Galaxy of Empires- Space Pirates Episode #1 (5 page)

“I think she looks very cool. The black
spikes are a nice touch. I guess you are not going to be playing
piano with those claws,” Che says with a true sense of awe.

Mcloud’s arm falls off and hits the
ground.

Meek frowns and mumbles some form of
obscenity.

“I’ve got it,” Chad says as he picks up the
arm and pops it back on.

Cogg remarks, “Man, people will never believe
when I tell them this story. We need to get photos or videos.”

Che snidely says, “What? Are your Big Fish
stories not believable any more? So switching to Space Dragons
stories would be more believable? I am ready taking pictures and
vids of her because I know no one will believe it.”

Eve says, “You guys are funny.”

***

A couple days pass as they cut through a
corner of Elemental Empire’s Space. Something shows up on
long-range scanners that has the crew operating their stations with
full attention.

“Yes, Captain, it is a distress signal coming
on long-range scanners. It is directly in our path,” Mcloud
informs.

“Activate the cloaking device,” Meek
commands.

“I could activate the cloaking device, but it
won’t do us any good since it is not hooked up to the ship,” Che
says in a sarcastic manner.

Meek mumbles some obscenities under his
breath.

“We are now in medium range,” Mcloud
updates.

“Approach with caution; put on vid screen as
soon as we are in range,” Meek instructs. “Also, be ready to jump
in case there is a problem.”

“By your command,” Che says, trying to
imitate a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica.

“I like those Star Trek movies better,” Chad
says.

Meek says with a sigh, “Focus people. And you
better not be stealing movies from my collection, as those are
priceless.”

“If you mean the five-finger discount you got
them for, then yeah, they were literally priceless,” Che says,
poking fun. The crew laughs as Meek frowns.

“We are in range, Captain. Coming up on
screen,” Mcloud says.

On the screen, there is a small merchant ship
drifting in space.

Mcloud says, “It is a small Elemental
Merchant ship about our size. Sensors indicate it is dead in space
with the auto distress signal repeating every 30 seconds.”

Meek says, “Life signs?”

Mcloud says, “None detected, and the ship has
no power on, except the distress signal.”

“Smells like a bait ship to me, Boss,” Python
asserts.

“I am thinking that, too,” Coog gives his
opinion.

Meek says, “Yeah, it does seem too good to be
true. Keep scanning.”

“We are now at the vessel, Captain,” Mcloud
says. “There is cargo, but in lead casings making it hard to scan
the contents. No life signs, as the ship has no atmosphere.”

Suddenly, three ships come out at light speed
right on top of their location.

“Three Elemental Navy ships just dropped out
at light speed right on top of us. Two destroyers and a battleship.
The battleship has locked on a tractor beam to us,” Mcloud
says.

“Wanking bait ship, damn it,” Meek curses out
loud.

“This is General Hurt of the Elemental Navy.
You are in Elemental Space, so prepare to be boarded and searched
for illegal contraband,” blares over the shipwide intercom.

Che says, “Well, that is one thing we don’t
have, ha-ha-ha. If they can overlook the seven wanted posters and a
stolen ship with fake papers, then we be all right.”

“We are so busted,” Cogg says.

Meek says, “Put me on audio only.” As he
starting to spin a lie, shipwide intercoms on all four ships
activate.

Eve says in a smooth claim tone, “Greetings,
General Hurt. Looks like you have been demoted to smuggling patrol
since the last time we met. How humiliating that must be. I see you
have a shiny new battleship. It will be a shame for me to have to
destroy it like I did your other one...,” she says, with a sinister
laughter.

Hurt realizes who is talking and yells, “Fire
all guns at will!”

“Too late,” Eve says.

On the bridge, the pirate crew looks out the
window of the pilot’s chair and see a huge electrical field hit all
three ships. Then collision alarms sound off. Both destroyers crash
into the battleship one on each side. Massive explosions ripple
down both sides of the battleship. One of the destroyer’s power
core explodes, taking the back part of the battleship with it. The
tract beam disengages.

Meek yells, “Get us out of here before that
mess explodes and takes us with it!”

Che moves the ship away as fast as sub-light
engines can go. The battleship sounds an ‘abandon ship’ order over
the intercoms.

“Eve, I will kill you if it is the last thing
I do, you bitch!” General Hurt says, just as the battleship breaks
up after one final explosion.

“Incoming debris, brace for impact,” Mcloud
informs.

“Shields! Plot course and jump,” Meek
yells.

“Already on it,” Che says, as the ship goes
to jump speed right before the debris showers the area just barely
missing their ship.

“Holy crap that was close,” Cogg says out of
breath.

“I think I peed in my pants,” Chad adds.

Meek says, “Geez that was just too wanking
close.”

Che says, “Just who is Eve exactly?”

Python say, “I don’t care. She just save our
asses.”

“Yeah, you got that right,” Shawn says. “She
is in sickbay at the moment. Doc is looking her over.”

Mcloud’s right leg pops off and hits the
floor.

“Damn it!”

Chapter 3

Eve flails around on the table in sickbay as
her mutation spirals out of control after using so much PSI power
to destroy the Elemental Patrol. She lights up so bright it becomes
blinding. She screams in pain as the last remnants of her humanity
are assimilating into a Space Dragon.

“She is losing control. We need to get her
off the ship now before she changes into a Space Dragon,” Doc yells
over the intercom to the crew.

“Drop out of jump speed, Python. Chad, go
down there and help get her to the cargo hold,” Meek barks.

A minute later, the two men see Doc and
Gothica trying to drag Eve to the cargo hold, but she is too big
for them. They grab her and pulling her down the hall to the cargo
hold.

“Gee, she weights a ton,” Python says.

“More like two tons or a hover car is more
exact. She is made out of pure enchanted metals,” Doc says in a
serious tone.

“He isn’t good with math,” Chad snickers.

“Oh, like you are?” Python huffs.

They pull Eve into the cargo hold. She is
glowing so brightly now it is impossible to look at her. She begin
flailing again and the ship begins to shake. Python hits the button
to shut the door and turns off the gravity in the cargo hold. Then
he opens the outer doors and Eve and all the contents in the cargo
hold are sucked out into space. They all head to the bridge and
take their stations.

Doc says, “Need to back up. I have no idea
how big she will be.”

Che replies, “Okay, back way up.” Che moves
the ship out a few thousand kilometers as they watch through the
windows. Eve starts changing into a Space Dragon for the first
time. She grows bigger, bigger, and bigger. Che has to move the
ship back a few more thousand kilometers.

“Holy crap! She is gargantuan!” Chad says in
excitement.

Meek adds, “That is one big wanker of a
Dragon.”

Doc says, “She is still getting larger.”

Che says in bewilderment, “Woah, she is a
huge; I don’t know they got that big.”

“In the wild they don’t. She is vastly bigger
than any known Space Dragon—30 or more times.”

“She has four legs and four arms…what the
hell?” Gothica says in confusion.

“Makes sense. Her core dragon DNA is Serpent
Dragon and they have more limbs, usually six,” Doc informs.

Eve says over the intercom, “Where are you
guys? I can’t see you.”

Che says, “Probably because we are the size
of an ant compared to you. I will turn on the forward lights and
then maybe you can see us.”

“Oh! There you are…so tiny.”

The crew sees a yellow eye the size of a
battleship with a black slit in the middle looking at them.

“That is a big honking eyeball,” Cogg
comments.

Che says, “Forget the eyeball. Look at those
monster-sized teeth. No dinner invitations for you!”

Eve laughs over the intercom.

Meek say, “Watch out! Don’t fly into her
nose. I just had the ship washed. No Dragon boogers, please.”

“Yeah, I am not good with the insect in the
nose thing,” Eve chuckles.

“Can you roar for us, Mom?” Gothica asks.

Doc says, “No, don’t roar. The shockwave
would crush us, not to mention a Space Dragon’s roar releases an EM
pulse that kills all electronics. That is how they attack ships
before they eat them for metals and energy. They have a nasty
breath weapon too, depending on what color the dragon is. Those are
some of the things you will have to learn when you get to Dragon
Territory.”

“How do I fly in space? It’s a vacuum.”

“Your size, intelligence, and PSI ability
should help you fly in space or gravity. You use your wings in
gravity, though. Those items also determines how fast you can go.
You just think which direction you want to go. A Dragon will have
to teach you how to navigate in space, as I cannot instruct you on
that. However, you can go much faster than any ship that is for
sure. We could ride on your nose bridge and you can use you PSI to
access the navigation computer to know which way to go. Probably
need the arachnids to web the ship to your nose bridge so we don’t
fall off,” Doc suggests.

Meek hesitates, “I am not sure about
that.”

Che says, “That would be cool. Who is going
to be wanking with us if we are on a planet-sized Space
Dragon?”

“Hey! I am not that fat!” Eve interrupts,
“But I understand. Um...do I really look fat?” She begins looking
at her body.

Che replies, “No, no, that was a figure of
speech. You are nice sleek dragon and definitely a low-calorie
one.”

Meek says, “ I have done some weird things in
my life—that time I tipped a royal sheep two bars of platinum after
a drunken night of fun; still swear it was a hairy prostitute—I
guess we can trying dragon riding.”

Che landed the ship on Eve’s nose and webbed
the ship to it. Then they took off to Laughing Skull.

“Our normal jump speed is 5 and the meter
only goes up to 10, which we are at now. Probably going much faster
than 10,” Che comments.

“I can try to calculate our speed based on
our last position, time lapsed, and distance traveled. Then I can
tell you how long it will take to get to Laughing Skull,” Mcloud
says.

Not having to worry about the ship, Meek
falls asleep in the captain’s chair, snoring from time to time. The
rest of the crew, except Che, eats dinner in the galley.

Che replies,” Okay, thanks.”

“About 36 hours to reach our destination,”
MCloud says.

“Wow, a two-week trip in 36 hours, nice!” Che
responds with astonishment.

“Thank you for fly Dragon Airlines and we
hope you enjoyed the peanuts,” Eve says with a sense of humor over
the intercom.

Che laughs.

***

Thirty-six hours pass and they enter Laughing
Skull’s planetary orbit. Laughing Skull is the home world for the
Pirate Lord Cos and is located in the Pirate Lord Territories. The
planet has a serious planetary defense grid, including a
surrounding minefield. There is a space station there that deals
with both non-criminals who go to buy fenced merchandise and with
pirates and outlaws. Only criminals with a wanted poster are
allowed on the surface. Pirates park at two major spaceports on the
surface. Fighting in the air space is prohibited, but on the
ground, brawls and shootouts are very common. The surface has ever
kind of vice, black-market shops, and even some regular businesses
like repair shops. People are killed and swindled here on an hourly
basis or sooner.

Meek says, “Now that Eve is back on board, we
will land on Platform B. Remember, don’t go anywhere alone. Always
carry your weapons and watch out for pickpockets.”

Che says, “Landing now.”

Mcloud’s arm falls to the ground.

Meek sighs.

“I got it, Boss,” Cogg picks up the arm and
pops it back in.

“I will have to stay on the ship as I do not
have a wanted poster on me like the rest of you hoodlums do,” Doc
says in a playful tone.

The crew laughs.

Che says, “What is this? The Doc cracked a
joke? Before you know it, she will be on a wanted poster,” Che
winks at the Doc.

“Hanging around you vermin, I wouldn’t be
surprised. Besides, I want to see more of this Clint Eastwood
human. He makes good earth movies with those funny hats and
shoot-them-up stuff,” Doc says as the pink Wolfkin disappears back
into the ship.

The group goes down to the Custom’s
Department where they see a long line of people being scanned for
wanted posters before they are allowed through.

“Why is everyone staring at us?” Python
notices.

Cogg snaps, “They’re not staring at us.
They’re staring at Eve.”

“Oh.”

Eve says, “I am use to it by now. They all
want me for my body.”

Che and Gothica laugh.

After waiting for 30 minutes, they finally
get to the scanner. A check-in supervisor and several pirate guards
are at the door. Every time someone walks through the scan, their
wanted poster shows up on the big screen and audibly reads the
wanted information. Most of the rewards are between 100 platinum
bars and 15,000 bars, with a few up to 20,000 bars.

Supervisor says, “Next.”

Meek steps up and is scanned.

“Abel Meek wanted by the Machine People of
the Consortium for the sale of defective merchandise, piracy,
scams, and other crimes in other empires. Reward: 12,000 bars.”