Ben and Streek: Clone Saga Ch. 00

Prologue: The Shortcut

The Star-Ship zoomed through empty space faster than the speed of light. For the two young men aboard the craft it felt like they were crawling.

They were small time freelance traders, hauling small amounts of cargo from one system to another, hoping to make a profit.

The Captain, Ben Anders was in the cockpit, sitting in the Captains chair which was the comfiest chair on the ship. He was going for the high score on his video game 'Laberinto 2' and was loudly cursing the hell-frogs that kept getting him out.

He was eighteen years old, the son of a military officer in the Federation, he dropped out of the Federation Academy when he realised he didn't want to spend his life taking orders.

Ben wanted to be his own boss, so he spent two years repairing and modifying an old Federation shuttle so that he could become a freelancer. He was gifted with machines and electronics, but was cursed with being a bit of a slacker and alcoholic. He had named his ship "Apollo Creed" and asked his best friend Streek to be his First Mate.

Bens' head was full of dreams about being a freelancer. He planned on making big money and soon trading up for a bigger ship. He dreamt of one day being the Captain and owner of a huge Galaxy-Class trade ship, with scores of crew-members working under him and Streek, and they would get laid at every Port they landed. He would call it 'Rocky Balboa' after the legendary warrior from pre-warp Earth, who once defeated Apollo Creed in battle.

But things were not going as planned. He found being a trader was tough when you're at the bottom of the barrel. Apollo Creed could only move small amounts of cargo at a time and even with her heavily modified engines, she was slower than almost every other trader.

Trade missions took many days and even weeks and usually by the time they got to their destination, other traders had flooded the market and prices were not so great any more, leaving them with barely any profit.

'But this trade mission will be different, this time we're going to be rich' Ben thought to himself.

Streek was in his quarters, which he referred to as 'the crate' on account of it being so damn small and crampt. It was the only place on the small ship where he could get some privacy. He would get sick of the sight of his best friend Ben, just as he got sick of the claustrophobic interior of the 'Creed' on their long space flights.

Streek was sitting up on his bed which took up nearly the whole room, He jerked off his six-inch boner as he watched one of his favourite porn vids 'Anal Slut Adventures 9.0' on his TAB.

A hot brunette in pig-tails was bouncing up and down on top of a huge meat-head stud, she was moaning loudly as his fat, twelve-inch cock pounded her tight ass-hole in high definition, holographic 3D.

Streek jerked his cock as he watched, the girl was Lisa Lovejoy, she was one of his favourites, but he wished he could afford some new pornos, or even better, to visit a whore and pay the extra to do her up the ass.

Ben was always promising a big payday but it never come. Ben was always dreaming big and talking of things that were to come and Streek was getting sick of it, just like he was getting sick of being stuck in a tin can day after day with Ben and the same old porn and video games.

His name was Stephen McKenzie, but everyone who knew him called him Streek. He was never that good at school, and dropped out in high school. He wasn't really tough enough to be a street thug, like a lot of young men from his neighbourhood either.

His parents tried to convince him to join the Federation Academy, but he just couldn't see himself as a Bluecoat.

So Streek worked a number of dead-end jobs and smoked a lot of weed until his best friend finished working on his ship and offered him a place on his crew.

Streek took him up right away, he wanted to get away from the settled world of Darion where they grew up, and see the galaxy, he also listened to Bens' promises of riches and being in charge of a Galaxy-class freighter with fifty crew members under them, but now it became apparent that that wasn't happening and the life of a space traveller wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

The small holographic Lisa Lovejoy with a big, slutty smile on her face rose up off the giant cock, and it popped out of her stretched out ass-hole. Now it was out again Streek was reminded how huge the thing was, at least twice the size of his own hard cock. Streek always suspected that porn stars must be genetically engineered to have cocks like that, and to take cocks like that up their ass and still have a smile on their face.

Ben had argued that they weren't real at all and were just computer animations that looked real, but Streek saw vids of Lisa Lovejoy collecting her trophy for best Ass-to-Mouth scene at the Galactic Porn Awards. He still believed that she was robbed for the best Anal Gangbang scene trophy. Lisa got down again opened her mouth wide and slipped as much of the huge organ into it as she could.

The ringing sound came from the ceiling, not overly loud but you couldn't miss it. It was a familiar sound travelling the space ways, it signalled that they were coming out of hyper-warp in a few minutes.

Streek liked to be there when they came out of and jumped into hyper-warp, he was second in command on the ship and felt like he should be doing something. He shut off the holo of Lisa Lovejoy fucking her face with a giant cock and tucked away his own boner.

"Guess I'll have to finish up later" he told himself as he climbed out his bed and left the crate.

Ben was slumped in his Captain seat when Streek walked in.

"Oh hey bud" said Ben turning to him " You don't need to worry, I got this."

"Nah, the First Officer should be on deck whenever we drop out."

"Right, are you real happy to see me 'First Officer'?"

Streek looked down and saw that he still had a boner and it was poking out the front of his pants. He quickly sat down, his face red with embarrassment.

"I was watching a movie." he told Ben.

"Of coarse you were" he said and turned back to the console smiling.

"I scored sixteen and a half K on Laberinto, smashing your highest." Ben told Streek.

"Dude, you know I never play that game, I prefer 'Cave Smasher'."

"Yeah Cave Smasher is alright, ...If you're into kids games!"

Streek felt weary that this was a conversation that they have had before, possibly a few times, he preferred to change the subject. "Are we coming up on the Mara System now?"

"...Nah, ...not the Mara System."

"Is it the Aerowyn System then?"

"We're ...not going through those systems this time."

"What? I saw them on the flight plan before we left."

"Yeah, I made some last minute changes to the flight plan before we departed."

"What? Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" Streek reached forward for the console and punched the buttons that brought up the flight plan. He was shocked when the 3D Holographic image of the Space Map appeared.

"You've taken us right out of protected space!" said Streek.

"I'm taking a shortcut."

"You're taking us right past Daveyjones Nebula, that's notorious Pirate territory."

"I had to, there were black holes the other way."

"You're fuckin' crazy! You're going to get us both killed!"

"Look Streek, this route will only take us thirty-four percent of the time it would to go through so-called 'protected space'. We'll get to the Rohme system while the price of medical supplies are still sky high. We're gunna make a huge profit for once dude, Payday!"

"No payday if Pirates steal our cargo. No payday if they kill us and take your ship!. There's a reason all the other freighters travel through protected space!"

"Bah, they still get robbed in protected space."

"Not near as much I bet, Come on Ben turn us around and go back before you get us killed."

"Why?, when we drop out we'll be roughly half way there, might as well keep going and get our payday."

"But we know the space is clear behind us."

"Do we? Space changes my friend, space is in a state of constant change, it might not be clear when we get there again!"

Streek grit his teeth " Damn You Ben!, If you get us killed, I'm gunna ...kill you!"

Ben smiled "Chill dude, we are little minnows swimming through an ocean, no one will even notice us."

"Little minnows get eaten." said Streek under his breath. The ringing came from the ceiling again signifying that they were now dropping out of hyper-warp.

Ben and Streek turned their attention to their consoles. "Fuck, I hope there's no Pirates waiting for us here."

The viewport was pitch black while they travelled through hyper-warp. Suddenly the whole ship buffeted as the hundreds of stars came into view. Streek bought up the radar on his console and quickly scanned for anything out of the ordinary, Pirate ships in particular.

"Long-range radar seems clear" he was relieved to tell Ben.

"See bud, nothing to worry about."

"We got three more systems before we reach Rohme, I'd say that's something to worry about."

"Uh Oh, I've got some bad news!" said Ben.

"What?, what is it?" said Streek, worried.

"I just farted!" said Ben seriously, then he cracked a smile and laughed.

"Fuck you!"

"You know, it sounds like you need some weed to help you relax dude, why don't you go out back and get high, I'll handle the jump, no worries."

"No, I'm gunna stay here and keep watching the scanner until we're away in hyper-warp, ...then I'm going out back to get high."

----------------------------------------------

Sixteen hours later Streek was awoken from his sleep by the ringing, they were coming out of hyper-warp again. 'Vico System' Streek remembered, at least he knew which system he was entering this time, even if he didn't know what was there.

He had a boner poking out the front of his boxers, he never did end up finishing up to Lisa Lovejoy, when he was stoned he just wanted to veg out, and after that he was too tense to masturbate.

When Streek got into the cockpit Ben was already in there, as usual. "Ben if we get through this mission alive, promise me you will never do this again, or else I Quit"

Ben laughed "Is that supposed to be a threat? I only gave you this job 'cause you're my bud. Anyone I hire would probably be better than you."

"But you seem to put a lot of trust in me, would you put that trust in a stranger?"

"Alright, it's just a one time thing!" said Ben. "...They probably wouldn't suck at games as much as you too!"

"You're the one who sucks!"

"You suck!"

"You suck!"

Soon the second alert sounded and the Apollo Creed shuddered again as it dropped out of hyper-warp into the Vico system and the stars of other systems returned to the viewport.

Streek had the radar open already and soon objects blinked into place on the image. Streeks' attention was drawn to one particular object.

"Fuck, it's another ship sixty four kilometres away."

"What kind of ship?" asked Ben.

"Unknown, it has no identifiers or specs." Streek turned to Ben, his face had gone pale "Fuckin' Pirates!"

"Chill dude, we're just a little minnow remember? The shark will probably think we're not worth their time."

"How long until the engines are ready to jump again?"

"Just over six minutes, Fuck, I knew I should have had that upgraded."

Streek watched the radar screen intently and grimaced. "Drakk! They've changed coarse and are heading straight for us!"

"Fuck! Set the bearing that's away from them, I'm setting the engines to full power!"

The Apollo creed turned and flew away from the pursuers as fast as it could go, which was not all that fast.

"Shit they're gunna catch up with us in just under two minutes." said Streek, trying his best not to panic.

"When they come I'm gunna evade them until we're ready to jump."

"That's your fuckin' plan? To outfly them in this thing?"

"Well have you got a better plan?"

"Yeah, jettison the cargo."

"What?"

"They might just let us go if we give them our cargo."

"Do you know how much that stuff is worth in Rohme?"

"Not our lives, that's for sure. Come on Ben, it's our only chance."

"Hail them."

"What are you gunna say?"

"I don't fuckin' know, just hail them." Streek noticed Ben was starting to get stressed out, and that was rare for him.

Streek tapped the button to hail the pirate ship and waited a few moments. "No response." he told Ben.

"Ah, fuck it!, jettisoning cargo!" Ben tapped a button on the console and the back doors of Apollo Creeds cargo bay zipped open and four pallets of medical supplies flew out into space as the ship fled away.

Soon Streek was watching the radar image intently as the pirates approached the jettisoned cargo.

"They've gone past it, Fuck!, they're still coming after us!"

"Those Cunts!" said Ben angrily "...try hailing them again."

"Still no fuckin' response, One minute until they're on us."

It was a long minute, but not long enough for Streek, when he informed Ben they were ten seconds away. "Rerouting power to the shields and laser."

"The laser?, what's that weak thing gunna do?, you should leave it offline and give the shields more power."

"If I'm going down, I'm going down fighting."

Loud alarms sounded in the cockpit "They're on us" said Streek. Suddenly the whole shuttle shook violently as its shields absorbed a laser blast.

"Drakk!, shields down to forty-six percent. I told you to give the shields more power, one more hit like that and we're toast."

"It won't matter look at that thing" Ben pointed out the window as the Pirate ship passed by "It's a SonyCorp Gunship, those things can give Galaxy-Class ships grief."

Streek got a good look at the ship, it certainly looked fearsome with large laser turrets and missile launchers sticking out from its hull. Its hull was painted black and Streek noticed a shark motif painted near its stern, a bit of coincidence, with Bens' talk of minnows and sharks.

Ben targeted the ship and fired his own laser. "Nice one Ben, I bet that was barely a mosquito bite to them, they're probably laughing at us, now divert the power to shields."

"Yeah ...right, truth is neither will do us any good, These fuckin' sons of whores are going to kill us!"

"They're coming around again, this is it! Ben, I fuckin' hate you for getting me killed!"

"It was an honour knowing you too, my friend."

The ship shook with laser fire again, Streek shut his eyes hard and waited for death.

Slowly he opened his eyes again, he was still alive, for now. He scanned the readout "The shields only went down five percent that time."

"They reduced power to their lasers, they're firing to disable us" said Ben with a wave of relief.

"Why? we gave them the only thing we had of any value, why would they want this crappy ship."

"Hey watch how you talk about my baby, continue trying to hail them."

Streek continued trying to hail the pirates as they continued to chip away at their shields with their lasers.

"They're toying with us, those Cunts!" said Ben, angrily.

Before long the shields failed, then louder, move violent blasts hit the Apollo Creed, and Streek was still certain he was going to die.

Alerts and flashing red lights where going off all over the cockpit. Ben turned to Streek "Damage report."

"Engines and laser are out, we're dead in space."

"Life support?"

"Still operating."

Then there was a beep and an icon on his console blinked. "They're hailing us."

"Now those fuckers want to talk!"

"They'll want us to surrender, do it Ben."

"Open the channel."

Streek pushed the icon and the head and shoulders of a rough looking man appeared on the screen. He looked to be in his forties, the first thing that drew the eye was the large scar running diagonally across his face, narrowly missing his left eye, he had short salt and pepper hair and a strong chin covered in stubble.

He regarded Ben with his cruel dark eyes. "Are you the Captain, boy?" he asked in a gravely voice.

Ben collected himself. "I... I'm Captain Ben Anders, of the Apollo Creed."

"How many crew or passengers do you have aboard?"

"Just one crew, ...who are you?"

The Pirate ignored the question. "Listen up boy, we're coming aboard now, whether we kill you or not depends on you. I want you to open you're bay doors when we dock, if you have any weapons leave them in front of the door and stand away from them, but where we can clearly see both of you, And I don't want any surprises, if there are surprises, I start killing."

"We jettisoned the cargo, that was the only thing we had worth st... " The pirate ended the communication before Ben finished speaking.

"You think they're gunna let us live?" asked Streek.

"I've heard stories of Pirates boarding and robbing traders and leaving them alive. That way, they might steal from them again some day."

"Well, we've got no choice anyway, we can't fight them off."

"Yeah...right." Ben sighed.

There was an ominous THUD! as the pirate ship docked with them, attaching itself to the wounded ship. Ben and Streek did as they were told and unlocked the bay doors at the rear of the shuttle and stood in the middle of the cargo bay which was eerily empty now that the cargo had been jettisoned.

After a few anxious moments the doors hissed open and gasses swirled in the air where the two ships joined.

The man who had hailed them, who must have been the Captain, was the first to set foot inside. He was carrying a large hand gun, leaving it pointed toward Ben.

He was wearing dark leathers, with the blue shark motif clearly visible on his chest. Others entered behind him, all rough looking and carrying guns.

They noticed a woman enter, she looked like a punk, with a spiky pink, purple and black mohawk and a large number of piercings. She was wearing tight dark leathers like the others, and carried a small laser gun.

One of them was huge, a stocky, muscular giant with a blonde crew cut who had to duck under the doorway as he entered, he carried a large assault rifle. Streek also noticed a machete sheathed at his waist.

Streek counted six, five men and one woman, all armed and looking over the cargo bay and him and Ben.

"What a shitty little tin can!" said the woman "how can they travel in this piece of shit?" "So this is your other crew member Captain Anders." said the Pirate Captain looking Streek over. "I was hoping you might have a nice young woman for me. Is this one your bitch?"

"He's Streek, my Second in Command." said Ben

"Second in command." the captain had an amused look on his face "...With a crew of two, that makes him the bottom bitch I reckon."

"We jettisoned our cargo, that was the only thing we had worth stealing."

"Yeah thanks boy, we'll pick it up later, but I'm a curious man, when a ship jettisons its' cargo, I have to come and see what they didn't jettison."

He nodded to the others and three of them including the woman walked past Ben and Streek and moved to the forward section where the small crew quarters, bathroom, mess and cockpit were.

The Captain and the giant and another large, bald headed man stayed there in the cargo hold, pointing their weapons at the traders. They soon heard the pirates roughly rummaging through everything, and smashing things.

"Cuff 'em Duff." Said the Captain to the bald man. Ben and Streek didn't offer any resistance as he took their hands behind their back and whacked cable-locks around their wrists.

"I'm Captain Naeme, of the 'Jaws III', member of the Steel Sharks. What are a couple of little fishies like you doing in this part of the pond?"

"We were just passing though. Captain Name? ...seriously?!" said Ben.

There was a loud smash behind them as the rummaging Pirates broke their stuff.