The next morning Sam was beside himself. He was finally going to show Gloria the bridge! He had been wanting to do it for days but for some reason she really didn’t seem into it until today!

This is going to be so awesome! he thought to himself. Not only will it impress the hell out of her but he gets to show her off to his team!

“Are you sure this is ok?” Gloria asked excitedly.

“Oh it’s fine. You will only be up there for a moment.”

“I just don’t want you to get into trouble.”

“Oh I can’t get into trouble. I’m in charge, remember,” he laughed.

“Wellll if your sure,” Gloria said just bubbling with genuine excitement. “I can’t wait!” she enthused quite truthfully. She couldn’t wait. Under her dress, the polymer scabbard of a long whisper thin blade of Juon meta-glass quietly stroked her bare thigh driving her absolutely crazy with anticipation.

This is going to be so awesome! she thought to herself.

***

Oh Christ, Roberts thought to himself as he rested on a thin hard mattress in one of the security cells. My fucking head... I hate stun rods… He looked over at the security door. Yup, a Lawson-Tec AN-57G just like the building plans specified. He curled up against the wall and opened up one of Jessie’s apps on his phone and selected the make and model. Great. One press of the green icon and device would transmit the unlock codes and the door will open. He locked the screen.

Now all he had to do was wait until 08:00 then finally this bullshit would be over.

***

“Another softball interview?” Jocelyn laughed as she and Helena ate in her favorite breakfast spot.

“Hey, this is some really interesting stuff and I think fits in well with my big article,” Helena said with a grin. “The story of you going from a shelter baby to a community leader to working under those raiders and then your rise to wealth and power again, that’s some good shit,” she said as she dug into a truly excellent omelet.

“Yeah, but not nearly as interesting as the time I bribed the Federation Council to approve...”

“Hey, I’m the one giving the interview, Lady,” Helena laughed.

“You still think I’m a little batty so you are going easy on me, huh?”

“It’s not that… well not just that… Porkie slime being porkie slime is no big surprise. Porkies gonna pork,” Helena chuckled. “Now what I am talking about is some genuine human interest-”

“It’s some genuine human bullshit,” Jocelyn laughed. “Look I want to tell my story, my real story, no lies, no bullshit. That’s what I honestly want to do and I want you to report it.”

“Yeah, but if you ‘survive’ there will be hell to pay.”

“Maybe you inspired me. People need to actually get the truth for once. If I catch some static I catch some static. I’m too old to give a shit and too rich and powerful to actually suffer,” Jocelyn chuckled, “Besides, like you say, porkie slime always gets off. Nothing can touch us, right?”

“Ok, ok. After breakfast we’ll-”

“Excuse me, Helena?”

Helena turned and found that she was face to face with Chalya Rask.

“Um… Yeah? What do you want?”

“Well, it’s about Roberts.”

Helena steeled herself. This was the last thing she needed right now.

“What about him?” she snapped.

“Well, last night he got a little drunk and in a little trouble.”

“Trouble?”

“Yeah, a little. Broke a guard’s nose. He will probably get chucked off this boat for it but before he goes there is something I need to tell you.”

“He broke a guard’s nose?”

“Yeah, yeah, smushed it flat but that’s not important. What is important is what he said before all of that.”

“And that is?” Helena asked impatiently.

“He loves you, Helena. It was clear as day. He is heads over fucking heels in love with you.”

“W-what?”

“Yeah. Look, I usually don’t get involved in shit like this but he is such a nice guy and you seem like a good person too and-”

“Yeah, yeah… Thanks! I gotta go!” Helena jumped up knocking her chair over.

“Wait, where are you going?” Jocelyn asked?

“I gotta go see Paul! Where is he?” She asked Chalya.

“Well, considering the time of day he is still locked up. He will be in the Security Command Center until the Chief-”

“Great! Thanks!” Helena took off.

Security Command Center… Oh no! Jocelyn thought in alarm.

“Helena! Wait!... Wait!” she yelled as she chased after her.

***

Helena moved with a purpose, trying not to run, completely unaware of an increasingly desperate old woman rushing after her.

She paused at a map.

“Ok, security… security… Oh! There it is!” she said to herself and then zipped off again failing to hear a faint “Helena!” being shouted after her.

He loves me?… He loves me! Helena thought happily to herself as she power walked down a corridor. But if he loves me then why all the bullshit? Why the whore?

This time I am going to tackle him and sit on him until I get some fucking answers! He’s not getting off easy that’s for goddamn sure!

He loves me! No! He has a lot of explaining to do before we even begin go there!

He loves me!

She continued her jog/power-walk through the ship with Jocelyn pushing her old body to the limit trying to catch her.

Finally she reached the Security Command Center. She pressed the buzzer.

“Yeah?”

“Hi, I’m Helena Sterling, a passenger, and I want to see Paul Roberts please.”

“Who?”

“Roberts! Paul Roberts! You have him locked up or something?”

“You mean Jack Roberts?”

“Um, yeah, him… I guess?”

“Well, you are going to have to wait. He’s still out cold.”

“Well can I come in and wait at least?”

“Helena!” a distant voice screamed.

“Jocelyn?”

“H-helena… don (gasp) Don’t go in there! (wheeze)”

“Jocelyn are you alright?” Helena asked as Jocelyn finally made it.

“Don’t go in there!”

“What do you mean?”

“What’s going on out there?” a voice from the intercom asked.

“Just hang on a second,” Helena said and then turned to Jocelyn. “What are you talking about?”

“It’s (gasp) it’s going down… Now...”

“What’s going down?”

“What (gasp) what I was telling you about. Now! It’s happening now!”

“But Roberts is locked up.”

“Doesn’t matter. He’s right where (gasp) he wants to be.” Jocelyn elbowed past Helena and pressed the buzzer.

“What now?”

“(gasp) You have (gasp) you have a...”

“Hang on.” an exasperated voice replied. The door opened shortly thereafter. Helena shot past the guard and into the room and Jocelyn chased after her completely mystifying the three guards inside.

“Now just wait a minute!” one of the guards exclaimed.

Great… Just fucking great… Roberts thought to himself as he curled up pretending to be asleep.

***

“And this is the bridge!” Sam said triumphantly as he opened the security door.

“Ooo!” Gloria enthused reaching into her purse, “Look at all the screens!”

“Yeah, from here we can monitor the entire ship!”

“That is soooo neat!” Gloria said as she pulled out an inhaler.

The half dozen officers and crew looked over at them in surprise.

“Um, sir, she isn’t supposed to be in here,” one of them said.

“Oh it’s only for a moment. She really wanted to see the bridge,” Sam replied.

The crew shrugged, some rolled their eyes. Sam’s little romance was all over the ship. One plain looking black haired woman glared at her with undisguised jealousy.

“So, any questions?” Sam said looking over at Gloria happily.

“One second sweetie,” she said, “sniffles...” as she put the inhaler in her mouth and breathed deep, her pupils turning into pinpricks.

“Oh yeah,” she whispered as she reached for her blade.

“What’s that?” Sam asked with a pleasant smile.

He still had that same pleasant smile as his head toppled from his shoulders and fell to the floor.

***

It was 08:00. Roberts sat up.

“Paul!” Helena exclaimed.

“We need to get out of here, now!” Jocelyn said as she grabbed Helena and tried to pull her towards the door.

“Well good morning, sleeping beauty,” one of the guards snickered. “Have a good night?”

Roberts looked at Jocelyn and their eyes met.

“You should listen to the woman, Helena,” he said, “Leave. Now.”

“Not until I get some fucking answers!” Helena exclaimed. “Now you listen to me, buddy...”

beep…. beep… beep… came from his phone. That was Gloria’s signal. Game time.

Roberts just sighed and shook his head as Jocelyn desperately tried to drag Helena away.

“Hey, watch it, Jocelyn!” Helena exclaimed shrugging her off.

“You wanted answers. Well, now you get them,” Roberts said calmly as he pressed the green icon on his phone and the security door unlocked and opened.

“What the-” one of the guards started to yell as he drew his baton. In a fraction of a second Roberts was out of the cell. He wrenched the baton from the guard’s hand and swung it with lethal force right into his temple. The guard’s skull shattered from the impact and he started to fall. Roberts then took one large stride and kicked the second guard in the balls. As the guard started to double over he lunged past Helena, seizing the head of the third guard and before he could react he twisted it and slammed it against the steel wall with a sicking wet crunch. He let the third guard fall and returned to the second grabbing him and putting him in a full nelson.

With a grunt Roberts wrenched his arms downward, breaking the guard’s neck.

Before Helena or Jocelyn could react it was all over. All three guards were dead or dying and Roberts, completely ignoring them, calmly headed over to the security console.

“Paul?” Helena asked in a small voice allowing Jocelyn to shove her into the far corner of the room.

Roberts paid her no mind. He opened the center panel under the console and pulled an interface cable from his pocket. He quickly snapped in a data crystal and plugged it into an interface behind the panel.

Seconds later all of the screens went black.

Roberts pulled out his phone and accessed a hidden communications screen.

“Security Command Center is secure. The command console is bricked. All security functions have switched automatically switched to the bridge. Please confirm.”

“Roger that,” Gloria’s voice responded. “The bridge is secure and security control transfer confirmed. We did it, killer. Just contacted the boss. The boys will be here in ten minutes. Securing the ship.”

Thousands of rapid bangs sounded throughout the ship as every single blast door on the ship slammed shut.

“Paul?” Helena asked in a tiny frightened voice as she stared at one of the corpses.

“Who the fuck is that?” Gloria’s annoyed voice issued from Roberts’ phone.

“Who do you think?”

“Fuuuuck. What is she fucking doing there?”

“She heard that I was in trouble and came to see me. Funny huh?”

“Paul?...” Helena asked in complete bewilderment.

“Hilarious. Now waste that bitch.”

“(sigh) Can this wait until we finish phase one? Please?”

“Ugh, Roger that. Smoking the pork...”

“...Paul?...”

***

In the officer’s mess the captain, security chief, and first officer were all enjoying a pleasant breakfast.

“Oh, we had a brawl last night,” the security chief said as he sipped his coffee.

“Huh, was it a good one?” the captain asked with a chuckle.

“Herndon had his nose broken.”

“Damn, it was a good one.”

“Yeah, it took four guards and a couple of zaps to bring the guy down. They said he was pretty tough.”

“Hmm, going to toss him?”

“Yeah, not the first time we’ve had trouble from-”

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG bang bang bang...

“What the hell? Blast doors?” the first officer asked as he pulled out his communicator.

“Bridge, this is Sorenson. Sam, what the fuck is going on?”

Fire suppression armed… Fire suppression armed… Please leave the space… Fire suppression is armed… Please leave the space...

“Sam!” the first officer yelled.

“It’s stuck!” one of the officers yelled as he tried to open the door.

“This one is too!” someone else screamed as they started to pound on the door.

“Bridge! This is the captain! Stop fire suppression in the officer’s mess!”

Fire suppression is activated… Please leave the space or don breathing apparatus… Fire suppression is activated… Please leave the space or don breathing apparatus...

“BRIDGE! THIS IS THE CAPTAIN! STOP FIRE SUPPRESSION IN THE OFFICERS MESS”

Fire suppression is active. Venting atmosphere in 10… 9…

“BRIDGE!!!”

8… 7… 6…

“THIS IS THE CAPTAIN! STOP FIRE SUPPRESSION!!!!!”

3… 2… 1… Venting atmosphere

There was a loud hiss as the air was rapidly pumped from the room by the damage control system and replaced by pure nitrogen.

“BRIDGE!!! BRIDGE!!! SAM!!!”

The damage control system rapidly and efficiently removed all air from the room. People banged and pounded on the door and tried every command and keypress but nothing worked. Slowly they collapsed one by one…

The same scene was played out numerous times in numerous rooms as crew and guards collapsed flailing and clutching at their throats as their lives faded away.

Some crew were “fortunate”, as were some of the guards, and were actually trapped in areas where emergency breathing apparatus were located and huddled against sealed doors screaming into their communicators calling out to the bridge for help.

Gloria sat in the command chair with completely empty soulless eyes as she flipped from screen to screen as their screams echoed across the blood soaked bridge.

She reached for her tablet and opened a series of pages showing images of the White Star controls and commands.

Expressionlessly she accessed the tab “Automatic Turrets”…

***

“Bridge to security, the barbecue is completed,” Gloria said in a cheerful voice. “We have a few stragglers but things are looking good… Oops… Now we have a few less stragglers, heh.”

“Excellent, bridge. Tie me into the internal sensors. I want to see the stragglers.”

“P-paul? What’s going on?”

“Ok, phase one is complete,” Gloria said in annoyance. “Now can we talk about the porkie skank?”

“No we can’t,” Roberts said.

“Look, killer, she knows your name.”

“So does Fed Intel, big deal. What’s the worst that can happen, they issue a warrant for my arrest?”

“She needs to go, killer.”

“No, she doesn’t. Now drop it, Gloria,” Roberts said in exasperation. “She isn’t going to die, ok. Now, what is the status on those stragglers and what is the ETA for Sheila?”

“The location of the stragglers is coming over to you now and they are on final approach.”

“Great. Roberts out.”

Roberts put away his phone.

“Paul, what the hell is going on?!?” Helena demanded.

Roberts finally turned to her.

“I’m not a porkie. I’m Terran. Gloria and I are professional pirates, among other things, and we are in the process of taking control of the White Star. Right now the rest of our team is landing and once we finish killing off the few surviving security personnel and whatever crew gets in our way we are going to loot this ship, rob the passengers, and last but certainly not least kill Councilor Morgan,” he said matter of factly. “Actually we are killing Councilor Morgan first. Anything else?”

Helena just stood there in complete shock.

“Hey, I told you that sometimes the hammer falls on the right people didn’t I?” Roberts looked at his phone. “Ok, we are going to head towards docking bay seven and link up with the rest of my crew. You should be safe once we get there but until we do, stay close. We have trigger happy terrified crew wandering about who will shoot you as easily as they will me and if we wander into one of our squads you definitely want me nearby.”

Roberts surveyed the Security Control Center and quickly found the arms locker. A quick model check and a few icon presses on his phone and it popped open. He selected a blaster rifle from the rack and activated it.

“Ok, we are moving out. You two, stay close,” Roberts said he opened the door. Helena finally snapped out of her haze You’re a reporter she reminded herself and quickly started taking pictures of the command center, the dead guards, everything except Roberts.

Roberts moved cautiously out into the corridor and checked his phone screen. No life signs nearby. The blast doors slammed open ahead of them and slammed shut behind them as they slowly moved towards the docking bay.

The doors opened in front of them to reveal a gristly scene. Several crewmen had been mowed down by an auto-turret as they huddled against one of the blast doors. Roberts checked the sensors. No life signs. As they moved past Helena briefly paused to take photographs… and the blast door slammed down between her and Roberts.

“Gloria! What the fuck?” Roberts yelled into his phone. “Open the fucking door!”

“No can do, killer,” Gloria replied cheerfully, “Sometimes you just gotta rip off that band-aid, dude.”

“Gloria, I’m not fucking around. Open the door!”

Fire suppression system armed…

“Gloria!”

“You’ll thank me for this later, killer,” Gloria said pleasantly.

“GLORIA OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR NOW!”

Fire suppression system is activated…

“Paul?” Helena asked in a worried tone as she started to knock on the door.

“GLORIA I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU! OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!”

Safety delay override… Venting atmosphere...

“GLORIA!!!… SHIT!” Roberts ripped open an access panel next to the door and pulled up the schematics on his phone as the pounding on the door became more frantic.

“Shit shit shit shit shit!” he yelled as he paged through the diagrams. This was taking too long. Helena was going to die.

He had one idea left.

“Jessie! Are you there? Jessie!!!” he screamed into his phone as he selected the team’s main tactical channel.

“Talk to me,” Jessie chirped.

“Isolate door 1526AJ from bridge control and manually open… NOW!!! Reverse fire suppression in that space! Now now now!”

“Um… ok… hang on…”

“Hurry!!! Please!!!”

“Don’t do it Jessie,” Gloria said cheerfully, “Our boy isn’t thinking clearly.”

“Do it!!!” Roberts screamed desperately.

“Jessie, don’t. There are porkies in there. Killer over there has lost his damn mind,” Gloria said happily.

“There you go!” Jessie said brightly as the door opened. Helena fell forward coughing and gasping into Roberts arms. Shaking, he just held her.

“Oh God I thought I lost you!” Roberts cried as he stroked her hair as she continued to cough and gasp.

“(cough) I’m fine too, by the way,” Jocelyn chuckled as she struggled to her feet. Suddenly a flash of motion caught her eye. An automatic turret popped down from the ceiling and swiveled rapidly aiming for Helena.

“No!” Jocelyn screamed as she threw herself over Helena just as the turret fired a single shot.

Roberts rolled to the side opening fire and blowing the turret into pieces.

“Jocelyn!” Helena screamed cradling her. “Paul! We got to get help we got to-”

“She’s dead,” Roberts said looking at her burned and shattered body. “She’s already gone.” He raised his phone angrily. “Gloria you listen to me you fucking psycho!” Roberts snarled. “If you so much as touch one hair on Helena’s head I will kill you. I’m not joking. I will fucking kill you and you know damn well that nobody on our crew can stop me.”

“No...” Helena said holding Jocelyn in her arms. “No...” She looked down at Jocelyn’s face. It was so peaceful. She was almost smiling.

“Look, killer, you aren’t thinking straight.”

“No, bitch, I am and I am fucking serious. You are dead if anything happens to Helena. You hear me, dead, fucking dead. I will fucking kill you.”

“Exactly what the flying fuck is going on?” Sheila’s annoyed voice came across the channel.

“Loverboy over here has gotten all sweet on some porkie slice and lost his damn mind,” Gloria said with some annoyance.

“She killed Jocelyn!” Helena screamed at Robert’s phone.

“Yeah she does shit like that,” Sheila replied even more annoyed at the interruption, “I’d be more worried about your own ass right about now if I were you.”

“Touch her and you’re dead!” Roberts shouted.

“Ex-fucking-cuse me?” Sheila said in surprise, “What did you just say?”

“You heard me. Anyone who touches her is dead, even you.”

“See? Completely lost it!” Gloria yelled.

“ENOUGH!” Sheila yelled. “We are in the middle of a fucking operation! Gloria! Is this porkie bitch in any way a direct threat to the mission?”

“Well no… but...”

“Stow it!” Sheila snapped. “Gloria! Stay your ass on the bridge and hold the fort till we get there! Do NOT kill Roberts’ girlfriend! That’s a direct order! Got it?”

“Yes but..”

“But nothing. Touch her and you’re fired, got it?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Roberts!”

“Ma’am!”

“Take your... sweetheart... and return to the Security Control Center. Stand guard there until relieved.”

“Ma’am? But it’s…”

“Yeah, I’m trusting you with a burnt-out match. Go there, seal the door, and stay there. Fuck! I don’t have time for this shit! You have your orders, Roberts.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Gloria?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I shouldn’t have to repeat myself but I am going to. DO NOT KILL ROBERTS’ PORKIE GIRLFRIEND. Do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am,” Gloria replied, quite annoyed.

***

Sheila barely resisted the urge to hurl her communicator across the ship. Her team were all looking at her in stunned surprise.

“What. The. Fuck?” Eno said after a few seconds.

“Yeah, trippy...” Jessie added.

Sheila closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. A moment later she turned to her crew.

“I don’t fucking know and I don’t fucking care,” she snarled. “Roberts is on the bench. We are down one man. For now, act like we lost him. Proceed with the plan. Everybody knows what they need to do?”

“Yes, ma’am!” everyone said in unison.

“Thank God for that. Proceed with phase two.”

Everybody took off on their respective missions. She then left the ship and headed out into the docking bay where all of the squads were assembled.

“Ok!” she shouted. Everyone fell silent. “Everybody got their communicators and transponders?… Great! We have an added bonus!” she shouted as some of her team moved about handing a variety of different tablets to the squads.

“With these babies you will be able to access sensors and get alerts about enemy movements from Jessie and her new improved super-AI. We finally managed to get it all pulled together on the trip over. Should give us a nice extra edge.” She turned to Logan. “Here’s yours, sweetie,” she said with a smile.

“Thanks, baby-girl,” he said as he took the tablet. “This is almost cheating,” he laughed as he scrolled through the maps of the White Star.

“I don’t play fair, Logan. You should remember that,” Sheila said as she kissed him softly on the cheek.

“A kiss during a mission? Wow!” he laughed.

“For luck. I hope that I get to do that again, Logan. I really do.” Sheila turned to the group at large. “We are now proceeding to phase two! Everyone form up and move out to your primary positions! Let’s go!”

As everyone rushed to the next set of objectives Logan watched Sheila head out of the docking bay with a wicked gleam in his eye. He headed over to Delores, their void jumper, and they looked at each other and sneered.