Author's Note:
I'd say that we're nearing the last few chapters of this prequel… we'll just have to see how it all plays out.
Their approach to the mining planet of Alpha Diego was done in silence. A thick cloud of space dust prevented them from charging towards the planet. They were all on the lookout for a possible ambush and the natural obstacles.
Each of them had at least a sword and a manual-firing laser pistol. Each member of Rebecca's escort was armed with their own particular array of weaponry. Henry had a proton rifle strapped to his back. Martin was armed with an extra sword and a dagger. Juanita had an extra laser pistol strapped to her hip. Jarred had a row of handheld grenades strapped to his belt.
John looked at the dagger in his free hand while the other gripped the wheel of the ship. It was an heirloom left with his ship that once belonged to both his father and his grandfather. The Silver coat of arms was emblazoned at the ebony hilt of the dagger and the blade was made of wrought silver.
'This one's for yeh pap.' He sheathed the dagger and looked forwards, gripping the wheel with both hands and gently guiding the ship through the space dust.
Rebecca gripped the bow's railing tightly as she looked through the space dust. 'This is it.' She pondered to herself.
Her hand went to her stomach instinctively. She knew –without a doubt- that a child of three months was growing inside her. A sudden ferocity developed within her as her hand closed around the hilt of her sword. 'I'm not going to let Bones hurt anyone, anymore… and he certainly isn't taking this baby away from me.' She squared her shoulders, taking a deep breath, and walked to the helm of the ship.
John was at the wheel and Jim was at the ship's scanner. Rebecca walked to her position at the ship's controls and analyzed them.
'It's quiet... too quiet.'
There was a cataclysmic explosion of energy as a flaming ship cut through the mist and collided with the bow end of the HMS Aurora. Everyone fought to stay on his or her feet as John acted quickly to move the Aurora out of the path of the burning vessel.
"A merchant ship, no doubt." Martin stated once the Aurora steadied.
"This is Bones' doing." Henry growled. "It's a message for us." He paused as their ship veered away from the burning craft, which began to drift off into the Etherium. "Dead men tell no tales."
"Where is he?" Jim exclaimed, bashing his fists against the scanner in frustration. "If he has enough nerve to throw a ship at us, why isn't that old salamander showing his face?"
"Calm down, Jimbo." John reassured his younger brother. "He's out there…"
Jim growled. "Yeah, and he's about to face his worst nightmare yet... me."
John shook his head at his brother's uncharacteristic vengefulness and looked through the mist. "There it is…" He pointed at a gap in the mist, spotting the Black Arrow.
The infamous ship was hovering amongst the asteroids and space dust. The HMS Aurora came up alongside the pirate ship.
"Where is everyone?" Jarred asked, squinting at the vacant main deck of the vessel.
"Let's get a closer look." Juanita suggested.
John steered his family's ship closer to the darker ship so they could leap onto their enemy's main deck unscathed. Still, there was nothing. Their captain set his ship into hover mode and the group prepared to board the other ship.
The seven sailors leapt onto the main deck of the Black Arrow, swords drawn. They searched the bow of the deck, keeping close together, for any sign of the pirates.
Rebecca kept close to John's side, her eyes darted between the dust enshrouded deck and John. The young man wanted to comfort Rebecca somehow, but nothing short of heroic fantasies came to mind.
The young woman stepped around the mainmast and gave a yelp at what she saw. Martin and John hurried to Rebecca's side, expecting an ambush but gapped at what they saw.
'Finnegan.' The dead rat creature was hanging from a solar sail boom by a noose, his eyes wide and his face in petrified terror.
"A mutiny?" John thought aloud.
"Perhaps the crew took up arms against their captain." Martin suggested.
"No." Rebecca said after a pause. "That can't be right…" She furrowed her brow in thought. "Finnegan took out one of his crewmembers when he made a mistake during the invasion. I think this was his punishment."
Rebecca looked past the hanged rat to see the eerily familiar bodies of a number of the pirates hanging off of solar sail booms.
"It appears that Bones wasn't just angry at Finnegan." Rebecca stated.
The only pirate that had escaped her mansion in the longboat who wasn't hanging by his neck was Romulus. Apparently he had evaded his captain's wrath.
"How foul!" Martin huffed.
"What's Bones playing at?" John asked. "Leaving his own ship unattended."
"John!" Jim called from the helm of the ship. "We've been tricked!"
"What?" John exclaimed.
"This place is rigged to explode on Bones' command," Jim stated, "There's already a longboat out of their docks."
"No." John gasped. "Everyone back teh the Aurora, on the double!"
The group turned towards the Aurora, only to see that the heirloom ship was drifting away. A pair of cackling pirates at the helm of the HMS Aurora confirmed that their ship had been stolen.
"No!" Rebecca exclaimed. She then heard hooting close by and turned on her heel.
A mass of armed pirates poured out of the lower decks, shouting and jeering at how easily their enemies had fallen into their trap. Though a handful of the pirates had been hung and a generous amount were missing –likely fallen on the merchant ship- the pirates were still an imposing force.
"Attack!" The first mate cawed, raising his sword into the air.
"Get back!" John exclaimed, plunging his sword into the gut of an oncoming pirate as he stepped between Rebecca and the pirates.
The young man fought off as many of the cutthroats at a time as he could. He sliced, stabbed and occasionally fired a shot from his slow-charging pistol.
Before a pirate could slice a new hole in John's head, the mongrel froze and fell off the blade of another's sword, revealing Martin. He smirked, "Mind if I cut in?" The squirrel humanoid darted to John's side and covered the young man from pirate attacks.
"Rebecca." John commanded. "Yeh 'ave gotta get up teh the helm an' help Jim shut down those explosives."
"What?" Rebecca exclaimed, looking at John.
"That sneaky bastard Bones is gonna blow us all outta the Etherium if yeh don't stop him." John said gravely. Rebecca could see the gravity of the situation within John's coal black eyes and knew that this could be her last time seeing him.
Rebecca nodded, grabbing John by the front of his jacket and pressing her lips against his. The kiss was over as quickly as it had been given and Rebecca darted through the crowds of fighting sailors.
Juanita held her ground against the pirates, but this was evidentially a losing fight. Unlike her last battle, these swordsmen were skilled in their fighting style and outnumbered her ten to one.
The female Shikaran backed up against the port railing of the ship only to be stopped in her tracks by the tip of a dagger. She looked up, seeing the feral canid –Romulus- holding onto a ratline and smiling maliciously down at her.
"Any last words?" He asked, readying his blade to kill the female Shikaran.
"Yeah!" Jarred's voice called from the portside of the helm. The male Shikaran sliced a rope at the railing, which sent a solar sail boom flying towards Romulus.
Juanita swiftly sliced the bottom ropes of the ratline as she shot at the pirates around her with her laser pistol. The solar sail boom caught Romulus in the stomach, catapulting him into the Etherium.
"Down boy." Jarred smirked, tossing a lit grenade into the crowd of pirates behind him before leaping onto the main deck to assist Juanita.
Rebecca finally sliced and stabbed her way through the throngs of cutthroats reaching the ship's helm.
"Come 'ere girly!" A brute charged at her wielding a sword.
Rebecca jumped up, grasping a ratline with her off hand, delivered a swift slice to the pirate's face. The pirate reeled back -his hands at his face- into another group of pirates.
Ignoring the shouting of warriors and clashing of blades, Rebecca sensed the graver danger that posed a threat to all of their lives and hurried up the stairs of the aft.
"Jim!" Rebecca shouted.
Jim was fighting off a jacket-clad pirate near the stern of the ship. He turned at the sound of Rebecca's voice and met her eyes a moment too long. His opponent ran his blade through Jim's stomach while Jim was caught unawares.
"No!" Rebecca screamed in horror, watching Jim tumble off the blade and hit the deck.
Author's Note:
Thanks, Whisperwings!
MG#6