BORN OF HEROES

— by Jeff Karamales

PART 2: UPPING THE ANTE

Chapter 30
 

  Randal Mercks, Sergeant First class with the interstellar law enforcement Spatial Police Force, leaned around the edge of the bulkhead and depressed the trigger of the Binfurr sub machinegun, sending three 10 millimeter rounds down the corridor before pulling back under cover. Answering fire spanged off of the metal plating behind him leaving trails of sparks as the slavers returned fire and refused to stand down.

  “I think they want us off their ship!” Elias Tivnan, captain of the covert pirate hunter SS Guiding Angel, official PA registry 77187, shouted over the din of gunfire.

  “Ya think?” growled Sergeant Melise Rains, who crouched next to her Captain. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I’ve had about enough of this!” The panda pulled out her protective mask and slipped it on one-handed as she retrieved a trap-launch grenade from a pouch at the small of her back.

  Seeing what she was doing, the rest of the team with her followed suit and donned masks as she slid the rear of the grenade over the muzzle of her weapon. Elias had barely gotten his on when the panda slid her own sub machinegun around the corner where she took cover and fired a single round. The specially designed grenade took the kinetic energy of the heavy shot fired and converted it to forward momentum. With a whiizzzz! the grenade sailed down the forty feet of corridor before detonating with a muffled pop!. Almost instantly the small space was saturated with chemical agents that caused almost debilitating nausea and vomiting while burning the eyes of an exposed target to cause uncontrollable tearing.

  Five of the six slavers dropped their weapons and began retching on the deck plating, though one refused to surrender and continued to fire, the staccato discharges of the weapon sounding overly loud in the confines of the passageway.

  “That fool is going to do more damage than we would!” Sonja Enan said as a stray round creased the shoulder guard of her armor.

  Almost simultaneously Elias and Randal slid their stunner pistols from hip holsters and loosed a barrage of non-lethal fire at the assailants. The stunners wouldn’t kill, even at close range, though the after effects were certainly far from being what most citizens of the Planetary Alignment would consider benign. Muscle fatigue and headaches that could last up to a week were common side effects. Not unlike having a persistent, and very bad, hangover.

  Neither Elias nor Randal knew who hit the shooter, but the firing suddenly went quiet. There was a great deal of moaning at the end of the corridor with continued vomiting. Risking a look, Elias stuck his head around the corner. The party of six was down for the count. Two continued to empty their stomachs of their previous meal while four lay unconscious on the deck plates.

  “No more,” panted a raccoon, holding a hand up in supplication. “We surrender, please no more!”

  Randal shouldered his weapon after returning his stunner in its holster. “Slide your weapons towards us! NOW!” the wolf bellowed.

  The raccoon, barely functioning, and pausing every few seconds to retch noisily, did as ordered. One by one he slid the various firearms towards the crew of pirate hunters. Finally at the end of his endurance, the raccoon fell on his side alternately moaning and whimpering.

  The team moved in cautiously, Elias leading the way. The white furred fox stepped carefully to avoid the mess on the metal of the deck. Not because he was squeamish about getting any of the vile gunk on his boots, but because a slip could have disastrous results.

  Not to mention being very embarrassing.

  “Mel, Sonja. Go ahead and bind ‘em. Tell the Doc to get ready for casualties. He can administer the counter agents at the airlock,” the fox said. “I don’t want another mess in the holding cells like we had last time. That was a lesson that was well learned and I really don’t want to repeat it.”

  Sonja Enan, a blond cocker spaniel female with mahogany colored ears chuckled, sounding strange with her mask still on. “It took us what? Three weeks to get that smell out of there? And it even seeped into the nearest cabins!”

  Elias nodded. “Exactly.” He then turned to the large gray colored wolf. “Come on, Randy. Let’s go ahead and begin our sweep. There might be more of them lurking around and I don’t want anyone caught off guard. And there are still citizens to rescue. I want to make sure it’s safe before we transfer them to the Angel.”

  “Got it, Boss. Want me to lead?” the wolf asked.

  “That’s what you get paid the big credits for,” Elias quipped, his smile hid by the protective mask.

  The Vagabond Soul was an old Swallowtail class transport with only one deck and limited cargo capacity, having been designed and built as an interstellar shuttle. It was the standard for inexpensive passenger transport, built by PanStar Aeronautics some sixty years prior. The company had long since been merged with AstorCraft on Fyn. While aged, the Swallowtail class shuttle was still popular with small tour groups and some specialized courier companies.

  This particular vessel had been modified for the transport of individuals for the slave markets of Quet and other places that purchased bound sentients from all over the Planetary Alignment.

  “So, forward to the bridge and crew quarters, or aft?” the wolf asked.

  “Let’s start with the bridge and crew quarters. Any intel that we might get will be forward.”

  “Which means the greater possibility of resistance if anyone is left,” the wolf said with a nod.

  The pair moved methodically towards the bridge, pausing at each cabin to open it, verify there was no one lying in wait to ambush them then moved on. The infirmary was almost completely devoid of equipment and supplies, a foolish move for any vessel that plied the space lanes. The only opulent cabin that they found was the one that belonged to the ship’s captain, and was decorated in a garish combination of purple and gold.

  “Ah! By the Maker! I think I’ve gone blind,” Elias said as he scanned the cabin, his eyes searching out potential hiding places.

  “Huh. I’m going to hazard a guess that the lynx that was wearing the indigo silk shirt was the captain of this tub,” the wolf said as his head rocked back in revulsion to the decoration scheme.

  “I should shoot him for his tastes alone,” Elias said, a sardonic tone coloring his words. “No sane individual would choose something like this.”

  “No sane individual would be a slaver, either,” Randal said seriously.

  “True. C’mon. Let’s get to the bridge.”

  The flight deck was a simple layout that also provided no hiding places. While there had only been six cabins that showed signs of occupation, it wasn’t enough evidence to disprove that there might be more slavers onboard.

  “Let me run a quick check on their core before we head aft,” Elias said, stepping in front of one of the consoles.

  The fox typed a few commands into the navigation console, then began to swear furiously.

  “What’s wrong, Captain?”

  There was more swearing that Elias’s mask muffled, then he slammed a fist down on the edge of the unit. “The rotten trash wiped their core!”

  Randal sagged a little in frustrated defeat. “So no telling where they’ve been or were going. Great.”

  “Yeah. It would have made things easier and would have helped further crimp slaving operations, but there’s no help for it now. The Brass back at Joplin can interrogate them and see if they get anything useful. Let’s head aft.”

  As they passed through the hatch that led out into the central corridor, Elias’s radio beeped before his wife’s voice came over the link.

  “Elias, the SPF Persistent is en route and should be here within the next six hours. They said they would have been here sooner but the Van Connor Nebula garbled our flash message to them.”

  Elias snorted. “Well, better late than never, I suppose. At least it’ll keep us from having to stow the crew and any others we find.” He shifted the sling on his Binfurr weapon before continuing. “Do you think that you and Treena can salvage any information on a wiped core?”

  There was a slight pause before the vixen’s voice came back over the radio. “Depends on what type of unit they have. We might be able to. Let me guess, full data wipe?”

  “You got it in one, Love. I’ll have Sonja set off a can of a neutralizer for the gas and in a few minutes it should be safe for you two to come over and check it out. Sound all right to you?”

  “Can do, Honey. You be careful. I love you.”

  “Love you, too. See you soon.”

  When they first began this endeavor, Elias had been reluctant to show affection towards his mate in the presence of the rest of the crew. That had vanished, though, as he realized that while their mission was serious, it didn’t affect the rest of the crew in the slightest. He didn’t give the petite vixen preferential treatment when it came to the operation of the Guiding Angel, nor when it came to the various duty details onboard. They were a mated pair, and the crew knew that they would behave as such at times. It was the wolf that was with Elias now that had pointed this out.

  “You said yourself that we aren’t a typical SPF vessel. So why are you sticking to regulations that really don’t apply to us?” he’d asked his captain after their third month out. “You don’t gripe about the liaisons amongst the crew, we don’t gripe about your mate being onboard. Stop worrying so much.”

  Since then, Elias had been more open and up front about the love he had for his wife. She simply made his life better, and he hoped that he did the same for her.

  The aft section was separated from the rest of the ship by a hatch that used mechanical closures instead of the more common actuator equipped units on more modern vessels.

  “I suppose this would be easier to secure. All you need is a belt or stout length of rope,” the wolf said. “Pity there isn’t a view port. I’d really like to know what’s on the other side before I open it.”

  “You cover, I’ll open,” the fox said.

  Randal nodded and brought his weapon up before nodding to the fox. Elias disengaged the latches that secured the hatch to the surrounding frame, then grasped the central dogging bar. It came free with a tug, a grating screech of metal that had rusted to the point a fair bit of oil would have been a good idea. Another tug swung it open a few inches, giving the wolf a fair view what lay beyond.

  “Holding cells. Looks like they’re occupied,” Randal informed his Captain.

  “No hostiles?”

  The wolf shook his helmeted head. “Doesn’t look like it.” He placed his head closer to the opening before yelling. “SPF! Stand down and we will hold fire!”

  “There’s n-n-no c-crew in here,” a raspy high pitched voice said from the other side of the hatch. “Please get us out.”

  Elias looked at his companion, who nodded, then swung the door open. They stepped into the section which was divided into small holding cells, four on a side. They were secured with perforated panels of glassteel. Each cell had four bunks, a small toilet, a water dispenser, and little else save the individuals that were in them.

  There were fifteen prisoners in all. Five foxes, two wolves, three raccoons, a red panda, a black bear, and two ringtails. Three of the foxes, the red panda, one wolf, both ringtails and one raccoon were female. They were all adolescents.

 It was the red panda that had spoken. She was in the nearest cell holding the head of a female mouse that had dried blood on her scalp on her lap. The unconscious mouse was breathing rapidly and very shallow.

  Randal saw the control panel for the cells on the bulkhead just inside of the hatch. He tripped the release even as he called the ship for Lemuel Anders, they’re resident doctor and surgeon. Elias entered the cell, slinging his weapon and reaching for the first aid kit on his belt at the same time.

  “What happened to her?” the fox asked as he began to empty the contents of the pouch.

  “Her name’s Katerina. She wouldn’t go with the Captain and he hit her,” There were dried tear stains under the female’s eyes and on her face. “She fell backward and hit the edge of the door with her head. She was bleeding for a really long time.”

  Elias sprayed antibiotic on the wound and gingerly put a bandage over the laceration. “We have a doctor coming. And another ship to get you soon. Everything will be all right now.”

  The girl looked up into the blue eyes of the fox. “Are you for real? Are you really real? And SPF?”

  Elias slid his mask off and gave the girl a smile. “I’m really here. My name’s Elias. What’s yours?”

  The red panda hiccupped a little sob. “Shayla. Do you really have a doctor? She’s been like this for a couple of days now. We were both heading home from school when a raccoon and someone else grabbed us. They sprayed us with something that made us fall asleep. When we woke up we were here. I just wanna go home!”

  Elias laid a tender hand on the side of the girl’s face. “You will, honey. I promise. Even if I have to take you there myself, okay?”

  The red panda nodded.

  “How are the others, Randy?”

  “A little hungry, a lot scared, and ready to get the hell out of here. No other injuries, thank the Maker.”

  The fox nodded. He needed information, but more important was reassuring the girl that everything would be all right. “So, Shayla, where are you from? I need to try and get a message to your family and let them know that you’re safe and will be with them soon.”

  “Alexandrius.”

  “No kidding,” the fox said with a small smile. “Me too. What part?”

  “Cybria. On the edge of the Dark Cairn Forest. Do you know where that is?”

  Elias chuckled. “I’m from Odeon outside of Geller’s Pass.”

  The red panda’s eyes grew wider. “That’s just twenty miles from where I live!”

  “Small universe, huh?” the fox said. “What’s your last name?”

  “Fargo. My father works with the Alexandrius Department of Forests. He’s a Ranger with the parks.”

  Elias nodded. “Are all of you from Alexandrius?”

  “Everybody here is from my school. They said they were taking us to our new owner,” Shayla said with a shudder. “I really wanna go home, Elias.”

  “You will, sweetie. I promise.”

  Lemuel made it into the holding area with Sonja and Melise escorting him. He took one look at the mouse and knelt, opening his medical case. He examined the girl for several moments, then used a small but bright light to check her eyes before looking up at his Captain. “Concussion, deep scalp laceration, possibly some cerebral swelling. I’ll know better when I get her to the infirmary. Which needs to be now,” he said in a soft but urgent tone.

  Elias nodded. “All right. If I can have everyone’s attention. We’re going to head over to our ship now. Melise will make sure you are fed and the rest of my crew will get you set up so you can take showers and get cleaned up. Randy, can you handle being a chaperone?”

  “No problem!” the wolf exclaimed with a smile. He took the hands of the two youngest and led them out of the holding area while Melise and Sonja helped herd the others.

  Satisfied that moving her wouldn’t cause any more damage, the tiger scooped Katerina up in his arms and followed the others, leaving Elias with Shayla.

  “Come on,” he said, holding out his hand to her. “You’re safe now and I won’t let anything happen to you. It’s time you got some food and rest. Then I’ll take you home.”

  The girl took his hand and did as she was told.

***

  “Son, you aren’t running a ferry service. The Persistent could’ve taken those kids home.” Sander said from the other side of the communications terminal.

  “Sorry, Sandy. They’ve been through enough, don’t you think? The Persistent has already rendezvoused with the slaver’s ship and taken the crew into custody. The least I can do is make sure these youngsters get home. It’ll also give me a chance to talk to them and see what we can find out about who was taking them, where and why.”

  The lion looked at his subordinate with a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure that you’re being objective about this?”

  “Of course I’m not!” Elias exclaimed a little hotly. “Alexandrius is one of the best policed worlds in the PA. It was home. Then again, I’d be acting the same way if it were Pomen, or Fyn, or Kantus or Dennier! They’re kids, Sandy! Children! I’m going to find out who is doing this and I will stop them.”

  Colonel Brees sighed. “It’s your call son. Just be careful. I’ll put the garrisons there on stand-by in case you need them.”

  Elias calmed himself. “Thanks. I have the feeling we’ll definitely need them. I’ll keep you posted.”

  The lion nodded and Elias closed the link. With a sigh he got up from the desk in his office and made his way to the lift. When the hatch opened to the third deck, he was assaulted by the sound of laughing and spirited conversation. With the exception of Saul, who was on bridge watch and Lemuel who was with the mouse that had the head injury in the infirmary, the rest of the crew were moving amongst the youngsters with food and drinks. He was pleased to see that all of them had been cleaned up and were wearing clothing donated by the crew instead of the filthy garments they’d been found in.

  There was some clapping and hooting from those closest to the lift when they saw Elias emerge. The others saw the white fox and the applause spread with greater enthusiasm. He stood there for a few moments in shock, though the youngsters didn’t relent, a few of them saying his name which became almost a chant for the rest. He held up his hands to signal for them to settle down, but there was no abatement in the raucous noise.

  “Knock it off!” Melise bellowed from the galley. The sudden and very commanding shout silenced the youths almost immediately. Elias looked at her and was answered with a wide grin from the panda. “What do you expect? I have three younger brothers. I’m used to taking control.”

  “Um, yeah. Thanks,” Elias said with a wry grin. He turned to the crowd spread out on the rec deck. “So here’s the scoop. We are on our way back to Alexandrius,” to which there was more clapping, though the rescued children calmed down as soon as he put up his hands. “It’ll be about a week and a half before we can get you home, but we are on the way. Once everyone has eaten and gotten some rest, we’re going to get your information so we can send word to your parents. This way they can be at the starport waiting for each of you. We’d also like to listen and record anything you can tell us about the individuals that took you.” He smiled at each of the children. “That’s all. Carry on!”

  There was a moment of rapid conversation before the clapping and name chanting began again. Trying his best to remain calm and cool, Elias made his way to the coffee urn and poured a mug, adding cream and sugar to it. With a smile, he made his way to the lift, pausing the hatch from shutting momentarily as Cerise darted in.

  “Still want children?” she asked with a winsome smile.

  “Sure,” he replied taking a sip from his coffee to hide his own grin. “Just a more manageable number.”

  The vixen looked up at her mate as she slid her arms around his waist. “You’ll also have the benefit of raising them from the start and being their pack leader.”

  “That’s a rather enticing concept,” the fox said, holding his mate with one arm and his cup in the other.

  “They really are enamored with you. They have a real hero to look up to.”

  Elias shook his head. “Not me. I’m no hero.”

  The vixen chuckled. “If you don’t believe me you should talk to them,” she said with a tilt of her head to the deck above. The lift opened and they sauntered out into the second deck corridor. “So where are you headed to?”

  “I wanted to see how Katerina was doing and then I was going to spell Saul on bridge duty.”

  Cerise squeezed his waist as they continued to walk along the corridor towards the infirmary. “Then I’ll meet you on the bridge in a little bit.” She gave him a kiss and headed to their cabin.

  Feeling a little lightheaded and with a bemused look on his face, Elias made his way to the infirmary.

  “You’re looking fairly happy,” Lemuel Anders said as the fox entered the medical section.

  “Cerise has that effect on me,” the fox said. He angled his path to the bed that Katerina still lay in. Monitoring equipment and machines beeped and hummed regularly as they measured and noted the female mouse’s vitals. “And are you feeling any better today, Katerina?”

  The adolescent smiled weakly. “Doctor Anders says I’ll be fine and can get up in a few days. He says that there’s nothing really bad wrong and I’ll just have a headache for a little while.”

  “That’s good to hear,” the fox said. “Do you need anything? Do want someone to bring you anything?”

  The mouse shook her head slightly. “I’m fine, Captain. I’m just really sleepy.”

  Elias smiled again. “Then you get some rest and I’ll see how you’re doing later, okay?”

  Katerina nodded with a half-smile even as her eyes fluttered shut.

  Elias left her bedside, and took a seat on the stool next to Lemuel’s desk. “She’s certainly looking better than she did when we first found her. How is she doing?”

  The tiger leaned back in his chair and rubbed the spot between his eyes. “Her prognosis is good. The swelling around the scalp laceration is going down and the imaging from her cranial scans shows clear even though she does have a concussion. Apart from needing fluids and some vitamin shots, she’ll be fine. Katerina is young and resilient.”

  “Count yourself lucky that you’re down here. The rest of the kids have taken over the rec deck with a vengeance. It’s a good thing that we don’t have far to go to get to Alexandrius. As it is Melise will be churning out unholy amounts of cash to restock the galley.” Elias chuckled. “Do all teenagers eat that much? No wonder my parents were happy when I left for the Fleet.”

  “I know the argument that they are still growing doesn’t really cover it. I don’t think that I have ever seen a youngster that didn’t try to eat twice their body weight per day,” the tiger said with his own grin.

  “If you need anything, give me a call. I’m going to go spell Saul on bridge watch,” Elias said as he stood. “If you can be available next duty shift, we’re going to interview the children to see if there is anything that they can tell us, maybe something they overheard.”

  Lemuel nodded. “Hmm. Good thinking. Count me in.”

  Elias bid the Doctor good night and took the last few feet to the bridge, the green painted hatch with the gold colored ship’s wheel parting as soon as he neared it. He saw that Saul had the illumination level turned down, and the bridge glowed softly from the various instruments of the station consoles. The jaguar looked up as his Captain entered.

  “Everything all right upstairs?” the navigator and First Officer asked.

  “If you consider our food stocks vanishing at an alarming rate as ‘all right’, then yes.” Elias took the seat at the navigator’s normal position. “After what I just saw, I think it’s a good thing that our employment is steady. It’ll take most of what we make to just cover groceries.”

  Saul laughed. “It could be worse. My sister and her husband are working on their third litter with only four years separating all of them. That makes seven kits in all. And if you think feeding is hard, consider what’s going to happen when it comes time to send them all to college.”

  “Saul, you are really beginning to scare me.”

— NEXT CHAPTER —

Unless otherwise noted, all material © Ted R. Blasingame. All rights reserved.