Three Square Meals Ch. 010

Moments later, over a dozen red jacketed gang members came bursting in through the entryway into the hangar. They drew their weapons and pointed them at John and the Mercenaries. "Let her go!" a bulky ganger with a mohawk shouted. "She's Diablo property!"

The mercenaries on the hover trucks spun the heavy machine guns around quickly to point them at the new threat and the tension in the room ratcheted up several notches.

John opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a booming female voice being transmitted throughout the Cargo bay. "All gang members and mercenaries will leave this Docking bay immediately." The voice said implacably "Refusal will be met with deadly force. You have ten seconds to comply".

Dozens of sets of eyes looked up at the towering hull of the Invictus, suddenly painfully aware of the four turreted Gatling lasers that had spun up and were now pointed in their direction.

"Ten." Calara said, beginning the countdown.

"I'm not kidding John, I'll splatter her brains all over the floor!" Seb shouted, waving his heavy pistol in the air for emphasis, before placing it back against the small girl's head.

"Nine." The Latina continued undaunted.

"Let her go, She's coming with us!" The gang leader shouted, as his men trained their weapons at the mercenaries.

"Eight." Calara intoned.

John tensed the muscles in his legs, getting ready to spring into action.

"Seven." The young woman's voice continued.

Alyssa touched the panel activating the airlock and then hugged the wall closely, staying out of sight. The door spiralled open silently, unnoticed in the tense Mexican standoff.

"Six." Calara's voice echoed around the docking bay.

"Shut that bitch up, John!" Seb bellowed, furious that his carefully laid plans had unravelled so quickly.

"Five." came the booming reply.

"You better do as she says." John called out "She isn't bluffing!"

"Four." Calara said relentlessly.

The mercenaries and gangers were looking increasingly worried. Staring down a two meter long gun barrel will do that to a man.

"Three." The Latina said in a flat emotionless voice.

"Let her go man, she's my property!" The gang leader shouted, the nervous tremor to his voice betraying his fear.

"Two." Calara's countdown continued unabated.

"Last chance John, surrender now!" Seb yelled angrily.

Alyssa suddenly appeared around the edge of the airlock, her assault rifle at her shoulder.

"One!" The blonde teen sang out, her melodic voice piercing the scene playing out in the room. Her rifle chattered and Seb screamed as his wrist exploded, his severed hand still clutching his pistol as it sailed through the air.

John burst into action, charging directly towards the crippled mine owner who was screaming in pain and holding the bloodied stump of his wrist with his other hand. Sparks had been thrown to the ground and was cowering in fear as the mercenaries with rifles and pistols opened up on John. They weren't expecting him to sprint right past them though, so a fusillade of small arms fire sailed around him harmlessly as he ran flat out towards the mine owner, moving too fast for the surprised mercs to react in time. John barrelled into the critically injured man, shoulder charging him with a ceramic plated pad that sent Seb sprawling and leaving John to bounce off and drop to a crouch next to the frightened redhead.

The low pitched whir of the Gatling lasers was drowned out as Calara opened up with the Invictus. Rapid Staccato blasts of laser fire arced outwards, illuminating the dimly lit room with strobing flashes. The hover trucks were hit by dozens of high energy pulses, the vehicles exploding as the multi barrelled Gatling lasers chewed threw them in seconds and tore them to pieces.

The Gangers could only stare in horror as the last two Gatling lasers turned in their direction and sprayed the wide doorway with a long continuous burst of laser fire. Most of the Diablo's managed to throw themselves to the ground or leap behind storage crates, but two gang members weren't so lucky. One was hit by several laser bolts, each hit searing holes straight through his body and leaving his torso looking like a smouldering Swiss cheese as he toppled over. The other was hit in the shoulder, the laser bolt penetrating clean through and melting the entire shoulder joint. The man's arm fell to the floor, the charred stump glowing with the heat of the impact and he collapsed to his knees in shock, his mouth agape in horror.

"Get behind those crates!" John ordered curtly to Sparks, pointing to some sturdy storage containers stacked against the side of the room. The terrified teenager looked up at him wide eyed, before she managed to shake off her fear and started crawling in the direction John had pointed. John attempted to shield the girl, using his armoured body to cover her as she scampered away. Round after round went sailing over his head, but a few hit his arms and back, ricocheting off the tough ceramic plates. He winced as he felt the impacts, one round slammed into his right thigh between ceramic plates and caused him to flinch in pain.

Alyssa's eyes narrowed with anger as she sighted in on the mercenaries shooting at her lover and friend. Her assault rifle chattered in multiple bursts as she took steps to eliminate that danger. The first burst hit a merc who was crouched behind a crate firing his pistol wildly. The three hollow point rounds hit him squarely in the head and his skull exploded as the caseless ammo blasted out the other side.

The second burst hit a merc standing in the open, who had stepped out of cover to try and shoot around his colleagues, his line of sight to John blocked after his reckless charge. These rounds punched into the merc's torso from the side, eviscerating him as the bullets tore through his body and leaving him writhing on the floor in agony.

Her final shot hit a merc in the leg as he tried in vain to conceal himself behind a crate. Two of the bullets hit him in the calf and the last blew out his knee, showering the crate in gore. The man slumped to the ground screaming in pain as he clutched his ruined leg.

The Diablo's cowered behind crates as the cargo bay turned into some kind of horrific hellscape. Bright flashes of laser fire kept them pinned down and illuminated the corpses of their brothers who had been cooked by laser fire, wispy smoke rising from their charred bodies. It was a powerful reminder of what would happen to them if they broke cover, so they wisely ducked down as low as possible.

Sparks finally managed to crawl behind the sturdy storage containers stacked against the rough wall of the docking bay. The containers were pock marked with impacts from the dozens of rounds fired in their direction, but John was glad to see the containers were robust enough to stop the rounds from penetrating. He followed the young woman behind the crates, glad to be out of the line of fire for a moment.

"Are you ok?" He asked the scared girl as she huddled up against the crate, trying to make herself as small as possible.

"Yeah, I didn't get hit." Sparks replied, much to John's relief.

The gunfire from the mercs had gone quiet for a moment, when they weren't able to shoot at him any longer. After a brief pause, he heard numerous small arms firing again, but this time the rounds weren't headed in his direction. He held his assault rifle at the ready and carefully leaned out behind the crate, to see what the remaining mercenaries were shooting at. He saw they were firing towards his ship's airlock and he heard the distinctive chatter of one of his assault rifles firing back defiantly. John saw the muzzle flash at the airlock door and that sudden flare of light revealed a mane of golden hair.

"Goddamnit!" he swore. *Get down Alyssa!* he shouted in his mind, praying his fearless companion was listening to his thoughts like before. He was greatly relieved when she immediately disappeared from view. He had the mercs in a good crossfire from his current position and he was able to drop two more with carefully aimed bursts, before the rest of the mercenary team reacted and ducked down low behind cover.

Unfortunately for both the mercenaries and the Diablo's, the storage crates proved scant protection against the ship mounted Gatling lasers. These weapons were designed to take out lightly armoured fighters, so a few inches of Reinforced plastic might be able to stop a hollow point round, but it was powerless to protect against penetration by the searing laser bolts.

Calara began to walk laser fire along the defensive positions held by the two hostile groups. Glowing holes were punched through the reinforced plastic of the storage crates before the laser bolts connected with soft flesh, screams of pain announcing every successful strike. Pitiful cries of surrender began to drift up around the loading bay and John contacted Calara using his watch communicator and asked her to cease fire.

"Ok it's over, get out of here!" John shouted loudly to the terrified attackers, their morale truly broken.

The seven remaining Diablo's stopped to pick up their fallen brothers and dragged them from the Loading bay. The mohawked leader was one of the survivors and he turned to face John before he left.

"This ain't over chief, the Diablo's have got long memories!" he snarled. When two of the Gatling lasers began to spin up and track him, his bravado disappeared and he fled the docking bay.

John saw the three surviving mercs crawl out of cover and limp away, leaving their fallen behind. John took a quick glance at the abandoned corpses, but he couldn't see Seb anywhere. He noticed a bloody trail leading out of the docking bay from where he had sent the mine owner sprawling and figured he must have crawled away during the heat of combat.

"Are you ok to walk?" he asked Sparks.

The teen nodded tentatively and John offered her a strong hand to help her stand up. Adrenalin was fast wearing off and the young woman stood on wobbly legs, reluctant to let go of John's supportive arm. He helped her to walk towards the airlock on the Invictus.

Alyssa came dashing out to their side, her face concerned. "Are you both ok? Did either of you get hit?" she asked, worried.

"I'm going to get a nasty couple of bruises, but other than that, all good!" John replied reassuringly.

The gorgeous blonde moved to hug them both, but John held her off for a moment.

"Let's get inside the ship first, I'm still feeling a bit exposed here." He said, glancing over his shoulder at the writhing figures still lying in the slaughterhouse that the docking bay had become. Alyssa helped Sparks through the airlock on her shaky legs, while John entered the Cargo bay and pressed the controls that would re-seal the outer hull of the Invictus. He walked briskly over to meet up with the girls in the corridor and they took the elevator up to the bridge.

The door swished open quietly and they walked out on to the bridge. Alyssa watched her friend with amusement as Sparks stood open mouthed with awe at the technical wonder that was the command deck of the Invictus. The multi levelled bridge was illuminated with the light blue glow of the holographical tactical images projected into the centre of the room.

Calara stood up from her tactical station when she heard them arrive and came over to meet them. "I'm so glad you're all ok!" she said, relief showing clearly on her face when she saw that they weren't injured.

"It's our very own deus ex machina!" exclaimed John upon seeing Calara and he moved forward to sweep her up in a warm hug. "That was awesome honey, you were amazing!" he said proudly.

The gorgeous Latina beamed up at him, glowing with his praise.

"Thanks for the rescue you guys." Sparks said in a small voice, clearly intimidated by the massive ship and yet another ravishingly beautiful woman.

"Oh sorry, I'm being rude." John apologised to the girls. "Calara, this is Alyssa's old friend Sparks. Sparks, this is Calara, we're lucky to have her as the Tactical Officer on the Invictus".

"And she's quite lovely too!" Alyssa said warmly, moving in to wrap Calara in a hug. "You did a great job today Calara. Thank you for saving these two!" she grinned happily.

"You're all welcome!" the gorgeous brunette smiled at them, her deep brown eyes warm and friendly.

"Why don't we go the debriefing room and we can have a chat." John suggested to the young women gathered around him.

The three teenagers followed after him as he led them to the as yet unused door, on the other side of the bridge. The door led into a sizeable room, with a long meeting table dominating the space, surrounded by plush, comfortable looking chairs. A long window ran the length of the room, which would no doubt provide spectacular views, but unfortunately all they could see at the moment was the rough hewn rock of the Docking bay wall. John gestured for the girls to sit and once they had moved to take their seats, he sat in the luxurious leather chair at the head of the table.

"Alyssa, why don't you explain to Sparks what you had in mind for her onboard the Invictus?" John prompted gently.

The beautiful blonde nodded happily and gleefully launched into a long and detailed explanation of her plans for her spiky haired young friend, shocking the pale teen to the core.

"Now wait a minute, let me just get this straight..." Sparks said. "You want me to join the crew as Chief Engineer and sail around the galaxy in this monster of a ship. I get an almost unlimited budget to maintain the Invictus and I can work on whatever side-projects I like. I get to hang out with my BFF and I'm going to end up looking like these two goddesses." she said waving her hand towards Alyssa and Calara.

"And all you want in exchange, is for me to dyke out with beautiful and gorgeous here from time to time and have Mr Handsome blow me up like a balloon whenever he wants?" the redhead asked.

Calara and Alyssa nodded serenely, lovely warm smiles on their perfect faces.

"That's about the size of it I guess." John said hesitantly, a bit startled by her blunt delivery.

"Well show me where to sign up!!" Sparks grinned excitedly.

John chuckled loudly. "Welcome to the team." he said, smiling at Sparks warmly.

Alyssa stood and wrapped her old friend in a big hug "I'm so happy you're coming with us!" she said, overjoyed.

Calara gave the little redhead a hug too "I'm looking forward to getting to know you." she said smiling, her voice friendly and welcoming.

"Well I don't know about you girls, but I think I've had quite enough of Karron." John said soberly. The young women nodded, agreeing with him wholeheartedly.

"Alyssa, please take us out of here and plot a course to Port Olympus." he requested as the group left the briefing room and stepped back on to the bridge.

"I better speak to the Star port authorities and explain the carnage in the Loading bay." he said, grimacing. "I'll be in my ready room. Let me know when we're under way."

John strode away, disappearing into his office.

"Wow he's a real take-charge kind of a guy isn't he?" Sparks commented to Calara, turning to look at the Latina.

"Uh-huh." the gorgeous brunette nodded dreamily, as she watched John disappear into the side room with adoring eyes.

Sparks left Calara to her tactical station and the redhead turned to look at Alyssa, who had darted up to the Executive Officer's chair. Sparks followed her old friend up on to the command podium and watched in amazement as the enthusiastic blonde rapidly plotted a course back to the centre of Terran Federation power. The girl's hands flickered over the controls and holographic system charts sprung into being, the glowing blue line of her projected flight path linking system to system.

"How do you know how to do all that?" Sparks boggled in amazement.

Alyssa shrugged self-deprecatingly. "I had some spare time and John needed a navigator." she said, smiling happily as she added the finishing touches to their route back to the core worlds. She raised a delicate finger to her full lips, gesturing for her friend to hold the questions for a moment.

"Karron starport this is the cruiser Invictus." She stated, her voice calm and confident. "Requesting clearance to leave Docking Bay three."

"Clearance granted Invictus." The communications officer at the starport replied.

Warning lights began to flash in the loading area and a hexagonal pattered force field sprung into being, sealing off the cruiser from the rest of the Docking bay. Shortly afterwards, the force field sealing the outer bay doors winked out of existence and the massive airlock squealed in protest as the doors opened, depressurising the tunnel out into the vacuum of space.

Sparks watched astounded as Alyssa eased the sleek cruiser out of the crudely bored out tunnel and then clear of the asteroid. The beautiful blonde rotated the ship smoothly and then powered up the enormous engines, causing the Invictus to surge forward on its way towards the Nav beacon.

"Say goodbye to Karron, Sparks." Alyssa said to her old friend in a quiet voice. "I promise you, the rest of the galaxy has so much more to offer."

The redhead nodded mutely as Alyssa activated the FTL drive and their ship leapt into Hyper-warp and away from Karron. Sparks watched the asteroid in the system map and saw Karron grow tiny before disappearing behind them as the Invictus raced away. She was finally leaving the colony where she had spent her entire life.

"To the future." Sparks thought to herself, feeling a bit scared, but daring to hope for the first time.