Scout's Duty: A Planetary Romance (Scout's Honor Book 3)

by Henry Vogel

  “That’s what I’ll be doing, sir,” Harris replied. “I believe I can best protect Her Highness and Megan by keeping you and Captain Bane alive. I realize I risk court martial for disobeying your order, but I am coming with you.”

  “I like this one, David,” Callan said. “He reminds me of you.”

  I sighed. “Martin, have you got a sword?”

  “Yes. The wounded guard’s sword was still buckled about his waist.”

  “Very well, gentlemen, it’s time to let madness reign!”

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  I pulled Callan to me and kissed her. “I’ll be back for you soon.”

  Her cheek tight against mine, she whispered fiercely, “You’d better be!”

  Martin and Megan broke apart at the same time Callan and I did. Then the four of us swam off toward the lip of the docking bay.

  “Laura,” I called over the comm, “are your teams ready to go?”

  “It took some persuasion on my part to keep them from taking up swords and joining you in your glorious charge into the docking bay,” Laura replied, “but they’ve got the charges and are in their positions now.”

  “Good. Blow the charges as soon as all your teams have gotten to safety. Pick up Callan, Megan, and the wounded marine before you do anything else. After that, you’re in command until Martin or I get back on board. You’ve got good instincts. Follow them.”

  “Aye aye, Captain Rice!” Laura said.

  There was something in the way she snapped off her response that made me ask, “Are you saluting, Laura?”

  Laughter erupted over the comm. “Um, yes, sir.”

  “At ease, Chief Engineer!”

  We reached our position just below the lip of the docking bay. I pulled myself up enough to see over the lip of the bay floor. There were at least four hundred pirates gathered in various places throughout the docking bay. Half of the pirates were formed up around the Aashla’s Hope. Their swords were sheathed but close at hand. All but a handful of the rest manned various positions close to vital controls. That left a dozen formed up around Quint as his personal guard. Chapman stood just behind Quint, subservient but readily available in case Quint needed to speak to him.

  I looked at my companions. Rupor wore a grin of suppressed excitement. Martin wore a grimace of suppressed pain. Harris wore a smile of suppressed nervousness. I could only imagine the faces of the marines on board the Aashla’s Hope. I felt as if I should say something before we charged out against such superior numbers — something to settle the men’s nerves and channel their excitement. I drew a blank until I remembered something from ancient Terran history. Without a hint of shame, I stole it.

  “Gentlemen, Tarteg and Mordan expect all men to do their duty.”

  Next to me, Martin spoke but his voice was drowned out by a roar from the men echoing over the comm. Martin stopped trying to speak and just gave me a thumbs up. Then we pulled ourselves up and into the docking bay.

  The pirates glanced about, nerves set on edge by the roar they’d heard from inside our ship. Heads turned toward Quint, looking for guidance. Irritation crossed Quint’s face and he prepared to speak. That was just what I’d been waiting for.

  “Heidi, broadcast my comm outside the ship so everyone can hear me,” I said. “And crank the volume.”

  “You’re on, David!”

  “Git yerselves under-” Quint began before I drowned him out.

  “To all pirates within this base — in the name of the Terran Federation, I order you to lay down your arms and surrender!” I stalked forward, flipping my sword in the casual manner of one who has had to live by the blade. Martin, Rupor, and Harris matched me stride for stride, all three flipping their blades in unison with mine.

  A few pirates spotted us and pointed. Within seconds, every pair of eyes in the docking bay turned upon us.

  “Yer an idiot, Rice!” Quint shouted, but his voice was still weak compared to my amplified one. “We got you outnumbered four hunnert to four!”

  Rupor chose that moment to bark, “Marines, form up!”

  With a whoosh, every airlock in the Aashla’s Hope opened and the marines poured out of the ship. As our marines took up their positions around the ship, the pirates surrounding the ship stirred nervously.

  “Were you always this bad at math, Quint, or is it a recent thing?” I raised a hand in salute to the marines. “Either way, you’ve seriously miscalculated the odds.”

  “Maybe so, but we still got more than twice yer numbers!” he shouted back.

  “That you do. And if your men faced their typical prey — a bunch of merchant spacers or the crew of a space liner — your numbers would make a difference.” I waved my arm toward the marines. “Take a long, hard look at our marines. Do those men look like they’re afraid of you? You pirates are used to being the foxes rampaging through the hen house. But today your fox den has been invaded by wolves — and one wolf is worth five of you little foxes.”

  I pointed my sword at Quint. “You can stop the slaughter, Quint. Surrender or we’ll destroy you, just like we destroyed Caudill and his crew!”

  Quint glared across the docking bay at me. “I’d rather die first!”

  “So be it.” I raised my sword above my head and cried, “For Milo!”

  With a roar, I charged into battle!

  CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

  Charging with me, my three companions joined in my battle cry. “For Milo!”

  At a barked command from their commander, one hundred and sixty marines raised their voices as one. “For Mordan! For Tarteg! For Milo!”

  The marines charged the encircling pirates. Unnerved by the marines’ precision, both in maneuvers and in voice, the pirates fell back before the onslaught. I must remember to congratulate the marine commander’s choice of battle cry later.

  “Heidi?” My voice boomed out across the docking bay. “Route me back to the ship’s channel and cancel the broadcast.”

  “Done, sir.”

  The four of us engaged half a dozen pirates, steel clashing against steel. We pushed the pirates back a couple of steps before they found a rhythm of their own. Precious seconds ticked away as we traded blows. They were seconds Laura’s teams would use to place the charges on the landing struts. They were seconds Quint or Chapman might use to disappear into the base. They were seconds I could not afford to waste on these men.

  “I’m going to Boost in ten seconds. Be smart and get out of my way.” The pirate in front of me looked at me in disbelief. “Yes, I’m talking to you and your friends. I don’t care about you but if you don’t surrender now I will cut you down where you stand!”

  “Believe him lads.” Martin’s voice still sounded rough, but the pain from his burns was driven away by the excitement of combat. “David takes duty very seriously and you’re standing between him and Quint.”

  Comprehension dawned on the pirates’ faces. They dropped their swords and moved aside. As pirates rushed to join those fighting the marines, hardly any pirates stood between me and Quint. The opportunity was too good to waste.

  Boost!

  Adrenaline poured into my system. Time slowed. Fatigue faded. Vision sharpened. Muscles surged. I flew across the docking bay, an arrow aimed at Quint and Chapman! My focus was so tight on Quint that I was halfway across the bay before I realized I was not alone. I looked to my left. Martin ran with me, stride for stride, lips stretched wide in a savage grin. Footsteps pounded behind me and I risked a look over my shoulder. Rupor and Harris sprinted for all they were worth, almost keeping up with us.

  At Quint’s shouted command, a squad of his pirate guards blocked our path. They held their swords raised, ready to defend their captain. I lowered my shoulder and Martin did the same.

  I switched from gal base to Mordanian. “I’m going to tuck and roll low past the first row and come up in the middle of them.”

  “Good idea. Make sure to swing your sword to the right. I’ll be on your left.”

  As one, M
artin and I dropped and rolled between startled defenders. We rose to face pirates unprepared for immediate combat. I swung my blade in a wide arc, cutting three pirates and driving all of them back a step. Behind me, Rupor and Harris engaged the pirates Martin and I had bypassed.

  Confusion reigned among the pirates as a result of our surprise arrival in their midst. Martin and I took advantage of it and laid about us indiscriminately. I thrust my sword into the side of a pirate. He screamed as I ripped it free and slashed the man next to him. I blocked a swing from a third pirate and kicked him in the groin. Grabbing his collar as he doubled over in pain, I threw him into the back of a pirate battling with Rupor.

  I looked for Quint and spotted him, Chapman, and his remaining guards heading for the airlock!

  “Quint’s getting away!” I hacked off a pirate’s sword arm.

  “Not if I can help it!” Martin pulled his sword from the shoulder of another pirate.

  One man stood between us and Quint’s retreat.

  I pointed my sword at him. “I want Quint, not you. Move!”

  The pirate’s eyes widened in panic and indecision. Martin’s sword flashed and the pirate crumpled to the deck.

  “He took too long to make up his mind.”

  Clear of the pirates, Martin and I raced on as Quint and his men reached the airlock. The captain looked back at us and punched buttons on the airlock control with frantic haste. I had to reach him before he could disappear into the base!

  Then a thunder clap drowned out all sounds of battle. Fighting paused as the docking bay reverberated with the sound of the explosions. Though I was looking in the wrong direction, the airlock door reflected the scene behind me.

  Aashla’s Hope floated free and was already moving ponderously toward the docking bay exit.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

  A cheer rose from the marines as our spaceship majestically glided out of the docking bay. Over the comm, I could hear the ship’s crew preparing to pick up Callan, Megan, and the wounded marine. Around the docking bay, the fight went out of the pirates and they began dropping their swords to the floor in surrender.

  “Cap’n David, sir!” Heidi’s voice held more life than I’d heard since her husband had dragged her off the Aashla’s Hope many hours before. “A rescue team is assembling in the airlock. We’ll have Her Highness and her companions back on the ship in two minutes.”

  Tightness I hadn’t even realized was gripping my chest loosened. I released a long sigh and dropped Boost.

  “It’s over, Quint. My ship is free and your pirates are defeated. Do the smart thing and surrender.”

  Quint punched one more key on the airlock controls and the door hissed open. To my surprise, Quint didn’t dash into the airlock. Instead, one of his men walked through the door.

  “I don’t think so, scout.”

  “You can’t win, Quint. Do you remember the wormhole alarm a few hours ago? That was our messenger drone, launched just before entering your docking bay. The drone carries the location of this base, the approach path through the asteroids, and the identity of the senior captain. Honestly, I’m surprised a Federation Navy task force hasn’t already popped out of that wormhole.”

  “I figgered out ‘bout the drone when you done told us who you was, boy.”

  “If you knew we had alerted the navy, why did you bother fighting us? Why didn’t you just let us go and get away while the getting was good?”

  “Yer askin’ me why, boy?” Rage filled Quint’s eyes. “Take a gander ‘round you. You think a place like this jest pops up all set and ready ta use? I remember when ol’ Caudill and me stumbled ‘cross this place. It was jest a big rock chock full o’ caves. Me ‘n Caudill got us some lads and worked our tails off ta build this place. My blood ‘n sweat be in every nook and cranny o’ this place. You think I’s gonna let the man who be takin’ it from me just fly away?”

  The man in the airlock began handing something out to each of the pirates around Quint. I couldn’t see what they were passing around, but all of my mental alarms began ringing.

  “So this resistance of yours is just a big pity party because you’re going to miss your old pirate base?” I sniffed and pretended to wipe away tears. “I feel your pain, Quint. Really, I do. I feel it so much, I wish all the victims of your decades of piracy could be here to shed a tear over your loss. But they can’t because you or your men killed them. If losing this rock causes you pain, I say hurrah!” I waved my sword toward Quint and his men. “Escape is impossible, so stop whatever it is you and your men think you’re doing and surrender.”

  Quint’s fingers danced across the keypad again.

  “Yer right ‘bout one thing, Rice. Escape be impossible fer most o’ me men. But it ain’t fer me and these lads with me.”

  “Martin, I’m tired of talking to this old man. Time to take him down.”

  We strode toward Quint. Quint’s fingers touched two last keys then hovered over a button.

  “Take another step, boy, and I’ll drop the atmo shield and flush ya all out inta space!”

  We stopped. Four of us still wore vacuum harnesses, but none of the marines had them.

  “You know you’ll kill more than my men. You’ll kill your men and yourself, too.”

  The pirate handing out stuff from the airlock came back wearing a vacuum harness. He carried another. As that pirate slipped the vacuum harness around Quint, the rest of Quint’s guards donned harnesses, too.

  Chapman looked wildly around him. “H-hey, where’s my harness?”

  Quint shook his head. “Now why would I be wantin’ ta save you, Chapman?”

  “But I’ve helped you! I told you who these men were! I’ve been useful to you!”

  “Yep, but there be plenty o’ other useful idiots in the galaxy. I ‘spect I’s gonna find you right easy to replace.”

  Quint looked around the docking bay. “Sorry, lads. Wish I could save ya all, but that jest ain’t in the cards today.”

  Quint looked me in the eyes. “An’ now I got ta git busy makin’ that impossible escape.”

  Then Quint’s finger stabbed toward the button!

  CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

  Time slowed to a crawl as I watched Quint’s finger stab toward the button. Once pressed, the button would drop the atmosphere shield protecting the docking bay from the vacuum of space. The old pirate was too far away for me to reach him in the second he needed to press the button. Unbidden, my mind conjured the image of hundreds of men swept into the void, still living but beyond any power in the universe to save. And I would be swept into space with them, safe in my vacuum harness, mute witness to the last seconds of their lives.

  “Noooooooooooooo!”

  Chapman barreled into the pirate captain. Quint’s finger missed the button and the two tumbled to the ground!

  There come times in every man’s life when inaction is more dangerous than action. In that moment, even the coward can act decisively. Quint had pushed his useful idiot too far and Chapman had snapped!

  Every man in the docking bay stood frozen, transfixed by the drama playing out beneath the keypad. The keypad with the still-active button which would drop the atmosphere shield!

  “Now’s your chance, lads! Get ‘em!”

  My cry still echoing around the docking bay, I charged to Chapman’s aid. With a roar, pirates and marines alike charged with me.

  Quint’s pirate guards saw the tidal wave of humanity sweeping their way. Abandoning their leader, they scrambled to escape into the airlock. A band of their fellow pirates piled in behind them. From the cries of rage and the screams of pain and fear, I was happy I couldn’t see what happened inside that airlock.

  Quint and Chapman flailed at each other, rolling around on the floor of the docking bay. Quint was a wily fighter and the stronger of the two men, but Chapman had gone berserk. The fight was too close to call.

  “Martin, can you disable the button on that keypad?”

  “Already on it, O Fearless Lea
der.”

  Pirates and marines joined me around the struggling pair, cutting them off from everything else. None of us interrupted the fight. None of us liked Chapman and we all agreed the man was nothing more than a useful idiot. But in this moment, he was our idiot. Even if he had acted in his own self-interest, Chapman’s attack saved hundreds of lives. His actions hadn’t earned him much, but they had earned him the chance to pound on Quint.

  A moment later, it was over. Bloodied and battered, Chapman rose from the moaning pirate captain, Quint’s vacuum harness gripped in one hand. With an animal roar of triumph, Chapman thrust the vacuum harness into the air. Hundreds of voices roared with him.

  Chapman looked around him, his eyes bright with the fervor of battle.

  “Let’s give Quint a taste of his own medicine! Let’s space him!”

  I was elbowed aside as men pushed to reach Quint. A dozen hands hoisted the pirate captain over our heads. Marines and pirates alike passed Quint from hand to hand toward the entrance to the docking bay.

  A chant broke out from the men. “Space him! Space him!”

  The chant rose in volume and drowned out my calls to stop. Hemmed in by the crowd, I could do nothing but watch the mob — for they were no longer pirates and marines — pass Quint, now struggling and flailing, toward his doom.

  Martin’s hand fell on my shoulder. “There’s nothing you can do, David.”

  “I wanted Quint to face justice for all he’s done, Martin.”

  “He is facing justice, lad. It’s rough justice, I’ll grant you, but so was beheading the pirate who tried to space Callan and Megan. Quint has earned this death a thousand times over.”

  Martin was right. It’s not what I would have chosen, but I couldn’t claim the earlier execution was right yet claim this was wrong.

  I made myself watch as Quint, finally facing the terror he had inflicted on countless others in his long career, was heaved through the atmosphere barrier.