I stood behind the pilot’s seat as Harry piloted the spaceship. I was pulling on my hair as I shouted, “It’s all my fault! I should’ve watched over him to make sure he didn’t get gamble too much!”
“Shut up!” Harry shouted back as he glared at me. “It’s no one’s fault but his own that he couldn’t control his urges. But that’s in the past. For now, you and Scarlett will be boarding the slaver’s ship to rescue him. If you two mess this up, we’ll have to revoke your captainship and give it to myself!”
Meanwhile, Scarlett was shaking in the copilot seat, hiding her face with her hands. “Not another one! Please don’t be another Darrell!”
I walked up behind her and gave her hug from behind. She looked back at me and gave a faint smile. I smiled faintly back and said, “I’ll try to get Malgorth back. No matter what, I’ll never let you be abducted by them again! You’ve been tortured enough in your life!”
“And I’d do the same! We need to save Malgorth from this fate! And on the topic of being abducted, I’d gladly risk my life to save yours! You still have a family to go back to. The Smiths want their son back, and so I’ll bring him back!” Scarlett replied as she turned around and hugged me back.
I caught a glimpse of Harry rolling his eyes. After typing on the console enough, he looked at us and said, “You two should get ready. We’ll catch up to that ship in half an hour.” With those words, Scarlett and I ran out of the cockpit and into our rooms.
As I put on the ballistic armor, I saw one of the group pictures we took. It was one where all of us were dressed casually and stood against a living room wall. Even though it was taken before Scarlett and I got into a relationship, we were still giving each other a side-hug while pointing finger guns at the camera. It was childish, sure, but she could use so childish antics to make up for the one she lost. Gruma had the biggest smile while Harry made sure his then-mechanical biceps were flexed. Malgorth was in the back, leaning against the wall and looking at the camera with a bored face.
He was always bored, but he was still a part of the team. If he was to leave, it’d have to be on his own terms, not those of vile monsters. As I got the last piece of armor on, I strapped on my SAD. It would enhance my fighting abilities, making me more able to complete the mission.
As I left my room and walked to the airlock, I noticed Scarlett didn’t put on her cowboy hat or duster. Her expression was deathly serious as she walked. She was speed-walking, something I never saw her do before.
Once we reached the airlock, we each put on two bandoliers of magazines. Seeing her put it on informed me that she was not going to attempt elegance in her fighting. She picked up an assault rifle and held it against her shoulder. I grabbed my assault rifle and held it in a similar manner. She nodded at me, and I nodded back.
We put on our spacesuits and activated the helmets. Right as we finished, the cargo bays were closed, keeping our cargo safe from being jettisoned out into space. The air was taken out of the room, making sure none of it was lost. There was a slight jolt, which was probably the harpoon successfully making contact with the slaver’s ship.
When the door opened to expose the star-filled cosmos, I could see that it was exactly what happened. We jumped onto the other ship, taking advantage of the low gravity to land on top of it. As we got over the ship, the gravity returned to Earth-like levels, informing us that the ship’s inhabitants were used to gravity similar to our home planet’s.
Wasting no time, I pulled out my laser sword and activated the blade. Though called a laser sword, it was rather nothing of the such. It was a collapsible metal tube with plasma coils covering it. When activated, superheated plasma flowed through the coils, providing a glow. I stabbed the top of the ship with the sword and proceeded to slowly carve a hole in the top. When I finished, the thick metal fell for a bit before rushing air sent it hurtling out into space.
After a few minutes, the rushing air started slowing down. It provided us an opportunity to enter the ship. We dropped in and stood back-to-back. Holding our assault rifles out, I scanned our surroundings. There didn’t seem to be anything, but Scarlett broke the silence. “Several of those centaur-like aliens are running towards this room with guns. They’re heading here from my side.”
I turned around and stood next to her. My assault rifle was braced against my shoulder as I prepared to fire. She did the same.
The door on the other end slammed open as several aliens stormed our position. What they didn’t expect was two intruders armored and armed to the teeth. As they rounded the corner to our position, we made them taste lead. One by one, the aliens fell to the bullets. The lack of air resistance meant that there was nothing to slow the bullets down. The aliens wore simple spacesuits without armor, meaning the bullets pierced right through it and into them. The shots they fired either ricocheted off the armored spacesuit or were stopped by the ballistic armor underneath.
After depleting our first magazines, twenty aliens laid dead on the floor. Their counterassault failed, which made them turn and run back. Scarlett and I ran over the dead bodies to catch them, but they shut the hallway, using some sort of reinforced wall that was impervious to our laser swords. We swapped our magazines in the guns so we would be ready to fight again.
“They sealed the hole we made,” Scarlett said as she opened a door to the side and slid in. I followed after her, locking the door behind us. She pointed to a nearby garbage chute. “We need to escape capture, and I think that’s the only way we can do it.”
I looked at her and said, “I’d rather not be crushed to death. However, I see no other way.” I hopped in and was carried away by the strong wind inside.
Apparently, this ship used a pneumatic garbage chute. It made it difficult to control where we left. I tried to grab one of the other entrances, but the wind was too strong. The back of my head slammed into the entrance ceiling. I was saved from a concussion by my helmet having protection against it.
When the next entrance came, I acted quickly. I shot myself off the opposing wall with enough force to slam into the flap on the other side of the chute entrance. It wasn’t as painful as it sounded since by the time I hit it, I barely had time to grab onto the outside of the chute before the flap closed on my fingers. Only my determination kept me from losing my grip.
As I began to pull myself out, I felt someone grab my leg, adding extra weight. I didn’t need to look back to know who it was. It just added to my determination. Every inch gained was a victory as I slowly pulled myself out.
Once I got out, I helped my foxy girlfriend. We dusted ourselves off, during which I took the opportunity to observe our surroundings. What I saw only enraged me.
We were in a wide hallway with three floors of cells around us. There were seventeen prisoners. Of those, sixteen were children. Human children. A growl behind me told me that Scarlett felt the same way. We each grabbed a set of keys that were dropped on the ground and started unlocking cells.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
When I reached the last cell to unlock, I looked at its lone occupant. Malgorth. He just stared at me with a frown. “I’m sorry, Quentin. You should’ve just left me for dead,” he said as he looked away.
I slammed the cell door open. “Malgorth, everyone deserves a chance in life. I’m not going to let any of my friends be enslaved!” I picked him up to his feet and said, “Let’s go save these children!”
“Yes, captain!” he shouted back.
We walked to the assembled children who were staring at Scarlett. She looked at us and said, “We must protect them. I won’t let what happened to me happen to them!”
I looked at a ship map on the wall and said, “I think I have a plan.” I traced the lines between the engine room and the escape pods. “We fill the ship with pure oxygen. Once there are high enough levels, we light a spark and blow everything to smithereens.” I pointed at the escape pods. “But we first need to evacuate the children.” I looked at my girlfriend and asked, “Would you kindly escort them there?”
“And miss out on killing those slaver ********? Not a chance!” Scarlett shouted back as she tapped her gun.
“I’ll do it!” Malgorth said resolutely as he walked in front of me. “It’s time that I put my life in order!” Before I could intervene, he looked at the children and said, “Follow me. I’m bringing you to safety.” He slowly flew towards the escape pods, making sure the children were close behind him.
As they left the room, I looked at Scarlett and said, “Let’s do this.”
“I’ve waited my entire life for this opportunity,” she maliciously said as she confidently marched through the halls. We both hid our magazines within our spacesuits to keep them from exploding during the plan.
We held our guns at the ready as we ran towards the engine room. When we came across an alien, one of us would knock them out by slamming the butt of our assault rifles into their head. They were all going to die anyways. All that mattered was to avoid making too much noise.
After going through several hallways, we found the door to the engine room. I pulled out my laser sword and carved a hole large enough for us to squeeze through.
Once we squeezed into the room, I ran over to the map of the engine room. While I could’ve used my SAD to understand what it read, it would’ve taken time. Time we didn’t have. Any minute, this room could be filled by slaver soldiers. Instead, I made an assumption of which one was for oxygen based on the size and shape of the tank. However, Scarlett pointed at a different tank and explained, “That’s the oxygen tank. I know since the Qarri used similar symbols for oxygen.”
A sea of footsteps could be heard through the hole in the door. Seeing as there was no time, we went right to it. I ran down the stairs as Scarlett jumped over the railing and grabbed onto the scaffolding. Both of us raced down, hearing the door open and the soldiers enter.
We soon reached the oxygen tank. With no time to spare, I turned the wheel for oxygen all the way open while Scarlett completely closed the tanks for the other gases. Her job was easier as she simply turned them off through using a nearby circuit breaker. Alarms blared as our spacesuits closed off access to the outside air. “Warning! Oxygen levels critical!” the alarms blared after being translated.
Before we could celebrate, I could hear the clicking of several guns. I looked around to see that we were completely surrounded by centaur-like aliens with blasters. “By the order of the Mandern Government, you are under arrest!” one of the aliens shouted.
Scarlett smirked as she lowered her gun, but kept her finger near the trigger. “I’m sorry to say that you’re fired!” she mocked as she pulled the trigger. Time froze as fire erupted from the spark of the gun. Immediately, the fire spread to the aliens’ fur. It quickly grew out of control, as anything that was flammable caught fire. The result was being in the middle of a giant fireball.
Water sprinklers went off to attempt to contain the inferno, but the sheer scale of it turned all the water into steam upon contact. However, it provided the necessary respite to escape with our lives. My suit was overheating, but I had it to thank that I wasn’t burning to death like the aliens.
We ran through the hallways towards the escape pods. Though there was some relief from being in the middle of a firestorm, it was clear that the inferno was hot enough that it spread to the rest of the ship. Several of the centaur-like aliens were laying on the ground, unconscious. It was clear they were dying of heatstroke. I feared it was only a matter of time before an electronic sparked and created a second inferno. There was also a risk of our suits overheating, killing us with heatstroke as well.
We made it to the escape pods, only to see ten centaur-like aliens shooting something on the ground. Fear filled my veins as I thought they were killing one of the children. I quickly ran past the fifty collapsed centaur-like aliens to punch one of the conscious ones. My fist connected and sent him to the floor. The slight act exhausted me, but I had to continue. Before they could turn their guns towards me, Scarlett and I punched them down. Not that it was impressive considering how sluggish they were. Ten aliens were added to the casualty count. We looked down. My fear changed to guilt.
“Malgorth!” I screamed as I opened an escape pod and pulled him into it with Scarlett’s help. We closed it behind us, letting ourselves be launched into space. Not even a minute afterwards, the spaceship blew up in a spectacular fashion.
We looked at Malgorth, tears coming to our eyes. He was breathing shallowly as his body was covered in scorch marks and bullet wounds. I took off my spacesuit and armor before ripping off my shirt. I tied my shirt around the bullet wounds on his upper torso. I turned to look at my girlfriend, only to see that she got the silent message. She got shirtless in order to stymy some of the bleeding. We were about to take more clothes off when he shook his head. Despite all the injuries, he was still conscious.
“This is the end of the road for me,” he weakly said. “I’ve already lost too much blood and have severe damage to my internal organs. Even if you stop the bleeding, I’ll be dead within the hour.”
Scarlett placed a hand on his shoulder and said, “Malgorth, your body is stopping the bleeding. And before the hour is done, you’ll be on the ship. You’re going to be fine. My uncle got shot several times during his career. All the spots that got shot are not completely fatal.” She made a weak smile and said, “You’ll make it.”
He gave a genuine smile even as he explained, “Scarlett, I’m not a human, nor was I ever. The bodies of my species can seal wounds quickly, but the organs that got hit are more vulnerable than yours. One of those organs is necessary to regenerate blood. It was irreparably damaged. No amount of surgery can fix it.” As if on cue, he coughed up a wad of blood. “And that was my lung wounds.”
I wiped away the tears that formed. “How could you be so calm in the face of death? You’re not religious like Scarlett, or spiritual like Gruma! Since you believe there isn’t an afterlife, you should be terrified!”
He placed a hand on my shoulder and said, “Do not fear death, Quentin. Someday, it’ll come for you. My whole life, I feared death. I lived a hedonistic lifestyle in hopes that I could get all the pleasures of life in the short time we have. But I entirely missed the purpose of life.” He looked at me and Scarlett before explaining, “Love and family.”
“Love? Didn’t you flirt with every humanoid woman under the sun? That’s what you told us,” Scarlett replied as she held my right hand with her left. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“Lovemaking is a euphemism, and not entirely accurate. In truth, that was lust. I didn’t care about them as people, only their bodies,” the devil-looking alien explained as he looked at our hands. “Love is caring for other people. Whether as romantic partners, as friends, or as family. Love is when you want someone to be in your life more than a short moment. And that leads into family. Even before I left the orphanage, I pushed away all the others in there. They were deadweight to me and I didn’t care what happened to them. I now realize that it was a mistake. They would’ve stopped the destructive path I was on. I didn’t realize how important my orphanage family was, or how important my new one was.”
“New family?” I asked as my eyes got red.
He nodded. “You are like siblings to me. The four of you took me in and cared for me.” He pointed at me. “Even if you were condescending.” He then pointed at Scarlett. “And you were mean. The point is that you attempted to help me by moderating my behavior.”
Tears came back to my eyes as I slammed my fist against the escape pod wall. “But you’re dying for nothing and it’s our fault! If we were just a little more attentive to you, you wouldn’t be here!”
“Quentin, I’m dying for something,” he calmly said as his breathing got more labored. It was clear he was running out of time. “I used my body to shield those children. Because of my sacrifice, sixteen children escaped the horrors of slavery and are on your ship. I’m not saying it to brag; I’m saying it so you will stop beating yourself up. I’m dying on my own terms.” He looked out the escape pod’s window. With one last breath, he said, “After a life of parties and chaos, I’ll finally have some rest.”
With those words, Malgorth fell to the floor. As life left him, there was only a solemn sadness. We failed him. And it cost him everything.