Captain Emrah Jackson Ch. 28

The others started to move away from my cot. I wasn't able to give them the salvation they expected.

Wickram stayed and I asked him if the power could be restored at all.

"It's destroyed, we are on the back-up supply now."

I knew it was pointless asking if they had shuttles just lying around, but I did ask if there were any on the Hawk. Wickram had to ask one of the other men in the room. He had been one of the crew, but he told me that the ones that had been working were destroyed after the attack. I asked more questions trying to get more of a sense of the situation, but with each answer, it all felt more desperate.

As all my suggestions were shot down, I realised that Vanya's offer didn't seem so bad anymore.

"Why don't you rest," Wickram, suggested and I nodded.

That seemed all I could do now, just lay back and wait for the inevitable. Then an idea began to form in my mind.

"Wait, what about the engine on the Hawk? When I came in, the ship had been cut in half, but the rear section with the engine looked intact."

For the first time, my idea wasn't dismissed immediately.

"I'm not sure we could make it compatible with the station," he said and rubbed his chin.

"Why make it compatible? It's an engine with a jump drive. We can fly it."

"Impossible," one of the pirates said, "you need a Nav computer and sensors. They were all in the front end of the ship, you'd be flying blind."

"It doesn't matter," I said, quickly. "I'm only talking about a one-way jump. Where is the nearest station?"

"A thousand light years," Mary said, as she returned to the discussion. "But he's right how would we navigate?"

I explained that we'd have to point the ruined ship in the right direction and then burn the engine for a specific time.

"It could work."

"A lot of the emergency bulkheads would have closed, and the rest we could seal up." the pirate said

The more we talked the more it started to sound like a viable option. The biggest obstacle was getting it somewhere safe.

"We need a star map."

"That might be a problem," Wickram said. "The station's maps are kept in the command bridge. The only way there is through the concourse."

We were in a maintenance area which thankfully had airlocks. Unfortunately due to the damage the station had suffered the only way to get the star map was to go back through the concourse area.

Everyone in the room looked more animated now and started to gather supplies. Three EVA suits were found as were maintenance tools we would need to conduct repairs.

"Once the ship has been sealed up we will have to ferry people in small groups."

Two of the pirates volunteered to go over and start work.

"That just leaves the question of the star map," Wickram said.

"What about using an EVA suit?" Mary suggested, but the command section had no airlocks. Someone would have to go there on foot.

"I will go," I said.

**********

It was suggested that we try to fight our way through, but it was safer to do it by stealth. Wickram wanted to come with me, but I told him it would be easier without him.

"I'll come with you," one of the remaining pirates said. He had been quiet up until now and told me his name was Josiph.

The other two were climbing into the EVA suits, and readying themselves for their excursion. I reminded them whatever repairs they had to make didn't have to be pretty, but they had to be secure.

"Good luck," Wickram said and offered me a laser pistol. I declined it and told him to give it to Josiph.

We made our way to the hatch connecting to the concourse. He told me that we had been pursued when they rescued me, but thought that when faced with such a sturdy door they would have cut their losses.

"You knew those men?"

"Some of them. A lot of them were recruits from Ferrin. We got them from the detention facility."

"Ah," I said and chose not to tell him that was where I started my life as a pirate.

He told me that the women were workers at the station. It had a few entertainment houses and a small restaurant. I got the impression that he felt bad about what was happening, but was trying to hide his true feelings.

We manually opened the heavy door and as he had said there was no one waiting on the other side. Carefully we crept through the dark corridor and heard the music getting louder.

"How long has this been going on?" I asked, in a soft voice.

"A few days. Most of the crew were on the station when the attack happened."

"Do you have any clue who did it?"

"Dunno, but we've been hearing things, this isn't the first station to be attacked like this."

We came across a man slumped against a wall, he looked dead. Next to him was a bottle of alcohol.

"I've got an idea," I said and picked up the bottle. "It's better to hide in plain sight." I took a large drink, then poured half the bottle over his clothes and handed the rest to him. Then I told him he was going to have to carry me.

He was a well-built man and had no trouble throwing me over his shoulder. I reminded him to act drunk and not to let anyone stop him. The music was getting louder as we made our way further into the madness. From my position, I couldn't see much which was a benefit, but put me at a disadvantage. It wasn't long before a crowd began to form around us. They knew Josiph had a woman now and wanted a piece of the action. I could feel hands trying to pull me off his shoulder, but he was doing his best to move through the eager men.

"She's mine," I heard him shout out above the music.

More men began to jostle us, and I saw the bottle I had given Josiph was discarded. It became much more of a struggle to get through. Hands were all over me, on my ass, ad trying to grab my breasts. All my efforts were taken up with trying to stop someone from getting a good hold of my wrists. Eventually, we were through, and I could feel Josiph picking up the pace. I looked up and saw that it wasn't going to be as simple as that. About a dozen were quickly following.

"Nearly there," he grunted as I bounced up and down on his shoulder. We reached the command centre, and he closed the door behind us.

"That was close," I said and began to make sense of our surroundings. Everything was dead and only emergency light illuminated the large room. Suddenly there was banging at the door. It was steel, but not as heavy as the one connecting the maintenance section.

"I don't think they will be able to get through," he said but told me to hurry. For the time being, we were trapped in here.

I found the Nav computer. There was no power to it, and I had to pull down a light fitting and connect the cords. The screen flickered to life and I searched for the nearby station.

"Got it," I exclaimed and made a mental note of the coordinates.

"How are we going to get out of here?"

"How much power does your pistol have."

He shook his head solemnly and told me he had lost it.

"Fuck," I cursed. The door was taking a pounding as men tried to get through.

There was only one option now, and it was one that I didn't relish at all.

"I will have to keep them busy."

"No," he protested, "I can't go back without you."

"We will be going back together," I said and told him that there should be a breaker box in the corridor outside that would cut the power if he tripped it.

"Won't that cut the power to the whole station?"

"Only this section," I said, "it's our only chance."

*********

Josiph stood by the door and asked if I was ready. I picked up a metal bar and nodded.

"Be quick," I mouthed at him as he unlocked the door.

"She's all yours," he said to the men as they began to squeeze themselves through the opening. I had faced worse odds in the gladiator arena. That gave me little comfort as I saw the wild lust in their eyes.

"Get the bitch," one of them called out and rushed me. I hit him hard in the throat, and he doubled over in pain. This caused the others to take a moment and pause. The room was large, and they slowly began to encircle me.

"Hurry up Josiph," I muttered under my breath.

"We are all gonna die lady, you know what's gonna happen, you might wanna make it easy on yourself."

I waved the bar at one of them that was getting closer. He grinned as he jumped back.

"Drop it," a deep gravely voice, said. This man was big, bigger than the rest. He was shirtless and had very dark skin. His muscles bulged across his chest, and his arms looked like tree trunks. That wasn't the worst of it, he had a laser pistol pointed directly at me. There was no fear in his eyes, and he looked quite at home as he swaggered towards me.

My mouth was suddenly dry as I took a firmer grip on the metal bar. He grinned and moved quickly toward me. I prepared to swing hard, but as I did a hand from behind me grabbed my weapon and prevented my strike. It was all over as the shirtless man sprang forward and seized me by the throat. I let go of the bar as I struggled against him. It was no use as his large fingers had me in a death grip. My body was pulled off the ground and in a terrible feat of strength, he held me in mid-air. I could not breathe and could only grip not his thick wrist. Thankfully he let me back down but didn't release his grip. Then he backed me against a wall. The others tried to join in, but he pushed them away easily.

"I'm having her first," he grunted. He was in charge now, and the others slunk back but with their eyes on us.

With his free hand, he roughly yanked at the front of my coveralls until the zip parted exposing my swollen breasts. He groped them greedily, watching my reaction with glee. "Nice and big," he grunted, then he found my stomach and squeezed the bulge.

"Pregnant," he said, with an even wider smile. "That man was your husband, wasn't he?" he asked, with a chuckle, and covered my mouth with his. I could taste the alcohol as he forced his tongue between my lips and into my mouth. His other hand never left my throat, and I was pinned to the wall.

My body was trembling, and I was struggling for breath.

"Your hubby ain't coming back for you," he said and his grip on my airway slackened.

Suddenly the dim lights flickered but stayed on. Whatever Josiph had done hadn't worked. I grimly thought that these men were now going to gang-bang me, but then I felt a lightness in my stomach. It was a familiar feeling and a welcome one.

I managed to squirm my arms free and put my hands on the man's chest. He thought I was now being compliant, and he chuckled to himself. I wasn't and with as much strength as I could muster, I shoved him backwards. There was a look of shock on his face no as he went tumbling head over heels. Josiph had cut the breaker to the gravity plating.

I squatted down and jumped up towards the ceiling. The other men around looked perplexed and as they began twisting in the air I had my eyes fixed on the door. With my feet planted firmly on the wall, I propelled myself forward at a high speed, shooting in a direct line for the exit. A hand tried to grab my ankle but it failed to connect. These men might have lived and worked in space, but it was doubtful they had ever trained in zero gravity.

I stopped myself on the door frame and pulled myself into the corridor. Josiph was there floating in mid-air. He was panicking slightly, but he relaxed as he saw me sailing towards him. I grabbed a handful of his shirt as I went past, bringing him with me. I crawled with my free hand and kicked off the deck as we made our way somewhat gracefully down the corridor.

As I had suspected he had only cut the power to that section. Eventually, the gravity equalized again, and we were able to stand and then walk.

We still had the maelstrom to navigate again.

This time though we chose the more stealthy option. We darted from the shadows and hid amongst the debris the best we could. It took us a little longer but it worked and soon we were heading back to the maintenance area.

**********

A few hours passed with no news, and then a banging at the airlock signalled to us, that one of the pirates had returned. He had good news and told us that the half-ship had been made airtight and emergency life support had been activated. He'd also brought back the spare EVA suit his friend had worn. It was a long process with only three suits but after many hours we managed to ferry everyone over to the Hawk, or what was left of it. I was the last one to go, and instead of going straight in I spent some time examining the outside of the ship. I had hoped it would be in a more shipshape condition. There was a large crack running down the side.

Once I got inside I was shown to the makeshift command centre. It was nothing more than an engineering workstation in a hallway.

"Are you sure you can fly this thing?" Wickram asked.

I was honest and told him I had never heard of someone piloting a ship like this.

"We've just got the point it in the right direction."

The first thing I did was get the thrusters working. I knew roughly the position I wanted it in, and I used my best judgement to get it aligned correctly.

"How accurate do you have to be?" Wickram asked.

"Well," I said, scratching my chin. "We don't have to get into a visual contact, as long as we show up on their long-range sensors it should be enough."

The next part was the hardest. Calculating the jump. I couldn't guess at this one. I used a small screw and scratched out my equations on a steel bulkhead. Josiph looked on in awe. Everything for him was done through the main computers. There weren't many places that forced students to learn these types of antiquated calculations. Thankfully the UEN was a stickler for teaching the very basics of space navigation.

With my numbers the best I could make them I entered it all into the workstation.

"Fingers crossed everyone," I said, to the small huddled group.

We could hear the sound of the engines struggling to come to life, and then the whine of the jump engines spinning up. There were loud creaks and cracks in the superstructure. If this half-ship came apart during the jump I was at least satisfied that our death would be quick and painless.

The deck vibrated loudly, making even the most hardened amongst us look fearful. Then it happened, the ship began to move at a cruising speed.

"If I keep it on too long," I shouted above the din to Wickram, "the ship will explode. and too little, and we will die due to lack of oxygen."

Suddenly all the alarms on board began to chime simultaneously. What was left of the main computer knew something was wrong. I couldn't even silence them and for the next fifteen minutes, we had to endure it. The superstructure was groaning and fighting to keep itself intact. There was hissing too, we were losing oxygen, either old patched holes were failing or new ones were opening.

As the minutes dragged on, it was becoming unbearable but I knew we had to hit our target. With a shaky hand, I waited until the very last second to disengage the engine.

There was silence. The alarms stopped and the engine died, the readouts told me that they were never going to start again. The lights went off seconds later followed by the oxygen.

We were now lit by the light on the EVA suits.

Josiph left to check the airlock and when he came back he told us that he saw nothing through the portholes. With no power and no comms, we were going to die.

I remembered Berta telling me that it was superstitious for pirates to check a derelict ship. I hoped it was just one of her peculiarities, rather than a widespread tradition.

No one blamed me, it had been a long shot after all. We became resigned to our fate as we huddled together in one of the airlocks. Just the blue lights illuminated our frozen breath.

"Can anyone hear that?" Mary asked, softly.

I tried to nod, but I was getting dizzy from the lack of oxygen.

It was a mechanical noise, something was attaching itself to the hull. We picked up what we could and began to make our noise, pipes and bolts were struck against the walls in a deafening racket, until we heard the joyous sound of the air equalizing in the airlock and the door being opened.

We expected salvation, but what we got was the barrel of a laser rifle pointed at us, and a handful of manacles thrown onto the deck.

"They are salvers," Wickram said, grimly.

***********

We were shuffled onto their ship in heavy collars and chains. In a small cargo hold, we were ordered to form a line for inspection. I was a pirate and in the free systems there was a big difference and the two groups rarely saw eye to eye. While pirates did deal with slaves, the slavers dealt with them exclusively. Berta had told me stories about them. Some were opportunists who picked up any unfortunates who strayed in their path. Others attacked colonists or passenger ships selecting only the best and killing the rest. It was a grim business that only attracted the sadistic and desperate.

Wickram was the first to speak. They shot him as he began to tell them of our plight. Maybe it was his age that made them make that choice, but it angered me to witness it. I knew though that silence for the time being was the best option. Bargaining with these people was going to be next to impossible.

A man with a medical scanner went down the line and as he did he called out to the others that surrounded us.

"Manual worker," he said, scanning one of the pirates.

"Domestic worker," he said, scanning the woman known as Mary.

Josiph was given the manual worker definition. He spoke up as soon as he heard it and told them he was a fighter. Instead of a laze blast he was struck heavily on the head and told to keep quiet.

"Pregnant," he said, as the device scanned my body. "She's a breeder."

The others were taken away through a different door, leaving me and Wickram's body.

"Throw the body into the septic tank," one of the men said. "And then take the breeder to Captain Mence."

These people didn't look like any pirate or other space dweller I had ever come across. At first, I thought they were wearing a strange type of body armour, but seeing them up close it looked more like biological protection suits. They were partly covered in protective pads and had ventilation hoses built in. They didn't look healthy at all either. The man who led me out of the cargo hold was missing large clumps of his hair.

I was led upward and then brought onto the bridge of the ship. I got my first look at the captain of this ship. If there was ever a more frightening sight of a man he was it. He was as immense as he was obese. He stood at about six foot five and had a body that bulged in every area. His completely bald head was just as grossly oversized. It gave him the look of a malformed infant. With much straining he raised his bulk from his command chair and approached me.

"What breeder farm are you from?" he asked, in a guttural drawl.

I couldn't help but be intimidated. I thought about telling him I was a pirate, but after seeing what had happened to Josiph I played along.

"Nendi," I said, coolly.

"Uh-huh." As he nodded his double chin rocked back and forth. "Where were you going?"

"I was to be sold to a rich merchant on Ferrin," I said, hoping he would take the bait.

He didn't and told his men the baby was more valuable than me. "Take her below and lobotomize her, harvest the child when the time comes."

I couldn't believe what I had just heard, and his man wasted no time in pulling me firmly away.

"Wait," I called out, hoping somehow to deprive myself of that fate.

"What?" Mence asked, looking at me with disgust

"I'm more valuable as a hostage," I said, quickly.

He waved his fat hand dismissively. "No time for hostages, your baby is what we want."

With that said I was dragged off the bridge. The men who took me didn't speak and ignored my protests.