I drove my sword into the stomach of one and slammed my elbow into the nose of another. While the pirate with the broken nose was clutching his face, I kicked the third man in the chest before he could point his rifle at me. The air ejected from his mouth with a gasp, and I forcibly expelled every last fraction of oxygen from his body when I skewered his lungs. After I removed my blade from the dead man, I spun toward the pirate with the shattered nose and lopped his head off with a clean slice.
As blood dripped from my longsword, I glanced up at Casey. Her blue eyes settled on me, filled with surprise.
“Holy shit!” The enchantress drew in her breath. “I didn’t even see them until you--”
“Saved your life,” I finished, hoping to cut off any thought of what her eyes might have told her she’d seen. “I’m just glad you didn’t let loose with your railgun. My prot-field’s down, so you would have turned me into a human sieve.”
Casey’s ignored my joke, her mouth still agape. She looked back at the dead pirates and then at me while she shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. I turned around in time to see these pirates. Then when I was about to blow the shit out of them, suddenly, you were in the middle of them! Weird.”
I swallowed and racked my mind for an explanation. “I was really fast.”
The enchantress glanced from left to right. “You were over there, and then you were here. How is that even possible? Do you have some kinda illegal Runetech I don’t know about? Can I see it? I’d love to reverse-engineer that shit.”
“Uhh . . . I’ll tell you later, alright?”
I wasn’t sure exactly what I’d tell her, but it couldn’t be the truth. She was a nice girl, but I’d known her for only a few hours and I wasn’t sure I could entirely trust her.
Footsteps echoed down the passageway, and I whirled around. Elle approached us, and her eyes narrowed at me.
“We don’t have time to work out how this squire managed to vanish out of thin air and reappear elsewhere,” the point clerk said. “The last of the pirates will be at the bridge by now.”
The point clerk was right. We had bigger problems to deal with. Like the pirates on the Stalwart who’d made it past the ship’s sensors.
I glanced at the corpses and found the answer to how the pirates got past the rebooted surveillance systems. Bloodied prot-belts were wrapped around their hips. They must have stolen them from the crew. Normally wearing another user’s belt wouldn’t work because of the biolink, but so much of the crewmembers’ blood was soaking the belts, somehow bypassing the monitoring systems.
Elle squatted next to a pirate, took the dead man’s sword, and used the end of the blade to flick the buckle on the prot-belt. The belt unlatched with a click.
“Covering the bioreader with blood only works for a little while,” she said. “A few more minutes, and we would have known there were hostiles on the deck.”
I forced myself to look away and tried not to think about what horrors such bloodthirsty pirates might inflict on the command team.
“Let’s go, Nicholas. Come along, sifter,” Elle said to Casey as she ran for the elevator.
We all got in together, and I hit the button for Deck 4.
“Who’s the bitch?” Casey said with a jerk of her thumb.
I figured she was annoyed about Elle calling her a sifter. RTF enchanters aboard starships were often called sifters because of a rumor suggesting they sifted the Dust stores on vessels to sell on illegal markets. I didn’t think the rumors were true since the penalties for lawbreaking were so severe. Elle didn’t seem to use the word with any malice, so I decided to get her some slack.
“I am the Stalwart’s point clerk,” Elle said with a flick of her shoulder length hair.
“Eh, that explains why you stand like you’ve got a stick up your--”
“Her name’s Elle McGrath,” I said before Casey could finish, “and she’s the reason why the detection systems are back online.”
“Yes. If not for me, the Stalwart would be--” Elle began, but I cut her off.
“And this is Casey. If she hadn’t been there to repair our gunner terminals, we wouldn’t have been able to defend ourselves from the first wave of pirates. We’d all be dead right now. She is far from a ‘sifter.’ She’s my friend.”
“Fair enough.” Elle gave the other beautiful woman a short nod, and Casey returned the movement. Obviously, the two women didn’t like each other, but their feelings wouldn’t matter if the pirates took the bridge. I gestured for them both to follow me, and we ran toward the command center.
When we arrived at the passageway leading to the bridge, the first set of security doors were already open. Corpses lay along the red carpet inside, but all of them were pirates.
I ran to the end of the curving passageway, and Elle followed behind me. When we came to the four-meter double doors sectioning off the bridge from the corridor, a group of two knights and eight artillerymen were waiting outside.
I recognized Olav among them.
“Olav, sir. There are twenty pirates inside the bridge.”
“Aye,” Olav said as he studied his axe blade.
“They’ll take the ship,” I said.
“Monitoring systems show we’ve cleared all the pirates except for those in the bridge. Shielders are maintaining the breaches. It’s time to celebrate, Squire.”
I could hear yelling from inside the bridge, and it sounded like people were dying. We needed to get in there and help the captain.
Olav unclipped the water drum from his belt and raised it to the other crewmembers. “We did it, lads. Killed every one of those fuckers who tried to take our beautiful girl.”
The other knights were holding drums, too, and they yelled a jovial cheer before downing their drinks. I turned to Casey, but she was in the middle of a conversation with an artilleryman. The enchantress was grinning, and the soldier seemed equally pleased with their efforts.
But our fight wasn’t over. All the pirates weren’t dead yet.
“Are they insane?” I whispered to Elle. She was the only person who wasn’t celebrating with the rest of the crew while the leader of our ship was behind this door fighting pirates.
“I think they are. Or maybe they don’t like their captain?” She leaned in close to whisper to me, and even though my body was screaming with adrenaline, her warm breath sent a shiver down my neck.
“Uhh . . . there are still pirates on the ship, sir!” I said to Olav. “Inside the bridge. With the captain.” Normally I wouldn’t show such disrespect to an officer, but I couldn’t understand why they weren’t trying to help.
“We know,” Olav said with a smile. “That’s why we’re celebrating. The fight’s over, Squire.”
The bridge’s doors slid open, and a headless pirate body fell backward onto the passageway floor. The rest of the crew was still gulping from their water drums, and they paid no attention to the body that landed next to them.
These men were insane.
I nodded to Elle and then stepped over the pirate corpse into the bridge. My sword was in my hand, and I prepared myself for more killing.
A man clad in a royal blue trench coat wiped his sword on a dead pirate’s tunic. Long black hair fell over his face, white peppered his beard, and crow’s feet hung around his eyes. His serious demeanor suggested the lines were from scowling rather than smiling. I recognized his face from the holo announcing the pirate attack.
This man was Captain Atticus Cross.
Standing beside him, with a dagger in each hand, was a woman wearing a royal blue coat much like the captain’s. Her jet black hair was cropped around her ears and nape, and veins pulsed in her thin neck. The woman gave me a cold stare with her blue eyes as she sheathed her weapons. I assumed she was the ship’s commander.
The captain and the commander were the only people in the bridge. The only people still alive, at least.
They were surrounded by pirate corpses, about twenty in all, though their mangled and dis
figured state made it impossible to tell the exact number.
“Good work, Commander Reynolds,” The captain said to the commander before he pressed a gauntleted finger onto the button of a nearby console. “The enemy assault is over. Yeomen, we require a cleanup in the bridge.”
I was still speechless, unable to look away from the dozens of pirate corpses inside the bridge. I couldn’t work out how two practically unarmored officers had taken down over twenty intruders. It was possible but highly unlikely. And neither the commander nor the captain seemed to have broken a sweat.
Elle pushed past me and stormed up to the captain.
“Captain Atticus Cross.” Her voice tweaked a little as she said his name. The point clerk sounded a little nervous, but she puffed her chest up and continued. “There are matters for which you must account for. I thought them simply rumors, but a few hours on your ship have confirmed their truthfulness to me.”
Was this point clerk employed by Duke Barnes like I was? If so, was she about to reveal to an entire crew that she’d come to spy on them?
My mind reeled with the thought, and I guessed there was about to be a lot more bloodshed in the bridge.
Chapter 10
“This starship breaks numerous kingdom codes, Captain,” Elle stated. “If I had the time for an inspection before takeoff, the Stalwart would never have left Bratton’s docks.”
As I heard the knights chuckle around me, my shoulders relaxed. Elle might have still been in the employ of Duke Barnes, but I doubted it.
“I’m thirsty. Deal with this, Commander Reynolds,” Captain Cross instructed before strolling out from the bridge.
Elle gaped at the captain’s back before he vanished around the bend. I stifled a smile as a chuckle brewed in my belly. I already liked the captain, even if I also liked Elle. He seemed like the kind of man who wouldn’t take shit from anyone. From the pirate corpses lying in the bridge, he was also a fine warrior.
“Point clerks are such a pain in the ass,” Olav said as he leaned against a console. “Do you want to know what happened to the last one the kingdom sent us?”
Elle snorted at the berserker. “I have read the report. Unlike the previous clerk, I am not one to be scared off by an uncouth crew.”
“Uncouth?” Olav slapped his knee and barked a laugh. “That’s an interesting compliment.”
“I shouldn’t need to state this, but I’m afraid I must,” Elle continued, ignoring Olav’s jibes. “This pirate attack might not have killed so many of your crew had you abided by the RTF’s regulations. It is protocol to hand over the Arcane Dust stores to preserve the lives of the crew and the RTF vessel.”
The short-haired commander smirked. “On the contrary, it is only our shirking of regulation that prevented the pirates from taking our ship. Had the Stalwart been without her non-regulation enhancements, you would not be standing here, point clerk.”
“And had you obeyed protocol by handing over the Dust, you wouldn’t have been attacked.” Elle held her nose in the air as she spoke. The disdain in her voice was a sharp contrast to her attractive face.
Elle’s forthrightness was making me cringe a little. The conversation had all the allure of a train wreck, and I couldn’t walk away.
Commander Reynolds sighed as if she were addressing a child. “Miss McGrath, you might have learned a few tidbits at the Arcane Institute, but out in the field, we do things differently. Do you know what happens when a ship lets pirates on board so they can steal Dust?” Elle began to speak, but the commander cut her off. “They don’t stop there. They kill your crew, and then they take your ship. A pretty woman like you, they keep. I don’t need to tell you what they do then, do I?”
Elle’s face contorted with disgust. “Even so, it’s not only your defense systems and weaponry that’s a breach of code. When I was on Deck 5, I saw that thing inside your arcane chamber. Humanoid robots above the servitor class are illegal equipment, Commander.”
It sounded to me like Elle was trying to prove herself by asserting her authority. The commander wasn’t having any of it. From the smile on her thin lips, she seemed to be enjoying the heated exchange.
“Matthias? He’s not equipment, girlie. He’s our ship mage,” Olav said.
Elle’s mouth dropped, but she didn’t turn away from the commander. “An android is your ship mage?”
“You obviously didn’t get a good look at him, because Matthias is not merely an android.” The commander pressed her prot-belt. “Matthias, come to the bridge.” Within a second, a portal opened beside Commander Reynolds, and a cloaked figure stepped through.
As he raised his hands to salute the commander in a triangle with his two thumbs and index fingers, the cloak slipped free of his arms. His limbs were composed of organic and prosthetic materials, and tubes and microchips showed beneath a transparent synthetic skin. From what little I could see with the heavy cloak covering his body, he appeared to have once been a human male except cybernetics had replaced most of his organic body parts.
“Greetings, Commander,” the cybernetic man said. “I see you and the captain have been busy.”
“You did a fine job closing the portal,” Commander Reynolds replied. “We might not have survived another wave.”
“I was merely doing what is required of me as ship mage.” Matthias’ mouth didn’t move as his electronic voice crackled.
“A machina . . .” Elle covered her mouth with her hand. “This . . .” She paused and rubbed down her uniform as if composing herself. “A violation of the highest order!”
The commander rolled her eyes before turning back to the machina. “I know babysitting isn’t in your list of duties as ship mage, Matthias, but can you show this PC how our jump sphere works? She needs assurance that you and the sphere are more than capable of moving us through the universe.”
“Yes, Commander.” The machina’s head jerked toward Elle. “Shall we travel to the arcane chamber?” Matthias extended a hand made of silver pipes and fiber-optic tubes. Elle took it with some trepidation. Together they walked through the portal before it vanished completely.
A short man with a brush-shaped mustache entered the bridge. He was wearing freshly pressed black clothes with blue lines across the seams of his jacket and pants, the regular uniform of RTF Space Knights. His thin black hair was wet, as though he’d just finished showering and hadn’t bothered to dry it properly.
“Navigator Manzo set course for Tachion,” Reynolds addressed the man. “Then count casualties and ensure the wounded are cared for. Dr. Lenkov will have her work cut out for her, so she’ll need help.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Once that’s taken care of, you’ll issue commands to the servitors to begin clean-up.” The commander tilted her head from side to side audibly cracking the bones in her neck. “It’s time I joined the captain in the galley for a bourbon.”
As the commander exited the bridge, the navigator went to a console and started issuing orders through his headset.
Olav slapped me on the back. “You fixed the detection systems, didn’t you? Good job.” Before I could tell him Elle had been the one to get the computers online, the berserker knight strolled out from the bridge, swinging his two hatchets as if they were toys.
More of the command team filtered into the bridge and sat within the pod chairs by the consoles. Yeoman and servitors also entered to remove the dead bodies and scrub the deck.
“We should probably get some sleep,” Casey said.
“Shouldn’t I be helping with the cleanup?” I questioned as I knew there’d be a hell of a lot to do. I didn’t want to shirk my duties.
“We have a particular way of doing things here, so it is probably best you stay out of the way. The servitors will do the better part of it.” She looked at her prot-belt. “And it seems most of the casualties are either in the infirmary or on their way there. You look surprised. The Stalwart might have her faults, but she’s a well-oiled machine.”
“Al
right then,” I said as suddenly the depths of my exhaustion hit me in the shoulders. Today had been almost as strenuous as the mission on Tyranus. I was ready to sleep for hours. My stomach rumbled with hunger, but I’d worry about food when I woke up.
I remembered Zac, and how I’d promised myself I would return to him. “I need to tell someone about Zac first. He’s on Deck 5, and he needs medical help ASAP.”
“Artilleryman Zac is already on the mend,” the navigator said to me from over his shoulder. The black-haired man strolled over to us and gave me a broad smile. “Sorry, I have a habit of eavesdropping. I can’t help it. I’m a slayer.”
“Sorry?” I asked. I’d never heard of a slayer, but I guessed it was some kind of specialist Space Knight role.
“Don’t mind Leith Manzo,” Casey said. “He likes to brag about being part of a role the RTF disbanded years ago.”
“They didn’t disband us,” Leith said. “They just couldn’t find any knights worthy enough to join.” He sized me up with a sweep of his eyes, making my skin crawl. “You like killing, Squire? Not like the berserkers, of course. They’re so unrefined and brutish in their methods. Slayers make killing an art form. It is a thing of beauty; to take a man’s soul with a quick and precise flick of a blade.”
“Uhh . . .” I was feeling uncomfortable under the navigator’s gaze. His pupils gleamed with a kind of dark insanity, and there was a nervous twitch in his right eye.
Leith’s smile broadened beneath his mustache. “I can cut a man’s tongue out without him noticing. I once infiltrated a camp of Parthians and pinned their prime minister up by his testicles. You should have seen their faces when they found him in the morning!” He tilted his head back and cackled.
“Sounds like a real laugh,” Casey said to the navigator as she pulled me out of the bridge and into the passageway.
“Have a think about it, yeah?” Leith called out.
Casey sighed as we walked. “Phew, we got off easy.”
“Those things Leith said, he was joking, right?”
“Not at all. He’s done every one of them and more. You’re lucky he didn’t decide to act out the assassination of the warlord on Brigantes.”
Space Knight Page 16
