barely more than a young girl herself. Lithe to the point of being scrawny, her dark hair and somewhat elfin features made her beautiful, even if she had a look of hatred upon her face at the moment.
Rosh waded in, grabbing the girl around one arm and wrapping his hand behind her neck. His other hand grabbed her about the waist, pinning her other arm to it. He pulled her free from Jenna and held her easily while she struggled against him.
“Thanks Rosh,” Jenna said, putting pressure against the worst of the holes in her upper arm as she rose to her feet. She turned to the thrashing girl and stared at her, trying to figure out why she had attacked her.
“Who are you?” Jenna demanded.
The girl just hissed and snapped at her. Jenna frowned and looked to Dexter. Dexter was just as curious, but he suspected that letting her loose would just have her attacking Jenna again. She seemed to possess no interest in anyone else.
“Bring her, we’ll deal with her later,” Dexter said, already turning towards where the Voidhawk was docked. They followed, Rosh holding the thrashing girl away from anyone or anything that she struggled to get to.
They made it up the plank to the Voidhawk amidst the confusion. Jodyne was standing nearby, several daggers laying about the deck around her, and she greeted Dexter with a smile.
“Gave us a scare there, lad,” she said with relief. She started grabbing up the daggers and, after shoving a few in her clothing, she handed the rest to Jenna.
“Had to borrow these, sorry dearie,” Jodyne said with a smile.
The elf just nodded, still distracted by the struggling woman in Rosh’s arms.
“Rosh, put her in one of the holds or something. Tie her up if she won’t behave. Keshira, help him,” Dexter said. He glanced at the fighting on the streets and shook his head. “And hurry! I mean to be off this rock right quick!”
While they confined their captive, Dexter took a hand on the deck readying the rigging for departure. He kept glancing at the docks, knowing his luck was bound to run out soon. Especially since Duballin apparently knew what ship Jenna had come in on and, by now, had to know they had escaped.
Rosh and Keshira returned to the deck without incident, aside from a few scratches on Rosh’s arms and face. A few moments later Bekka lifted them free of the embattled docks, turned the ship gracefully in the sky and headed void-ward. A few pistols fired, seeing them in the air, and a few arrows sailed up at them, but they were quickly left behind by the greater speed of the void ship. In a matter of less than an hour Port Freedom was behind them and they were safely away.
With Rosh at his side, Dexter entered the cargo hold and fought the urge to chuckle. The girl that had attacked them was laying upon the floor. Her hands were tied together, as were her feet, and they were again tied together. She had been muzzled as well, but she had chewed through the rope that had been in her mouth.
“Good thing you saved us from a little girl,” Dexter commented dryly.
Rosh looked on, eyes wide. “Captain, that girl’s got a powerful need to hurt somebody. She’s stronger than you think too!”
“Is this true?” Dexter asked, kneeling down next to the girl.
She snarled at him and tried to inch forward to be within striking distance. Dexter raised his eyebrows in surprise and backed up. He shook his head and looked to Rosh, who just shrugged.
“I guess we should put her down,” Dexter said, at a loss to explain what vexed her.
“Hang on now, Captain,” Rosh said, surprising him.
“Rosh, I expect you’d be the first to advise such a course?”
Rosh shrugged again. “Well, yeah, but she’s a pretty thing, once you look past the pale skin and how skinny she is. I’m thinking if we try hard enough and clean her up, then get her fed, she might be thankful.”
“Thankful?” Dexter asked suspiciously. “I’ll not be having any servants or slaves aboard the ‘Hawk.”
“No, not that,” Rosh said quickly. “I’m thinking she might sign up, help out on the deck.”
Dexter chuckled. “She’s a bit small for that.”
“You ain’t felt her wrestle, she’s plenty strong enough,” he said.
Dexter sighed and closed his eyes. He shook his head again and walked out. “Fine, but if she doesn’t start speaking civil and behaving, then we’re giving her to the void!”
Rosh nodded, then turned back to her, a smile on his face. With Dexter out of the room he moved closer to her and knelt down. “Hear that? You start playing nice and we’ll let you out of them ropes. Then I’ll teach you a few things and in return you can-“
Rosh stumbled backwards, barely avoiding her collapsing teeth as she somehow found a way to spring towards him. He picked himself up in a hurry and stared at her. She was still bound and still fighting the ropes. He had no idea how she had done it, but he shook his finger at her.
“You just think about it,” he said, his voice less steady than he wanted. “We’ll talk later.”
Rosh shut the door behind him and hurried back up to the main deck to get back to work. Once there he saw Dexter pointing for Jenna’s benefit. Following his stretched arm he saw what had the captain so excited: a ship. It was a scout ship, smaller than the Voidhawk, but it turned sharper, flew faster, and was usually designed for raiding or battle.
The scout ship closed steadily with them and, when it was within a few thousand yards, two smaller shapes detached from it. They closed rapidly with the Voidhawk until they be seen to be small elven fighters, which were one man interceptors not so different from what Dexter had flown for the Federation. The scout ship had cut two holes into the hull of its cargo deck, allowing the fighters to exit and enter the ship.
“Think they be wanting a word with us?” Kragor asked Dexter from the forecastle deck.
Dexter shook his head. “A word’s not all they’re wanting.”
“Dex, each of them’s got a light ballista,” Kragor said in a hushed but serious tone. “Not much damage to the ‘Hawk, but they can tear up her rigging good and you know what a bolt through the belly or chest’ll do to a man.”
Dexter grunted and hurried across the deck. “Battle stations, do what you can to take those fighters out! Aim for the pilots, they’re not well protected.”
“We ain’t got no ship weapons!” Rosh protested.
Dexter swung around to face him, then saw Jenna coming up behind him with several pistols in hand. He pointed to her and said, “Do what you can with those.”
Rosh turned around and saw Jenna finish loading a pistol. She handed it to him and then started in on another. Her face was set in a grim but otherwise expressionless mask. Rosh grunted and started helping her load the pile of them that lay on the deck from the small powder keg she had brought with her.
Dexter told Kragor to help them, then went to the bridge to help Bekka pilot the ship. He knew she could handle it fine, but a serious jolt to the ship could knock her out and he knew they needed someone to be on hand at all times. That and he needed to be able to give her orders without any delay.
A knock on the door behind him turned him around to see Jenna standing there, bristling with pistols. “Shouldn’t you be on deck?” Dexter asked her, already turning back to the multi-paned thick glass windows on the bridge.
“Aye, but there’s something you should know,” Jenna said.
Dexter looked at her again, biting off his comment that he felt she was a little late in sharing things that ‘he should know’.
“Those aren’t regular fighters,” she said, drawing more of Dexter’s attention. “They’re fireflies.”
Dexter blinked, the name having no meaning to him.
Annoyed, Jenna persisted. “The elves load fighters full of oil, fire powder, and alchemist’s fire then crash them into the hulls of enemy ships!”
Dexter’s eyes widened. He swore and turned back to the window. Sure enough, the fighters, or fireflies as Jenna had called this version, seemed interested in getting close to them, rather than in firing their light ballistae at them.
“Bekka! Evasive action, don’t let them ram us!” Dexter demanded, then brushed past Jenna as he ran out of the bridge and up the staircase to the deck.
“They mean to ram us!” Dexter yelled on the deck. “Fire everything you’ve got at those fighters!”
He led by example, raising his pistol to the closest one and firing. The inertia in the void helped his shot stay
