Read Preacher Man Page 53

Chapter 30; More Surprises

  At Space Port City, their parents formed their squadron to escort the ore ships hauling Quallium to Imperial Home World for redistribution. They had felt the need to be there to oversee the security themselves. The pirates had stopped the last two shipments and the Empra was deeply angry about his losses.

  This time, the Empra had come up with a plan. Two of the four ore ships were dummy warships. When the ships were attacked, false shells will fall away to reveal blaster cannons and crews. This trip was a set up to draw the pirates out. Everyone knew that four ore ships was a huge shipment.

  Over the last moon or so, the Empra made sure that every one knew that the mine was running at full capacity again and soon there would be enough Quallium for those sectors that had been running short. Actually, he had been shipping it to those sectors from his hidey hole to keep up appearances. He was determined to empty those coffers before the market crashed. When a Verdollium find reported to be this big was leaked out, his old stash would become worthless.

  The little armada flew without incident until the second jump stop to off load ore to a back water Guardian post. The ships had come to full stop over the satellite loading station. The Guardian ships added to the trap by appearing to be drifting too far off to create a good security perimeter. Seeing what appeared to be a relaxed hand on the gun turrets, pirate ships appeared out of the shadow of an asteroid.

  The two generals looked at each other on their comm. screens. “Here we go!”

  Shila DeNoor nodded at her husband, “Call the code, Dad. Let’s see what the Empra hath wrought.”

  “Aye, aye, m’Dear, “He spoke into his wrist comm-link, “Code Q! Code Q! Let ’er rip.”

  The cover shells fell away from the fake ore ships. Before they could escape, the pirates were in a cross fire. Even though they were faster, the royal ships had more firepower. In ticks, the space around the trap was filled with floating hulks of metal. Only two of the twenty ships had escaped. The pirates hadn’t stood a chance. They called the Empra. “All secure, Sire. Only two pirate ships escaped.”

  “Exzellent, get me viddy shots. Full report.”

  “Yes, Sire. You’ll have it before end of shift.”

  In space gear, Shila led a team to investigate the ships for survivors. Devin lead a team onto another.

  “Hey, Shila, looky here!” Transmitting he showed her Zarla Tween’s boat. Floating in the dead hulk, they found spider like people. “Man, those people are creepy.”

  “Yeah.”

  Devin walked onto the bridge. There he found the beautiful brunette. She had died at her bridge. “It’s all females… nekkid ones.”

  “That aint funny.”

  “S’okay, Mama…they’re like…uh…spiders, er sumptin’. I haint attracted to these wimmens at all! Yuck!” With his helmet-cam, he filmed as he went into a back room. There he filmed a large blonde fellow who’s skin had ruptured from tiny spider children that had begun to consume him. They died there floating in a cloud around him in the airless, gravity-less hulk that held their mother’s carcass.

  Devin DeNoor shivered, “That’s jest sick, sez I.”

  Shila was watching his transmission. “You are right, Dad. You jest send that’n into the atmosphere and let it burn up.”

  “Just right fer the likes of her.” He shivered again, “Mother, I caint help thinking about what that feller had been through. By the look on his face, he knew all along her children was eating him alive.”

  Shila shivered also, “Quit it! We haint got time fer that. Now, git offa there afore you catch sumptin.”

  “Don’t gotta tell me twice. Come on, people. Let’s send this bucket into the atmosphere and burn it up.” His crew was quite happy to get off this death trap and back to a working vessel. Another crew had just completed hooking up tiny jets. When they were free, he fired the jets enough to get it started down into the planet’s atmosphere. In ticks, it was glowing and then, burning, and then, gone.

  Devin watched out a port, “Good riddance to the devil’s own kith and kin.”

  Shila’s cruiser attached itself to the side of another pirate ship. Her crew quickly breached the hull. She lead them inside, “Look lively, now, children. There could be pirates alive in here.” Just as she said that right in front of them, one of the booby trap sniffers disappeared in a pool of melted metal and hissing plastic. “See! Keep them robots in front of yas. Only the Master knows what all we might find.”

  The crew nodded, “Remember, we’re a lookin’ fer a feller with an eye patch. He’s a tall, skinny red headed feller. Your Empra’s offering yer weight in Quallite fer his head.”

  The crew went to work, filming and searching. No more traps were found. It was filled with green and white diamonds painted everywhere. She kicked a pile of boxes that had fallen out of a closet in the explosions. A hand appeared. From the fur, it was a Tritonian hand.

  “Oh, Lordy, no.” She moved some more boxes and she watched her youngest daughter float free in the vacuum. “Devin, Devin, git over here, NOW!”

  “Coming, Mother.” When he found her, she was rocking Tantee slowly back and forth. He sat on the floor behind her and rocked them both. Tears flowed freely as their crews took viddies around them, looking for a body with a black patch. They left the two Generals to their grief.

  A major, her aide-de-camp, knelt and knocked on the Plas steel of her visor. “We gotta go, Ma’am. This ship’s fixin ta blow!”

  “Yeah, she said hoarsely. They rose stiffly in their suits, never letting go of the girl. When they were set, they moved the girl, floating between them onto the other ship and placed her in a casket for the trip to Tritan. Like machines, they finished their reports and sent them to their Empra.

  Then they called the girls. They got an aide, “I am sorry, General. Our General is still at the party at the Rectory.”

  “Oh, yeah, I guess we aint been gone that long. Can ya patch us over?”

  “Can do, General. Hold a tick, please.”

  An acolyte came to Zeer. “Your Grace, there is a call from space for General Magregor from General DeNoor.”

  Zeer found her, “Little Sister, there’s a call from space for you and your sister.”

  Tristan found Sheel. “Mom never calls us. This can not be good.”

  “Right…”

  Zeer showed them into his private office, “You should use my secure comm. set. It’s right through here.”

  “Thanks, buddy,” Jim helped his pregnant wife out of her chair and the whole party moved to Zeer’s comm-center. Shila’s face swam into view on the link. “Sheel look at this file.” They waited as a file downloaded to Zeer’s set.

  They watched horrified and fascinated as the whole battle played out. The fake ore ships drew oooh’s of wonder. They cheered as the pirate fleet was decimated by the raw fire power of the Guardian fleet.

  Then, the helmet shots of Devin and Shila began playing. They shuddered as an Orion Chieftain’s fate became known. Next, they see her mother’s personal report. They saw the boxes, the hand, and finally, the body of their sister revealed. There, the report stops because her mother’s helmet cam just looked into the face of her youngest child turned pirate as she rocks her until Devin comes. The pain of their father is clear.

  “Mama…mama…kin you bring her here?”

  “No, but we can ship her there. She’ll arrive by Even Song.”

  “Won’t you’ns come ta the funeral?”

  “No, we still gotta git this Q ta Home World.”

  “Mom?”

  “Child, don’t fret so. I done said my goodbyes. Daddy said his’n. We got work ta do. Take care. We love you.” The image of their parents with sad smiles clicked off.

  Zeer threw his drink into the fireplace. “Bloody bastard. He got them all killed except himself. Bloody bastard! Poor Tantee!”

  The girls just sat and cried for a time, holding each other. Little Jim held them both. He had loved Tani, too, but not with th
e fierceness of these two women.