by T S Paul
McCoy looked into the container and cursed. “Fekking bastards! Are all the weapons like this?”
“This is all we can find, sir. All of the armor is gone and a large chunk of the ammo. Since we’ve never been able to get in here before we have no idea what they have.”
“My question is how? How in the nine hells did they manage to move all of this without our seeing them? How?”
His face blotched red with rage the pirate commander had to shake his head to clear it. “Put your men on getting this mess straightened out. I want those guns reassembled and reissued as soon as possible.” Taking a huge breath of air McCoy braced himself and headed back to the bridge. He, yet again, had to take bad news to Alvin.
___
Alvin was not a man to be trifled with. First this upstart of a navy captain thought he could get away from him and try to fight him? And now he though it funny to mock him by making them build their own weapons. He would show this ‘captain’ a thing or two about being funny!
“Someone get McCoy here a first aid kit. Next time you will do what I tell you to! Sending those idiot O’Malley clan bozos was the wrong move. It will cost you the whole hand if there’s a next time. Go fix your finger and get the men together. We are going to have to assault those positions now.”
Alvin-the-taker tossed his second in commands finger into the cryo box he kept strapped to his hip right next to the sheet metal shears. The first finger he takes is always a warning. The trick was to not let him take more.
___
His stub of a small finger wrapped and sealed in gauze, Commander McCoy was red faced with both pain and anger. He would follow his orders. Having crossed Alvin once he had no desire to do so again. He gathered his men, making sure that all were armed. “OK boys, it seems that we have found our missing captain! He and some others are hiding in the aft section. The Boss, has set us a task. Capture that engine room and then we’ll all have a little fun. We saved all the women for one big ‘party’ after the battle!”
Shouts of glee and smiles were everywhere. Usually only the bosses got the ‘fresh women’- the men got what was left over.
Breaking the men up into squads of 5, McCoy’s lieutenants started moving everyone down the corridors. McCoy had an inspiration and pulled his chief lieutenant Seth, aside. “Seth take one of the squads and go down the engineering access tube. You should be able to get into one of the side compartments and flank them. If nothing else you will draw off some of their fighters.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll do that.” Seth approached the small group that had been hanging back. “You five will do nicely, follow me.” They just stared at him like they were deaf. “What did I just say! Get your asses over here NOW! When I say NOW I mean right this fekking minute!”
The five men wandered over to the lieutenant. They stared at him and the taller one said “Sorry sir, we didn’t hear you.”
Pissed off now Seth glared at all of them and growled “What names do you go by? Tell me as we walk. We’re going down the engineering access tube. Our job is to flank the enemy and end this thing. I have a nice blond all picked out.”
The men’s names were Flint, Barnaby, Duke, Cooper, and Charlie. All of them had a dusty, rural sounding accent.
“Are all of you from the same planet? I don’t remember working with you boys before.”
“No, sir. We all signed on when our family joined the clan last year. Our ship the Willy Moran was destroyed by the Feds just before we joined y’all.”
All Seth could think was that add some cowboy hats and these hicks could be western vid stars. Whatever. “OK, the access point is over there. Let’s get moving.” Taking out a small kit of hand tools the lieutenant pried off the access cover. Just big enough for two men side-by-side the tunnel was dark and filled with electrical conduits. The smaller of the group went first, followed by Seth and the rest.
____
Chapter 4
The sounds of gunfire echoed down the corridor. So far only the pirates had taken damage but the day was young.
“Lieutenant pass the word to conserve ammo. We are going to need it more later than right now.” The Captain was watching the pirate forces on the camera feed. Small groups of the Penny clan were making their way cautiously down the corridor. Another small group was entering the access tube. That group should meet with a few surprises. After witnessing the leader of this bunch cut off his subordinate’s finger and then keep it, Captain Pigot knew they could never surrender to these people. These were not honorable opponents.
Ducking to try to avoid being hit by ricochets, Lieutenant Mutai worked his way down the corridor until he reached the furthest defensive point. Three former cooking staff and one of his Marines were exchanging fire with foolhardy pirates who had stepped out into the corridor. Looking down to the end of the hall, Kinno could see the splattered remains of one pirate his blood now drying on the bulkheads. The cameras had seen four others hiding in the open doorways. The pirates’ fire was beginning to wilt as they ran out of ammo. If he had more Marines he might try for a charge, but Captain Pigot had nixed that idea. Those pirates had reinforcements on the way and it was too risky with only cooks as backup.
“Good work men. We shall have to make you three honorary Marines, after this. The Captain said to try and conserve some of that ammo. We have a great many more pirates to shoot, it would be nice to have ammo to do it with.” He smiled at the men. They really had done good work. Huddled with ‘his’ men Kinno took stock of what was here. He looked at the shorter of the three cooks, “your name is Todd, right?”
“Yes, sir. Just call me ‘Terrible’, sir. That’s what all the kitchen staff call me.” The little man smiled.
“I have to ask, why call you terrible?”
“It’s because of the grease traps sir. I’m the only one small enough to get down there and do a proper job of it. After a long day of working down there I have a pretty strong odor about me, sir. It’s pretty terrible, they tell me when I climb out. Hence the name. It sort of stuck. I suppose it could have been worse, they could have called me Todd the slimy or Greasy Todd.”
Lieutenant Mutai laughed right along with ‘Terrible’. “Well,Terrible I have a job for you. Run back to the base area and gather some more supplies for this post. The Captain says that those pirates are about to be reinforced, so lets get ready shall we? Keep low, Mr. Terrible, you don’t want to get hit.” The cook took a quick look at their supplies and took off running.
The other Marine, Sergeant Sveldig, smiled at his lieutenant. “That was a good thing you did sir. That little man is tough but he needed a boost.”
“I’m not quite sure what you mean by that, Sergeant, but I’ll take any positives I can out of this mess.” His smile turned a bit grim. “According to what we have seen on the cameras the will attack us in force. If it gets too heavy, pull out. Drop back to the next defensive line. If you need help ask for it. No last man standing BS. You understand me Marine?”
“Yes, sir. I understand. No heroics.”
“Good. See you on the other side, Marine.” With that Kinno ran down the corridor ducking to avoid fire.
___
The fire from the navy had let up. Wylie cursed: “Póg Mo Thón.” His best mate John Bowmaker lay bleeding all over the floor. Willie-boy was hit pretty bad in the arm and was bleeding like a stuck pig. Those fecking cowards Maurice and Aaron had crawled back about thirty feet and claimed they were ‘covering him.’ When this was all over he would make sure those two got theirs!
His radio crackled “Wylie, Wylie are you still alive? Wylie answer the fecking radio!”
“This is Wylie. I have one dead, one wounded, and two fecking idiots I would like to shoot! We are pinned down by what looks like a half dozen or so navy pukes behind a bulkhead wall.”
“Hold on for a short while more, we have a whole bunch of folks headed your way. The boss sends his regards and is glad you held out.” A cold shiver went down Wylie’s back at the thought
of getting ‘regards’ from Alvin-the-taker. That was one crazy máthair!
After about ten minutes that seemed like hours Wylie looked behind him and saw several groups of men, pushing a couple of wheeled carts in front of them, coming down the corridor. They pushed the carts into the center of the corridor and locked the wheels. Instant barricades. Wylie quickly slipped out of the doorway and behind the first cart.
“Am I glad to see you boys! Help me grab poor Willie-boy over there, he’s hit pretty bad.”
With help the pirates dragged the half conscious man out of the room and down the hall. Unfortunately for Willie they did not have a Dr. with them. The Bad Penny Clan’s plan had counted on using the ships Dr. for any problem. Theirs was a ‘live and let die’ society. If you got hurt you had better have good friends to take care of you. If not, they would strip your ass bare and toss you out an airlock.
“So Wylie, what is the situation here?” It was Reuben the boss’s enforcer. He had heard the boss call him ‘Mickey’ a time or two but neither he nor any of the others were brave enough to do so themselves.
Wylie explained how he and the others ended up pinned down. Pointing back at the ‘heroes’ talking it up big to the other pirates, he explained how they had led from the rear and had run like the cowards they were.
Reuben was a big man with a deep dark voice like the echoes inside of a crypt. Dark and mysterious is what some would say. Fecking scary is what Wylie would call him. “Don’t worry if the boss doesn’t get them, I'll take care of it. Don’t you give them another thought.” The big scary man had turned toward the two ‘cowards’. Turning back to Wylie he grumbled. “So, all you have seen is a half dozen or so? Is that what you are saying.”
Not liking the attention Wylie began to stutter. “Y-yes, s-s-sir. We thought we saw them get a runner with more ammo but we weren’t sure. It’s hard to tell with that wall they built. Our guns barely scratched it, so it has to be a slab of armored bulkhead.”
“Well get yourself some food and take a rest we are going to bust through that bulkhead with some toys we brought along.” The big man motioned behind him. Wylie could see the other pirates unpacking a large machine gun and what looked like some sort of heavy gun.
___
“Get Lieutenant Mutai up here immediately!” Captain Pigot had seen something on the cameras that worried him. Those pirates had some sort of heavy weapons! How in the nine hells had they gotten those weapons on his ship? If he got out of this situation alive he swore that heads would roll over this.
“Sir, you called for me?” The lieutenant was panting a bit having run the whole way.
“Yes, sorry about the run. We were watching the cameras caught a flash of something. It’s hard to see from this angle, but that looks like some sort of rocket launcher.” He pointed at the screen.
The image was blurry and in the left corner of the screen. Three men were unpacking something that looked to the lieutenants expert eyes, like a Mark 45 Anti-Armor Rocket launcher. Those things dated from before the last war. They were popular with some colony worlds because they were inexpensive to buy. Most of the units barely functioned. Quite a few had exploded before launch killing the operators. Kinno wondered where they got it from.
He explained to Captain Pigot what he knew about the system. “Captain, this one has about a 50% chance of blowing up when they fire it. They must be insane to use a rocket launcher on a spacecraft.” Kinno looked back at the monitors. “Sir, if they have that we need to figure out what else they might have. They seemed pretty desperate to get into the armory. They must not have much in the way or ammo. They might have explosives. We need to watch for bombs or suicide charges.”
“Surely your aren’t serious, are you? Suicide charges in this day and age? Even in the last war we never saw anything like that.”
“Crazy is like crazy does is what my father used to say, sir. Those pirates know that if we win this battle they face prison or death. We have the authority to just space them for being pirates. What do they have to lose?”
“It goes against everything that I believe in, but OK. Give orders to shoot first: armed or unarmed shoot to kill, because you do have a point, it’s the death penalty for them anyway.”
One of the message runners knocked on the door. “Sirs? We need you. Something is happening at the forward location.”
The Captain waved at the Marine lieutenant, “Go, go. It’s you they want. I will be here to watch over things.”
Kinno followed the runner out the door and ran up the corridor: things were about to get hairy.
____
At Reuben’s direction two of the largest pirates in the clan, the Medved brothers, unpacked the rocket launcher and a antique looking machine gun. Ivan and Issac were from the Russ Colony. That colony had failed and only a few hundred of its scattered colonists remained there. The two men had deep guttural accents gained from living ‘rough’ in the dangerous wastelands of their former colony world. With long, matted hair dangling from their shoulders, they dragged the guns into position. How they ended up in the Bad Penny clan was a mystery. The rumors about them were many. Most claimed that they were cannibals. This was said because they braided their big, bushy beards with finger bones and bits of cloth like souvenirs.
The other pirates watched as Reuben put his ‘game face’ on. Reuben was close to the top of the Galaxy’s wanted list, a wanted fugitive on 30 colony worlds. Reuben aka Mickey, aka Dr Skull, aka Doom was a master in the art of face makeup, quickly turning his already scary features to those of a grinning skull.
Reuben made a pumping motion with his arms and yelled, “Bring them forward and chain them to the guns!” Several beaten and bloody navy crew members were shoved forward. With their arms tied behind them they could only stumble and walk unsteadily forward. Pirates held guns on them as they continued to push them forward. The prisoners were chained to the front of the big guns as human shields.
With the guns now ready and set up, small support crews moved forward to assist the Medveds. Ammunition was brought out and the brothers opened fire.
____
“Do we know who they are?” Lieutenant Mutai asked quietly as he watched the men being chained down.
“Yes, sir. It’s Maurice and Dale from the quartermasters office. I don’t know their last names.”
“The only thing worse than pirates, is smart pirates. We will have to kill out own men to take out those guns. If we don’t take out the guns, this fight is over before it begins! Damn it! Those mkundu’s” He looked at the former cooks assistant turned sniper. “Can you hit the pirate gunners without killing our men?”
The cook gazed at the pirates through the scope of his rifle. “Not really, sir. I might hit one of them by accident.”
“Take this message back to Captain Pigot. Inform him of the situation. Tell him that we have no choice, that once they start firing we Will have to kill some of our own people.” The Marine Lieutenant sent the runner back to base.
The sudden whoosh of the rocket attack shocked the lieutenant. The bulkhead defense wall shuddered and shook as the first rocket hit. The explosion blew bits of shrapnel and wall dozens of feet in all directions. Several of the men using the wall as cover were peppered by the bits of metal. One of the former cooks cried out as he clutched his hand to his now bleeding eye. Another explosion knocked the Marine off his feet. The wall could not take too much more.
“I can’t wait on the Captain to decide. Take the shot!” As he said that another rocket hit, penetrating the wall and exploding. The body of the sniper was all that saved Lieutenant Mutai. It took the full force of the explosion, blasting gore and bloody bits all over the other fighters. Those standing next to him were thrown to the ground by the explosion. The wall was shattered and useless.
Shaking his head to clear it Kinno took in the remains of the defensive position. He shook the nearest man lying next to him. Waking him up they dragged wounded men down the corridor. The next defensive position
was only about five meters away, and navy defenders from that location rushed out to help.
Lieutenant Mutai waved the second group of defenders off. “Get back under cover! We can’t risk all of us getting killed.”
___
With each successive explosion the pirates in the corridor cheered. That last explosion looked as if it had penetrated the wall. What looked like blood splatter coated the walls of the corridor surrounding the navy defensive wall. Reuben signaled the brothers to hit it one more time. The resulting explosion shattered the defensive position. Unfortunately there was no one to kill. The navy had already evacuated it.
“Move the guns up and get the next one.” So far so good,/ thought Reuben. The boss will be glad to hear about this.
