Time reverted back to normal and Sendrei's sword sliced through the noble's shell. For a moment, it was as if nothing had changed — I was spinning out of control, away from the golden warrior and Sendrei's sword was arcing away from the noble.
I caught myself against the control surface that looked out over the interior of the ship. Wordlessly, the noble tipped forward just as its head rolled down the glimmering carapace. And with the noble, the golden warrior also fell.
Shakily, I pulled my Ruger from its holster. My mind was suddenly clear enough to realize it was still at my side. I turned wildly, looking for further danger, but only found Sendrei. He was standing with his sword in hand, looking at me in disbelief.
"You came for us," he said, dumbfounded. His body had lost much of its muscular mass and he suffered from many poorly healed cuts, welts, bruises and contusions, but it was absolutely him.
I pushed off the console and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him tightly. His whole body shook as he dropped his sword and sobbed. I could only imagine the hell he had been through in order to survive. Tabby joined us, leaning against my side, holding my hand in her own.
Epilogue
"Do you have water?" Sendrei asked.
"Come with us," I said, make my way to the partition that would lead us back down.
My mind was clear of the Noble's influence. We'd abandoned the Popeyes, something I could not fathom, given that we were in the heart of a Kroerak ship. A single warrior could have ended us in seconds. Frak, given the shape both Tabby or I were in, a couple of adolescents would do us in.
Sendrei followed us downward. On the second level, he picked up his tattered vacsuit and then threw it back to the ground.
"How did you survive?" I asked.
"It was Jonathan's doing."
"I hope they didn't suffer," I said. Sendrei's suit was only meters from Jonathan's ruined shell.
"They're a wily group," Sendrei said. "They've been hiding in the ship's systems."
"He’s not dead?" I asked, knowing better than to singularize them, but feeling so elated at the news that I didn't care.
"We are doing quite well, Liam. Thank you for your concern." Jonathan's voice came across my suit's tactical channel. "I apologize for breaking in, but we have urgent issues to attend. The Genteresk fleet has discovered Intrepid. There is a firefight and it is going poorly for our crew. Sangilak has started shelling the surface with their cannons."
Hastily, I pulled my vac-suit off and tossed it at Sendrei. "Suit can leach water from the ground." I sprinted down the spiral ramp and clawed my way back into the Popeye and closed it. "Jonathan, how much control of this ship do you have?"
"Without the Kroerak noble blocking us, we have complete control, Liam."
"Can you transfer ship control onto my HUD and set a navigation path directly at Sangilak. I need all possible speed," I said.
"Yes. The controls will, necessarily, be virtual," Jonathan replied.
The Popeye's high-resolution view-screen displayed a passable three-dimensional rendering of normal ship controls. I grabbed the virtual yoke with my hands, not caring that my left had been numbed to the point of no feeling. I'd been flying ships my entire life. Between my AI and Jonathan's 1,438 sentients, I had ultimate confidence they'd find a way to translate. I wasn't to be proven wrong.
"And hail that frakking lizard-chin!"
The Popeye involuntarily stepped back, responding to a shift in the Kroerak cruiser's attitude.
"This is Sangilak, Your Eminence. Please convey to me how I might be of service," Belvakuski groveled.
"You will die!" I said. "Jonathan, do we have any lance weapons left?" I left the comms with Belvakuski open as I spoke.
"Aye, Captain. There are sufficient lances for a single, formidable strike," Jonathan replied.
"Are you opposed to aiding in targeting?"
"We would prefer violence only when there is no other option," Jonathan replied.
"They're killing our crew," I said. "We have to act now."
A three-dimensional view of the Kroerak vessel and the Genteresk fleet appeared in front of me. Translucent yellow streaks appeared in the space between us. It took a moment to realize it was the predicted damage paths from the lance weapons. It was terrifying in its potential. I found I could adjust the wave of lances by shaping it with my hand. Of course, I had to let go of the flight controls, but we could safely fly straight at the fleet for the several minutes of separation we had between us.
"Hoffen?" Belvakuski asked in disbelief.
"You should have left us alone, Belvakuski," I responded.
Sangilak's huge turrets turned in our direction and great puffs of fire erupted from the ends of the barrels. Inside the Kroerak vessel it sounded like thunder when the great steel shot impacted the rocky hull.
I held my fire and continued toward the Genteresk fleet. Sangilak's guns were terrifying at just how great their range was. Of course, in space, there was no drag to slow the shot that had been hurled at us. Over the few minutes we approached, Belvakuski continued to fire as smaller ships lifted from the atmosphere, joining in defense of their leader.
"Fire!" I finally called when we'd closed sufficiently.
In an instant, the Genteresk fleet lost eight ships to complete and utter destruction. Another four, including the heavily armored, light cruiser Sangilak, were heavily damaged.
Belvakuski cut comms just after I launched the wave of lances. Until then, she might have held out hope that I was bluffing. Beyond surrendering, I wasn't sure of her options. The Kroerak cruiser was nearly as quick as Intrepid and I would have run her down in less than an hour.
"Anything left, Jonathan?" I asked.
"There are no more lances."
"See if you can raise Belvakuski," I said.
"Stop, Hoffen," Belvakuski said, this time allowing video comms. Her bridge was filled with smoke and her face was covered in black soot.
"Do you surrender?"
"Surely, we can work something out," she wheedled. "Do you really want to take eight hundred hostages?"
"You will turn over Sangilak and Gaylon Brighton to me immediately. You will then inform your fleet to gather what they can from the wreckage and leave the vicinity within ninety minutes."
"And Fleet Afoot," Tabby added hastily.
I looked at her quizzically. "Really?" My AI recognized my confusion and zoomed in on the awkwardly beautiful little racer we'd had stolen from us.
"And Fleet Afoot. It's only fair."
"What special joy do you have planned for me?" Belvakuski asked. "A disemboweling?"
"You will escort all remaining human personnel to Kameldeep's surface where you will be transferred to Intrepid's brig," I said. "If you comply, you will come to no harm by my hand or that of my crew."
Belvakuski narrowed her eyes at me. "You would leave me alive? That is madness."
"I am not asking. I am demanding," I said.
She placed a fist beneath her chin and held it firmly. "You have my word of honor. I have been bested today. I will comply."
"Did you get that, Marny?" I asked, noticing that Jonathan had patched in Intrepid to my conversation.
"Damn skippy I did, Cap," she answered jubilantly. "And don't you ever do that to me again. We thought you were dead!"
"Your starboard main is smoking again, Liam," Ada called over the comms.
"We're working on it," I said. "And for the record, this bucket is a piece of crap."
We'd taken command of Sangilak and discovered that it's only redeeming qualities were its armor, which was as thick as most asteroids I'd mined, and its guns that could knock down anything standing in its way. Otherwise, every system was antiquated beyond comprehension.
Intrepid had taken quite a beating and it had taken us three days of work to get her lofted back into space, but she was mobile, albeit with only three engines.
We’d recovered a very grateful Commander Munay and eight of the hardest workin
g, gung-ho, hooyah Naval officers I'd ever come into contact with. If any of them got more than three hours of sleep at night, I'd have been surprised. That said, the aged warship was every bit a match for their zeal.
"I might have judged you a bit too harshly, Mr. Hoffen," Munay said, standing next to me, staring off into the deep dark.
Sangilak had more than enough fuel to get the entire fleet all the way back to Petersburg Station as long as we traveled at the one speed she had — medium slow.
"Appreciate you saying that. Perhaps I'll tell Mom you're not the asshat I thought you were." I must have caught Munay off guard because he grunted out a laugh.
"You going to get that looked at?" He gestured to my left arm which was still missing most of its fingers.
"Probably not until we're home," I said. "Your boys and girls were pretty beat up. Between Sendrei and them, Intrepid's tank has been working overtime."
"What will you do with the Kroerak ship?" Munay asked.
The question took me aback. "I guess I thought you'd be working out something with Mars Protectorate. Weren't you the guy ready to take Intrepid if I didn't do what you wanted?"
"Maybe you haven't figured it out yet, Hoffen. Not a man or woman working on this ship would lift a finger against you after what you did for us," he said.
"What about you?"
Over Munay's shoulder I saw the entire surviving crew of Naval officers walk somberly onto the bridge and stood in a neat line.
Munay, sensing their arrival, stiffened, clicked his heels together, and drew back a salute that was echoed by the entire squad standing at attention.
"Commodore Hoffen. Respect is earned, we pledge our loyalty to you, in service to our homeland of Mars."
I looked from Tabby and over to the ragtag line of proud men and women, many of whom were my senior and certainly all of them capable and accomplished. I met each set of eyes and saw a fierce determination. This was a group that had given much and would give even more. I felt wholly inadequate in that moment.
"I'm not sure what to say," I said.
"I generally go with 'dismissed,'" Munay said, with a rare grin.
But of course, that's another story entirely.
About the Author
Jamie McFarlane is happily married, the father of three and lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. He spends his days engaged in a hi-tech career and his nights and weekends writing works of fiction.
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Acknowledgments
To Diane Greenwood Muir for excellence in editing and fine word-smithery. My wife, Janet, for carefully and kindly pointing out my poor grammatical habits. I cannot imagine working through these projects without you both.
To my beta readers: Carol Greenwood, Kelli Whyte, Carol Sutton, Linda Baker, Matt Strbjak and Nancy Higgins Quist for wonderful and thoughtful suggestions. It is a joy to work with this intelligent and considerate group of people. Also, to my advanced reading team, you’re a zany, fun group of people who I look forward to bouncing ideas off.
Finally, to Elias T. Stern, cover artist extraordinaire.
Also by Jamie McFarlane
Privateer Tales Series
1.Rookie Privateer
2.Fool Me Once
3.Parley
4.Big Pete
5.Smuggler’s Dilemma
6.Cutpurse
7.Out of the Tank
8.Buccaneers
9.A Matter of Honor
10.Give No Quarter
11.Blockade Runner
Witchy World
1.Wizard in a Witchy World
2.Wicked Folk: An Urban Wizard’s Tale
3.Wizard Unleashed
Guardians of Gaeland
1.Lesser Prince
Corsair Menace (Privateer Tales Book 12) Page 36
