This was it, thought Jolo. The BG was towering over him, still sneering and screaming. It put the unlit end of the staff to his chest and pushed just a little and Jolo screamed in pain.
“So weak, you little humans,” said the warrior through the voice synthesizer. “Are you the one the Emperor is seeking? I shall bring you to him in pieces.”
He pulled back the staff and the blade went hot and Jolo put his arms across his face. It was just like the moment in the escape pod when he’d lost all hope and there was a strange sense of relief. He closed his eyes and Jaylen was all he could see.
He heard the sound of the energy blade moving through the air and knew he was done for. But then a loud BOOM and a crunching metal sound and his eyes popped open and the blade had flown out of the creature’s hands and it teetered, then started to fall. Jolo scrambled forward, under its legs as it crashed down onto the walkway where he was laying a second before.
Jolo stood and looked down onto the floor. Greeley still had Betsy aimed at the big monster, a trail of blue smoke from the end of the barrel. He turned and shot the one on the ground for good measure as Jolo jumped down from the walkway.
“Thanks,” Jolo said to Greeley, as George, Katy and the two engineers gathered right next to the jump drive.
“Are you okay?” Katy said to Jolo.
“Fine.”
“What about me and George?” said Greeley, grinning.
Katy put her hand on Greeley’s arm. “Are you guys okay?” she said.
Greeley rubbed his chin, then looked at George, who was as cool as ice. “Yeah, we’re okay, thanks for askin’.”
“But more importantly, Captain, what’s the next move? The BG have the lower level, and our only escape, sealed off,” said George.
“We need a ship to escape, with or without the drive,” said Katy.
Jolo turned to the two remaining engineers. “Can you seal off this level?”
“We are Federation engineers. We don’t take orders from pirates and thieves.” At this, Greeley just shook his head, started to bring Betsy up, but Jolo held out his hand.
Jolo looked at the engineer, read his name and rank from the patch on his coverall. “Okay, McCarty, I guess you’ll be taking orders from the black bastards that killed your shipmate?” Everyone looked over at the still, lifeless body of the engineer, a glossy circle of red on the floor around him.
“I can seal us off,” said the other engineer. “I’m Crowely. The black bastards killed my father on Vegas near the end of the war.”
“They’ll send you off to a work planet!” yelled McCarty. “Those aren’t just rumors.”
“I’d rather die killing those bastards,” said Crowely. He picked up the spanner near the jump drive and hurled it at the BG warrior crumpled on the floor. The wrench bounced off the alacyte armor and spun across the floor.
“We’re wasting time,” said Katy.
Jolo looked at Crowely. “Are you in?”
He nodded.
Jolo turned to McCarty. “As it stands now, they’re probably going to send you to a prison planet or kill you for just being near me. You are expendable. If you are in, stay and help. If not, run to an upper level and plead your case.”
McCarty stared down at his boots.
“Boys. Gotta go,” said Katy, she was pulling on Jolo’s arm. McCarty looked up at Jolo and nodded.
“Crowely, seal off this level,” said Jolo. “McCarty, reconnect the jump drive. George, you and Greeley guard the entrance.”
“How can we escape if we don’t have a ship?” said Katy.
“We got a ship,” said Jolo. “We’re taking this one.”
Leviathan
Iris, in Federation Space
“What’s the status?” said Jolo.
“The Fed still thinks engineering is in lockdown repairing air filters. The BG will wonder where their scouts went soon enough. The commotion caused by the Emperor and the President’s visit is giving us a little cover, but it won’t last,” said George.
“We have to clear the bridge and block out the BG and the Fed marine teams from getting to us.”
“Can we force an evacuation?” said Katy.
Jolo searched his computer for all possible toxins that would cause a Fed ship evacuation, but most called for chemicals either not on board the Corsair or not in enough quantity.
“How about a fire?” said Katy.
“No. We’d have to run some kind of accelerant through the vent system and even if we got it to work we run the risk of destroying the ship,” said McCarty.
“George, what do you think?” said Jolo. George had been quiet up to this point.
“If we had a week to prepare and were able to sneak 1/2 a ton of supplies on board undetected, then we’d have a 27.2% chance of evacuating the ship.”
“How about right now, with no time and no supplies?” said Katy.
George just shrugged and shook his head. And the triumph of defeating the two BG had suddenly faded and now the cold reality of the situation hit them.
“Fine by me,” yelled Greeley from his position at the entrance. “They’ll be singin’ songs about me and Betsy.”
Jolo yelled to McCarty, “Jump drive ready?”
“It’s ready,” he said.
“Great, how fast can you shut it down, then turn it back on?”
“Takes a minute or so.”
“Okay, shut it down now, and be ready to fire it up on my command.”
“Crowely, can you control the doors on this ship?”
“You mean, from the control board?”
“No, I mean from the lowest level possible. Overriding the computer.”
“I suppose so, I’d have to break into a relay box behind the engine and it’d be guesswork at first, but I think it can be done.”
“Okay. Seal off the bridge, the armory and any Marine teams that are still roaming the ship.”
“George, I need you to do a little recon. Locate any Marine teams and report their location so Crowely can seal them off.” Jolo grabbed one of the BG energy staffs off the ground and cut George’s sleeve where his arm was missing. “We want
