by Justin Sloan
Valerie’s communicator beeped, interrupting him.
Bob’s voice came through. “Valerie, we have a problem.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The Singlaxian Grandeur
Kalan, Valerie, and Garcia made their way to the flight deck, where they found Bob frowning at the controls. He looked up when he heard them enter, and his beady eyes focused on Valerie.
He started explaining the situation without preamble. “Turns out those shapeshifting freaks really put the fear of God into the guys flying the transport. The pilot’s refusing to continue to the planet. He’s sitting in his seat waiting. Keeps saying ‘he’ll be back for us,’ whoever ‘he’ is.”
“Huh.” Kalan gestured toward the transport on the display. “One of the hijackers said something about ‘the Bandian’ when they took the ship. I thought he was just trying to scare us, but maybe he really is their boss.”
“You’ve heard of him?” Valerie asked.
Kalan nodded. “He’s a warlord from Tol, or at least he used to be. Now he controls half the damn system. And his rise to power wasn’t exactly peaceful, if you know what I mean.”
Valerie sighed. “Regardless, we still need somebody to fly that transport to the Damu Michezo. You up for it, Grayhewn?”
Kalan grimaced. He’d forgotten about the tournament. The planet would be a madhouse, even if they did manage to get there in one piece. “You guys aren’t mixed up with the Damu Michezo, are you?”
Valerie grinned. “Trying to be.”
A whistle escaped Kalan’s lips. “I’ve seen more prison fights than I can remember, and I’ve been in more than I’d like. No way I’d set foot in the Damu Michezo, though. That’s some crazy shit. If you’re smart, you’ll stay far away.”
“Thanks for the advice.” The smile slipped from Valerie’s face. “You gonna fly the transport or not?”
A few minutes later Kalan found himself in the cockpit of the transport ship, trying to make sense of the controls. He’d flown a few ships in his time, but the layout of this one was a bit odd.
The pilot of the transport glared at him from the seat Valerie had cuffed him to. “Don’t be an idiot. The Bandian doesn’t let prisoners escape. If we run, it’ll only make it worse. He’ll find us and kill us.”
Kalan raised an eyebrow. “You’d prefer to have him kill us here? Make it easy for him?”
The captain lowered his voice to a near-whisper. “These dumbass passengers? Yeah, sure, they’re dead either way. But you and I are pilots. The Bandian needs pilots.”
Kalan resisted the urge to smack the living hell out of this guy. He’d never work for the Bandian. He’d done a lot of things he wasn’t proud of in his life, but that was a line he wouldn’t cross. “You know what I’ve never understood? The guy’s called ‘Warlord Nobir.’ Why’s he need a nickname like ‘the Bandian?’”
The pilot scoffed. “A nickname, a title—call it what you will. Don’t tell me you never heard the legend of the Bandians.”
Kalan shrugged. “I grew up sheltered.”
“It’s the name of an ancient race of warriors from this part of the system, long extinct. Warlord Nobir uses their name to remind us of the glory possible for a race even from a backwater place like this.”
“Huh. Sounds like you’re a big fan of this Bandian guy.”
“It’s better than the alternative. Join the Etheric Federation? No, thank you!”
Kalan didn’t respond, since he didn’t have much of an opinion on politics. All he knew was that he hated the Bandian.
“Excuse me? I just wanted to thank you again.”
The voice came from behind him, and Kalan turned to see the elderly Skulla female who’d sat next to him. The thankful look on her face made him smile.
“My name’s Esur, by the way,” she added.
“I’m Kalan.” He paused, a little embarrassed. “There’s no need for thanks, ma’am. I was trying to buy us a little time. It was Valerie and her crew who saved us.”
“We wouldn’t have lived long enough for them to save us if you hadn’t acted.” She shook her head, and a hint of sadness entered her voice. “When I think of what almost happened…. And on the way to the Damu Michezo, too!”
Kalan tilted his head in surprise. “You’re a fan?”
“Of the Damu Michezo? Of course! I save up all year to come on this trip. Have you ever been?”
“No, ma’am. I’ve just heard the stories.”
Her eyes glinted with delight. “Ah, it’s so much better than you can imagine. There’s nothing like the sound of a limb being torn from a competitor’s body or the way the stadium hums with excitement when both fighters are near death. And the seats I got this year! I’ll bet I’ll get sprayed with blood before the end of the first match!”
Kalan forced himself to smile and nod politely. These Skulla were seriously weird creatures. He looked back at the controls, and everything clicked into place. That handle on the left was the throttle! Of course.
He grabbed the comm unit and pressed the button. “Bob, you there? Tell Valerie I’ve got this thing figured out. I’m ready to fly when you are.”
Valerie’s voice was barely audible in the background. “It’s about damn time.”
“Uh, she says that’s great,” Bob said. “We’ll follow you to the planet.”
Kalan signed off and put his hands on the controls. It was time to fly this ship to Tol.
The Singlaxian Grandeur
Valerie couldn’t believe the turn of events. Not long ago she had been on Earth kicking butt and taking names. Now she was escorting an alien ship through space to protect it from other aliens, all so that she could find the planet where an alien death match would be held.
Her mind was running wild with the type of enemy she might face there. Since her possibilities were still based on what she had seen out here and legends she’d heard on Earth, she was imagining strange half-dragon aliens or maybe lava monsters. It couldn’t be all Skulla or these other creatures who had tried to hijack them. No, she knew her luck wasn’t that good.
Kalan flew with the other group, but the Skulla group had sent over two of their tattooed shorties to help guide them in case they got lost and also to help with communications between the two ships.
It was too bad, because Valerie had really wanted to ride with Kalan. He seemed like a fun guy—for a super-tall gray-skinned alien.
“We sure we can trust them?” Bob said under his breath, glancing at the Skulla at the rear of the command deck. “I mean, look at those tattoos. When you meet someone with tattoos like that on Earth, you know they’re trouble.”
“You think I’m trouble?” Garcia asked.
“What? You have tattoos?”
Valerie was curious too, and glanced at the tall sergeant.
He smiled wide. “They’re not in places you’d want to see, but yeah, of course I do. Got them to commemorate my mom and pa when they passed. An angel and a devil.”
“Wait, you got tattoos of your parents…somewhere we wouldn’t want to see?” Valerie laughed. “You’re an odd one, Garcia.”
“Hey, I was in a dark place. I was thinking, ‘Man, I gotta put the thought of them behind me.’ So—”
“You went with your behind,” she finished, the realization hitting her and making her laugh twice as hard. A glance from the Skulla reminded her this wasn’t the best time for merriment.
“Which is which?” Bob asked.
“My dad was the devil,” Garcia answered. “Fucker used to hit me like he thought I was a piñata, until one day my mom hit him back. He stared at her like he had no idea what was going on, then just walked out of there. Strangest thing I ever saw.”
“Thought he was making you tough,” Bob said with a nod. “Shit, yeah! If I had a boy I’d beat him too.”
WHACK!
“Ouch!” Bob held the back of his head and glared up at Valerie. “What the hell was that for?”
“Being an insensitive idiot,” she r
eplied. “You ever have a son and hit him, I’ll come for you.”
Bob’s face went white at that, and he returned his attention to the controls, watching the screen for action. He seemed to be mumbling something, but Valerie let it go.
“Sorry to hear that, Garcia,” she said, turning back to the big man. “How’d they go? If you want to share, I mean.”
Garcia glanced down at Bob with a frown, then shrugged. “All that BS aside, my pa ended up giving his life to save mine. I was stupid, thought I could swim better than I could. River took him, but not before he got me to safety. I’ll never forget that moment, the love in his eyes that almost took away all those other times.”
“And your mom?”
“Mom… She loved the old bastard. Broke her heart to be away from him. Still, she stuck it through, was happy to see me raised. They were a bit older when they had me, so when she passed, the best explanation we got was old age. You know your parents?”
Valerie smiled, trying to recall her birth parents, but shook her head. Many of her memories from before the day she had been turned were a blur, though that wasn’t always the case with vampires. Robin remembered her folks as if she had never left them, and had even gone on a journey to find and rescue them. Now they lived in New York, along with Sandra, Diego, and a lot of Valerie’s other friends. Damn, she missed them.
But her parents? The best she could figure was the moment had been traumatic, plus the way the Duke and his vampires had indoctrinated her—forcing her to train like a soldier until she was a killing machine—must’ve caused the fog in her brain.
“Sorry. If I’d known…” He put a hand on her shoulder.
“Come on.” She brushed the hand away and gave him a shrug. “We all have our sob stories, huh?”
She spared a look at Robin, who was leaning against the wall and staring at the ceiling in thought. Valerie imagined the woman was thinking about her parents, wondering if she had made the right choice coming out here. It was tough, Valerie knew. She had left people behind too. Hell, Sandra and Diego had just had their baby! It hurt to know she wouldn’t be there to see that kid grow up, but they had a duty to Earth and would see it through.
No matter how much alien butt they had to kick to get it done.
Speaking of which… She leaned forward, eyes on the display and the blinking red lights moving up behind them.
“They must’ve sent out a distress call,” one of the Skulla said, stepping up next to her. She found it odd how his mouth moved differently from the words she heard, thanks to her translation chip.
“How many of them are out there?” Bob asked. “I mean, are we talking about some random bandits here, or…?”
“Or,” the Skulla replied. “Meaning, we’re all likely about to die.” He shook his head, glaring at Valerie. “If you had just left us alone, this wouldn’t be happening right now.”
“Excuse me?” Robin stepped into his line of sight. “If not for us, you’d be their little bitches right now, as far as I understand it.”
“Not the time, guys,” Bob shouted, pointing at the display. He was right—those ships were closing faster than should have been possible.
“Okay, so they’re well equipped,” Valerie admitted. “Going up against…us. A team with very little flight experience, in a part of space no human has ever been.”
“Hey, leader!” Garcia chimed in. “Aren’t you supposed to be giving us a little pep talk or something?”
She considered this, then shook her head. “I think I’ll focus on keeping us and our new friends alive instead.”
With that she took the controls, focused on her time flying the Pods back home, and pulled around for the fight. She could hear cussing from the two Skulla, but the translator was having a hard time with it. That was fine, since she needed to concentrate on the task at hand.
Now that they were facing the oncoming trouble, they didn’t need the display to show them the blips. They saw the ragged ships coming at them—at least a dozen. The transport ship was moving like a freight train through space, and was a sitting duck for their railguns.
“Hang on tight!” Valerie called and initiated her thrusters, diving to begin evasive maneuvers. Luckily she had a ship that was small enough to do so, with extra thrusters in place for this exact purpose.
“Turrets are ready,” Bob said, glancing at her for the go-ahead.
“Get them locked and destroy these fucks,” Garcia said, then let out an excited “Whoop!”
“Did he just whoop?” Bob asked with a roll of his eyes. “Who does that?”
“Me,” Garcia said, slapping him upside the head in a playful yet loud way. “I also do that to jackasses. Want to keep being a jackass and see if I keep doing it?”
Bob grumbled, with a look to Valerie as if asking if she were going to intervene, but she only laughed.
“Hey,” she said, “you want me to play mom, or you want me to save our asses and get us where we need to go? Gotta be one or the other.”
They fired on the enemy ship before even spinning to get the lock on them, but Valerie was thinking hard about how they could end this fast.
“Any outside-the-box ideas?” she asked the team.
“Jump out there and tear their throats out,” Robin offered. “I’ll cut through their doors and rip 'em all to shreds.” At a concerned glance from Valerie, she added, “Not the time for jokes. Noted.”
Then it hit Valerie… The other enemy ship, the one that had been docked to the transport shuttle.
“Kalan, you there?” she said into the comm.
“We aren't going anywhere, not with those guys flying about. You got something for us?”
“I might. I want you to release that enemy ship. Send it into space, but only on my say-so. Do you have shields? The ship, I mean?”
He took a second, talking going on behind him, then he came back. “Enough for a couple hits, maybe. Why?”
“You're going to take a couple hits.”
She turned to the transport, instead of focusing on the incoming fighters.
“Uh, aren't we supposed to be drawing fire away from them?” Flynn asked.
She smiled. “We'll have to hope this works.”
An enemy fighter swept overhead and sprayed them with fire, but the shields shimmered as they absorbed the strikes.
“You do know we're not invincible either, right?” one of the Skulla asked, but she chuckled. Yes, she noticed the looks around her—as if she were insane. And no, she hadn't been in enough space battles to be an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but she had an idea.
“Turn off that ship's shields,” she told Kalan, and he relayed the command. “On my mark, release it. Got it?”
“Any chance you're going to fill us in on what's happening soon?” Garcia asked. “I mean, I'm still into it and all, just…want to know.”
“Better if I show you,” she replied, and then swept around the transporter. “NOW!”
Sure enough, the abandoned enemy ship left the transporter with a kick and began to float, and the Grandeur positioned herself under it.
“We're taking hits!” Kalan called from the comm.
“Not for long,” Valerie replied, glancing at her display to verify that the enemy were flying in a clustered formation. They were trained, but not for her.
She carefully came up to the floating ship, then put her thrusters into full acceleration. After moving back around to the other side of the transport she gave it another push and then, as they rounded the transport, she pulled back. Grandeur was still accelerating, but not as much. Meanwhile, the enemy ship went careening toward the formation.
She would've loved to know what the enemy was thinking as they saw their own ship coming at them. Maybe they were wondering if there were survivors, some of their own who had escaped but not managed to get the ship fully operational again.
Regardless, by the time they saw the Grandeur behind the other ship it was too late.
“Locked!�
� Bob announced.
“Fire,” Valerie commanded.
With a series of blasts their warheads vanished into space, bursts of flame like retreating fireflies was all that was visible as they moved toward their targets. More blasts hit the transporter and a couple hit the Grandeur, but by then the warheads had made contact.
And like that, most of the enemy ships were debris. Forever to float through space, never to harm another Skulla or innocent transport ship.
“You saved us once, now do it again!” Kalan shouted over the comm, but Valerie ignored him. She was doing her damned best.
Pulling behind the final attacking vessel, she sent one last barrage from the ship’s blasters and shredded the enemy ship into scrap metal. Everyone on the Grandeur burst into cheers, and more sounded from the transport ship’s connection.
She leaned over and announced into the comm, “Smooth ride from here, ladies and gentlemen. Sit back and enjoy it.”
Bob was looking at her with wide eyes and nodding, impressed. Robin finally took her seat, where she leaned back and closed her eyes, while Garcia and the corporal were busy high fiving and fist-pounding each other. The Skulla were the only ones to approach Valerie.
“I’m sorry,” the one from before said. He bowed his head. “I never should have doubted you. You were amazing.”
“If you ever get bored and want to become a professional fighter pilot, our people could use someone like you,” the second Skulla said. “Pays nicely, too.”
She chuckled. “I already have a boss and a mission. Thank you, though.”
“No, thank you!”
The Skulla returned to their seats at the rear of the command deck, and everyone watched as Valerie got the ship back on course. A large dark-green planet with some patches of water here and there became visible.
“Bob, can you take over?” Valerie asked.
He nodded and did so, and Valerie moved over to Robin. The younger woman peeked at her from behind a half-closed eyelid. Seeing that it was Valerie, she sat up, alert.
“We’re really doing this, huh?” Valerie said.
