Chapter 10
Mervyn paced.
Aurora glared at him, ‘Sit down, Mervyn. You are making me nervous.’
‘They’ll be here soon, and before you know it we’ll be on our way to Zetalona,’ Tarun said, but he looked less than convinced himself.
‘You said that an hour ago. And the hour before that,’ Loren complained. She sulked in the corner with crossed arms. Mervyn hated waiting too. He turned and stalked back across the cramped floor of the ancient shuttle Guthrik had lent them.
‘I knew we could no trust that human,’ Aurora grumbled ‘He has betrayed us, again.’
Mervyn considered it, ‘But why not just shoot us when he had the chance and save himself a shuttle? It makes no sense.’
‘Then the Silvin have betrayed us.’
‘At least we’ve got plenty of air reserves,’ Tarun said.
‘And virtually no fuel -- a muon’s good that will do us,’ Loren said.
Mervyn continued pacing, ‘And you’re sure the heat shield’s damaged?’
‘I checked it on the remote cameras -- we’d burn up on re-entry,’ Loren shifted uncomfortably on the spartan seat. ‘We have no option but to stay here until either the Silvin freighter turns up or we suffocate.’
Mervyn turned again.
Aurora’s chima burned red, ‘For Quarks sake sit down, Mervyn!’ He ignored her and carried on pacing.
A bleep sounded from the control panel making them all jump.
Mervyn hurried across to it, ‘A ship.’
‘I told you they would turn up, but none of you believed me, did you?’ Tarun said with relief.
‘That doesn’t look much like a Silvin freighter to me,’ Loren said peering at the long distance image of the approaching craft.
‘A new design?’ Tarun said hopefully.
‘Whatever it is we have to send out a distress call,’ Mervyn said. ‘It’s our only hope.’
The new ship responded immediately to their signal. ‘Warning,’ the onboard computer chimed, ‘missile lock! Warning -- missile lock!’
Loren sank back onto her seat, ‘Quarks, it’s a warship. And there’s only one warship in these parts.’
‘The Naga,’ they all said together.
Mervyn slumped onto a seat and waited for the door to open.
They were in the same shuttle bay where the Naga had hibernated them for the journey to Pershwin, he could see the shattered control tower on the screen. Even their sleds still sat at the far end of the bay. As he watched the Naga arrived with a gaggle of Puncheon. Without warning the shuttle door blew. The force of the blast threw him to the ground. Armoured Puncheon swarmed in to the shuttle with blast riffles at the ready. Mervyn tried to raise his hands, but the raiders pinned him to the ground and strapped his hands together. Something hard dug into his ribs: Guthrik’s deep space communicator, he was supposed to contact the Human leader when they completed their mission. He was roughly hauled to his feet and herded out of the shuttle with the rest of the Misfits.
‘Why would a shuttle be just sitting there right in our path?’ The Naga was saying to the Puncheon around him, ‘This is more than a coincidence.’ He turned back to the shuttle and saw the Misfits standing at gunpoint. He closed his eyes and opened them again as if he thought he might be dreaming. ‘You lot again! You just keep coming back like a bad comet, don’t you,’ he raged. ‘Throw them out the airlock! And clean up the mess this time.’ He turned back to his puncheon companions. ‘My apologies -- it is a coincidence.’
A guard grabbed Mervyn and dragged him towards an airlock. He tried to struggle free, but his hands were tight fast behind him and the Puncheon was just too strong. He could do nothing. This was it, the end of everything. He thought of his parents and his sisters. He hoped they would miss him. Then he thought of Rufus De Monsero, would he miss the Misfits? Who would he taunt now?
‘I am still the Patriarch’s Niece,’ Aurora screamed. ‘I am still valuable.’ It was worth a try. The guards paused, waiting for the Naga’s reaction. Mervyn held his breath.
‘I am worth a fortune,’ Aurora shouted, taking advantage of the guard’s uncertainty. ‘Double if you ransom us all together.’ The Naga showed no sign of having heard and the guards continued dragging their captive to the airlock. All hope evaporated.
Time slowed to a crawl and Mervyn started thinking of everything he would never do: sail round the Ethrigian system, visit a black hole, have a girlfriend. Say goodbye to his Mum -- tears pricked at his eyes -- watch a sunrise with his sisters.
Where did they go wrong? Why hadn’t the Silvin showed up? Why had he trusted Guthrik? Failed possibilities competed to overwhelm him. The Puncheon shoved him into an open airlock. He fought back tears of despair. He wasn’t going to beg: he would take this like a man -- die with dignity, if that were possible with the blood evaporating away in his veins.
He tried to shut out the thought of dying in the vacuum of space. The pain wouldn’t last long, maybe the ship’s engines would vaporise him as he tumbled past. One thing though felt worse than all the rest: he would die alone. He struggled to free his writs so he could hold hands with his friends, but they were firmly bound. The inner door slammed shut and he waited in the dark for death to claim him.
They were taking their time, dragging it out most likely. Suddenly the door opened again and he was jerked back into the shuttle bay.
‘Bring them here,’ the Naga barked.
‘He is going to ransom us,’ Aurora whispered and received a cuff round the head for her trouble. ‘Careful, you will damage the goods.’
‘My Puncheon commanders need some sport while we wait for reinforcements,’ the Naga growled when they stood before him. ‘So we are going hunting.’
Mervyn was mystified.
‘Your sleds are over there,’ the Naga pointed to the far end of the shuttle. ‘You get a head start while we launch our fighters.’ It took a moment for the full horror of the Naga’s proposal to sink in.
‘And what happens when you catch up with us?’ Asked Aurora innocently.
The Naga pointed two fingers at her like a blaster, ‘Kapow!’
Aurora blanched, ‘You’re making a big mistake--’
‘Your time s starts now.’
‘Run!’ Mervyn, shouted and raced for the sleds. Tarun and Loren sprinted past him. Then he looked back and saw Aurora rooted to the spot, unmoving.
Mervyn doubled back. ‘Aurora, you’ve got to move.’
‘I am not playing.’
‘What?’
‘I am not playing their game. I would rather go out the airlock with dignity than be blasted from behind while running away.’
‘But we need you,’ he pleaded. ‘Any chance is better than none, Aurora, who knows what may happen?’
‘They will make fools of us, that is what will happen.’
Mervyn grabbed her by the shoulders and stared straight into those intense emerald eyes, ‘We’re good pilots, Aurora, we might get lucky. We might outrun them. They might get bored and give up -- anything could happen.’
‘They have fighters, Mervyn -- light, fast, and enough weapons to destroy us a hundred times over -- it’s just prolonging the inevitable.’
‘I still have the communicator Guthrik gave me, Aurora. Perhaps we can get close enough to somewhere to use it -- maybe get a message to Zetalona -- we could save hundreds, maybe thousands, of lives.’
Suddenly Aurora was gone, ‘Come on, Mervyn, what are you waiting for?’
Mervyn sighed and ran after her, ‘Girls.’