Operation: Pirates vs Drones

by J. L. Hendricks

  Gore hated himself for doing that. He felt he had no honor left after that assignment. Becoming a pirate was the only course laid out for him when he left the military.

  The Captain raked greasy fingers through his even greasier hair. “Ye don’t know what it was like. We thought we were all done for. Command told us ye were all dead and that we didn’t have time to collect yer bodies. We didn’t have a choice.”

  Throd surged across the small room and his left hand clamped around the Captain’s throat. He lifted the shorter man off his feet and slammed him into the bulkhead. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t have any choice about this, either. I need something off that ship, and you’re going to help me get it.”

  “What happened to ye? Last time I saw ye,” Gore waved his hands up and down the length of the massive Operator, “Ye were more… human.”

  “The Mechanurge, that’s what happened.”

  Throd shifted his grip to the captain’s shirt, and dragged him out of the room. “Where’s the rest of your crew?”

  Gore pointed toward the ladder leading up to the next deck. “Two decks up. Near the bay doors.”

  Throd didn’t say another word until he’d dragged the captain in front of the Black Pearl’s crew. He stood the captain up, then released him.

  All eyes were on the Operator. Nervous glances shifted from his face down to his autocannon, then back.

  The old familiar singing of adrenaline in his veins put Throd in a good mood despite the situation. He glanced out the viewports on the bay doors at the boarding clamps and the Mechanurge ship beyond them. There was something almost beautiful about the craftsmanship of the vessel, a combination of Baroque flourishes and brutal efficiency that inspired both awe and dread. This, he thought, is an enemy worth fighting.

  Throd gestured toward the hulking ship. “I need to get aboard that vessel.”

  The Captain rubbed his throat and croaked, “Why didn’t ye use yer own ship for bait?”

  Throd grinned. He wasn’t about to let this greasy little toad of a pirate get under his skin. Not when the most glorious battle of his career was about to take place. “I like yours better. You should always use stinky bait when you’re fishing.”

  The crew grumbled, but didn’t say anything. They were starting to get the picture.

  “So, here’s the deal. For this to work, I need your help.”

  The Captain raised both hands in protest. “No. No way. If ye’ve got a plan, ye better put it into action because we not be helping.”

  A smaller pair of arms extended from within the boarding clamps and latched onto the bay doors. The ship’s seals groaned in protest, and the door held. For the moment.

  Throd leaned against the bulkhead. “Here’s the deal. I planned for this. You can work with me, or when those doors pop open you can all die. The Mechanurge are coming, one way or the other.”

  One of the pirates, a weasely looking little fellow, stepped up to Throd. “You’re a hornswoggling backward scurvy dog for doing this, but I don’t want to die today. I’ll fight.”

  Gore’s mechanical eye flicked across the faces of his crew, but Throd knew the captain had already lost. There were only a few things scarier than a boat load of Awakened drones on their way to strip you down to meat and gristle to feed into their bio forges. One by one, the pirates stepped away from their Captain and toward Throd.

  Gore grunted and waved his hands in disgust. “Show us what ye’ve got.”

  Throd cracked open another of the hidden compartments, this one in his right thigh, and pulled out a cloth-covered packet. He shook four tiny lensed devices out of the packet and into the palm of his massive hand. “These are quantum scramblers. Wire them up into the conduits and stick them on the ceiling. Make sure they’re pointed at the bay doors.”

  The captain nodded at one of the pirates. “Rego, take care of it.”

  Throd motioned for the rest of the crew to follow him below decks. “Those scramblers are good for about two minutes after they kick in. As long as they’re active, any Awakened or drone that strolls in front of them gets a bad case of amnesia and forgets what it’s doing. That’ll give you an edge.”

  Gore frowned. “How do we know when they be dead?”

  The Operator cracked a smile. "They explode. Just a little bit. And when they do, you’re going to retreat down here, where I put a whole bunch more of them.”

  The captain rubbed his chin and shook his head. “This plan sucks. Ye want us to hole up down here and wait for the Mechanurge to get past the scramblers and kill us all?”

  Throd threw an arm around the captain’s shoulders. “This is the only chance you got, so don’t look a gift horse in its stanky mouth. All you have to do is keep the drones’ attention on this ship while I do the rest.”

  The rest of the pirates shifted nervously. Teaming with the Operator no longer seemed like the smartest play. Their Captain looked up at the Operator and asked, “And just what will ye be doing?”

  “Nothing too hard. I’m going to float over to that harvester and rip its fracking heart out. Now, bring me my other gun and show me where you keep your garbage chutes on this scow.”

  Chapter 7

  “How’d he know the Mechanurge were after ye?” Rego asked after setting up the scramblers and high-tailing it below decks with the others.

  “Long story, but Throd’s getting his revenge on me alright. Next time I leave someone dead on a planet, I’m gonna make sure they be really dead!” The captain banged his hand on the bulkhead near his head.

  “Alright, we gonna do this or what?” Wyko asked.

  Rego looked around and then listened to see if the drones had made their way aboard yet. So far, no sounds of bots getting zapped. “I say we turn the captain over to the bots and get outta here. Maybe if we hand him over the rest of us can leave.”

  The Captain smirked, “Ye numbnuts really think that the Mechanurge are gonna let ye go just because ye hand me over to them? Ye be dumber than I thought. Those wankers’ll take ye just as easily as they’ll take me. They have never once let a human live.” The Captain smacked Rego upside the head. “Idjiit! Ye gonna get everyone killed with that kinda thinkin.”

  Wyko scratched his greasy neck and then chewed on his fingernails. He spit the stump he chewed off at Rego. In his other hand was a set of dice. Wyko shook his hand hard and threw the dice so intensely, they hit the bulkhead across the room.

  Everyone’s eyes were on the dice. “Cap’n, tha dice say we fight. If’n we help Throd, we might make it out of this alive. Maybe we can throw Rego to ‘em and say he’s ye.”

  Gore laughed and slapped Wyko on the back. “That’s me man! Keep comin’ up with good ideas like that one and ye’ll get a promotion real quick.”

  He looked to his crew and could almost smell the fear coming off them in waves, well it was either fear or just their regular stink. He couldn’t be sure. But most of the eyes he looked into reflected pain and torture, if they didn’t get out of this fast. Even the Captain wasn’t as brave as he led on. His gut was roiling with acid as he considered his deadly fate if those bots made it past the scramblers.

  The Captain looked out the porthole to see what was happening and he discovered Throd was making a spacewalk right up to the side door of the Harvester. “I say we do what the Operator suggested. Look at what he be doing now.” Gore pointed out the window and moved back so more of his crew could see the man flying in space. He looked more like a silver gray floating marshmallow moving behind his cargo container, but he was making his way to the enemy ship all on his own. No back up, just him.

  “That old seadog has more bite than any of you lot!” Wyko said as he pointed at Rego.

  The rest of the crew were grumbling about what they wanted to do. It came down to wanting to live. They sided with the Captain and Wyko.

  Deegan asked, “We gonna give them Rego as a distraction?” Deegan and Rego never got along. The older pirate always treated the younger one like he was
a scallywag. Before Deegan proved his worth on the bridge, Rego would lock him in the brig for days with no food or water and turn up the ambient heat in the cells, just to torture him. Like a bully with a magnifying glass on ants.

  “Alright, here’s what we’re gonna do…” The Captain outlined a plan similar to what Throd told them. Then they made their way up to the loading bay to kill the Mechanurge drones after they went through the Operator’s little present.

  Chapter 8

  The crew waited behind the cargo bay doors as they watched the giant harvester drones cut open the bay door and make their way inside. A blinding flash of light momentarily disrupted their forward momentum and the pirates were seeing stars.

  While they still had bright spots in their vision, the Captain screamed, “Now!” And everyone except for Rego ran forward and started to attack the incoming bots that seemed a bit dazed and confused.

  Rego skulked further into the ship, not ready to fight his way out of the predicament his rotten captain dragged them into.

  Deegan pulled his blaster off his belt and shot at a drone in front of him, it did nothing to slow the metal beast.

  The Captain got behind a bot and sliced the back of its neck. The drone stopped in its tracks and the head fell forward. “Cut the back of their necks, men! It keels ‘em!”

  The Captain was laughing menacingly as he jumped to another drone. He landed on its back and took his cutlass and sliced through the drones version of a neck, severing the cables that not only kept its head on, but also acted as a conduit for the lifeblood of all drones, lubrication fluid.

  The Captain whooped and hollered as he enjoyed being a death dealer for these metal serial killers. “Tell Davy eye not be joining ‘em today!” The drones head popped off and sparks shot up out of the body into the pirate captain’s face. He just laughed and enjoyed the sizzle sounds when a spark hit his face. He already had enough scars on it that a couple more wouldn’t make any difference.

  Wyko was battling with one droid, trying to get his cutlass on the back of its neck. The drone he was fighting deflected the blade with its arm and grabbed the pirate by the front of his shirt. Wyko screamed and the drone threw him over his head against the bulkhead.

  Deegan watched and winced when Wyko hit the ground, “Ouch, that’s gotta smart.”

  Their new recruit, Lordon, was fighting a drone on his own. When he took his blaster out, the drone wacked it out of his hand. Lordon looked around for something to use as a weapon and tried to run away. The drone reached out and grabbed his arm. It pulled so hard, everyone could hear the sinew and bones breaking as Lordon’s arm was pulled right out of its socket. There was a popping noise and then the drone threw the arm at Deegan.

  Lordon screamed in pain and blood was streaking down his side, his white face had tears running in rivulets. Adrenaline was coursing through his system and his fight or flight mentality clicked in. He moved a couple of steps only to have his other arm yanked by a different drone. It was almost like a game to them. Which one could kill a human while inflicting the most pain. The first one slammed his hand into Lordon’s chest and pulled out his still beating heart.

  Gore moved like a ninja and got behind one of the drones and cut the back of his neck. It fell forward and thunked to the ground.

  The second drone grabbed Gore by his throat and squeezed hard. The Captain dropped his cutlass and tried to pry the metal hands off his neck, to no avail. Right before he lost consciousness, Deegan ran behind the drone and cut its head off with the Captain’s cutlass. The head rolled to the other side of the room and bounded off the bulkhead and landed next to Wyko.

  Captain Gore was panting and massaging his neck. He looked around and saw the multitude of the Mechanurge laying in piles around his docking bay. He moved to help Wyko up and stopped cold when he heard the pounding sound of metal on metal coming toward him.

  Deegan screeched when he looked up to see thirty more of the mechanized droids heading their way. “Cap’n what we gonna do now? No time to get down below decks for the next round of scramblers!”

  Chapter 9

  Throd sealed his pressure suit, then nestled the cargo container in the mouth of the garbage chute. He hooked a tether to the ring clamp on the container’s top, and connected the other end to the suit’s belt. “I never should’ve volunteered for this.”

  The Operator clicked his HUD to double check the game parameters before launching himself into the middle of one of the most deadly foes he had ever encountered.

  ..::..::..||..::..::..//\..::..::..||..::..::..

  SCENARIO: HARDENED TARGET, MATERIAL LARCENY

  TARGET: Mechanurge Hive Ship.

  EXPECTED OPPOSITION: Awakened and non-sentient drones (~150 units)

  SPECIAL DEFENSES: Superior firepower and strength.

  OBJECTIVE 1: Neutralize enemy ship (1200 points)

  OBJECTIVE 2: Obtain power core (1500 points)

  BONUS 1: Ensure Pirates engage enemy drones (500 points)

  BONUS 2: Smuggle extra combatants onboard without being detected (500 points)

  SCENARIO REWARD: 10,000 credit units (conversion rates apply)

  EXPENSES COVERED: To 5,000 credit units (ammunition and fuel reimbursed separately to 1,000 credit units)

  ..::..::..||..::..::..\//..::..::..||..::..::..

  Before he could change his mind, the Operator slapped the release button next to the chute. Air rushed from the sealed disposal room, sucking the cargo container and Throd through the chute.

  Throd grabbed the container with both hands, and found the fake panels attached to its sides. He ripped them free to expose a pair of slow-burn jets, and a simple control panel. He pressed the yellow button on the controls, and the jets fired to stabilize the tumbling container. “So far, so good.”

  Next to the Mechanurge Harvester, the Black Pearl looked like a toy. But it was a shiny toy that had the drones’ attention, for the moment, giving Throd the chance he needed.

  He opened the AR data panel and triggered his recording implant. There was no way he was leaving this footage behind; somebody had to see this when he was done. This footage of inside the Mechanurge harvester ship should get him at least one level up in addition to hitting a bonus pot, that was the least reward he could expect for what he was doing. Satisfied his gear was recording, Throd scanned the Harvester until he found what he was looking for. A section near the aft of the ship lit up through the AR screen, and the Operator set his course for the target.

  As he closed in on the ship, Throd could see it was made up of a multitude of smaller vessels. The drones sucked up anything that got in their path, and repurposed it for their own ends. Sometimes that meant a starship got stripped down for parts, other times it just got welded to the outside of the Harvester and assimilated into the big ship’s design. It was genius and ruthlessly efficient, and it had the added bonus of creeping the hell out of any human who saw it. There was something about the Awakened that was terrifying to their creators, and Throd wasn’t going to pretend he didn’t feel the stirrings of fear in his gut.

  The container’s jets pulsed as he approached the Harvester, slowing its flight as Throd entered the ship’s shadow. He looked back at the Black Pearl, and saw flashes of stark white through the bay portals. He didn’t have much time before the drones overwhelmed the pirates and hauled them all back to the Harvester for processing. Even with the quantum scramblers, a ridiculously expensive bit of disposable kit the Metal Rats had stolen from a military convoy, humans wouldn’t last long against a determined force of killer Awakened.

  Throd secretly hoped it was just standard issue drones and not the Awakened who made their way to the pirate ship. He had an ax to grind with Gore, but he wasn’t a monster.

  Magnetic clamps held the container against the side of the Harvester. With a twist of his wrist, Throd triggered the secondary function of the jets. They extended from the body of the container, rotated until their exhaust ports were perpendicular to the body of
the Harvester, and blasted white-hot flames onto the bulkhead.

  Throd looked away until the light from the cutters went out. The container had rotated in a circle creating a smooth hole in the Harvester’s skin. A quick tug on the container pulled the plug out of the hole. Throd disengaged the magnetic clamps and the thick disc of metal floated away. He steered the cargo container into the dark interior of the ship, and the artificial gravity dropped it to the floor. The Operator landed next to it, knees flexing as his body adjusted to its sudden change in weight.

  Drones responded to this intrusion with predictable and extreme violence. There were only a few in the room when Throd landed, but they were all armed to the teeth and wasted no time hurling bolts of energy in his direction.

  Dropping behind the cargo container, Throd returned the favor. His pressure suit only covered his torso and head, leaving his cybernetic limbs exposed. Including the autocannon attached to his right forearm. The weapon erupted and one of the drones flew back, slamming into his companions as the high-powered shells hammered into its carapace.

  There was almost no sound, because there was almost no air inside the ship. The drones didn’t need it, and so they didn’t bother pressurizing the Harvester. Throd was relying on the air in his suit to pull this off, and there wasn’t much of that left. He had five minutes to get to oxygen, or he’d strangle to death on his own breath.

  Fortunately, he’d planned ahead. They’d cut into the Harvester right where he needed to be. All he had to do was grab one of the power cores and then run like hell.

  Another burst from his autocannons drove the drones back further, but backup was already arriving. More drones piled into the room from the deck above, jumping over the catwalk and landing around Throd with weapons ready to destroy.

  Good thing he’d brought back-up, too.

  Chapter 10