The Adventures of Whirlwind
Warfare in the Thirtieth
Century
Episode
2
The
Mercenary
Email:
Lespion@msn.com
Chapter 5
The Space Pirates
So,
Senia asked, did he fuck you
too.?
Aello, blushed bright
red. This was not the welcome
she had expected. Thought
so, grinned Senia. She
was a tall blonde, very attractively built, with full breasts, long hair
that she usually wore in a long braid, and a very pretty, almost angelic
face. Seeing Aellos
reaction. She softened a
little. Sorry rookie,
its just that Carter has had all the rest of
us. She nodded toward the
other female members of the mercenary
band. The other two girls nodded
agreement.
One of the girls, a brown-skinned beauty called Kamna,
came forward and put her arm around
Aello. Dont pay any
attention to Senia, she said in her clipped Indian
accent. She doesnt
mean any harm. She just doesnt
know how to express herself subtlety.
The third girl
laughed. Thats right,
Aello. We all appreciate what
you did. None of us would have
dared stand up to those monster mechs.
The girl who had spoken was Lina, and her dark skin bespoke her African
ancestry. She was the tallest
of the women, standing over six feet, but beautifully proportioned and possessed
of a strikingly beautiful high-cheekboned
face.
Jeff, who had been lounging in the background, sprawled
over a chair, now jerked himself to his
feet. He was a tall, red-haired
man in his early twenties. He
was quite good looking, but in spite of his boyish charm, Aello had kept
him at arms length.
Fortunately, he had enough sense not to push the point with her, but
the other women he considered fair game.
Righto, Lina baby, he said, his nasal accent betraying
his Australian heritage. He looked
directly at Aello. You
sure saved my bacon. Those monsters
would have fried my backside. I
owe you a lot. Any time you are
tired of Carter give me a call.
Aello smiled.
In the short time she had known Jeff, he had never ceased to try to
coax one or the other of his female companions into the
sack. To her knowledge he had
never had any success, but his continued persistence was almost
reassuring. She took it as a
sign of acceptance.
Senia came up to her and spoke
quietly. Sorry if I embarrassed
you. I didnt mean anything
by it. I just talk without thinking
sometimes. You did a very brave
thing.
The two women
embraced. Not a problem,
said Aello. Youd
have done the same for me.
Not likely, laughed
Senia. Then as an afterthought:
Sorry, sometimes I just dont know when to shut
up.
Just then Carters voice sounded over the
intercom. Better get up
here fast. Weve got
company.
The five mech pilots headed up to the control
room. Carter was standing in
front of the viewscreen.
What is it, boss? Senia asked, placing her hand on his
shoulder in a very familiar way.
I think its
trouble. Were being chased,
but its not any clan ship.
Probably a privateer.
Bloody pirates, said Jeff, always looking
to take what someone else has worked hard for.
Better man the battle stations, ordered
Carter. I doubt we can
outrun her, but maybe we can hold her off until we get somewhere
safer.
The mercenaries positioned themselves around the control
room. Aello took her place next
to one of the rail gun arrays. In
space this weapon was particularly
effective. It was a quad
unit. Four barrels mounted in
a turret beneath the ship. It
was operated remotely from the control room.
Incoming! shouted
Carter. There was a slight
shudder. The ship had been
hit. That was not good
news. The enemy outranged
them. Im going to
hit the brakes, said Carter.
We need to get
closer. His fingers ran
over the console and the ship slowed
rapidly. Aello could see the
target closing. Just a few more
seconds and she would be within range.
Damn! Carter
exclaimed. Aello knew the
reason. She had been about to
open fire when the enemy ship suddenly receded beyond her
range. The pirate captain had
spotted their maneuver and was keeping his
distance. His long range weapons
could simply pick them apart at a distance, without need to endanger his
ship.
The ship shuddered again, much more violently this
time. They had been hit a second
time. Aello wondered if their
ship had the armor to stand up to a continued
pounding. Carters next
comment answered that question.
A couple more of those and they will be punching
right through the hull. His
fingers flickered over the controls
again. Aello could tell from
the change in the position of the pursuing vessel that he had swung the ship
into a tight turn. He was hoping
that the maneuver would bring the pirates within
range. There was a slight G-force
as the ship veered sharply in space.
Without the artificial gravity system the entire crew would have been
crushed into their seats. Even
so the turn was so sharp that all of them could feel the increase in weight
as the turn was made.
The ship shuddered again, this time violently enough
to throw all of the crew against the restraining straps of their
seats. They had all, of course,
buckled themselves in just in case the ship received a particularly bad
hit. It was standard combat
procedure.
The captain of the enemy ship was good,
however. Carters stratagem
placed him no closer to the enemy ship than
before.
KRRAANNNNGGG! This time a tremendous noise accompanied
the sound of the hit. Aello felt
suddenly weightless. That was
bad. It meant the artificial
gravity unit had gone. They would
now only be able to maneuver at low
speed.
WWWHHHHAAAAMMM!
The instruments in front of Aello went
dead. The ships power supply
was gone. The ship was now an
inanimate chunk of metal hurtling uncontrollably through
space.
Aello and the others released themselves from their
seats. They needed to get to
the mech bay where the suits were stored.
They could even get into one of the mechs and seal it
up. Each machine came with its
own self-contained life support system.
They were just entering the mech bay when a small explosion
shook the ship.
Theyve blown the hatch, said
Lina. Aello knew what that
meant. The enemy had detected
the damage they had done to the ship and had closed in for the
kill. They were now boarding
the ship. They had only a minute
or so to get ready for them. But
they might still have a chance if they could get to the mechs before the
boarding party did. But it was
not easy moving in zero gravity.
They had to push themselves from place to
place. A push in the wrong direction
sent them crashing into a wall or
ceiling. The boarding party would
probably be in armored survival suits and would be able to use their suits
propulsion systems to move through the
ship. Since they were pirates
and used to boarding other ships they would probably be good at
it.
Aello pushed herself toward her Ocelot. It was still pretty shot up, but it would be better than nothing. Her companions headed for their own machines. None of them made it. From behind them came numerous pulses of green light. Aello recognized them as carrier beams for electrical shock and then she was hit. A powerful electrical charge pulsed through her body completely incapacitating her. Her nervous system shorted out. She was not even able to scream as she passed into unconsciousness.
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