Reapers of the Damned

by Saqib Sadiq

  During station lockdown SENTINEX guns were set to surveillance mode. In this mode the gun’s scanner actively scanned the immediate surrounding for unauthorized DNA. When Jake’s body tore down the door and entered the decompression chamber the scanners had already detected it and began an analysis of its DNA. A search of the database returned no match. SENTINEX’s programming compelled it to take the next logical step.

  “Halt Intruder!” Jake’s altered body continued smashing the outer airlock door. “Cease all movements and stand by for Security Personnel” SENTINEX sent a silent distress message to C&C, notifying them of the intruder. A copy of the scanned DNA specifications was also sent.

  “This unit is lethal and must be complied with.” the digitized voice emitting from the automated weapon’s speaker patch gave its final warning. The ungodly corpse, no longer able to comprehend speech, continued battering the door.

  Upon realizing that all conditions for executing termination protocols had been met, the synthetic voice made one last statement “You will be terminated.” With this blunt statement SENTINEX’s weapon system came online. A full round of projectiles were loaded into its firing mechanism. Targeting scanners steered the muzzle towards its prey. Motion detectors made one final sweep to make sure the intruder was still being incompliant. All scan results were sent to C&C, so that they could be scrutinized in case of a mishap.

  Then for one cold and deadly second the gun remained motionless, the multi chambered muzzle was cocked and aimed at its unsuspecting victim. With cold calculated precision a blitzkrieg of projectiles burst out of each chamber. The muzzle was ablaze and rotated rapidly as projectile after projectile exploded and screamed towards its target.

  The first salvo found its mark and severed the left leg from its torso. The body’s pain receptors no longer functioned; Jake’s body felt no pain and continued hammering away. The targeting scanners adjusted the trajectory and the second salvo severed the other leg. The body could no longer support it self. It splashed into a pool of blood. Both legs were sprawled on either side and the stunted body continued to break down the door. Only this time it could not apply its full force. Its blows slowly weakened.

  Upon detecting continued motion SENTINEX unleashed a third salvo, which decapitated the unholy fiend. The head rolled off and came to a rest in the pool of blood. The eyes were still fixed in their lifeless expression and they vacantly stared at the airlock ceiling.

  An onlooker could tell that the headless torso was not in control of its actions. Something was controlling it and compelled it to continue pursuing a fruitless and self-destructive goal. The outer airlock door would not yield and the severed body no longer had the structural support to bring it down, yet it persisted. SENTINEX would not stop until all motion had ceased, a fourth salvo tore off the right arm another one tore of the left arm. All that remained was a bloody chest that vainly thumped against the door.

  The final salvo raced along the spinal cord, cutting the chest in two. Both halves peeled away from each other. Strands of guts held them together but then gave way with the continued onslaught. The desecrated corpse no longer stirred. It lay in pieces on top of the cold chamber floor. One last sweep of the motion sensor revealed no movement. With that piece of data inputted, SENTINEX stopped its onslaught and sent a report informing C&C that the intruder had been terminated.

  CHAPTER

  EIGHT

  The teardrop shaped craft careened through space. An onlooker could tell that it wasn’t a military craft, for its bright red exterior did not make for good camouflage. It was the kind of craft you would expect the young rich nobles over at vixen heights to be cruising around in. Only they could afford the luxury of having twin aft thrusters and a top speed of 10 mach.

  But in this part of space, the hunting ground for pirates, the sports craft seemed oddly out of place. No one, with half a brain stem, would bring their prized possession in to a known pirate stronghold. Nevertheless the lone craft swept forward, its pilot oblivious to what laid in store for him.

  Without warning a large stealth craft de-cloaked a few kilometers in front of the sports craft. It seemed like it materialized out of thin air. The smaller craft was compelled to slow down and make a complete stop less it smash into the rusting behemoth.

  This maneuver was typical of the pirates that operated in these parts. They liked to make their victims feel intimidated by suddenly appearing out of nowhere, with their huge vessel, which were bristling with weapons. They made sure their modified canon heads were installed up front where they could be easily seen.

  “Get out of there, if ya’ know what’s good for ya’” a gruff voice could be heard over the sports craft’s cockpit com. The pilot knew that his captor wanted him to eject his escape pod, with him in it, so that the sports craft could be easily taken. The pilot refused to comply.

  “You blue bloods sure are thickheaded. Eject now or else we blast our way in!” the gruff voice gave an ultimatum to the helpless pilot. If he didn’t abandon his possession the pirates would fire and break open the plexi-glass windshield. This would destroy the craft’s environmental seals and the atmosphere would be sucked out of the cockpit, suffocating the pilot to death.

  After waiting only a little while later the pirate decided to make good on his threat “All right buddy it’s your funeral.” The stealth craft’s weapons came online. They were targeting the windshield when the pirates heard an unusual sound.

  “What in damnation is that racket?” the pirate captain asked his band of thieves.

  “Sounds like an incoming distortion wave.”

  “Impossible!” the furious man slammed his fist into his ship’s control console “Why would Gemcore waste energy on that blue blood. It’s not even their craft!” despite his confusion a distortion wave, fired from a quasar cannon, was headed their way. From the forward viewing port the crew could make out a green streak of light coming at them with tremendous speed.

  As the massive wave of energy drew closer to the stealth craft the behemoth vessel began to shake. “Steady men! This beast has taken many a blow. She’ll hold after this one too!” the incoming projectile streaked over the sports craft and slammed into the larger craft. The massive influx of energy instantly paralyzed the pirate’s ship. With its weapons and propulsion systems offline it lay dead in the water.

  For a moment there was complete stillness. But it was quickly snuffed away with the arrival of more incoming vessels. “Now what!” the agitated captain was looking through the forward viewing port when small fighter crafts suddenly began to appear. At first there were only a few then more and more came into view. They screamed over the stealth craft and quickly surrounded it. Cutting off all possible escape paths, then the armada descended.

  Through a veil of stellar dust, battle craft emblazoned with the Gemcore insignia emerged. They took up positions around the trapped vessel. They were followed by large lumbering freighter crafts, their holds eager to fill up with refined ore. Finally at the end of the convoy an impressive Command and Control field vessel appeared. The veil swept away revealing the field vessel’s forward viewing port. It was made from a single rectangular piece of reinforced plexi-glass. It encompassed the entire bridge section of the vessel. Placed on top of it was a mobile quasar cannon head, its sonic crystals were still glowing from the recent discharge.

  At this point the captain realized that he’d been had. The bright red sports craft was just bait. It lured him into revealing his position. If Gemcore had sent in a marked scout he would have never attacked for fear of a swift and deadly reprisal. This shrewd maneuver was not typical of the mining company and the captain was very suspicious.

  “Whom am I dealing with?” he was at the com, its frequency matched with the command vessel. “I can tell your not the usual Gemcore pups they send my way!” the com remained silent “Well go on, you obviously have me, what is it you want?”

  An icy voice responded “I seek to rid this sector of your k
ind once and for all.”

  The captain was taken aback for a second but he quickly masked his worry and pressed on. “Well then go on ‘get rid’ of me if you must. But you’ll never know where I have transferred my credits. Their other repositories beside the central computer core, you know.” he had been in more dire predicaments and knew that it was always possible to bribe his way out. “And I don’t have to remind you that they use to belong to blue bloods like you.”

  “Scum like you need to be purged not appeased.” Came the retaliating response.

  The captain smiled on the inside “Ahh! I see we have scruples.” The captain’s voice took on a more cheery tone “Well men like you are certainly in short supply. Alright then take me prisoner, throw me in the brig, put me on trial or whatever you blue blooded yuppies do.” The captain said mockingly. He was already thinking about the contacts he had in Gemcore penitentiary; and which of those contacts could be bribed into freeing him.

  “You’re already in your jail cell my friend. And I find you guilty of larceny against the corporate entity known as Gemcore. Guilty of the attempted murder of a Gemcore scout, guilty of preying on others wealth, guilty of being space scum!”

  The captain was astounded by the litany of charges “On whose authority!?” he was becoming a bit nervous. This guy was a real hard case.

  “On my authority and my authority alone! You should also know that I find these crimes to be insufferable and you will be punished for your crimes.”

  The captain decided to change tactics. Perhaps he could appeal to his captor’s sense of remorse, if he had one. “Senór! I’ve received your warning loud and clear there is no need for unpleasantness.” He paused then added “I promise you won’t hear from me again.”

  “Liar! There will be no mercy! You and your men are sentenced to death!” the words struck the captain like an icy pick. His men, who could hear the conversation started to get agitated. Usually they were the ones doing the killing no else threatened them with death, especially not Gemcore.

  “Wait! Be reasonable! Maybe we can make an agreement?” but the link had already been severed. He could hear his crew speaking in worried tones. The trapped men looked out of the viewing ports and saw that the Battle crafts were charging their weapons and aiming at the hull of the stealth craft.

  “I didn’t think blue bloods like you acted this way! I thought we had an understanding!” his voice fell on an inactive com link. Seeing that there was no room for negotiations he responded in kind “All right! Do what you must. You’ll never take me alive!” with that final indignation the captain closed his end of the channel.

  The laser turrets on board the battle crafts finished charging. The tips of the turrets were glowing from the pent up energy they had inside of them. Soon afterwards red hot lasers could be seen shooting out of them. They bombarded the hull of the stealth craft. The trapped craft was very old; its main defense was stealth. It could not take the brunt of an attack coming from a sophisticated weapons platform.

  Moments later the hull began to rupture. White streams of atmosphere erupted from the laser induced fractures. The suction of escaping atmosphere caused anything close to the openings to be sucked out into space. Debris from the craft’s interior was being propelled into the battlefield.

  A few of the bandits were sucked out. They could be seen thrashing in the suffocating vacuum of space. A little while later they hanged motionless. By this time the laser bombardment had severely damaged the hull. The numerous fractures expanded until they combined and formed a gaping chasm running down the length of the stealth craft.

  More and more debris and beings spewed from the chasm. This time some of the crewmembers were clad in space suits. The suits were equipped with jet packs and the pirates could be seen escaping from the battlefield. Apparently this was not acceptable by this contingent of Gemcore security personnel. The smaller fighter crafts surrounding the wounded stealth craft took aim at the fleeing men. Once they were locked on the fighter crafts released a torrent of machine gun fire from their firing banks. The stream of projectiles sliced through their targets leaving a crimson streak in their wake.

  The lasers were now targeted inside of the chasm. Small explosions lit up the dark interior of the mortally wounded ship. The lasers started to slice through the support beams, causing the ship to break apart from its self. The stealth craft was being cut in half.

  *****

  Inside of the pirate ship there was mass hysteria. Those bandits fortunate enough to find a space suit were able to survive the loss of atmosphere. Now they had to doge the incoming volleys of laser fire. Once the support beams gave way the walkways and decks crumbled. The space pirates struggled to find shelter in the fallen rubble. The best they could do was crawl into small air pockets. They rammed the butt of their machine guns into the cavities to make more room for themselves. They prayed the boarding parties wouldn’t find them.

  The space bandits, hidden in their air pockets, watched as small assault crafts entered their ship from the gaping chasm. The nimble crafts managed to land on the crushed decks. Once they touched down their doors flung open and out poured Gemcore security personnel, armed with Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG) launchers. They made a perimeter of several square yards using the assault crafts as shields.

  The pirates realized that they were securing ground for the next wave of invaders. A few of them were loyal to their captain they believed in what he fought for and could not allow his ship to be overtaken. They mustered up enough courage to attack the perimeter. They figured if they could punch a hole into the enemy’s defenses their comrades, who had gone into hiding, would join the fight. After all none of them wanted to return to a life of servitude.

  The group of valiant pirates charged forward guns ablaze. Gemcore retaliated with a heavy barrage of grenade salvos. The airborne bombs hit their targets dead on and the charging pirates were blown to bits. The ill planned insurgency was quickly snuffed out. With the area secured, several more assault crafts descended.

  This larger group of security personnel was armed with assault rifles. They broke up into two teams and began searching the destroyed ship. By this time the laser bombardment had ended so the only danger the boarding party faced was the crumbling ship itself and hidden pirates.

  Their objective was to secure the ship. They were given authorization to eliminate any obstacles that got in the way of the mission. Along the way the two assault teams came across pirates cowering in the rubble. The initial charge made by the pirates was the only resistance offered. Isolated and with no command structure the individual pirates quickly surrendered.

  Gemcore security personnel took the pirates as prisoners. Electromagnetic restraints were attached to their upper limbs, effectively immobilizing them. One of the freighter crafts was called in to act as a prison ship. The large vessel landed in a clearing made by the assault team. The rounded up pirates were made to enter the vessel. Outnumbered and utterly defeated they did as they were told.

  As the prisoners filed into the vessel one of them began whispering something to another prisoners. This highly suspicious action caught the eye of one of the assault team member. “You there! Why are you talking to that other prisoner?” the shackled man quickly stopped talking, the guard made his way over to investigate “Organizing a prison break are ya?” With that accusation the guard rammed the butt of his RPG launcher into the prisoner’s leg. He immediately fell on his knees.

  The attack caused a stir amongst the captured men. They actually looked upon the fallen pirate with concern. The guard found this to be peculiar. “What were you saying?”

  The prisoner continued kneeling; a bitter sneer grew across his face. “Answer me!” the guard’s heavy boot crashed into the captured pirate’s gut. The padding of the space suit softened the force of the blow. The pirate looked through his visor and said. “I was telling my men that Gemcore rats ‘oughta bathe before taking over ships.” The other pirates began to l
augh “You’re stinking up the whole place!!!” all of the prisoners let out hearty laughs.

  The guard was not amused. A suspicious looked formed on his face “Your men?” the pirate realized he said too much “You’re the captain of the ship?”

  Realizing he had nothing more to lose the man replied with great defiance “Yes I am.”

  The guard studied the man’s face “You go by the name of Diablo, don’t you?”

  The dark skinned man smiled “I see that my reputation has traveled far and wide.” He stood erect and continued; “Yes I am Diablo, captain of stealth craft Chaotica.”

  The guard’s stern face instantly transformed into a menacing grin “I was hoping you would say that.” He slung the launcher across his side and pulled out a dagger from his utility belt. The rest of the assault team kept a watchful eye on the rounded up prisoners.

  “I am going to make an example out of you space scum.” The words had an oddly familiar tone to them. He brought the blade of the dagger dangerously close to the space suit’s air regulators.

  “You wouldn’t.” the pirate captain said defiantly “One thing I learned about you blue bloods is that your laws make you weak. Your superiors won’t allow you to commit murder, even the murder of an anarchist space bandit like me.”

  The guard was amused “Fair enough but who’s going to find out? These men are loyal to me they will say what I tell them to say. And as far as I am concerned you resisted arrest.” In one clean motion the blade sliced through the air regulators. A cloud of oxygen gas sprayed out of the space suit.

  “I am your prisoner. I surrendered to you. How could you do this?” the captain started to have trouble breathing. His visor was becoming cloudy as he labored to fill his lungs with air.

  “Gemcore has been too lenient with space scum like you. It’s my job to rid this sector of your kind. When they see your suffocated body, your band of thieves will think twice before plundering Gemcore property again.”

  The captain let out a raspy voice “Spare me, I beg of you.” The dying man pleaded. The other security personnel were beginning to feel uncomfortable. This was a bit too much perhaps now they should restore his air supply. But no one dared mention this to the man holding the dagger.