by Jan Domagala
Bringing the staff back close to his body, he thrust it forward into the stomach of its previous owner. Blood sprayed out as the sharpened point pierced the flesh, tore through muscle and internal organs of the Outlaw killing him.
The last Outlaw came off the wall screaming in fury and was shot through the back of his head by Natasha. Kurt narrowly missed being sprayed with blood and brain matter from the fatal shot as the Outlaw fell dead, close to his feet.
“Thanks,” he said as he looked up from the prone form to see Natasha standing there with a startled expression on her face.
“You don’t believe in taking prisoners, do you,” she said as she surveyed the carnage.
“Could never see the point,” Kurt replied, “My instructor once told me to do unto others as they would do unto you, but just do it first,” he added.
“That’s something my father used to say,” agreed Natasha with a smile of remembrance.
Kurt looked at her with a renewed interest. “Admiral Garvey is your father,” he said noticing for the first time the family resemblance, mainly around the eyes.
“Yes.”
“Come on let’s get aboard the lifeboat, we can discuss your father when we’re a bit safer,” Kurt said as he opened the elevator doors.
As Natasha ushered the prince inside she said, “Why do I get the feeling that’s not going to be a conversation I’ll enjoy.”
Checking the corridor was empty, and retrieving his fallen Sig, Kurt followed them inside the elevator and sent it down to the deck below.
10
The short journey in the elevator was over before they realised with the doors opening to a crowded corridor.
“Stay close to me and remain alert,” Kurt ordered as he ventured outside the small cubicle. All around were passengers rushing to gain access to the lifeboats. The security staff, what there was of them, was trying to herd the passengers into the awaiting lifeboats in some semblance of order, with little to no success.
With the knowledge of Outlaws being on board slaughtering everyone on sight, running through the remainder of the passengers and crew like a rabid bushfire, panic seemed to be the order of business.
“This is bad,” said Kurt as they were caught up in the melee and were carried along with the rush of bodies.
“Tate, where are you?” asked Natasha via a com channel. Immediately his voice said in her ear, “We’ve just reached the lifeboats Nat, where are you and the Prince?”
“We’re close by; we’re on the right level now. We just have to get to the lifeboats. Get off the ship Will, we’ll rendezvous soon as we can,” Natasha replied hurriedly. She realised she had no idea where they were and she was totally relying on a man she had never met for help.
“Hurry Nat,” Will replied, then quickly added, “Good luck.”
“You too Will,” Natasha said then closed the connection.
Kurt had tuned his hearing into the conversation, filtering out all the other shouting, panicky voices echoing around the corridor, and he asked, “The rest of your unit safe?”
“You heard that?” she asked mystified.
“Good hearing,” he replied then said, “Are they?”
“They’re at the lifeboats, and if you heard, you already know.”
“You’re right, sorry. What I don’t know though, why is everyone rushing in this direction? I can guess though.”
“Yes it’s almost like they’re running away from something.”
“Exactly,” Kurt agreed and the realisation dawned on Natasha and she turned to look behind them, craning her neck to see over the heads of those following, and caught sight of the cause of the stampede.
“Oh shit!” she exclaimed adding, “We need to reach the lifeboats, now.”
Kurt looked for the junction in the corridor that would lead to the outer hull of the massive starship where the lifeboats were positioned, ready for departure.
A few more metres and they would reach it on their left. He could not leave all these passengers to the mercy of the Outlaws so he shouted for everyone to follow him once he reached the junction.
Those passengers closest to him heard and followed, the rest of them, seeing some of their number veer off in another direction, followed as well.
“Get to the lifeboats as fast as you can,” Kurt said urgently as he guided some of the passengers forward.
Just then, a salvo of pulsed plasma bolts struck down some of the passengers at the rear of the crowd. The bolts killed those few passengers and caused those in front of them, to panic.
“Shit!” exclaimed Kurt. Up to now, the Outlaws had only used weapons cobbled together from bits of left over machinery, now they were using guns. “This is real bad, we have no way of defending against this, we’re sitting ducks,” he observed, anger mixing with frustration.
Some of the passengers had managed to open the hatches on a few of the lifeboats and had rushed inside. Being fully automated there was no need for a pilot although, they did have a manual function, should the need arise. All they had to do was strap themselves into the seats provided and the onboard computer would do the rest.
As the first lifeboat was launched, followed closely by a second then a third, the firing from the Outlaws increased.
As Kurt saw the bodies fall, an anger erupted within him fuelled by the frustration of knowing there was nothing he could do to prevent it, still, he had to try.
Pulling away from Natasha and the terrified prince, he tried to work his way back through the thinning crowd of passengers.
“What’re you doing?” Natasha asked.
“I’m going to...” Kurt stammered as he realised he did not know exactly what he was about to do, just that he had to do something.
“What, what are you going to do?” she asked again putting him on the spot, making him see the futility of his intended action.
“I’m going to,” he started again.
“What, commit suicide?” she pushed.
“I have to do something,” Kurt spat at her through gritted teeth, wanting to tell her that his actions wouldn’t precipitate his own death, for as far as he knew, there was nothing that could do that.
“You are doing something, you’re helping all these people and all those who’ve already escaped. They need you Kurt, and I need you too. You can’t save everyone, let’s help those we can save,” she pleaded.
Her words made sense and he turned back to the lifeboats and said, “Okay let’s get these people off this ship.”
With a renewed haste, he moved back toward the lifeboats trying not to listen to the screams of those behind him.
11
Kurt pushed passengers before him into open hatches of lifeboats, trying to ensure the safety of as many of them as he could. Natasha had commandeered one of them for the prince, herself and Kurt. After making Aswan strap into a seat she returned to the hatch looking for Kurt.
“Hurry Kurt,” she shouted when she saw him helping a group enter the lifeboat positioned next to theirs. Then she saw the Outlaws aiming an older version of the Remm assault rifle at him.
Kurt turned to face her and immediately caught sight of the Outlaw about to fire. Reacting incredibly fast he drew his Sig, aimed and fired in one fluid motion before the Outlaw could fire his own weapon. The pulsed plasma bolt struck him on the forehead in a mist of blood snapping his head backwards killing him instantly.
As Kurt sprinted towards the open hatch where Natasha stood, other Outlaws opened fire on him. Plasma bolts stitched the wall where he had been moments earlier as he ran for his life. Natasha gave covering fire from her own Sig, emptying the battery clip just as he reached her.
As he raced inside Kurt pulled her with him, then slapped a hand on the emergency release button, which just gave them seconds to get to a seat. The computer launched the lifeboat, virtually firing the small craft out into space away from the cruise liner like a missile. The emergency release function was used in dire cases, such as imminent destruction of
the starship when the passengers, or crew, needed as much distance from the mother ship as fast as possible.
The lifeboat was launched with such force, that Kurt and Natasha were slammed against the rear of the seating area of the small craft as its thrusters kicked in once it was free from its mooring. The lifeboats were positioned against the side of the starship, side on to her. Entrance to them was gained via the hatch positioned amidships, which meant when the lifeboat was launched, it had to turn laterally to face away from the mothership before thrusters could engage. In emergency release situations, they were ejected by force. Thrusters next to the clamps holding the small craft in place would fire the exact moment the clamps released it, firing it away from the mooring. The onboard computer would take over, and manoeuvring thrusters fired, to turn it away from the mothership so the main thrusters could fire to move it out of danger as fast as possible. All these actions were seamlessly put together so it became one fluid action.
Kurt and Natasha rolled down the central aisle between the two rows of seats before slamming into the rear wall.
“Wow that was close,” Natasha remarked as she regained her breath.
“We’re not out of the woods just yet, so don’t relax,” Kurt commented.
“Oh, you mean finding a place to hide?” Natasha mentioned.
“There’s that, but I was referring to the Outlaws determination not to leave anyone alive,” Kurt replied as he made his way forward through the seating area.
“That was rather disturbing, wait, do you think they’ll come after us?”
“Considering how they came after us on board, I see no reason to doubt that they’ll chase us down to finish the job.”
“Oh that’s just great,” commented Aswan who was strapped to his seat but had been listening to every word.
Kurt said to Natasha, “Think you can fly this thing?”
“I thought this was automatic?” Natasha replied, not liking where this conversation was heading.
“It is but we need to do some evasive manoeuvres.”
“In that case, no. I’m Diplomatic Corp Security; we usually have pilots at our disposal, how about you?”
“Recon Delta, we’re marines and we get flown to drop off points then left to do our jobs.”
“So that’s a ‘no’ too, then.”
“Hey how hard can it be? I know a few pilots and geniuses they are not, so if they can do it, I’m sure I can too. Besides these crates are computer controlled right, which makes them practically idiot proof,” Kurt said as he reached the forward seat and strapped himself in.
Positioning herself in the seat nearest to him Natasha watched as he familiarised himself with all the controls. Via his NI, he linked himself to the onboard computer, which made learning the controls simplicity itself.
“Are you sure you can do this?” Natasha asked when he appeared to be hesitant. What he was actually doing, was checking the sensors to see the positions of all the other lifeboats.
“I can do this, no worries, trust me,” Kurt replied and even though they had only just met, she found that she did trust him.
An explosion close by rocked their lifeboat as an attack craft opened fire and destroyed one of the other escaping lifeboats.
“Here we go,” Kurt said, and he engaged the manual override.
12
Kurt sent the lifeboat into a spin to port to evade a salvo of plasma bolts fired from an attack craft that had appeared suddenly on his six. For a lifeboat, the manoeuvrability was incredibly delicate and it took Kurt several seconds to regain control and understand the sensitivity of the controls.
Plasma bolts raked down the side of the small craft as her attacker came in on another strafing run.
Small fires erupted inside the craft as equipment either overloaded or shorted out from the barrage.
Natasha sprang out of her seat to tackle the flames with a small fire extinguisher. Spraying the flames with the specialised foam, she soon had them under control.
“Get ready, they’re coming around for another pass,” Kurt said as he wrestled with the controls.
Another huge explosion erupted before them as another of the lifeboats was targeted, then blown up.
“They’re attacking all the lifeboats,” Kurt said when he saw the sensor readings. “They don’t want any survivors by the look of this,” he added. “I’m gonna have to try and lose them in the atmosphere of the planet,” he said as he turned the small craft toward the planet and fired the main thrusters.
“You can’t land on the planet, you can’t. We’ll never survive,” Natasha shouted from the back of the lifeboat.
“It might be the one chance we have, we have to do something, or we’ll end up like them. Besides I have no intention of landing there, I’m hoping they’ll think the same as you, and when they see us head in that direction, they’ll bug out and leave us for dead.”
“And what if they don’t, what if they follow us all the way in?” she asked as she came to stand behind him, leaning on his seat.
Kurt paused for a moment, then said, “I’ll cross that bridge, as and when.”
“I just hope you’re right,” Natasha said as she retook her seat and strapped herself in for what she knew, would be one hell of a bumpy ride. Accessing a com channel via her NI, she called Tate. “Take manual control of your lifeboat Will, and take evasive manoeuvres, they’re shooting down all they can. Try and get as far away as you can,” she said urgently.
“Will do Nat, already seen them shoot down two of the lifeboats. Christ these guys mean business, taking manual control now. If I can just...” Will said then, the signal was cut off abruptly as an explosion destroyed the lifeboat.
“They just shot down my team with the Prince’s entourage,” she said in shock, her voice breaking with emotion.
“I know,” was all Kurt said as he threw his craft into a complicated series of loops, twists and turns, in the vain attempt to throw off the craft pursuing them.
“I had two cousins with me in that group,” Aswan said speaking for the first time in a long time.
“I’m sorry for your loss sir, but right now the most important thing on the agenda, is keeping you safe,” Natasha replied.
“Not on my agenda,” Kurt said.
“Excuse me?” Natasha asked vexed.
“Keeping him safe is not my priority, you, I’ll keep safe. So if he wants to live, tell him to stay close to you and he just might make it,” Kurt replied as he wrestled with the controls. “Which may not be as easy as I make it sound,” he added as the lifeboat sustained hits from another salvo of plasma fire, courtesy of the chasing attack craft.
For the first time since meeting Kurt, she began to feel that this was something they may not survive after all.
“Hang on!” Kurt said, “let’s see if they chase us into the planet’s atmosphere, I may be able to lose them in the cloud cover, if I’m lucky,” he added as he increased power to the main thrusters.
As the small craft entered the atmosphere of the ‘E’ class planet, the passengers were thrown about violently in their seats.
“What’re you doing, are you trying to kill us?” Natasha screamed at him.
“Sorry, I miscalculated my entry angle, I went for a steep approach to gain more speed, but almost bounced off the atmosphere back into orbit. I probably left a trail a blind man could follow too.”
More and more plasma bolts struck the rear section of the lifeboat as the attacks increased in intensity, the closer to the planet they got, and then the attitude of the craft altered drastically.
“There goes the main drive,” Kurt said as he almost lost control of her. The small craft dropped like a stone in a spiralling tailspin that forced the trio of passengers back into their seats. Wrestling with the controls, Kurt fired the thrusters. Slowly their spiralling descent became less and less frantic as Kurt regained some semblance of control. There was an inevitable drawback to his slowing the craft’s descent though, and that was the cr
aft was a marginally easier target to hit. Determined to destroy them, the Outlaws continued in their attack. Firing almost in desperation, they targeted anything and everything on the lifeboat.
Kurt felt the lifeboat react as the multiple plasma bolts struck the small defenceless craft. Having only the thrusters to work with, there was not much he could do to evade the onslaught. To give up though, was not an option and so, he tried everything he could.
“They just don’t give up do they,” Natasha observed, a fact that had been bothering Kurt from the outset.
“They do seem determined, I’ll give you that,” Kurt agreed, perplexed at the level of determination. The lengths they were going to, to ensure no one survived, smacked of overkill and something else. Something he dared not consider, for if that would turn out to be true, then the ramifications would be unthinkable.
Suddenly the lifeboat felt like it had been pushed from behind as an explosion rocked the rear section. Flames fanned out from the damaged rear section and crept inside in an attempt to devour everything in its path.
“We’re going to die,” screamed Aswan as he spotted the flames creeping closer with every breath he drew.
“With respect sir, shut the fuck up and allow the man to do his job, and save all our asses,” Natasha barked at the prince shocking him into silence. “You can save our asses, can’t you?” she added hopefully.
“Yours I might just save, his, I’m not so sure,” Kurt replied.
“Aren’t we going in a bit fast?” she asked as their rapid descent began to worry her, not as much as the flames and smoke that were increasing inside the rear section of the craft though.
“Yes, we just lost the back section of this crate. She’ll never take off again. Looks like we’ll be spending a bit longer down there than we thought, if we survive the crash,” Kurt replied.
