by Jan Domagala
Pressed against him he held a terrified young woman, her back to his front and against her throat was a bladed weapon of some kind, and he was about to use it. The scream had come from her.
Natasha locked eyes with the Outlaw and he stared back at her as he slowly drew the rough blade across the female passenger’s throat.
Blood sprayed forward as the carotid artery was severed and the Outlaw released his hold on her allowing her to fall lifelessly to the floor.
With his eyes still locked on Natasha, the Outlaw stepped over the woman’s prone form at his feet and began to walk down the corridor towards them picking up his pace with every step. His lips parted baring blackened and broken teeth as he screamed a guttural battle cry at her, hoping to terrify her into total inactivity.
Instead, Natasha calmly brought up her Sig P996 and shot him between the eyes.
The pulsed plasma bolt snapped his head back so viciously that because he was running forward at full tilt, his neck snapped as he was stopped, literally, dead in his tracks.
Once he was out of their line of sight, they could see several other Outlaws similarly dressed and armed, who had butchered a group of passengers on their way to the lifeboats. The gunshot alerted them to their presence and Natasha felt a chill run through her blood as they all looked at her and headed their way.
“Oh shit!” she exclaimed.
7
Kurt heard the screams ahead, just around the approaching corner in the corridor and when he heard the gunshot, unmistakably a Sig P996, he quickened his pace.
As he came around the corner, he drew his own Sig P996 and pulled back on the slide to prime the weapon. Facing him he saw a group of Outlaws all armed with a variety of makeshift weapons. At their feet were a group of dead bodies, passengers butchered by them as they tried to escape. Blood pooled beneath the pile of bodies from their horrific wounds. It appeared as if they’d literally been hacked to death.
All the Outlaws were facing away from him, their attention focused on something at the opposite end of the corridor. They started to move off in that direction and through the mass of bodies Kurt caught a glimpse of who was the focus of their attention – a young woman and Prince Aswan. She obviously belonged to the Diplomatic Corp Security unit guarding the prince, as she held a Sig P996 aimed at the Outlaws. It was her shot he had heard, probably killing one of the Outlaws, bringing the wrath of his friends down on the two of them. They planned to make her pay for her deed.
He would not let that happen.
Hoping to end this quickly, he began firing as he moved forward so he could help the prince and his guard safely evacuate the ship.
Three Outlaws went down from rapidly fired pulsed plasma bolts before they even realised they were under attack. Kurt killed another two as they were deciding what to do, and then another three as they turned to try and defend themselves.
The last group of five split up; three carrying on towards Natasha while the remaining two attacked Kurt.
These two were within arm’s reach of Kurt and attacked him with their bladed weapons, one that resembled a battle-axe while the other looked like a long sword.
Kurt dodged the sword aimed to slice his head from his shoulders by ducking beneath the swing, and caught sight at the very last second the battle-axe whistling through the air aimed at the top of his head.
Blocking the shaft of the axe with his left forearm, he grabbed the tip of the axe and brought it down to block another swing from the sword. Pushing it away from him he twisted the axe away from the Outlaw holding it, and buried the blade into the neck of the sword wielder almost severing his head completely, the axe still imbedded in his neck. Arterial blood sprayed the walls of the corridor as the Outlaw fell to the floor, dead. Kurt spun to face the remaining Outlaw now unarmed, brought up his Sig and shot him point blank, right between the eyes. The look of surprise on his face lasted less than a second and disappeared along with the back of his skull as his blood painted the wall behind him.
Turning to face Natasha, he took aim.
The three Outlaws who attacked her and the Prince were almost on them. As she fired her Sig killing first one then another, the third crashed into her ramming her against the wall before she had time to readjust her aim.
Straining to keep her attacker’s crude knife from being thrust into her neck or shoulder, she glanced at the prince hoping for a helping hand and got a terrified stare instead as he cowered against the opposite wall.
Suddenly the Outlaw’s head exploded spraying her face with his blood before falling limply to the floor at her feet.
As she watched the lifeless body sink to the floor, she wondered what had just happened. Bringing her eyes up from the prone form below, she saw all the bodies littering the corridor and she knew she had not killed them all and certainly not the one at her feet. Then she saw the man standing there, exuding a certain air of confidence. His blond hair was unruly and, along with the goatee, he had a slight piratical appearance that she found herself thinking suited him.
His amazing cobalt blue eyes were staring at her with relief and she realised he had just saved her life.
“Who are you?” she asked slightly out of breath still.
“I’m Kurt Stryder. Come with me if you want to live,” he said calmly yet urgently.
8
The prince recognised Kurt immediately from their first encounter, this time though he was truly relieved to see him.
“We should go with him,” he urged. Natasha, though intrigued was reluctant, after all she knew nothing about him and the safety of the prince was her priority. She may not have known anything about him, but somehow she felt safe just looking into those cobalt blue eyes, and then she reminded herself of the one thing she did know about him, he had just saved her life.
If he had wanted to impress her, that was a good start.
“Proper introductions will have to wait, I’m Natasha Garvey and this is....” she began.
“I know who this is,” Kurt interrupted, adding, “this is the fool who got us into this mess.”
“I’m a royal prince of the....” Aswan began.
“You’re a jackass, and if I had time I’d kick your royal ass from one end of this ship to the other,” Kurt replied cutting off Aswan’s tirade.
“I will not be spoken to like that.”
In the blink of an eye Kurt moved to stand in front of the prince who he slapped across the face, an insult in any language.
“You may have just got us all killed. These Outlaws do not take prisoners they slaughter them for fun. Now we have a slim chance of getting out of here with our skins intact. I’ll say it again, if you want to live, come with me.”
Aswan’s eyes blazed in fury at the man who had the gall to slap him as if he were a common whore, but fear of this man prevented him retaliating so he simply nodded his head.
“If you do that again, you and I will have a problem,” Natasha said as she regained a little of her composure after the startling speed Kurt had just displayed.
Turning to look at her, he studied her for the first time storing all her physical details in his prodigious memory before answering. Her long dark hair was pulled back from her forehead and tied off at the back of her head in a plait. Dark brown eyes, large and expressive, sparked anger at him and something else too, intrigue perhaps. She had an athletic figure but not lean and hard, she had retained her womanly curves in a balance that said she not only could kick your ass but also would look sexy doing it.
She reminded him somewhat of Zara Hardy, not in appearance, as Zara was the colour of chocolate whereas Natasha had olive skin tones. No, it was more the way she carried herself, they both had the same grace of movement.
Smiling mischievously he said, “That might be fun, but let’s leave it ’til later, right now we have to move.”
She was not expecting that answer, and despite her anger at him, and everything else that was happening around them, she found herself smiling back.
“With respect, sir, he’s right,” she replied without taking her eyes off Kurt, then to him said, “Right, let’s go.”
9
Leaving behind the pile of bodies, the trio moved off down the corridor following Kurt’s lead.
“Are you sure we’re heading in the right direction?” Natasha asked.
“Trust me, I know every inch of this ship. I’ve studied her schematics and besides she’s based on the Legend which was the first of the Long Range Light Battle Cruiser class, so if you take away all the weapons systems the two starships are relatively the same,” Kurt replied.
“You’re military aren’t you?”
“I was.”
“Which outfit?”
“Recon Delta.”
“That explains a lot.”
“Such as?”
“Your ‘take charge’ attitude, the way you took out those Outlaws, everything about you really. I’ve heard Recon Delta were real bad asses, now I know why.”
“Around this next bend is the elevator that’ll take us to the lifeboat level. I can’t guarantee there won’t be any Outlaws at the elevator or down on the level we need, so there’s one thing to remember – shoot on sight and shoot to kill. If we get separated get to the nearest lifeboat and get the hell away from here, is that understood?”
Natasha nodded her head in agreement. “What chance of survival do we have, I mean, seriously?”
“Seriously, I don’t know,” Kurt replied, then seeing the hope begin to fade from her eyes, added, “What I can tell you is, I’ve contacted General Sinclair, my old boss, don’t ask how just trust me. If there’s any chance of a rescue, he’ll move entire solar systems to make it happen.”
“Trust you? I don’t even know you,” Natasha said guardedly.
“Don’t worry, you will. I tend to grow on people,” Kurt replied then set off for the bend in the corridor.
“What, like a wart you mean, or maybe a fungus?” she joked as she followed him leaving Aswan perplexed.
“We’re about to die and you make jokes?” he muttered, making sure he was close behind Natasha as she neared the bend.
Kurt went around the corner and almost walked into a group of seven Outlaws. He had heard them some time ago; the serum had also enhanced his hearing. The warning to Natasha to shoot on sight had been to prepare her. He was still desperately trying to keep anyone from guessing about all of his enhancements.
The surprised look on the lead Outlaw’s face soon disappeared when Kurt shot him at point blank range. The pulsed plasma bolt blasted a hole out of the back of his head spraying blood and gore over his comrades following behind.
Before any of them had time to react, Kurt had shot two more leaving the four remaining in a state of confusion.
Rushing forward towards them, Kurt placed the muzzle of his Sig against the forehead of the nearest Outlaw and fired, then brought it across to the next one only to have it blocked by a crude battle-axe before he could fire.
The axe wielder blocked the pistol and then brought the axe blade back swinging it one-handed hoping to split open Kurt’s stomach. Kurt stepped back out of range then shot the man anyway. The bolt sent the Outlaw crashing into the corridor wall to paint his blood over it upon impact.
A sharpened staff crashed against the top of Kurt’s Sig sending it spinning out of his hand and he found himself suddenly unarmed and facing the two remaining angry Outlaws who were now out for his blood.
The staff was thrust at his stomach as the Outlaw holding it tried to impale him. Kurt sidestepped then closed the gap and punched him squarely in the face.
The blow staggered the Outlaw and Kurt wrenched the staff from his grasp and spinning it in his right hand above his head, brought it down to strike the last Outlaw to his right, across the side of his head sending him crashing against the wall.
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 members of security, what there was of them, were 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 as 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 closing the connection.
Kurt had tuned his hearing into the conversation, filtering out all the other shouting, panicky voices echoing around the corridor, and 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, is why 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. 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. “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 a
ll 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. As they dropped to the floor it caused those in front 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 ourselves 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.
“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.
