Charyd rubbed his chin, then remembered the current body did not have a beard. Wrong Charyd. He strummed his fingers on the wall next to the display panel. The Darkstorm had not shown up to stop him. Yet Charyd was denied access to this room. Flight Officer Charyd had less access than he had hoped. He glanced down at the watch that the guy sleeping at a bar lost. It's an old analog ticking away the time. Outdated, but added the personal touch of the belief that he was the correct Charyd. He had only twelve minutes left to get back to the control room. This was the last bomb cap he needed to put down. From this room to the control room the four bombs were placed.
He would force the Darkstorm to let him in this room. He would break this ship in once he was captain again. He put the smoke cap up top near the ceiling. He opened his comms, all five were signaled active, just waiting for the go command to spew smoke out. He walked the main hall back to the control room. The mess hall was noisy with a few of the crew sitting in there chatting away. They were all excited to be on this mission. Two folks were trying to compete for the respect of their subordinates. The war of Cadoon’s versus the Jearen’s gave each and every soldier here some experience.
A large man with fangs matching Captain Posey’s smiled as he talked. “Now look, fighting around the galaxy Miesser was the longest battle.”
“For your career. Fights were going next door to claim Torando. Those battles lit up the space like it was nova going on. Creating their own pinwheels!” A Cadoon said. He was your typical military man, with broad shoulders, dark brown hair spotted with white, and kept short with clipper settings at two.
“I was there! The first time, a mere Cadet.” chimed a young soldier, her green gorgon hair gathered on the top of her head. Constant hissing as the little tongues dashed out to sense the world around her. Based on her badges, she was only one rank above Cadet now.
“Ah, then you don’t know what really happened then.” The older Lieutenant Commander stood up. Hands behind his back. The attention was all on him.“There was fifty -”
“All active staff report to the control room.” The Darkstorm’s voice interrupted.
“Immediately!” It switched over to the Captain’s agitated voice. “As in tell them now!”
“This was a recording.” The Darkstorm went out.
The soldiers were all standing up and running to the deck before the speaker finished clicking off. Charyd stepped out of their way, but the Cadoon human’s shoulder checked him. His fist tightened against the second harassment of the day. This time, he couldn’t just sucker punch the guy though. He couldn’t take them all on. They would get their share of crap once they lost this ship and LC Asshole would get more than he deserved. Charyd turned and casually jogged back to the main hub. His eyes darted to where each of the caps were placed. So his entire plan was in place. Now he had to actually figure out what to do next, fast. The execution of his crew was only a day away.
Everyone was gathered in the control room and at their stations. Except for one. Captain Posey stood rigid, hands behind her back, looking at the empty post. “Where is Officer Saar?”
People remained silent, but their eyes darted to and from each other.
“Saw him heading to the latrine earlier,” Charyd threw in the lie before anybody else could say something.
“When was this?”
“Maybe… half an hour ago, or something?” Charyd made a show of looking at his analog watch.
Posey rolled her purple eyes. The action was clearly subconscious because she cleared her throat and her frame became even more stiff, trying to hide the immature response. “Humans. Right. Tony? Make sure he… hurries up and makes his way on deck asap.”
The gorgon soldier giggled.
“Sir, yes, sir,” the Darkstorm responded and it almost sounded mocking.
Posey must have thought so too because she glared at the ceiling.
“Everybody strap in. We’ll be entering uncharted waters shortly.” Posey finally announced why she had called everyone on deck. Everyone available obeyed the command.
“As you know we are hired to deal with pirates. To prove that this ship will not be ordered around by the scum ever again.” The Darkstorm remained silent as Posey spoke. “We have to prove that we are stronger and better. We know this. But unfortunately, the media has romanticized this Pirate Captain Charyd.”
Her eyes landed on Officer Charyd. A small smile on her face at realizing what she had said. “But of course, even when we capture one quarry, another takes its place. The prototype for a new stealth technology named Tollens was stolen by pirates. Thanks to our ship’s security, we know they branded themselves as Exec Pirates. Tony, would you play that piece of conversation from your endeavor?”
The display screen was replaced by a freeze frame of a full mess hall. It lived up to its name. From the food of Cadoon’s spaghetti, tacos of Barmaca, and even a curry of Hisiri.
Charyd tried not to smile. He remembered the food fight. This was the third day on the ship and they had finally figured out the food replicator. They wanted to see how many different recipes it knew. One of his mates even taught it a few. It took a while for them to clean up the place.
The video started to play. Laughter was going on, but the microphone was able to pick up one key detail. “We should Lightening Strike the Exec base camp. They won’t mock us anymore.”
A group of cheers went up. They were only able to unlock the coffee mugs from the mess hall still, so their beverages were poured into there. Even the beer.
The video ended.
Charyd was never one to have a digital frame of photos or videos constantly playing, but for once he wished he saved that. To watch the joy of his crew on repeat. Even Scooball was a delight to be around, he was the perfect amount of salt and seriousness needed to balance out the crew. In the video, he had been sulking by the water tower. Obsessed with hydration.
He would get them all back. Officer Charyd talked openly about this mission with envy at the bar. After spending months in Cadoon’s dark alleys trying to figure out how to get his crew back, Flight Officer Charyd was a drunk blessing. Captain Charyd’s family was in prison, awaiting execution. He would never leave them behind like that. They were his people, with him through thick and thin. Even back before they were branded traitors and forced to turn to piracy just to make ends meet. Not like that one blood relative that caused this whole mess in the first place.
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The Darkstorm’s hologram appeared on top of the navigation board and began to take a casual stroll across everyone’s station. He looked right at Charyd when he strolled across those monitors then looked up and above, his hands behind his back. “The lazy pirates never went there. They used me for a delivery ship or stealing from freights. They did not know my true noble purpose.”
“Short story,” Posey interrupted. “They never went to the hideout before we caught the thieves. We have tried interviewing all the pirates but no one will tell us the location. Now we are going to the prison to offer one of them a chance to stay alive in exchange for the base location.”
Tony was now standing at Saar’s station. His arms were spread out, a large smile on his face. “They can join us! The Vice Admiral and Cadoon’s government have approved them to stay alive only if under our constant watch!”
It was a secret mission to persuade a pirate to join the military. They were not testing the Lightening Strike. Not yet. First, they had to figure out where to aim it. And the Exec carrier ship would make the perfect target.
“Captain.” Articulated the human Lieutenant Commander. “This has to be temporary, right? We are hard-working citizens who swore to help protect the innocent and our galaxies. They better be joining as the janitor.”
That got some chuckles from the crew. Posey's face was perfect for a poker match, the opposite of Tony’s open mouth. “We should always welcome everyone aboard our ship who wishes to serve.”
“Our galaxies,” Charyd scoffed out under his breath. When he saw Posey looking at him, he cleared his throat and looked back at the screen. The Darkstorm’s AI hologram was winking at him out of one corner of his screen. It pointed to a timer in the middle and then quickly disappeared.
“T-minus one minute until we’re in uncharted waters,” Charyd reported the numbers the Darkstorm gave him. This fucking ship wasted his time. He started to reach for the controls to steer the Darkstorm. He was about to test his luck on piloting the Darkstorm in the worst area of space. He had to do it, to save his crew and get them off that damned planet.
“Everybody, strap in,” Captain Posey commanded. “Flight Officer Charyd, I will be taking us in.”
Lucky day, he could learn from Captain Posey. He was already in his seat and he flicked a switch to make the security belts flap out and over his body, anchoring him to the uncomfortable chair he was sitting in. He missed the captain’s chair.
“Tony, I know this is a first for you but it is for me too. Let’s be gentle with one another.”
If Charyd didn’t know what was about to happen, he would have thought he was listening to a much more intimate conversation.
“Yes, sir,” the Darkstorm replied and threw in a hologram of its AI that saluted the captain.
“Ten. Nine. Eight–” Charyd started the final countdown.
“Three-two-one!” the Darkstorm interrupted in a quick chatter and then the ship lurched.
Charyd thought about the unconscious man hidden in the ship’s walls and then realized he deserved a thank you. If the asshole was really in the latrine, he would have been plastered to the toilet by now.
The Darkstorm’s lurch was only the first step. Charyd was not sure where to watch. The screens in front of him were flashing with routes, maps, and calculations too fast for him to register them all. The ship’s main viewport, however, revealed the sun halo around a gem-blue planet. It was far in the distance, at least a day’s flight with any other ship.
Common planet name, Psi Trident. High-security prison planet also known by designation PT-0237. One of the highest security prisons in their galaxy. If only because of the rare space phenomenon that surrounded the planet.
Charyd focused on the viewport as the sun’s halo distorted and turned into flying streaks like sound waves made visible by the rainbow. As the Darkstorm adjusted its angle, the waves turned into a glowing growth, unfurling from around the planet and surrounding it in a shimmering spiderweb. It was beautiful, glowing and growing, twisting and spinning, daring any ship to approach. The sight was visible only for a few seconds before the waves became invisible once more.
They were more dangerous that way.
“Got it!” Posey screamed from her seat in joy.
Charyd had no idea what she got or how it helped. The waves were already invisible from this angle so he had no idea how they would approach the planet safely to land.
The Darkstorm lurched until the planet was out of view.
“Oops, sorry about that,” the Darkstorm said and did not sound sorry at all. “Captain, if I may have your assistance.”
“Always, Tony.”
Charyd had no clue what happened but suddenly in front of Posey was a floating hologram. Tony was standing there, a step below the chair, his head barely reaching Posey’s shoulders, and holding a large screen against his chest. The sight was unnerving. Posey reached for the screen and then it looked even weirder as she started interacting with the hologram as if she was digging around inside Tony’s guts.
Charyd barely held in his gag reflex at the sight and turned forward again. The ship lurched in one direction and Charyd grabbed his safety straps. It flipped and he was glad for the artificial gravity only for a moment before all blood rushed to his head.
“Artificial gravity off,” Posey announced.
Of course, she did.
Sometimes, Charyd thought she read his mind and based her commands on how uncomfortable she could make him.
Charyd barely had time to expand his body and fill his seat better before he felt weightless in his harness. The lurch this time felt less drastic but his stomach still tried to go somewhere where it had no business being.
“Can’t you be smoother about it?” Posey muttered.
“Hey, that’s on you, not me. If our navigator could do this, then I could focus on stabilization.”
Charyd felt like he should be insulted. He turned to glare at the hologram but another lurch had his head snapping back into his seat so hard that his neck cracked. Psi Trident’s gravity became apparent with another drop. Two more twists, a spin, and then a yank so sharp that Charyd hit his knee against his console, and it was over.
The planet was right in front of them and it covered more than half the viewport. From one of the side windows, Charyd noticed the remains of a military class vessel from Cadoon’s military floating lifelessly in space. Behind it was the debris of many similar ships.
The Darkstorm and Captain Posey had somehow successfully passed the uncharted waters and Charyd had fucking missed it all! The waves that tore ships apart were only visible once every cycle from a specific angle for a few seconds. Never enough time for any ship to pass through safely. They also, somehow, only disappeared for an hour every sixty-seven standard galactic days. No ship could come in or out without the security’s permission. Without the Darkstorm’s technology, there was no way another ship could pass through the area without being torn apart completely.
The months of waiting for a chance as he tried researching for a way onto Psi Trident were over. All thanks to a drunk with the same name. Coincidence? Maybe. But Charyd liked to thank his patron with a silent prayer. Now, he only had to hope that his gods would make the Darkstorm agree with him. Without the Darkstorm Charyd had no way of getting off that planet with his crew without killing them all. They all would be dead sooner than tomorrow.
Or maybe… Posey would be enough.
A quick glance revealed a tiny pixelated version of Tony hanging off the edge of his screen and waving at him. It looked mocking. Charyd looked away and glared at the gray panel to his left.