Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20
PREVIOUSLY: After hiding in WHISPER'S blind spot for days, Laurine is anxious for some action, so when she sees some of the pirates leave in a shuttle, she decides to retake WHISPER herself...
"The human and the Tarcillian are off the ship, Herrick's ready to deal with them." Laurine explains to Red Klaw over the com line. "I don't know about the others, but this could be our best chance to catch them divided."
"If you startle them and they run before I get there, you had best hope they kill you before I do." He warns her.
She smiles coldly at him, "I have a tracker with me, if they kill me at least you'll know where the ship is." Being cooped up in her ship alone for the past couple of days has left Laurine a bit more flip than usual.
Red Klaw leans close to the screen and speaks agonizingly slowly. "Do not let anything happen to that ship!" Then he cuts the transmission.
Laurine turns away from her communications panel. She wears a light space suit pulled up half way, she pulls it the rest of the way up and zips it tight. She straps a solid looking gun onto her thigh and pulls on a helmet.
Laurine's ship is just under WHISPER'S battle bay, hidden in a sensor blind spot. Before she leaves the bridge of her ship, Laurine punches a command into her control panel. She peers out of the front windows, the visor of her helmet has a polarized lens, she can see WHISPER'S battle bay doors retract. She is glad that Red Klaw had the forethought to build in secret access codes into this prototype.
When she's satisfied that the battle bay doors are staying open, she marches off the bridge to her exit hatch. Her sleek little ship is locked into a position directly under the battle bay, she crawls out of the hatch and clambers along the hull of her ship until she finds an angle she likes.
When she's ready, Laurine pushes herself off the hull of her ship as hard as she can. She drifts through the chameleon membrane at an angle. Once she's inside the battle bay, her momentum carries past the hatch before the ship's artificial gravity kicks in. She tumbles onto the deck and quickly rolls to her feet.
She hurries to the door into the main cargo bay. Carefully she peers around the edge of the doorway. The cargo bay appears completely deserted. Cautiously she slips out of the battle bay, her first stop is to plant her tracker deep behind the ship's engineering station.
Meanwhile on WHISPER'S top level, Val putters around in his quarters. He sets his new gun on the long glass coffee table with a smile. He tucks away his toiletries in the vast bathroom, and hangs his new cloths in the large closet. Then he pauses in front of one of the skylights that runs floor to ceiling and marvels. This ship far surpasses his wildest dreams!
Deep in the vast canyons of the dusty brown planet below, is a zero G race track called the Blender. It is a nasty loop of parabolic up and downs along the floor of the canyon. The cars cling to the track using gravity and centrifugal force alone. Several tunnels lead out of the canyon walls to various groups of spectator seats along the track.
From one of these tunnels Rue and Garr, wander to the box office. The chameleons beside them are barely detectable, save for their footsteps in the dust.
The race schedule is posted on the closed gates, the next race isn't until late tomorrow. With nothing else to do while they wait for their new transport ship to be ready, they decide to wander through the city burrowed into the canyon walls beyond the track.
"I know a nice little bar not far from here." Rue tells the others as he leads the way away from the track. A grubby little kid eyes them as they wander into the city. After they pass he gets up and follows not too far behind them.
On WHISPER Laurine finishes tucking the tiny tracking device well out of the way. When it's secured in a spot it won't be easily found, she turns to walk across the cargo bay toward the lift in the fore of the ship. There is still no sign of any of the pirates, this could be much easier than she expected.
Before she reaches the lift she hears it whirring as it descends, so there is somebody here after all. She pulls out her gun and walks to stand directly in front of the door. The lift quickly drops all the way to the cargo bay.
When the doors open Laurine shoots! But Val is much shorter than average, the blast explodes over his head into the back of the lift.
He screams and dives into the corner. He desperately scrambles for the lift controls to try and close the doors but Laurine moves to stand in the door.
"Hold it!" She demands, her voice is cold and mechanical coming from her helmet.
Val lunges at her, hurling himself into her mid-section. They slam backward into the doorframe of the lift.
The impact knocks the wind out of Laurine. Val punches her in the kidney, but her space suit absorbs most of the impact.
She cracks him in the head with the butt of her gun! Val staggers back. Laurine falls back a step to level her gun at him.
Val rushes to the lift control panel, he jerks open a hatch under the buttons. Inside is a small fire extinguisher, Val rips it out of the clips and throws himself to the floor just as Laurine shoots.
He rolls toward her. She continues to shoot. He rolls into a crouch near her and swings the fire extinguisher as hard as he can.
The blow smashes into Laurine's thigh. She screams in agony! As she crumples, Val scrambles to his feet. He winds up with the fire extinguisher then SWINGS!
The metal canister hits her square under the chin. She sails backwards out into the cargo bay. Val stares at her for a second as he catches his breath, then he jumps back into the lift. He punches the "level 4" button as fast as he can.
As the lift speeds to the top of the ship, Val uses the com bracelet around his wrist up to call frantically, "Rue! Rue! We've been boarded! Are you there?!"
There is no response. "Rue! Can you hear me?" Val tries again.
The lift comes to rest on the executive level. Before he exits, Val pops open an access panel to the lift's controls. He looks it over for a second, then carefully pulls an important looking component out.
Then he races for his quarters. As he reaches for his shiny new gun, Rue's voice finally squawks on his wrist com. Rue sounds agitated, "Yeah, we'll get back to you, we've got our own company--" The com link is abruptly cut off.
In a dirty street, deep in one of Baralland's cities, Rue and Garr stand shoulder to shoulder. Fay and May are just behind them, invisible in the dim light. They are completely surrounded by a group of steroid juiced thugs with a grotesque assortment of mechanical enhancements. All around them street vendors, shopkeepers, and passers by scramble to gather their belongings and flee the scene...