by Candace Sams
Goron approached his location, and the look on the bastard’s menacing face could only be described as incredulous. The bully clearly hadn’t meant to see him last this long.
Goron stopped in front of Datron and spoke in a slow, controlled fashion. “Have one last night, Valkyrian. But you know the rules. The challenge still stands! You may not sleep, or even sit. You must remain standing, even with your injuries.”
“Untie my crew and let them have some food!” Datron demanded. “They aren’t part of this. It’s between you and me. At least it should have been if you’d been man enough to face me.”
He had the satisfaction of seeing Goron actually tremble in anger.
If he could provoke the son-of-a-bitch into hitting him, he’d find the strength to take the Ussarian leader down. Once that was done the other criminals would be clueless as to their next move. He might be able to free his friends and fight.
Goron glanced at the three tied enforcers. “I have allowed you to give them water. Be thankful for that concession. I did so only so they will remain alert. I want them to see, in the bright light of Chiron, how a Valkyrian is beaten at the hands of Ussarians. I will see you on your knees and you will then see them die! And do not think of unbinding them in the night. My men will be watching every move you make.”
“Bite me!” Datron blurted as he took a long, nonchalant drink of water.
He had the satisfaction of hearing Goron growl before stalking off.
Electra rolled her eyes heavenward. “Datron, try to remember Ussarians will only honor their own customs as long as it pleases them. I’m amazed they haven’t disregarded the rules so far.”
“I must heartily agree,” Gilla clearly enunciated. “I believe there’s an Earth expression about pushing their buttons a bit too much, sir. Ussarians aren’t deep thinkers. I believe if Goron can find any way to discard the rules of this game, he most ardently will. He keeps you alive so he can be a hero in front of his admiral and whoever might be traveling aboard the Ussarian flagship. Clearly, they are coming here to escort the Lucent Stones back to Ussar and out of heavily trafficked space lanes where enforcer ships may pose a deterrent. I don’t believe Goron has considered that such a squadron was devised so that his part in this escapade might be minimized. This admiral he so idolizes will take full credit for the entire venture.”
Clitus nodded. “Gilla is right. Goron is operating under the delusion the stones are his, and that this admiral will let him keep them. He thinks he’ll be a hero when he’ll only be an impediment.”
Datron took a deep breath and saw the bigger picture they’d painted. If the fleet of Ussarian ships arrived, Goron would be in that admiral’s gun sights. There might be a way to drill that into his enemy’s head and cause confusion and more conflict among the Ussarians holding them captive.
If he could convince Goron, they might stand a small chance of getting out of this situation alive. “The ambassador…and I use the term loosely…won’t get any better treatment. Not unless he can make some kind of deal with the Ussarian admiral,” Datron mused. “Whatever gems his miners discover on the Dagor Prime colony won’t do him any good. Not when Lucent Stones could yield control of many governments and many planets where greater riches and power lie. If I can talk some sense into Caul, we might get somewhere. I see no harm in trying.”
“Except that Micoriun bog-swill parasite has made himself conspicuously absent,” Clitus announced. “I’ve looked and haven’t seen any sign of the good ambassador.”
Electra snorted. “He probably couldn’t stomach watching two Oceanus enforcers and their captain, and one highly placed and covert Earth Protectorate operative, being slaughtered,” she smoothly announced. “But he’s around somewhere. He’ll slither back when we’re all lying in this nasty red dust. Maggots always show up to pick at what the vultures leave. Of course, the bastard won’t have long to witness our demise. We’ll be just so much star dust when Chiron is exploded with our own trungeon bomb.”
****
After getting as near them as she dared, Charlie overheard their discussion. She saw that Datron actually looked worse than before. Although, having been beaten mercilessly, his mental faculties seemed quite sound. This was a testimony to his superior stamina. But then, she’d had a sampling of that vigor albeit under much gentler and more romantic circumstances.
She shook her head and immediately got her mind off his lovemaking and back on her next course of action. Since it seemed her comrades-in-arms believed the weakest link in the enemy chain might be Ambassador Caul, then her recent actions were coincidentally appropriate.
She gazed through the murky dust, toward Radnor Caul’s vessel. Her compatriots would soon figure out they weren’t alone, and was almost sorry Caul wasn’t on his ship. But he’d certainly know someone had been.
What she’d managed to accomplish might put the fear of God into him.
Based on nothing more than the internal clocks on Caul’s vessel, and the estimated time it’d taken her to get to her current location, Charlie held her breath. About twenty seconds later, Ambassador Caul’s small transport blew into a million pieces and lit the night sky with all the force of a mega, proteus-beam fragment explosion.
If that didn’t rattle the Ussarians and bring Caul out of whatever hole he’d hidden in, nothing would.
Chapter Sixteen
Datron faced the conflagration when everyone else ducked. He stared at the fireball blazing in the Chiron night. That round glow was all that remained of the ambassador’s ship.
Some small part of him hoped the bastard was inside.
The massive explosion could hardly have been accidental. In the first place, the vessel would have been completely shut down once it landed on the surface. Backup systems on any vessel prevented this kind of catastrophic detonation of fuel or other combustible matter. Add in the fact Caul’s craft simply couldn’t have flamed up the way it had without some aggressive engineering. His instincts roared sabotage.
The half-drunk Ussarians all ran toward the fire. Apparently they aimed to salvage the Hyperion’s stolen booty that’d been dragged near Caul’s burning vessel. As minions of an Ussarian clan leader, they knew they only had rights to what Goron allowed. All their share of the immediate Hyperion take was about to go up in flames, and they couldn’t count on getting anything else.
Goron shouted orders as to how to fight the ensuing flames. With his enemy otherwise occupied Datron lunged for his shipmates’ in an attempt to free them as quickly as he could.
Somewhere nearby, their captors had stashed some weapons. He’d seen the guards taking turns admiring new pieces of illegal arms during the night. He and his crew would need them to fight their way out of this mess.
He managed to finally get Clitus free by picking up a wine bottle, breaking it and using a large shard of glass as a knife.
“Get Electra and Clitus loose! We’ve got to find their cache of weapons. Hurry!”
As the others freed themselves, Datron ransacked every unfamiliar crate and box in the vicinity. Even the ones that had not come from the Hyperion, he tore into them, ripping the metal lids off the unlocked crates in the process. His strength was renewed at this second chance at life.
He gazed through smoke caused by the initial blast and more coming from subsequent explosions. That was when he saw a tiny figure running straight toward him. He stopped, tilted his head, and shook it, believing he’d finally lost what was left of his sanity.
“Charlie?”
She ran straight to him and launched herself up and against his huge frame. “God, I was hoping those goons would run somewhere when that ship went up. It worked better than I thought and… I’m so glad you’re alive!” She blurted the entire sentence, running every syllable together while planting kisses on his face.
Despite the sudden pain in his body, caused by her exuberant hug, he held onto her the way a drowning man might hold onto a rope. For a moment, he truly assumed the Creator of all th
ings had taken his life—that seeing her was analogous of having a mythical messenger sent to take him to the afterworld. His beautiful guide into the hereafter came in the form of his beloved little meteor. But she was warm and cuddly and so very soft. Then reality bit him. If he was in the afterlife, why were the Ussarian’s with them?
“What in the name of Amphitreon’s balls are you doing here? You can’t be here!” he shouted.
“I think it’s obvious she stowed away,” Electra yelled as she held up a photon rifle and shook it to get his attention. “I found one of their munitions crates.” Then she pointed toward the Ussarians now running straight at them. “I think they’ve figured out we had a collaborator. They look a bit annoyed!”
Datron caught the rifle Electra tossed to him. He and the rest of his group ran toward the nearest outcrop of rocks with Charlie leading the way.
They dove into the protective cover of the boulders and began to simultaneously fire just as the Ussarians returned blasts.
The shock at seeing Charlie on Lucent’s moon―where she had no business―skewed his reference to time. He’d probably held onto her much longer than he realized, while his crew had overcome their apparent astonishment and had searched for the weapons they needed to defend themselves. “Weapons check!” he yelled as he tried to drag his mind back into focus.
“I have two phaser disseminators and this fusion imploder,” Clitus shouted as he held up a lethal sidearm. “And hello, mighty-mite!” he directed the happy salutation at Charlie while simultaneously firing at two dodging Ussarians.
Gilla held up a sawed-off version of a photon rifle, and called out his part of their arsenal. “I have several concussion grenades in my belt, though the enemy is too far away for me to throw them. And, obviously, we need to be able to run once I pull the pins.” He fired at several rock-hugging Ussarians. “Felicitations, little mechanical imp. I’ll later offer my thanks for the diversion. It could have been no other involved in the explosion of the ambassador’s vessel. I do adore a good distraction!”
Electra held up two, old-fashioned light laser particle revolvers to show Datron her share of the arms. Then, she briefly stood and fired at three Ussarians who jumped head first behind a pile of protective rocks. “Just call me Annie-Frickin’-Oakley! And welcome to the shoot-out, Charlie.”
Electra finally got the chance to toss Charlie one of the revolvers, but Datron quickly reached down and grabbed it away once it was in his lover’s hands. Then he stuck it in his belt. She opened her mouth to protest, but he cut any objections short.
“Oh, no you don’t! You stay behind that rock and don’t move until I tell you to!”
He caught her furious, outraged glare just before firing a few more volleys. While he returned fire he meant for her to know exactly what he thought of her actions.
“I cannot believe you stowed away on my ship! When I get my hands on you, I’m gonna do what someone on Earth should have a long time ago and turn you over my knee. You’ve probably broken about ten transport laws, never mind endangering yourself while infiltrating a top secret mission,” he shouted at the top of his lungs while alternately ducking and shooting.
Charlie just rolled her eyes skyward and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Don’t give me that go-to-hell look, meteor! I’m not in the mood,” he chastised.
“Never mind him, Charlie! Just aim and fire,” Electra instructed as she tossed another sidearm at the stowaway.
Datron glared at Electra but quickly turned back to their attackers and fired more volleys.
The shooting from the Ussarian side suddenly stopped. Knowing they had to save their ammo, Datron shouted out a halt.
“Cease fire! Stay covered. We don’t know what’s going on,” he instructed as he reloaded.
“Are you still alive, Valkyrian?” Goron shouted.
With the firing stopped the Ussarian leader’s voice echoed through the rocks.
“Are you willing to discuss terms for surrender?” Datron shot back.
“I will never surrender, Valkyrian!”
“That’s good. I wasn’t going to offer too many terms.”
“I will offer up the means for your deaths,” Goron informed them. Then he turned to his minions and barked a command. “Bring the ionization cannons online.”
Charlie looked up from her kneeling position. “Ohhhh, this is not good. He’s gonna aim his ship’s weapons right at this outcrop. With that kind of firepower, every boulder in a parsec will be ionized.”
“And this day just keeps getting better!” Datron muttered. “Everyone…run!”
He watched as his crew and his stowaway bolted for safety.
He ran last, firing his weapon to cover their retreat.
He needn’t have worried over Charlie’s ability to move under pressure. The little wisp ran like one of the graceful moon deer from his home world. She dodged and jumped into a small arroyo along with the other three crewmembers, and he swiftly followed.
He knew they’d still be incinerated when Goron found their location, but they had a little more time. At least until the Ussarians’ ship sensors pinpointed their new hiding spot.
He made the mistake of lying back on his injured wing and growled in pain.
Charlie went to his side and immediately put her hand on his cheek. “Does it hurt badly, baby?”
“You shouldn’t be here!” he told her while trying to shake off the ache.
“Wing man, you’re repeating yourself.” She smiled, leaned forward, and kissed his right temple. “Even beat up, you’re frickin’ hot.”
Gentle laughter from his friends made Datron briefly close his eyes and pray for patience.
“Here or in the hereafter, you and I are going to have a serious talk about how you got here. For now, keep your head down!”
A sound from the south immediately alerted him. A hovercraft approached.
He and his comrades scrambled out of their small hiding spot but came face-to-face with Ambassador Caul and three Ussarian warriors. They were all armed with particle implode rifles and stood looking down at them from a height of about ten feet. Their hovering craft drifted only a few feet as the engines powered to a lower gear.
“Stop running, Captain. You’re cornered,” Caul aimed his weapon at Datron’s chest. “I might be able to convince Goron to kill your friends quickly. You however will have your skin peeled from your body before he takes your head. The man holds you responsible for the destruction of my ship. Like everything else on this hideous rock, he commandeered it as his personal property. Its loss embarrasses him, and I don’t think I have to tell you how he feels about your attempted escape.”
Caul glanced at each of the Hyperion’s crew, but his gaze quickly fixed on the newcomer. “Aha! I assume this pretty little sprite was the actual culprit who took out my ship,” he stated. “Goron will be very interested in this new development. Now come along,” he ordered as he jerked the muzzle of his weapon toward the hovercraft’s surface.
Datron pulled himself out of the gulley when his friends did. But he kept his weapon aimed at Caul and made no move toward the hovercraft. “I see no reason not to end this right now. You have weapons, we have weapons. We’re all going to die, including you. There’s no incentive to go back and let that butcher slaughter us.”
“You have every motivation in the world,” Caul softly reasoned. “You see, I’m now in communication with the Ussarian admiral. His bridge reports there are several transports directly in their flight path. I’m given to understand that some of those are hospital vessels.” Caul slowly smiled. “Captain, your fight is over. But you have it within your power to save those innocent lives in space or have them blown into the next dimension.” He lifted one hand nonchalantly and shrugged. “The admiral doesn’t want to advertise his presence in this sector. He just wants his stones. One word from me and he’ll most certainly blow those medical ships out of the universe.”
Datron tightened his grip on his weap
on, and lifted the muzzle until it was right in Caul’s face. He felt Charlie sidle closer to him and wished he’d refused this mission outright.
“Are you trying to tell me an Ussarian admiral would actually fire on unarmed hospital ships? Is that the kind of savagery you’ve embraced?”
Caul sighed and rolled his eyes in resignation. “I can request the Ussarians divert their flight path, Captain. It’s well known hospital vessels don’t want a confrontation. In fact, they’ll maintain radio silence until the Ussarians are out of range, believing that if they do so they will remain safe. As I’ve already said, the admiral has no interest in those ships unless, of course, something gives him a reason to attack. He’s here to collect the Lucent Stones, and he wants to do this as quietly and quickly as he can. Give him a reason and he’ll slaughter hundreds of innocent lives.”
“And how do I know you’re not lying again?” Datron bit out between clenched teeth.
“You have no choice. It’s your call, Captain. The admiral isn’t a patient man. For now, he believes everything is going as scheduled. He hasn’t been informed of all this disruption. You can understand why Goron hasn’t relayed news of your antics.”
Electra lowered her weapon and spoke softly. “Datron, we can’t take the chance.”
“I suggest you listen to Miss Galaxy, Captain. You’re dead either way,” Caul advised. “The only remaining issue is how you want your friends to die—quick and painlessly or in horrifying agony.” He put his attention on the newest member of the enforcer crew. “My, my. She’s quite a little charmer, isn’t she?” he murmured as he gave Charlie a long look.
Datron moved even closer to Caul and actually put the muzzle of his weapon against the man’s forehead. He ignored the Ussarian muzzles now jammed against his body threateningly.
