PART II – KARMIC REALIGNMENT

Running my shaky fingers along the metal slab that somehow was supposed to resemble a bed, I studied the priest. Did the Prince of Thieves pay him off so he could torture me with that judgmental stare of his? Or was his purpose to make me relive painful memories because we stole his sweet roll?

Then the painful sting of betrayal washed over me like a wave on the deck of a ship.

That sneer on the face of our Comms officer right before he throat punched me on Outpost Hel as he said, “The Prince of Thieves sends his regards.”

I should have seen the signs of the betrayal. The warnings were there, but I failed to notice them. I was so blind.

Rescue 1 was docked in the bay of the 40-Thieves. The original name, I think, belonged to a union of pirates or something on one of the core world’s historical past.

Our crew was retrofitting our ship with holographic projectors and welding alusteel plates to the outside of the starship.

A human with olive skin and white robes approached me. His Anunnaki-gold chain clinked as he stomped up to me.

“Commander Scar, didn’t I assign your crew to a mission?” he asked folding his arms over his chest.

“Uh yeah,” I told him. “To collect on a debt from planet Saur.”

“Then why are you still here?” he asked flailing his hands around. “And turning your ship into a…parade float?”

A 3-story tall alusteel hat rolled by on a grav-dolly. The Wolfen crew member, Fenris, waved a friendly hello as he pushed the dolly.

“The 40-Thieves are the most feared pirates in the seven sectors, death before dishonor,” he said.

“No surrender and strike fear into the hearts of the enemy and all of that,” I said unrolling the blueprints.

“I’m the boss and the Prince of Thieves here, and I say you won’t strike terror into the Saurs by flying around in a giant rhino. Where’s your captain?” he demanded.

I scanned the diagram and sighed, “It’s an elephant, not a rhino. And to answer your question Captain Lilith is conducting her combat meditation ritual, so I’m currently in charge Prince.”

After glancing at my wrist monitor, I checked our progress against the timeline schedule.

“Did Captain Lilith tell you to do this? Of course she did!” he shouted. “This is ludicrous; if she told you to skip and dance into a black hole would you do it?”

Our resident sawbones, Doc, looked up from his position on the wing. His two mechanical arms, which were grafted on his body, continued to weld plates together. His arc-welder sizzled as a spray of sparks shot in every direction.

“Um, yeah!” Doc shouted and turned back to his work.

The Prince waved his hand dismissively and walked away.

“Just make sure you stay on schedule!” he shouted.

***

TO: Garrison Outpost JL-3933

FROM: Storage Depot-5309

SUB: Pirate Attack – Request Immediate Assistance!

SALUTE Report:

Size – 10 – 15 est.

Activity – Stealing 4 x N3 Coolant tanks, 5050 Statis E-shields

Location – Depot-5309

Time – Time now!

Uniforms – brightly colored clowns

Equipment – Flying elephant w/ feather in trunk

NOTHING FOLLOWS---//

***

“Because I don’t want your stupid twin suns to melt off my fresh paint job,” Lilith yelled at the dockmaster on the view screen. “So, clear out a berth, or I’ll do it myself. Commander Scar charge primary weapons!”

The Rescue 1 slowed down to a crawl as it approached the dark side of the Saur space station. The docking clamps latched onto the mouth of the elephant. Once the airlock doors opened, we were greeted by about 30 armed Saurs, a platoon sized element. The Saurs, an ancient reptilian race, towered above Lilith, two of our security personal, and me.

Their thick leathery skin was covered by bone-white armor plates that protected their chests, legs, and arms. I then noticed their last chance Lif-stend crackers, an emergency crystalloid material that once eaten supposedly provided protection against the vacuum of space, hanging from the chain around their neck. Then I noticed the heavy plasma cannons they carried at the low-ready position.

We followed our escort into the bowels of the station till we found ourselves in center of an arena. The blast-shielding was open giving us a view of the star-filled cosmos.

The Nova lights flipped on and flooded the arena with bright light. We were caught in a pincer trap with two platoon-sized elements of Saur gunners on our flanks.

“Three platoons of Golden-Sun guards?” Lilith said happily. “I’m honored you think our security is that important!”

We were surrounded.

Captain Lilith leaned over and asked their platoon leader, “That’s what, two-thirds of your base garrison?”

The leader of the armed escort remained silent. A silver bead of light appeared over his head. The bead traveled in a straight path leaving a line etched in the air and took a 90-degree turn. The bead stopped after it traced out a large rectangle.

The light within the rectangle sizzled and was filled in with a grid-like pattern. The screen cracked with black and white static. After the electric snow cleared an image of a Saur appeared.

His black beady eyes stared back at us as the image zoomed out. The two horns on his forehead were capped with gold tips. His black uniform gave him a fit and trim appearance. Three golden stars, arranged around a plant leaf, were pinned to the lapel of his uniform.

In the background of the image, I noticed that staff moved about the station operation room while more Golden-Sun Guards were positioned by the doors and around the room.

Lilith leaned over and loudly whispered to me, “He must be someone important, because there are the remaining guards.”

The platoon leader snorted with amusement. At least I assumed he was amused. The commander on the view screen opened his maw, lips curled back, and Lilith stepped forward.

“I would like to speak to someone in charge,” she said before he started to speak.

The Saur on the screen recoiled back in his seat and coughed.

“I’m the commander of the Supreme Royal Sun Station, which lords over the…” he started to say.

“Yeah, yeah…save the speech for your parade, Barney,” Lilith said pulling back the hood from her robes. “I’m here to collect on the debt you owe the 40-Thieves.”

She pulled out a comms tablet from under her robes and held it up to the screen.

The commander cleared his throat with a loud, “A-hem, one moment while I confirm the validity of this authorization with our G1.”

The commander extended his arm and paused the screen. I did my best to remain calm as the guards tapped the safety mechanism on their weapons. Their muscles were tense, and nostrils flared. Lilith began to twirl a lock of her white hair around her finger.

“I have an interrogative statement,” the platoon leader said.

His clawed hand, the size of my head, flipped the security strap around his Thud Pistol. Our captain nodded as she looked up at the immense Saur platoon leader.

“Why call your ship Rescue 1?” he asked.

“Well,” she said as she stopped playing with her hair. “I wanted to call her the ‘Lovely Angel’, but that name was already taken.”

His hand rested on his pistol.

“So, I had to go with something else because I didn’t want to get in trouble for stealing a name,” she added.

The platoon leader snorted and began to bellow with laughter. After Lilith began to laugh, the giggle contagion spread to the Saur guards, who chuckled.

I leaned over to Fenris and Doll Face and whispered to them, “When the shooting starts, we rush the guards. The arena snipers won’t shoot into the melee.”

Fenris curled his lip and nodded affirmatively. Doll Face drummed her fingers across her laser rifle. The viewscreen re-activated and the commander swiveled around in his chair.

“I’m sorry, but your request has not been approved at this time. Unfortunately, we will have to pass. Please consider resubmitting your request at a later date,” he said.

“I expected as much,” I said.

Lilith nodded and switched out her tablet for a palm-sized black box. A single red button was positioned in the center of the device. She extended the antenna. The guards stepped back and raised their weapons. The audible whine from their plasma cannons rang though the arena.

“You leave me no choice,” she said pushing the button. “But to send a message.”

The space station continued to hum along as if nothing happened. The Saurs lowered their weapons, and the base commander checked a monitor and shrugged his massive shoulders.

“This is a Class III battle station,” he said chuckling. “We have the top scanning equipment in the sector. Our sensors would have detected all explosives or attempts to sabotage my battle station. I remain unimpressed by your bravado.”

Opening my eyes back up, I began to snicker and wiped the smile from my face. A pair of security guards approached my cell followed by another 4-person security detail.

One of the security team guards tapped my door and his watch. It was time. I placed my hands through the opening. Cold metal from the bindings irritated my wrists.

A second 4-person security detail arrived. The priest glanced at his wrist comms and back at me.

“According to the reports, the Saur station was destroyed,” he said, his voice a little wobbly.

“That was the easy part,” I said smirking. “We always have a trick up the sleeve.”

The guards unlocked my cage. They braced themselves, expecting me to resist. I had enough fighting, time for my sentence to be carried out. We walked down the hall with the priest next to me and my escort stuck with me like the shadow of death.

“Open wide,” the preacher demanded shoving a bitter-tasting wafer in my mouth.

“Are you trying to poison me?” I said trying to spit it out, but the wafer already dissolved on my tongue.

We plodded down the hallway. My feet felt like I was hiking up a mountain in concrete-steel boots.

“So how did you take down a Class III station without sabotaging it, Scar?” he asked again.

“We stole and placed four N3 coolant tanks in one of the twin suns,” I said. “The 5050 shields prevented them from exploding.”

The priest raised one eyebrow.

“And once Lilith deactivated the stasis fields on the N3 tanks, there was enough coolant to create a solar flare big enough to boot the Saur station right outta’ orbit,” I said.

“Wow that actually felt good to finally confess.”

My feet felt heavy as we neared the airlock. My vision blurred. The guard removed my bindings and shoved me into the airlock chamber. My body refused to move on its own.

Fingers began to freeze as my thoughts echoed in my head.

“What…drugs in…that were…” I thought as my thoughts became a jumbled mess. “Why…am…so I compliant?”

Visions of a bright flashing red light filled my field of hazy vision. Even the screaming from the warning siren grew fainter and fainter. The airlock door hissed as I felt the pull of the empty vacuum.

The last thing I heard echoing in my head was the lyrics from an ancient sea shanty. Somehow the words bubbled to the surface of my mind.

“Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me.”