The Heavy Date Part 8
24 Aug 2017Mhera Bathana
Broken Bow, Cephei Sector AB-R B8-9, Cephi SectorThe large blocky ship, listed and turned in the holographic projection. The warm reds and oranges reflected off the young woman’s face. The hot tear broke off, and floated out of her line of sight. She felt her hand grip the control stick with such ferocity that her fingers started tingling.
Oh Gods, forgive me for what I am about to do.
Nothing had prepared her for this moment. She felt her finger squeeze the trigger, and in that moment she heard the high pitched whine of laser fire blasting from the hard points in either side of the Federal Dropship.
The Broken Bow tilted and turned, keeping the top of the T7 facing her. The target reticule outlined a specific spot on the hull, and to Mhera, it looked to be some circular outcrop, jetting out ever so slightly.
“Master, the shields have dropped.” Meat Hack announced, sounding excited.
Stryker kept his attention fixed on his task. “Don't let up, keep firing on that point.”
Mhera felt another hot tear break off, the glow of the laser fire reflecting off of her visor.
“Master, the power plant has been disabled,” chimed the Virtual Intelligance.
Stryker gave a curt nod. “Cease fire.”
Mhera’s finger was glued to the trigger. In her strife, she didn't recognize the command.
“I said stop firing!” Stryker snapped.
Mhera gave a jolt, and her finger depressed the trigger. Her body gave a shuddering, yet silent sob. “Don't you want to blow him up?”
Stryker was checking a holographic panel and wasn't paying much attention to her. “That seems pretty dark, don't you think?”
“Master!” Meat-Hack decided to chip in. “The slave girl is more bloodthirsty than me! I like her. Let's keep her!”
Mhera’s skin bristled and she found her jaw set. Here she was, under the impression that she was expected to do the unthinkable. To murder some trader, just to find out that all that was required from her was to disable the ship, and they were making fun of her?
“Hack, deploy the limpets.” Stryker had finished consulting the hologram. “Open the cargo bay and prepare to receive the goods.”
Mhera shuddered again. The emotional rollercoaster she was being forced through had her tired, weary, upset, angry, and downright irritated. Her eye was caught by a series of little drone's that seemingly came from nowhere, and curiosity nipped at her. She watched as they attached themselves to the underside of the ship, and sparks started to fly. A moment later, cargo was spewing out from a blown hatch, like some fish that was laying eggs. The canisters tilted and twisted in some dance as they ejected into space, and another set of curious drone's started fetching them and bringing them to back to her ship.
Stryker sat back in his chair, arms over his head, stretching out, the vast bulging muscle threatening to burst through the tight life sustaining suit. For the first time, she found her attention fixed on his body. She wasn't sure why, and the mix of emotions left her even more confused. The industrial drone's worked on the cargo spilling from the guts of the ship, until Hack announced that the cargo hold was full.
Mhera listened as Stryker sent out a simple transmission to the now, much lighter T7, thanking him for the business and the next thing she knew, they were surrounded by the swirling clouds and streaks of light of which-space.
The muscular man spoke as a brilliant star popped out of nowhere flooding the cockpit in brilliant hues of warm reds and yellows. “Seems to me, you lost a bet Hack.” he said with a light chuckle, “and I never offered my side of the deal if the slave girl did, open fire.”
Meat-Hack sounded irritated. “And what was your side Master?”
Stryker shuffled in his seat. “Turns out that a simple search on GalNet yielded some interesting results.”
“Master, no!” The cracked V.I. pleaded.
Stryker sounded playful, but his tone was dripping with sarcasm. “Hmm…. A four hour compilation of Aisling fanfic. Aisling Goes to the Beach. The Internal-” Stryker finger quoted when he read off Internal- “Affairs of the True Empress. My Secret Love…. Some real winners here…” he shook his head
“You wouldn't!” Hack sounded desperate.
“Oh, yes I would. Teaches you for making bets...” Stryker chuckled again.
Meat-Hack growled. “I swear I'll dismantle you piece by piece and flush you out the airlock. Slave girl, I demand you kill him! Put your savage bloodlust to good use!”
Stryker laughed, “Incoming!” and his gloved finger pressed a key on the glowing panel.
“Ohh, I utterly despise you…” Hacks electronic voice trailed off.
Mhera broke out of a trance, feeling silly that her attention was fixated on a physical attribute of the pilot in front of her. Yet, she wanted so much to take Hack up on the demand. She decided to play it off. “What's, uh, the deal with Meat-Hack.”
Stryker nudged the ship into another jump. “Oh, it's just resentful.”
She wasn't sure if it was possible for a computer to feel resentment. She certainly did. “Is it always this way?”
Stryker turned his head, his right eye catching hers. “I programmed it to be that way.”
Mhera wondered if she was being programmed in some way. Seething, she held back the temptation to explode. “Why would you do that?”
Stryker laughed, his voice deep and resounding. “I have been, blessed with meeting quite a few V.I. and in every case, they were programmed to be edgy, dark, and intellectually insufferable. I decided to take mine to the extreme. My way of, laughing in the dark, if you will.”
Mhera chewed on her tongue. Laughing in the dark? She decided to change the subject. “What was it that we stole?”
Stryker turned the ship over and skimmed the bright upper layer of the star. “Diamonds.”
Diamonds? “Why diamonds?” she asked.
Stryker kept on with the tedious, yet mind numbing task of fueling the ship. “Because, I know a particular individual that rather likes them, and if she can see that you are an asset to my crew, she might be willing to forget that you’re a plant-lady.”
Mhera’s brows knit together as her mind ruminated on what she had just heard. “So, you dragged me out here, to play pirate, to show to your boss that I can, be a pirate?”
“Essentially.” Stryker kept his voice level.
Mhera’s voice trembled, and she spoke through tight lips. “Why the brute force?”
“Because, it was Marra’s suggestion, and if we failed, she would have disposed of you, and punished me.” Stryker kept his attention on the canopy, and the ship slipped into Witch-space.
Mhera felt the anger bubble up, and a knot forming in her throat. She couldn’t help the sarcasm. “And this is the life you’re trying to create for me?”
The large man cocked his head. “Do you want a life where you keep spreading your legs? A life where you are constantly dominated?”
Ah, so this is what this is about… Mhera, took a deep breath and folded her hands in her lap. “This is about control? Or rather, who is in control? A power play.”
“That’s all there is.” Stryker kept his tone level. His whole life was built around being in control. Having power over others, and Mhera was starting to see it. She saw the psychology, the reason behind his motivation.The decision to be huge. The sudden changes in mood when performing a task. It explained the look of pleasure in his eye when he snuffed out that man’s life.
She decided to wreck his perception. “Control, is an illusion.” pausing she took a breath, watching the space around the ship slip past in swirls of dull colors and bright specks. “No one is really in control of anything, outside of themselves.”
He laughed. “Is that so?”
“Yes.” she found her leg crossed, and her foot ticking away the time. A habit now so ingrained from the countless encounters she was forced to do. Then the hypocrisy struck her. She too had control over how she felt, and how she dealt with any given circumstance. Including forced prostitution. She thought back to Luke and the time he tried to persuade her to scoop a star. She was terrified of the prospect. But now, having gunned down another ship, and the fortifying resolution of her own newly discovered perspective, gave her a sense of strength. Suddenly a brilliant white globe popped into their view. “If control is really a thing…” she took a breath, and with false bravado she continued. “Priate, give me control of the ship. I want to scoop this star.”
Stryker laughed. “As you wish.” he reached over to a holographic display, and typed in a command. He would have had Hack do it, but was rather enjoying making the V.I. squirm with rather bad fan fiction and didn’t want to interrupt its misery.
The ship slowed to a stop, and the huge man released his restraints. He floated up and back and took a position slightly behind her seat. “If you fuck this up, we burn. But I’d rather burn with you.”
Despite her obvious attempts to conceal it, her hands were shaking. The trembling fingers wrapped around the throttle, and the flight stick. With no training, she emulated what the massive pirate had done countless times before. She urged the throttle forward. The ship rumbled and she felt it through her being. The star grew closer. She tilted the stick and found the globe sweep overhead. The holographic display indicated the scoop was open, and she watched the pulsating line and percentage increase. A feeling of pride swelled up in her, and Stryker said nothing. She continued. The scooping was slow, and the heat was rising. She set her jaw. Sparks exploded from a console and she gasped as the heat passed the acceptable tolerance for the ship. In her panic she drew too near to the giant ball of active fusion, and its gravity well yanked them out of cruise. She screamed as the ship spun out of control. “I’ve killed us!”
Stryker smiled. “Stay calm. Throttle back.” He placed his hand on hers and squeezed it to provide comfort. She pulled back and the ship slowed to a stop. Another series of sparks illuminated their faces and he continued. “Look to your right. When the display materializes deploy a heat sink.”
Her eye’s were fixated upon the rising heat indicator. It had now passed one hundred and fifty percent of tolerance. She heard Stryker’s calm voice in her ear again. “Deploy the heat sink” She peeled her eyes away and found the command. She placed her finger on the hard light display and suddenly the heat indicator shoot down.
“Turn the ship so the star is behind us.” Stryker was still calm, and she heard the poofing noise of the sink ejecting into space.
She tilted the stick and found the ship spun.
“Pull back, use your feet to steer the nose, and tilt the stick to make it roll.” Stryker seemed amused.
Mhera’s heart was racing, and she continued to shake. She did as he instructed, pulling the nose away, and the star swept back behind them.
“Now, engage the frameshift drive. Keep the throttle back. Thrusters will add unnecessary heat. We want to avoid that.”
There was a hint of panic in her voice. “Where?”
Calmly the pirate instructed her. “To your left.”
She glanced to her left, and a quick browse she found the command. She pressed it, and with surprising gains, the heat started raising.
“That’s okay, the FSD dumps quite a bit of heat. When it’s done spooling up, you’re going to goose it. Hit the boost,” he touched her thumb, “where you thumb is at, and once we hit cruise, launch another sink.”
Mhera grit her teeth. Everything in her being wanted to step away from this, and let the experienced man take over, but she set her resolution and was going to see it though. Glancing up, she saw the indicator announce the FDS was spooled waiting for maximum velocity to be achieved. Her thumb pressed the button and she felt the ship lurch forward, rattle and shake. The heat alarm started blaring and sparks obscured her vision. The next thing she knew, they were in super-cruise. With a quick motion she launched another heatsink and the star was left in their wake. Still shaking, she took a deep breath.
“Well done.” Stryker stayed at her side. “Set destination to Tjakiri.”
“What, no.” She shook her head, hands trembling, yet waves of excitement coursed through her. Though, she had never admitted it, a small part of her wanted to fly ships. With nothing to lose, she took the plunge, and found the experience to be as rewarding as discovering that next scientific find.
Stryker nodded. “You’re taking us the rest of the way. I think you’ll do fine. I’m going to go take a nap.”
“No! Don’t!” then she realized he was playing with her. She watched the man glide back to his seat, and magnetize in.
“You’re going to take us the rest of the way.” he said with a laugh.
“I nearly killed us.” the excitement waned and she felt inadequate due to her mistake.
“Hardly.” he said, “just wait until you have to do a total system reboot, during live firefight. But that’s tomorrow's lesson.
She gave a soft chuckle, and took hold of the controls. What did he mean when he said he rather burn with me? Does his feelings for me run deeper than he’s letting on? She felt compassion wash over her. Then a startling revelation blossomed in her mind. This large, taciturn yet eccentric man was playing some sort of game, and he was trying to load the dice to ensure that she would end up free of Exotica. It wasn’t the most ideal situation, but he was right. It was better then lying on her back and taking the blows. He was standing up and fighting a nearly impossible battle. She saw the man in a whole new light and her eyes wandered over his wide back and strong shoulders. For the first time since she was abducted, she wanted to be with a man. And not just any man.
Special thanks to Jubei Himura for his edits and suggestions!