Our forces could not attack the pirate rear till they were fully committed to their attack on the position blocking their route into engineering. We waited out of sight and near a location that allowed us to retreat if necessary. We watched their progress on the hidden surveillance systems we’d set up, following as closely as we dared till they were ready to start their attack. We watched as the brave pirate leaders bullied and cajoled their poor troops into the attack. Everything I saw of these fools made me like them less and less. One of their troops balked at the attack so one of the hard core, so called leaders shot his knee out. He of course screamed in pain, as he fell. The one who shot him, then stood on his wounded knee and ground his boot in to punctuate his point.
The troops were not stupid. They knew they were most likely about to die. For them it was largely a case of which was the lesser of the two evils. They’d learned from bitter experience and from the demonstration they just witnessed that not following their master’s orders quickly resulted in brutal, painful torture. They knew they would be unlikely to die a quick death at the hands of their leaders. On the other hand, their death at our hands would most likely at least be quick. They might even survive the attack if they were only wounded, and have a chance of living albeit as our captives. Attacking us was, from their point of view the preferable, perhaps even the only viable alternative available to them. So we watched as they psyched themselves up to make the attack. I almost, but not quite found myself feeling sorry for them. They were clearly frightened; they already knew some of what awaited them but didn’t have any other good options available to them. When they were ready, they charged our barricade once again. Their brave, so called leaders hung back, just around the corner out of the line of fire from the barricade while their troops took the punishment ours were dishing out.
Now they were committed we could finally make our move. Captain Carlon was right there in the front line as we attacked the pirate rear-guard. I cursed him for a fool, knowing he was the one person this ship could least afford to lose but of course, he was insistent. Of course, as soon as they realised what we were doing, the pirate rear-guard started firing back at us. I saw people dropping all around me as we charged down the passageway towards them. I took a couple of flesh wounds myself but at the time I was in such a rage and so high on adrenalin I didn’t feel them. While the battle raged, I didn’t have much time to pay attention to who was going down as I was completely focused on ending the threat to the ship. As our attack continued, I could see we were quite rapidly whittling down the numbers of the ring leaders. The force attacking the barricade were also being forced back around the corner and started taking fire from their rear as well. Our group crashed into the remaining pirate leadership and the fight became particularly vicious. I punched, and kicked, and fired my weapon as the fight continued. I used every trick and technique I’d ever learned about fighting in my attempt to win this battle quickly.
At this point, the officer in command of the barricade, ordered it opened up and the defenders charged out as well. The confusion was incredible. Within a period of only a couple of minutes, all the pirate leadership were down. Suddenly, first one then more of the remaining pirate troops looked around, then threw their weapons away before dropping to the floor with their hands covering their heads. Soon all of them were either dead, wounded or had given up. Our remaining troops quickly moved in to secure the prisoners.
As they disarmed each of the prisoners, they removed all of his weapons to a location sufficiently far away that a prisoner should not be able to easily reach a weapon before we could take him down. While this was happening, I starting to look around to see which of FNS Destiny’s officers had taken charge. None of them were to be found. I realised no one was leading the crew. I looked around me, really seeing the carnage for the first time. This last fight had indeed taken a heavy toll on our forces. I still couldn’t see a single officer standing and my heart sank into my boots. After a minute of searching, I realised all of FNS Destiny’s officers were down and none were left who were able to lead the crew.
AFTERMATH
This final battle with the pirates was a bloody one, dead and wounded were lying scattered around the area, in some places two and three deep. There was blood everywhere, on the deck, smeared on the bulkheads, the stench of blood and burned flesh was almost overpowering. There was smoke in the air reducing visibility a little but the ships ventilation system was beginning to clear that. As I looked around me, I began to see how horrific some of the injuries were. The bulkheads were scored with burn marks and pock marks from the projectile weapons and explosives. I cursed the idiot who ordered the barrier blocking the route towards engineering opened so he could join in the fun. He’d risked opening the entire ship to pirate control they’d been better led, or simply even better trained. I looked for him, feeling ready to tear him limb from limb but there were so many bodies lying around I didn’t know where to look, really I didn’t even know who I was looking for. All I knew was that he wasn’t a bridge officer.
I noticed some of our people were trying to help the pirate wounded. I realised then, someone had to take charge of the clean up right then so I did. After all, what else could I do? I told the ones helping the pirate wounded to leave them for now and look to our own first. By now, our Troopers had all the surviving unwounded or walking wounded pirates lined up along a bulkhead. All of those pirates were looking quite shell shocked. They were used to attacking easy targets, not targets capable of fighting back, especially ones who fought back the way we did. They never expected to be up against anyone of the caliber of FNS Destiny’s crew. I walked toward them. I must have had a wild look on my face because I saw quite a few of them cower before me as I approached. Later, when I looked in a mirror, I realised I must have been a terrifying sight, with my face covered in blood some but not all of it my own.
For a while, I couldn’t speak because of the shock and the emotion I was feeling so I slowly walked up and down their lines with a scowl on my face looking our prisoners up and down. After I gained a measure of control over my voice, I asked if any of them had any medical experience at all. Five of them nervously raised their hands. I called them out of the line up before explaining my expectations to them. I told them to help with identifying the people who were still alive. I made it clear, FNS Destiny crew-members were to be helped first. Only when all of FNS Destiny’s live crew were on their way to help would I permit them to help their fallen comrades. In fairness to them, they did exactly as they were told and I have to credit them with saving a few lives among our wounded. Of course, the identification was complicated by the way the bodies from both sides lay mixed together on the deck. I divided the rest of the captive pirates, at least the ones who were capable, into teams of four. I assigned two guards to each of the teams. I then ordered them to start helping clean up the mess. As people were confirmed as dead they were taken up to the cold area we’d set aside for storage of the bodies. For now, we had to store the bodies of some of FNS Destiny’s crew in the same area as the bodies of the pirates because the ships morgue simply did not have the capacity to hold all of our dead. Still, we separated them as much as we could but still, the bodies of FNS Destiny’s crew would have to lie next to those of the pirates for now. I decided we would change that as soon as we could find another suitable compartment.
I knew our brig was not big enough to hold all of our prisoners. I tried to identify a few of the pirates such as their medical technicians and arrange for them to be interrogated as soon as they could be spared from their current work. I thought, given their good behaviour so far, I might be able to assign them some cabins or a barracks where we could keep them secured but improve their lot in life a little, reward them for good their behaviour. It seemed to me we could probably significantly reduce the likelihood of trouble from them a lot simply by treating them with fairness, respect and dignity. I looked around till I found some of the engineering crew to ask if this was possible. They agre
ed to see what they could do.
By now, we’d found all of FNS Destiny’s officers. Without exception, they were all either very badly wounded, requiring a stasis pod till our medical staff could treat their wounds, or they were dead. The Captain, Gabro, Solan and Olin were very seriously wounded and we weren’t sure if they would survive but they were placed in stasis pods as quickly as possible to keep them alive till the medical technicians had an opportunity to carry out a proper evaluation. Horlon and Veragain were both dead. I found out later that the officer who ordered the barricade to be opened died as well. I never knew his name, or if I did, I have forgotten it. I thought to myself, a little unkindly I admit, good, that idiot was far too impetuous to be able to guide this ship home safely. As you may have worked out by now, at this stage, I was not feeling at all charitable. In particular, I was angry at all the officers who had charged into the battle with no thought for the aftermath or consequences of their actions. Other casualties included both Shasi and Ani. Neither was injured badly enough to require a stasis pod but they would be out of commission for at least a while. For now, they were asleep, drugged up to the eyeballs to ease the pain as they were taken down to medical for treatment.
In the final wash-up it turned out that we’d suffered fifteen dead and twenty-two other casualties in that final battle. A number of the twenty-two casualties were quite seriously wounded and needed to be placed into stasis pods. We were shorthanded, leaderless and in a ship that was flying through space on what was effectively an uncontrolled ballistic course. Interrogations of the pirate prisoners by our Troopers told us they’d started this operation with 147 troops on the two shuttles. We now had forty-three prisoners, only twenty-three of whom, were uninjured. Clearly, destroying the shuttles on the outer hull before all the pirates could leave them and board FNS Destiny had proven to be the decisive factor. They lost much of their command structure as well as most of their supplies when we destroyed those two shuttles. The captured pirates caused us no trouble beyond one incident. One of them tried to grab a guard’s weapon. He died for his trouble.
When this happened, I had all the captives bought together again before having a couple of the crew drag his body in. I made sure the pirates understood this is what would happen to anyone who caused us trouble. I explained how I didn’t particularly care if any of them lived or died. I told them they could blame themselves for me being in charge and that I was a bad tempered, evil, nasty, mongrel dog. While I am not sure if they understood what I’d called myself, they got the idea that whatever it was, it was not something they should upset any more than it already was. They believed me, especially when I punctuated my speech by shooting and kicking the body that was laying on the deck several times. You might ask me, what about showing some respect for the dead? My answer to that comment is simply that as far as I am concerned, these scum don’t deserve any respect, not if they try to attack innocent people who are only going about their legitimate business the way FNS Destiny’s crew were.
At this point, the adrenalin rush I was experiencing began to fade and I started to notice I was feeling very sore and weak. Exhaustion was setting in but I knew I could not stop, not yet anyway. I also started to notice a wet sticky feeling on various parts of my body. I was just wondering what it was when one of the medical technicians, noticed I was dripping blood. He rushed over to me, eased me down to the floor and started to remove my armour so he could assess my wounds. He took a quick look at me and before I knew what was happening I was on a grav gurney heading to the medical bay. I think I must have passed out on the way because when I woke, Eri was carefully cleaning and dressing my wounds before making an overall assessment of my physical condition. Outside of flesh wounds on my left arm, left leg and on the right side of my torso, the only damage was some fairly severe bruising on various parts of my body. Although she knew, even acknowledged I couldn’t stop quite yet, she did note my apparent exhaustion. Being the good doctor she is, she told me I needed food and sleep quickly. I promised her I would eat and rest as soon as I possibly could.
I decided I needed to report to the bridge to let them know where we stood and to see what they could tell me. When I arrived there I found a few junior crew manning the operational bridge consoles. I told them of the current situation, of how there were currently no officers able to take command. They were shocked and asked what we were going to do. I reassured them, telling them we would be alright even though I’m still not one hundred percent sure if I believed it myself at the time. I told them we were going to repair the ship and head for the nearest safe port in the Federation. I stayed with them for a short while, trying to comfort them and to prompt them into thinking about their jobs, what they needed to do to get us home, before asking how long they’d been on duty. They replied that they’d come on just before we made our final attack.
I asked, “Could you stay on watch for another six hours. We can’t do much at the moment and most of the crew is exhausted.” They of course readily agreed.
Next, I identified who was to be on the next shift before directing the current bridge crew to call them immediately and let them know when they were to be on duty. I did not expect any problems doing this as everyone was awake and knew about our predicament. I then asked the rating on the communications station to give me a secure link to the shuttle. When I had the link, I explained the situation to the shuttle crew. Of course, they were also shocked at the fate of their officers and wondered how they would get home. I repeated what I told the bridge crew and assured them they would be going home as soon as we could fix the ship enough for us to begin the journey.
At this point, they were just coasting along next to FNS Destiny so I asked, “Would you be OK to stay out there for another couple of days. We need to let people in here rest of a while then I need to get your docking port cleared.”
They responded that they were good and could go about another three days without too much trouble. I told them to contact the bridge if anything changed. I signed off from the shuttle before rising to head back down to the battle site. As I was leaving the bridge, I found myself telling the crew to contact me if they needed me, why I really didn’t know, it wasn’t as if I had any authority over this crew but it seemed to be what they needed right then.
After about three hours, we’d cleaned up all the wounded and dead at the site of the last battle. By this time, I was so exhausted I could barely function. I started thinking I could go and sleep. It was then that a few of the crew came and asked for orders. I told them that we should all rest for a while. For my part, I really had finally reached the end of my tether by then so I headed down to the mess for some food and followed it up with rest. On the way down to the mess for food I found myself wondering what I was going to do now. I really wasn’t thinking very clearly at that point and I knew it. On reaching the mess, I selected some food without really noticing what it was. I found a seat but struggled to eat because of the level of complete exhaustion I was experiencing. As I sat there staring at my food someone sat opposite me.
After a few seconds a voice asked, “Are you alright?”
I must have dozed off because when I heard the voice I jerked awake before turning to see Kari looking at me with a concerned look on her face.
I apologised to her before answering, “I am just so tired, I can barely keep my eyes open.”
She urged me to eat before she talked to me about nothing just to keep me awake. It was clear she already knew about what happened to her brother Olin but still, she focused on getting me fed. Once I’d finished eating, she stood and helped me stand. When I was on my feet, she assisted me as I finally made my way to my quarters for rest. Once there, she made sure I was safely inside before leaving me to sleep. I went in and collapsed on the bunk. By then, my head was swimming with exhaustion. Just before going to sleep, I came to the conclusion that when I woke, I needed to find someone to talk to about our predicament, someone who could take charge of the ship and guide her home. I did
n’t know who that would be, but I needed to find them.
LEADERSHIP
I slept very poorly that night, at least I assume it was ship’s night. By then, I’d completely lost track of time. My sleep was broken and disconnected. I was woken repeatedly by nightmares, nightmares about skeletal pirates draped in a Jolly Roger and dripping with blood attacking me with cutlasses, of watching my friends and family being murdered, hacked to pieces by those same pirates. I had dreams of watching everyone I love and care about disappearing into the distance as I stood rooted to the spot stricken with grief, unable to follow, until I was alone in the universe. I tossed and turned till I woke a few hours later, soaked in a lather of sweat with the bedclothes tangled around my body. The pain from the bruising was fairly intense so I could barely move, feeling both sore and stiff.
I told myself to stop being a baby as I wondered if I could shower with the dressings on before deciding I could ask Eri or one of the other medical technicians to change them if it seemed necessary. In hindsight, it is obvious I was still not thinking clearly at the time. I still felt terrible, almost as tired as I was when I went to bed. Slowly, painfully, I dragged myself out of the bunk before undressing to take a shower. I made the shower as hot as I could stand, luxuriating under it till the water cut off automatically. When I exited the cubicle, my skin was pink from the hot water. After I dried myself off, I checked the dressings and found them to be a little damp but otherwise they seemed fine to me. I donned clean clothes before dragging myself up to the mess for food, limping all the way, still feeling very tired and very sore. I must have looked like death warmed up because I received quite a few strange looks from the people I passed along the way. When I arrived in the mess, I found Eri and Kari who’d just sat down to eat. I still had no idea what time of day it was or what meal I should be having. After I selected my food, I turned to find a seat when I saw the two females beckoning for me to come sit with them.
Star Man 1: Star Bourne Page 19
