this about you and me. You release her, and your brother’s neck stays in one piece. You and I handle this one on one. That is, unless you prefer fighting defenseless women?”
Stalls smiled, then looked over at Bristol again.
“The lengths we go to for family.” Stalls shook his head and frowned at his brother. “All right, Captain. It’s to the same end, anyway. Killing you with my bare hands makes this all the better.”