squinted. His eyes peered through the overhead window, searching for an answer. There were no stars, no blackness, only a metal surface. Lucius’s eyes focused. The Imperial golden eagle was engraved on the metal surface, shining with pride – Aquila. Arrius was still there, still above the merchant ship.
Captain – Lucius sent immediately – away team failed. Casualties: unknown. I am held captive. Send reinforcements. The emperor waited for confirmation, but none came. Captain – he tried again.
The emperor felt a heavy hand pull his head down. The ugly leaned forward. He tapped a finger to his own temple. “It doesn’t work, does it?” He then gave another fist. It hurt, a lot, but Lucius didn’t utter a sound. He wasn’t going to give this creature the pleasure.
“Aw, no screaming this time? I was just starting to like it.”
Lucius gritted his teeth. “I am your emperor. Untie me. Now. And I will not execute you. I will only cut off your hands.”
Ugly burst into laughter. He turned back. “Hear that boys? He will only cut off my hands.” He turned to Lucius and leaned down. “My emperor is called gold. I serve him. And unlike you–” he nodded back at the commander– “they have tons of it.”
Lucius glared at him. His hand tried to wriggle out of the cables, to reach his back and take out the pistol but he couldn’t, he was well tied. And then he received another smack to his temple. Lucius’s vision blackened again. He never had so much beating in a single day, he reckoned. That was a novelty.
His head leaned back on the seat, eyes stared through the window … Something was moving. He blinked, must’ve been dust or a broken eye, but something was moving – children; three of them. Lucius lowered his head and glared the ugly. Ugly leaned closer with that hideous grin of his. They almost touched faces.
“Why are you smiling, princess? No one will be coming to the rescue, Lartius made sure it stays that way.”
“Lartius?” That traitorous piece of metal!
Lucius stiffened his neck and gave a headbutt to the ugly. Gods, did that hurt. The ugly had a head full of metal not brain, it seemed. Luckily, it caught him by surprise. The man staggered backward and tripped on Pontius’s body. He slammed on his back, hitting his head first on a seat and then on the floor. The silver-coated commander gave a nice laugh. The ugly struggled to get to his feet, and staggered again. I hit harder with my head than I knew, thought Lucius with a weak smile.
“Just smile, princess,” muttered the ugly as he regained his footing. He made a step closer and raised his heavy fist for another smack, but then something darkened the command bridge. Lucius looked up at the three children right before impact. There was a detonation. Shards of thick glass exploded down on the men. The shockwave hurled everyone backward and away from the children’s impact. Smoke covered the scene next, occasional sparks crackled somewhere behind the emperor. Lucius caught a glimpse of his men jumping from their pods. Beams were exchanged, lighting the smoke red. Metal limb snapped somewhere, someone screamed.
A loud crack from above overshadowed the weapons and screams. Lucius looked up. The window where the child was half-stuck was cracking, a thick line spreading away from the impact. Lucius grabbed his seat with his tied hand and prayed that it will keep him there. And then the crack widened.
“Your Highness!” someone called. It was Arrius. He appeared rushing out of the smoke, sword in hand, fresh blue liquid dripping down its tip. “Apologies for our delay,” he said, “something was blocking our communications. Until we came into position for a visual on the bridge it was too late. We came as fast as we could.” The captain’s eyes scanned the emperor and then fixed on the cables that held him down. Arrius raised his sword up. Above it the crack had spread out on the entire window. More cracks came out of the larger one, more cracking sound. Arrius’s sword glinted for a second.
“No, wait–!”
Arrius brought his sword down and the cables parted. In an instant the window exploded and sucked the smoke and four men out. Lucius couldn’t tell if they were friend or foe. Somehow it didn’t matter to him at that point. He grabbed the seat and watched his lower body float up. Arrius was sucked up but managed to get a hold of Lucius’s left wheel.
“Hold on!” Lucius shouted. Another man flew out of the bridge. And then a metal shutter slid above the empty window, sealing the bridge off. It dropped everyone on the floor. Lucius scrambled to get himself up, but his wheels acted all weird – the left one was bent. Behind Arrius, Lucius caught a glimpse of the ugly captain. He aimed a beam lance at Arrius. Lucius’s hand moved as quickly as it could, took out the pistol from his back and pushed himself aside to shoot the ugly.
Zap! Zap! Zap!
He missed all three. And a beam came back that struck Arrius. He screamed and made a step forward, pushed by the beam’s force.
Lucius focused, aimed his unsteady hand, wanting to have another to make it steadier, and gave another shot – Zap! And ugly was one eye shorter. Scream, you ugly dog.
Arrius spun around and brought his sword up. He charged at the ugly and swiped his sword down with all his might and took that nasty screaming head down with it. Arrius quickly turned to seek another target. Lucius turned with him and swept his gaze across the bridge. One friendly soldier who had his foot over a dead enemy’s chest was the only that remained. The rest were either dead or sucked out in space. Arrius sheathed his sword.
“Are you all right?” Lucius asked the captain as he drove awkwardly with his bent wheel closer to him, rocking every time the bent part touched the floor.
A deep hole of melted metal smoldered on Arrius’s right shoulder. “Nothing Doctor Modius can’t fix,” he said. He looked around. “What happened here?”
“Lartius,” said Lucius, “he betrayed us. We walked right into an ambush.”
Arrius glowered when he heard the pirate’s name. “You were right about him.” Arrius closed his eyes momentarily. Lucius knew he was sending commands to his men, but he also knew that something was blocking all cranial communications.
Arrius opened his eyes. “No one’s responding,” he said.
“We need to find what’s blocking our transmitters,” Lucius said and then the ship shuddered. Arrius remained on his feet and grabbed Lucius before he could fall. They both exchanged glances. Another shudder, more powerful than the last. Arrius ran to the command dashboard, tapped some buttons. Sparks crackled above his fingers. He slammed his fist on the dashboard, screamed, “Lartius!”
Another shudder made Lucius lose his balance and fall on the floor. He fought to stand up and drive to the command seat. He buckled himself and started pressing buttons on the seat’s command console. A small screen showed Aquila discharging weapons on them.
“He is targeting our engines,” said Lucius. “They need me alive.”
Another shudder.
Arrius turned, his fingers curled over his sword. “I am here for you, Your Highness.”
Lucius moved his eyes on the screen. He gritted his teeth, pressed few more buttons and the Lightning Bolt started moving, slowly turning toward Aquila.
Arrius saw what Lucius was doing. His eyes opened wide. “Your Highness, you cannot possibly mean to…”
“I do mean to, captain. Take the soldier and head for the pods. Leave this ship. That is a command.”
Arrius straightened. “I cannot obey that command, and I will not leave you to die, Your Highness.”
“I do not plan to die, captain, trust me. Go for the pods. I will follow.” Another explosion shook the ship and the bridge filled with smoke. “Go, captain! That’s an order!”
Aquila grew larger on the screen. Lartius must’ve realized their intent by now as he tried to maneuver. He started to turn, slowly exposing Aquila’s engines – just what Lucius wanted. Lucius then increased Lightning Bolt’s speed.
Arrius hasted to his emperor, put his hand over his shoulder. “I will not leave you!”
“I need you at the pods. Go!”
Arrius wrinkled his face
. The gas quickly arose over his body. He nodded reluctantly and turned to leave.
By now everything was shaking and sparking and throwing tons of gasses at Lucius, but Lucius was making sure that Lightning Bolt will crash into Aquila’s engines. It was the only way he could make sure that Lartius would not take him again. Lucius would sacrifice the crew on Aquila, it was true, but he was Lucius Cornelius Venator, his decisions were always calculated. But if truth be told, he suspected the crew was alive anyway. That sneaky pirate had made sure, Lucius was certain. And he was going to pay for his betrayal.
Once the onboard computer took over, Lucius stood up and drove toward the door. His wheels turned slower than ever. He pressed turbo and prayed that he may leave in time.
Getting out of the bridge was the easy part it seemed, but passing through the tight neck of the ship was anything but easy. He tripped twice on dead bodies hidden by gas. The first time he didn’t feel it much, but the second time he completely ruined his already damaged wheel. It was now going even slower than before and rocking even more than before. He knew that his time was running out. He had to hurry. The door to the cargo hold was there, so close.
When he opened it, the sight of what was inside made him desperate. It seemed as if every crate had fallen down and piled in pyramids that made his passage impossible. He had wheels, not legs. He drove to the first pile and he climbed on it, crawling with one hand and wriggling the rest of his body. Lucius never felt so useless before. But his will to survive and avenge for everything they have done to him was stronger than ever. And he wanted his throne back. That thought alone gave him strength he did not know he had.
He crawled and wriggled and crawled and wriggled some more until he reached the top. He tumbled down, another pile followed. The ship shook and shuddered. Time was running out, but he would survive. He had to.
Another explosion shook the cargo hold like an earthquake. One massive crate above Lucius quivered. He looked up helplessly as the crate came tumbling down. Lucius crawled and wriggled but it was not fast enough. It was only pain he felt at that moment – sharp intense pain from his abdomen down. He screamed, and quickly gritted his teeth to hold the rest of his screaming. He looked down his body. The crate had smashed his wheels and stomach. He turned, wires and metal squealed. He grunted. Suddenly he felt tears sliding down his cheek. His hand touched his face but there was no moist, not like in his dream. I am delusional, he thought. I have to get to the pod.
He mustered all the strength he could, and with his hand he pushed the crate down. More wires detached, more metal squealed. Sparks jumped away from his stomach. The pain was close to being unbearable. I will kill Modius for leaving pain receptors, he thought as if additional anger would give him strength.
He pushed, harder. He screamed, louder. And then that was it. He couldn’t cut down his body and leave. He was stuck there. How pathetic. I was supposed to die in battle. Not here. Not like this. There were more tears sliding down his cheek, or so he imagined. The pain was inside of him now, his entire being hurt, not just his body.
And then a hand extended from the gas. It gripped the emperor by his arm. I am imagining that too, he thought and gave up. He waited for Lightning Bolt to explode. But the hand seemed real enough. It pulled him away from the crate, ripping his body in half. He found himself on top of someone’s shoulders then. He wiped his imaginary tears and he looked down. Arrius.
“You were supposed to leave,” Lucius said.
Arrius climbed over a pile of crates and his reverse-joint legs propelled him in a jump above another pile. “I didn’t plan to leave you here, Your Highness,” he said as he landed. “You have an empire to rule.” It was