SIEGE (TRAMPS Book 1)

by Ray Blackwell

  “Jus’ Candy,” Perry said in a quiet voice.

  “We want some,” said the first.

  The second one grabbed his bag. “Don’t,” Perry bellowed.

  The bag tore, spilling candy across the dirty and gravel strewn alleyway.

  The box of Moochies fell at Perry’s feet.

  The first thug hopped from his board and smashed the box of Moochies with both feet. Marshmallow cream oozed from their oatmeal pockets.

  Still, Perry stood motionless.

  “Ahhh, I’m sorry. My foot slipped. Now look, you’re shit got all over my shoes!”

  “You gonna pay to have these cleaned?”

  While Perry’s mentality was low he could see where this was heading. He felt the tension and even nervousness building inside. Not because they could hurt him but, he hated conflict and couldn’t control his anger when someone made him upset.

  “Just go” Perry said. He kept his eyes to the ground.

  “I think he’s gonna wet himself,”, said the third from behind.

  They forced a mocking laugh in unison. The kind high school kids do when there’s always more than one. The second began picking up the loose pieces of candy.

  “Here, you dropped something,” and threw the pieces at Perry’s face.

  The first felt it was his turn again, “You’re mother had any kids that lived”

  Perry’s eyes began to turn red. He didn’t understand the old cliche but one does not infer his mother in a bad voice.

  Perry pushed the boy into the warehouse wall. He then bent over and began to collect his candy that wasn’t broke or crushed.

  “Oh look, the gorilla’s a bad ass!” The third hopped from his board and jumped on Perry’s back.

  Perry shook him off like a flea, then he shoved all three in different directions.

  He resumed his candy gathering and put them in his ripped bag and quickly started swaggering down the alley.

  They regained their composure and one picked up a piece of broken brick. It was a lucky throw, or rather unlucky. The sharp corner struck Perry in the back of the head and he dropped to his knees putting his hand on the back of his skull,. he felt the warm sticky blood. Soon rocks of all sizes pelted his back, neck and hand

  To their astonishment, Perry moved lightning-quick. He reached one of the expensive grav boards and flung it into the face of the first thug. The kid put his hand to his broken jaw and turned to run. Perry caught up to him, grabbed his grav board hovering near his feet and threw it boomerang style at the second one. It struck the second square in the back and he flipped off of his board. The board he was on went sailing into the far street near the loading docks. Perry turned and the first thug spat blood out, then brandished a pocket knife. A stilleto style black switch blade. The third one made his escape and the second one licked his wounds and followed suit.

  “I’m gonna slice your black ass” he slurred through clenched teeth. Perry galloped at him.

  The thug backed up surprised at the previous gentle giants onslaught. The knife didn’t scare him. Now Perry’s face was contorted into a monster that ate the living flesh from defenseless animals.

  “Look, look, let’s just call it even. Ok?” He pleaded.

  Perry never heard a word. He picked up the kid like a rag doll and shoved him down into a trash receptacle waist first. The thug felt something snap followed by a sharp pain that seared up his back he screamed and passed out.

  Again, Perry grabbed up what candy that remained and ran through the alley. He ran into the community center huffing and out of breath. Sweat pouring from his body when one of the nurses came running.

  “Perry, What in the world is wrong?”

  Perry was frightened out of his mind. His eyes looked wild and without answering he ran to his dorm and grabbed Numitz.

  He came running back through the lobby, stopped and dropped candy on the table and headed out the door. He yelled back to the nurses, “I’m going..to.. the... Oceannn!!”

  The nurses looked at each other. The head nurse told another behind an admission desk, “Call security.”

  #####

  SERENA

  Serena was short, even by Latina standards. But very pretty. Her long shiny hair glistened under the florescent lighting that occasionally flickered from age and lack of replacement bulbs. Her curls were loose and framed her face like a child. Her petite frame made her look delicate and frail. She stood at only four feet, ten inches and couldn’t have weighed more than 90 pounds soaking wet. Her skin was a light golden brown, obviously from her ancestral heritage. Anyone that could see her would have thought she was an angel sent from the heavens. Her hands were proportionately small and delicate as they pulled the charging bolt back on a Harbinger .30 cal twin drum assault rifle. And that’s where the angelic features stopped. She wore a gray tank top t-shirt barely concealing her upper perkiness. The combat trousers and black combat boots taken from a Republican soldier further exemplified her intentions.

  Serena was a pirate. Probably the shortest pirate known to exist. She didn’t like this type of life but it beat being a neutered sheep citizen of the Republic. Or at least she imagined in her own mind it was.

  The pirate ship was anything but comfortable. It was unbalanced, clanky if one could describe it with a word. It was mismatched and parts were scavenged from many different models and types. But what it lacked in looks it compensated for in speed and versatility. It’s engines were well over-sized but it could throw the crew into the bulkheads if need be. Various weapons covered the ship and accommodated every firing arc.

  Serena, Toloc, Beggar and Stant bounced from the floor as the grappling mags attached to the cruise ship’s hull. Toloc immediately began cutting through the outer hull of the cruise ship as soon as an air lock was established.

  They would have to hurry since the cruise ship was able to send a distress call before it was disabled. No planets around Procyon were habitable but forces would be nearby on patrols for such occurrences.

  “Hurry Toloc,”Serena said.

  “Serena, plasma cutting takes so long. No sooner or slower. It takes what it takes,” Toloc explained.

  They were, however, anxious to get done. And the sooner the better.

  Stant was the tallest at almost 6 feet and looked like a corpse. His pitch black goatee and eyebrows stood out from his pale white skin. He kept a constant appearance of being dead and when he slept he looked extremely fitting for a coffin. Stant pressed a button on a grenade arming it. Once it impacted a surface it would release a sleeping agent. He waited for Toloc to finish the cut.

  Beggar looked at Stant confused. “Why did you arm that”

  “Because I’m going to throw it”

  “Yeah, but why not wait until the hole is cut”?

  Stant shrugged.

  Then Beggar added, “You just like blinking lights.”

  Serena turned slowly and looked at both of them then turned back to the hole.

  Toloc pulled out the cutter and gave the hull plating a hard kick. The plating fell inward and Stant threw the grenade like he was a major baseball player.

  Toloc immediately closed the airlock hatch and watched his chronometer.

  They waited 30 seconds then put on their masks.

  “Lets have fun kids,” Toloc said and he reopened the hatch.

  It would take several minutes before they could unmask but there was no reason to wait and every reason to hurry.

  They each lowered themselves down with Serena going last. Stant helped her and the twin 30s down so she wouldn’t drop 5 feet.

  The crew and passengers was unconscious. It was a small yacht sized cruise ship so the scavenging would be quick. Once they cleared the staterooms, they began collecting the goods.

  Serena especially liked the ladies jewelry although she was already wearing over two dozen, wrist bracelets, ankle bracelets, rings, and necklaces a few more wouldn’t hurt. She inspected the ladies jewelry but paused when she came to a you
ng woman setting next to what she assumed was her daughter. Both had blond wavy hair and she had the girl curled up in her arms. Serena could see the tears still wet on the little girls face. For just a second, Serena flashed back to her mothers face when she was taken. She reflected momentarily and left the mothers belongings alone. Serena then pulled a necklace from around her neck. A jade skull with gold sun backdrop and put it in the little girls hand then curled her fingers around it.

  ‘Enough sentimentality,’ she mused and headed for the galley.

  Stant found a liquor cabinet and passed Serena grinning from ear to ear.

  Beggar rummaged through the engine room, selecting tools and calibration equipment.

  Toloc found various electronic tablets and reading chips. Toloc was the smarter of any pirate and was at least knowledgeable when it came to quantum theories and translight drives. He liked to read fiction as well never realizing his own life was a story in it’s own right.

  Their captain, Porfane, remained on the bridge to monitor the scanners and excitedly his voice crackled over their intercoms’.

  “HEY ! Get back now! We’ve got company!”

  “On our way”, Toloc reassured.

  From different parts of the ship they hurried with their booty toward the intrusion point.

  Then Porfane gave one last call. “Twenty seconds I break the seal!”

  Stant reached the hole first and easily reached up and pulled himself through.

  Toloc yelled down the corridor, “Serena, Hurry!”

  Porfane went to open mike on the pirate ship. “You all onboard?”

  Beggar was just climbing through when Stant answered. “Not yet, Toloc and Serena are still off board”.

  “They got 10 seconds!”

  “Toloc, we can’t wait. Come on!”

  Toloc yelled once more, “SERENA!!”

  Two Banshees came in fast. Too fast!

  Toloc jumped up and grabbed the edges cutting his hands. Beggar and Stant pulled him up.

  Stant slapped a mollypolly over the gaping hole to seal the air once they separated. Stant then closed the air latch and the pirate ship broke free from the passenger yacht.

  Porfane engaged the throttles and the pirate ship slightly buckled throwing the unready crew back off of their feet.

  Serena made it to the hole and saw the mollypolly patch overhead. She looked out the window and saw her ship accelerating away and two small silver ships in close pursuit.

  “Guys, you left me,” He heart sank.

  With the Banshees trailing, both combatants exchanged energy weapons fire. Flashes of red and green streaked past each other. Then the closest shiny pursuer flashed it’s deadening EMP cannon and the pirate ship slowly rolled toward Procyonnaise. The lights went dead.

  Procyonnaise was the largest green and yellow tinged gas giant orbiting Procyon A. It’s atmosphere of compounds and sulfur dust made it a spectacular sight on the dark side as lightning illuminated through various chemical compounds producing colored flashes.

  “Oh god!” Serena cried.

  Serena ran to the bridge of the cruise yacht to watch the radar.

  She could see one Banshee following the pirate ship toward Procyonnaise and the other turned back toward her.

  The communication had a light crackle. Serena adjusted the frequency.

  “Porfane, you there?”

  “Serena, it’s Toloc.” He sounded beaten, “Tell them you were forced.

  “I will,” she whimpered.

  “I’m on my headset” Toloc explained. “They knocked out our power grid, guess it’s going to get hot soon.”

  “Toloc, I’m so sorry,” she sobbed.

  “Don’t you worry Butterfly,” he paused, “You stay safe, this wasn’t your world”

  “Toloc, I’ll miss you.”

  No answer

  “Toloc!?”

  Silence filled the bridge.

  Toloc made it to the bridge with Porfane, Stant and Beggar.

  “Well fellas’, it was a helluva run”

  “Aye, that it was” Stant looked taller then he ever had. No tears or remorse. Just an enlarging green/yellow planet in their forward view port.

  Then Stant remembered his loot. He rummaged about and pulled a full bottle of bourbon out of his bag. He quickly popped the top and chugged the harsh liquor. He placed his hand over the top since the artificial gravity had quit and handed the bottle around. Each doing the same until 30 minutes later, they weren’t feeling any pain, and less of anything else.

  The second Banshee closed in and Serena just looked at the gas giant ignoring her new captors ship. Serena put her small hand up to the cockpit window.

  “Bye guys,” she whispered.

  The Banshee latched on and extended the airlocks. Serena dropped the twin .30 to the floor.

  #####

  AARON

  Aaron was a genius to some but to his parents he was a foolish genius. They sent him to the finest technical colleges, where he studied theoretical algorithms, dark matter, astrophysics, artificial intelligence and nanobot technology. What did Aaron do with this knowledge? He gambled. Not on life decisions, but actual gambling. Every day was a vacation after he left school. Aaron hated the thought of working 8 to 5 for some corporate head that would take credit for his ideas’.

  Aaron was naturally gifted. He soaked in academia that interested him like a sponge and expelled the subjects that didn’t interest him. Life was meant to be fun and that was fairly much his life’s silent motto. And as a bonus, he was competent in martial arts.

  Today was no exception. Aaron was thin and tall. His Asian black hair was soft and unkempt and would float around his head with a life of it’s own, much like Medusa’s snakes. And in his usual attire, a tank, trousers with way too many pockets and soft shoes fit his lifestyle.

  He passed the casino bulls without drawing attention and was regarded as just another sucker in the fold.

  Aaron zigzagged through the crowds of wishful hoards and dreamers alike. He searched for the high credit slots. He watched from his peripheral vision, trying to assess how many security personnel there were in uniform but always difficult in such a large crowd.

  Aaron found the 10 credit minimum machines and while his system worked on any slot, he didn’t want to look obvious. So, Aaron browsed them for awhile although he had no interest in what the odds or payout would be.

  While electronic devices were forbidden while a person was in play, no one noticed or detected Aaron’s tiny vile of nanobots. They were triggered by the lower half of his chronometer. And the fact it was customized making his chronometer full of small buttons. The nanobots had just over a half hour charge, which was plenty for the entire system to analyze the gaming machine and lock its parameters whiten just a few of the high paying symbols.

  He found the machine of his choosing. It was adorned with pink and yellow ribbon lights with some type of scantily dressed fairies. The main screen had the face of one of the beautiful vixens winking in a 3d hologram at him as if to say, ‘Come on handsome, play me’. And that’s just what Aaron was going to do. He pulled out his Republic Id credit card and placed it in the illuminated amber slot. An obscure voice from background speakers said, “Thank you Aaron.You have seventeen thousand, four-hundred, sixteen point twenty two credits.. “Good luck”

  ‘What a condescending statement’, Aaron thought as he gave a slight giggle.

  The machine had already Id’d Aaron but this would be his 27th time to play. Actually it wasn’t playing at all. It was more of a withdrawal.

  Aaron ran the machine twice when a pretty waitress walked by exclaiming in her droning but pleasant voice, “Cocktails?, ....Cocktails?........Cocktails”?

  Aaron swiveled, “A cola please?”

  She pulled one off her illuminated tray, handed it to him and continued down the isle. “Cocktails?........Cocktails?”, and so on until out of earshot.

  Aaron swiveled back around and discreetly pulled the vile o
f nanobots from his wrist. He pressed two buttons on his chronometer and opened the vile next to the card slot. Little flakes of mystical metal machinery scampered their happy little feet and crawled into the unsuspecting machine.

  Within a few minutes he started hitting higher winnings as the bells and lights danced a profitable tune. There was so much noise, no one knew or even paid any attention to how lucky he was getting. Aaron smiled at each press of the button as consecutive rolls continued becoming tighter. From the end of the isle a happy drunk staggered his way toward Aaron’s end of the isle. Aaron watched, knowing a jackpot was coming up so he raised the ante to maximum. His nanobots would have another 12 minutes of energy then they would go dormant and fall to the bottom of the machine if he did not retrieve them in time. A proximity signal kept them at his machine to function. He had to retrieve them as soon as the jackpot was hit. That was his only fear of being seen.

  The drunk heard Aaron’s machine chirping and singing as a multitude of fairies danced on his screen. He staggered up behind Aaron.

  “Hey, y..yer doin’ pretty good good der fella”, Then he belched as he slapped Aaron on the back.

  Aaron said, “Yeah” as he desperately wished the slobbering manifest of a human would go away.

  “I need ssssome of yer luck” he stammered. Then he staggered, sloshing his beer on Aarons shirt sleeve.

  Aaron panicked and pulled his sleeve up hitting the retrieve button but his chronometer flickered.

  The jackpot hit and the top bell whistled. Hundreds of faeries flashed onto the screen dancing a chorus that made Riverdance look like a 1st grade school play.

  The machine spoke, “CONGRATULATIONS !! You hit the jackpot”!

  It continued, “Twenty-twot thousand seven hundred eleven credits, You’re a winner”!

  Aaron’s beer soaked chronometer was failing. He would have to make new nanos’ and let these die but they still had over 10 minutes left. He wanted to strangle the drunk.

  “Holy shit partner!” the drunk blared, “That was ffffucking aaawesome”!!

  Aaron played his part and jumped up, “WOOHWEEE!!” he faked his emthusiasm.