Peter piloted the ship with grace as Winter sat behind him in the passenger seat strapped in, eager for her next battle. Now that she had some training with the Lost Boys, she felt that she would be able to take on whatever Neverland had next. “So now that I’ve officially dueled multiple Lost Boys, I can help with this mission right?”
“You…” Peter started as he punched in a few buttons on the main console, “Are going to stay right on this ship,” he finished. He didn’t want Winter loving this land, but secretly, he was extremely excited about the upcoming battle, but didn’t want to share the similar glee with Winter.
“Oh, come on! I’m great with a sword! I swear I’ll be careful,” Winter pleaded.
“Hate to be this person Pan, but we are down a mate and could use the help,” Slightly said over a radio com that blared throughout the Jolly Roger.
“You see? You need my help!” Winter shouted.
“Always got to butt in Slight, don’t you?” Peter rolled his eyes.
“Till the end of days’ mate!” Slightly returned.
“I don’t think she’ll fit in with the Lost Boys,” Peter said in a way he knew would get a rouse out of Winter.
“Is this cause I’m a girl? You’re really starting to make me believe you’re a misogynist!” Peter turned to Winter.
“You really like playing that card, don’t you?”
“It’s a good card to play,” Winter shrugged. Peter laughed and returned back to his console.
“I know you’re more than capable of handling a sword. What I’m more concerned about is who, or what is attacking the Red Men. They run on a platform of peace and honor and are on a system that holds zero natural resources. Why would anyone attack them?”
“Red Men are telling us it’s the Krag.”
“The Krag?” Winter questioned. Peter remembered to empathize with Winter and her lack of knowledge of Neverland.
“They’re an alien fleet of mercenaries. Dumb mercenaries at that, but they’ll do anything for money. I’m surprised they’re still alive with how terrible they are at their job. This is just more confusing than ever, Slight. Why would a group of mercs attack a tribe like the Red Men? There’s next to zero monetary value in it and if they wanted weapons it would be cheaper and faster to rob a merchant or attack, literally anyone else.” Peter could feel a question from Winter burning in her mouth. He turned to her. “Think of the Red Men, as like a non-profit. They operate on next to nothing and money is the least of their concerns.”
“They had to be paid for by someone, Pan,” Slightly radioed in. “Think Hook could still be a part of this?” Peter started contemplating what enemies the Red Men had. And what did they do that was so bad someone hired a team of mercenaries to kill them.
“Peter?” Winter asked.
“Uh yeah, what’s up?” Peter uttered, breaking his concentration.
“So, do you think I can fight the Krag?”
“Really? That’s your main concern right now?”
“I don’t know enough about this world to be concerned about anything else really,” she returned.
“I don’t know Winter. It’s dangerous.”
“Oh, come on! You hardly knew me and allowed me to fight Hook’s men!” Curses, he thought. He knew that would come back to haunt him.
“Pan, I know you love my opinion on everything so here’s my thoughts,” Peter thought about stopping the communication with Slightly for a quick second. “If she can beat any of Hook’s men, then she can beat any Krag. They’re all brute and no brain.”
Slightly did have a point. The Krag were almost a hive mind like species. They have next to zero thought process and believe that physical force is always the best tactic. They were practically zombies with only a few hungers. Money and violence.
“Yeah, if she can almost best you in a fight, she can definitely beat a Krag, right?” Peter asked Slightly.
“Ha. Ha. Ha,” Slightly said sarcastically.
Peter turned back to Winter and pondered how to handle this. Winter believed he was having an internal battle about allowing Winter to fight. Winter was wrong in this case, however. He already made his decision on whether or not she would be allowed to fight. The real dilemma was how could he make Winter realize Neverland is not the place for her to be. Fighting would only make her love it more. He remembered a task he secretly gave to Tink before they went off to the Lost Boys. He quickly turned back to his console and found what he was looking for.
“Winter…” he called out. She leaned forward eagerly awaiting the news. “Gear up!”
“Yes!” As fast as she could, she unbuckled and leapt from the seat. She started to run over to the cargo bay to grab her sword when a holographic screen popped in front of her face. She stopped dead in her tracks, both confused and curious.
It was a news cast that looked to be from her hometown. There was a news lady staring at the camera and a background that looked eerily similar. “Thank you, Tom,” the news lady said as she stood still. Winter could tell this was not a happy news story from the reporter’s stern demeanor. “The search still continues unfortunately,” the news lady began as she moved toward the right. The camera panned with her and Winter began to understand why so much of what she was seeing was recognizable. She was at Winter’s house!
The news lady continued walking until she got to where she was going, Winter’s father. “The search for Winter Barrington continues. Today marks two weeks since she has been missing. Today, we have her father who has agreed to give a message of hope to wherever she may be.” The news lady turned her microphone to her father.
Winter had never seen her father like this. His eyes were red and puffy, bloodshot. There were massive bags under his eyes, as if he didn’t catch one ounce of sleep for the past two weeks. He looked much slenderer than Winter remembered him to be. Was he really cutting back on eating that much? And despite it only being 2 weeks, his skin was noticeably paler. Winter had never seen this version of her father before. Even when her mother was in her most critical state, he never showed any of the physical attributes as he did right now. He slowly pulled his arm up and reached for the microphone, weakly pulling it towards him.
“Please, I beg of you. If anyone knows…of where my daughter may be…please,” he begged to the camera. “Please contact me, I’ll pay you whatever you want. Whatever I have is yours…” her father continued as he let the microphone down, now not even looking at the camera as if he was ashamed. The reporter was about to pull away when he grabbed the microphone again. “And Winter, if you’re watching this,” he said directly to the camera. It looked as if he was making direct eye contact with Winter. “I’m so sorry for how I’ve been, this past year…no…I’m sorry for how I’ve been for a while. Please, come home.”
Winter couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She looked to Peter, who had his back facing against her. She knew he wanted her to go back, but to torture her like this? She never thought he had it in him. She turned briskly and walked right through the projection with her jaw clenched.
Peter hit a button on the console to end the transmission, producing a look of regret and sorrow. Tink flew over to Peter’s side throughout the silence. “There was a slight cruelty in that action, Peter.”
“It’s what I have to do, to remind her.” So I don’t make the same mistake again, he thought.
“I don’t appreciate your recent actions Peter. You told me you needed me to store those for conducting research.”
“Research for how to get Winter back.”
“I assumed it was research on how to spin a story for why she was missing. That is what I did last time, with Wendy and the boys.”
“Please don’t mention them Tink.”
“You may have deleted the memory of whatever happened from me, but it will always be with you until you let whatever it is go. You can’t delete that from a memory. Maybe you should rethink whatever your tactics were with Wendy’s deteriorating mental state. The same tactics will not change any previous circumstances. You’re taunting with the past, try inspiring with the future,” Tink said sternly and flew off, leaving Peter in silence.
Peter sat there, thinking about what he did with Winter, and with Wendy. As angry as he was, Tink was right. He was following the same path he did years ago, and where did that get him? Where did that get her?
Peter found Winter in the cargo bay practicing sword fighting with a sparring dummy robot. She either didn’t seem to notice that he was there, or she didn’t care that he was there.n Either way, Peter decided to wait and watch her tactics.
She was trying a move that Peter used to do all the time. As the robot’s blade came towards her, she tried to shut off her blade and toss it slightly forward so the hilt passed the robot’s blade. Once it cleared, she would have to quickly re-catch the hilt and activate it. allowing Winter to slice into the robot, stopping their attack.
She had hoped she would be able to reactivate and slice into the dummy before its blade got to her, but each time she tried, the dummy beat her to the punch and sliced her.
Winter tried several times, getting more and more frustrated with each failure. The fourth time she tried and failed, she let out a growl of frustration and punched and kicked the cold steel of the robot until she was out of breath. Panting over the robot, she thought about her father. Deep down, she knew Peter was right, she just didn’t want to believe it. Why can she not live here? What was so special about Earth when you compare it to Neverland?
“It’s a hard move you’re trying to pull.” Startled by Peter’s surprise comment, she turned to find him watching her.
“How long have you been there?” she asked as if she was accusing him of a crime.
“It’s difficult, but I can show you how you should be doing it,” Peter offered as a white flag.
“Wouldn’t that just make me fall in love with this place even more?” Winter scoffed. Peter smirked as he went over to the dummy and propped it back up. He set up the sword the same way Winter did.
“A lot of amateurs always-”
“I’m no amateur,” Winter fired back. She was right, Peter thought.
“Sorry, um, when anyone is learning this trick, they usually make the same mistake.” Peter took out his sword and approached the dummy. “Some fighters don’t think they need to toss the hilt at all. The problem with that is if you deactivate too soon, your opponent will see it and speed up their blade, cutting you. Or you deactivate it too slow and your blade can’t reach them by the time they reach you.” Peter demonstrated each technique on the dummy. As angry as Winter was, he had a point.
“What a lot of people do to avoid perfecting the deactivation time is they try to toss the hilt forward and recatch it. The problem with that, is you need extremely fast hands to catch it and reactivate it.” Peter demonstrated again, but was able to do it and strike the dummy.
“It worked for you.”
“Yeah, but there’s a huge margin for error. You could easily lose your sword or lose an arm. I think a lot of people forget they have two hands they can use.”
“Like Slightly?”
“No, not like Slightly. A lot of people forget they have a very useful left hand that can manage the sword.”
“Why would I use my improper hand? It’s far weaker and less coordinated.”
“For this move, if you put your hand in the right place, you don’t need coordination. You just need a steady toss.” Winter waited for another demonstration, but Peter just stood there.
“Cool words, but are you going to show me?”
“How about you try,” he motioned for her to come over. She complied, but had an attitude about it. “So, what you want to do is instead of tossing the blade and trying to catch it with the same hand, you want to toss it to your other, and put a fling on it. So all you have to do is turn it on and you can go in for a perfect stab right after. Think of it like passing the blade to yourself.”
Winter tried the technique, but when she tossed the hilt to herself, it missed her left hand and the robot landed a successful attack.
“Urgh!” she yelled.
“Try again,” Peter said. This time, she threw the hilt the perfect distance but the hilt’s position rendered it uncatchable. Her finger tips collided with it, sending the hilt flying. “Dammit!” Winter snarled. Peter calmly went over to the hilt and picked it up.
“Let me show you,” he said and approached the dummy. In one fair swoop, he deactivated the blade and tossed it to his other hand. His other hand grabbed it in the perfect position and he turned on the blade, successfully stabbing the dummy, causing it to topple over. Winter was impressed.
“Wow, that was…amazing,” she couldn’t help but compliment him. He turned off the blade and approached her.
“Do you want to try it out again?” She nodded and took the hilt. Before Peter gave it up, he said, “I’m sorry.” She nodded and turned on the blade.
“I know you don’t want me here, but there’s nothing for me left there.”
“You know that’s not true.”
“I know…but, I just think life would be better here. There’s excitement here.”
“You really don’t know how great you have it on Earth do you?” Peter asked shaking his head.
“And what do you know that I don’t?” she inquired. Just as Peter opened his mouth, the entire ship rumbled multiple times as if an earthquake went off. Peter fumbled, but stayed in place, but Winter completely lost her balance and fell over. Peter rushed over to help her up. “Please tell me we were just experiencing some type of turbulence?”
“Nothing’s that simple in Neverland,” Peter he stated as he helped Winter from the ground.
They ran to the cockpit. “Tink! Shields up to full power!” he yelled as he hopped in his captain’s chair to assess the damage. His monitor screen appeared in front of him and alerted ‘DANGER’ in big red letters. Peter inspected the information the ship provided and discovered there were thousands of Krag ships headed their way! All of them firing on them! “Crap! Tink! This isn’t a dream, right?” Tink rammed her tiny ship into the side of Peter’s head.
“Ow!” he exclaimed.
“Did that answer it, sir?”
“I feel like that was for something else that I definitely deserve, but there are better ways to let me know I’m not dreaming.”
“Is it bad?” Winter asked, leaning into the screen. She looked to see what kind of ships they were. The Krag ships were like tiny pyramids. They seemed to be designed for only one person per pod.
“Their ships are small so their lasers don’t have much power or strength, but there’s a lot of them,” Peter explained.
“Got it, I’ll get a jetpack and head out,” Winter said scrambling back toward the cargo bay.
“You’re not going out there!” Peter yelled before she got too far. She skidded in her tracks.
“Do I have to play the woman card again?”
“Not that! Stop with that!” Peter yelled, clearly annoyed. “There’s way too many ships out there. We need to shoot as many down as possible before we even think about going out in the field. How are you with a firing weapon?”
Winter thought back to when she was a child and played a retro videogame that her mother was obsessed with called Duck Hunt. She was bloody awful at it. “I’m alright,” she lied, hoping Peter wouldn’t sense it.
“Great, go down the hall to the right. You’ll find a ladder that will lead to the firing bring. I need you there.” Winter nodded as confidently as she could and then obeyed Peter’s instructions.
Peter piloted the Jolly Roger smoothly, avoiding any laser blasts that came his way. He tapped his com link. “Slightly? Location on the Lost Boys!”
“Right here mate!” Slightly stated as he piloted his own ship, the Dodger. It was slightly smaller than the Jolly Roger, but was packed with other Lost Boys manning different consoles. A few were navigation, but many of them dealt with firing turrets.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The outside of the Dodger had a cool sleek blue paint job, the signature color of the Lost Boys. They felt their grey uniforms went nicely with it. Compared to the Jolly Roger, the Dodger had abundantly more firing turrets all around the ship. The Jolly Roger used to be able to have more firing turrets, until Peter took them out to accommodate his usually small crew. The inside of the Dodger was a rustic gun-metal grey, similar to that of their headquarters. They may have been frat boys, but they did appreciate consistency and having a brand.
“I thought the Krag were supposed to be attacking the Red Men!”
“Reports say that the Red Men are still engaged with them,” Slightly explained.
“Then why are there so many here?”
“Why don’t you go outside and ask em, mate?”
“Always have the most amazing plans, Slight,” Peter said as he dodged incoming laser blasts.
“I’ll come to you when I need a plan that will get me killed. So, what’s the plan?”
“If we shoot enough of them down, chances are, they’ll leave their ships and try to overtake ours. If we beat them at one strategy, they’ll have to change.”
“Oh, shoot them down! I didn’t think of that! Didn’t know you studied battle ship 101. Seriously, you think of that all on your own?”
“You got a better plan?”
“No, I took the same class as you! Just expected more from Pan the man!”
“Slightly!” Peter yelled, getting a tad overwhelmed continuing dodging the blasts, “Can you deliver your snide remarks to me later? When we’re not being blasted at?”
“I guess,” Slightly said and then tapped a button on his main console. He was now chatting with every ship currently in the Lost Boys brigade. “Lost Boys! Do your thing!” An armada of Lost Boys ships, resembling smaller versions of the Dodger, came behind and headed towards the Krag.
Peter, wanting to get into the action, tapped his com link and switched from Slightly to Winter. “Winter! Are you at the firing brig yet?”
Winter abruptly turned down the hallway of the Jolly Roger and entered an oval room. It had a single chair that could swivel around and a pilot’s control panel equipped with a steering joystick. On top of the joystick was a red button, used to fire weapons. “Just got in Pete.” Winter entered the chair and swiveled around. She expected something to happen, but nothing did. “Peter? I’m in the chair what happens now? There’s no window or screen or anything!”
“Tap the button on the left side of the control panel that says ‘Pair’, then tap the side of your neck.” Winter waited a beat. “You do it?” Peter asked.
“Sorry no, I thought that was a joke,” Winter explained and then went hunting for the ‘Pair’ button.”
“If it was a joke, you would know. I’m hilarious,” Peter said. Winter found the button and tapped it. Did it matter which side of your neck you tapped, she thought. She decided to give it a go and tap her left side. “Oh my god!” Winter exclaimed, not believing what she was seeing.
Winter’s point of view was now the tip of the firing turret on the bottom of the Jolly Roger. She looked down and she was able to see the joy stick in front of her. But when she looked back at attention, the view changed back to the firing turret. She gripped the joystick and turned it, causing the firing turret to turn as well. “Way cool,” she said to herself. Suddenly, three Krag ships flew right by the turret. From Winter’s point of view, it looked like they were coming right at her! She screamed and fell out of the seat.
“You alright?” Peter radioed over. Winter picked herself up and headed back to the seat.
“How is this possible?”
“That little device I stuck in your ear does a whole lot more than just translate funny languages.” Winter got back and the view of the turret came back. “You’re looking at the turret at the bottom of the ship. Fire on as many ships as you possibly can. Be calm, and strike true.” Winter tested it out and pressed the button on the joystick and saw a laser blast exit the turret. “Think you can handle it?”
“Oh, yeah! Wait, what if they hit us?”
“You leave that to me!” Peter gunned on the steering mechanism and the Jolly Roger drastically sped up. Winter’s head flew back in the seat, not ready for the evasive actions Peter took. Peter steered with ease grinning from ear to ear. This is what he lived for. Seamlessly, the Jolly Roger, dodged every and all laser blasts, not a single one hitting it. “C’mon Winter! Fire!” he yelled with glee.
Winter recomposed herself and got back to action. She gripped the joystick and started aiming. It was much harder than she thought. As juvenile as it was, she thought it would be similar to playing a video game. It had similar controls and tactics after all. She focused aiming at one ship and when she thought she had it, she fired! It narrowly missed the Krag ship. It’s fine, she thought, wasn’t expecting to do great the first time anyway. She tried her method again and was sadly met with the same results. Winter tried multiple times, trying to match up the timing with the Krag ship, but had no luck. Each blast narrowly missed a ship. She grunted in frustration. What Winter hadn’t considered was the fact that both she and the Krag were in constant motion. She kept firing where it was, rather than where it would be.
The Jolly Roger continued to dodge effortlessly. The Dodger and Lost Boys ships did the same, except they were actually successful in blasting down the Krag. “A little rusty there, mate?” Slightly radioed over to Peter.
Peter laughed as he piloted. He certainly missed the taunting and teasing of the Lost Boys. “Just warming up, Slight!” He turned off his coms to Slightly. “Tink!” he shouted for her. Tink promptly arrived at his shoulder.
“Yes, captain?”
“Bring up Winter’s POV, I think she needs some help.”
“That is an understatement sir,” Tink said as she flew away.
“Oh, look at you throwing shade,” Peter grinned.
“I do when our lives are at stake!” Tink yelled right as a holographic screen popped up to Peter’s side of the firing turret.
He was began studying the screen, “Alright Winter, what’s your deal?” He studied the screen and paid attention to when Winter was firing. Though he was examining Winter’s screen intensely, it didn’t compromise his flying skills. Sure, he was now gripping the steering with only one hand, but his talent in multitasking kept the Jolly Roger successfully maneuvering out of the way of every blast. He looked as if he was driving, but trying to find a good radio station to soar down the highway to. “Gotcha,” he said figuring out the problem Winter had.
Winter radioed over to Peter, beyond frustrated now, “Peter! I don’t think this is working out! Any tips? Not because I’m a girl!” Good god, he thought.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing Winter! You’ll get it!” Fantastic advice, Winter thought. Peter re-gripped the steering controls. “Just make sure you’re buckled in!”
Winter kept her focus on firing the turret. She was going to hit one if it was the last thing she did.
Peter continued to watch Winter’s POV screen. She was homing in on a Krag ship. Just as she was about to fire, Peter jerked his steering wheel upwards. The Jolly Roger drastically moved just as Winter fired. The laser blast followed and successfully hit the Krag ship!
“Yes!” Winter cheered. She quickly refocused and found another Krag ship to destroy! She followed on while Peter paid attention. Just as she was about to fire, he drastically jerked the ship to the right! From the outside it looked like the Jolly Roger was being flown by an amateur who had just gotten their flying license. The laser blast traveled and had another successful hit. “Yes!” She radioed Peter, “Getting the hang of this, Pete!”
Back in the captain’s deck, Peter was focused on Winter’s screen while simultaneously making sure they don’t get hit themselves. “Yeah, yeah, just gotta believe in yourself and…what not.” Peter continued this method of drastically changing direction or hitting the brakes to change the trajectory of the laser blast.
“Do you really think this will help her learn?” Tink asked.
“Yes! Got another one!” Winter yelled.
“We’ll get to learning when we’re not about to be killed by an idiot mercenary team.” Peter continued flying and felt an uncontrollable urge to sing and hum under his breath. He was on a roll. “He can fly, he can fly, he can flyyyy.”
“Pan!” Slightly radioed in from the Dodger. “What in bloody hell is going on with your flying?” The Jolly Roger looked like it was being flown by a madman. It would jerk up and then stop for a few blasts. Then soar through the stars, then drastically jerk over to the right.
“Call it…improvising,” Peter explained with a chuckle. He wished he was able to see what the Jolly Roger looked like from the outside.
“Well, improvise,” Slightly said mocking him, “A better method. You’re slow as hell! Keep up, Pan!” Slightly ended his radio call.
Slightly had a point. Peter’s ship method was working, but it wasn’t exactly helping out with the overall gigantic amount of the Krags. He looked over and saw the Dodger and the other Lost Boy ships effortlessly dodge blasts while also successfully shooting down ships. He had to figure out a way to help out with his handicap of having an amateur manning the firing turret. He looked at the small pyramid Krag ships.
“Tink, bring up specs of a Krag ship please.” Instantly, a holographic screen popped up with known stats on the Krag ships. He took a big sigh, this might work, but he would look even more insane. “Tink!”
“Yes, captain?”
“All repairs have been done on the ship recently, right?”
“Ummm, yes they have.”
“Were they expensive?”
“Naturally,” she explained with a sense of suspicion.
“Well, we’re going to have to pay for them again,” he sighed.
“I don’t understand,” Tink said.
“Divert all unnecessary power to the shields please. Use all stored energy. Bring up a 360 view of the ship.”
“Sir, are you going to get us killed?”
“I don’t know, maybe,” Peter shrugged. Tink obeyed and a surge of power went throughout the entire ship. Piece by piece, lights went out in all areas of the ship. Winter was getting her groove on when the projection of the turret in her mind faded out and she found herself in a pitch-black room.
“Peter! Peter!” she radioed. Peter was too busy preparing, double checking his straps were secure. The ship’s main console collapsed into the floor and the chair moved into the center of the captain’s deck. Six holographic screens projected in front of Peter, showing each angle from the Jolly Roger.
“Ready, Tink?”
“For what?” she replied.
“Hey Winter,” he radioed ignoring Tink.
“Peter! What the hell is going on? I can’t see a damned thing and the firing turret turned off!”
“You’re strapped in, right?”
“Of course,” Winter explained aggravated that he wasn’t providing any clarity on their situation.
“Double check for me. It’s gonna be a little bumpy. We may be hitting some turbulence. And running into these Krag ships.”
“Wait! What!” Tink and Winter yelled out. Peter gripped the throttle and pushed it forward with full force. The Jolly Roger took off at full speed. Tink saw Peter’s screen and discovered they were headed right into a Krag ship!
“Peter what are you doing!?” Tink yelled at him. It didn’t stop him. Peter continued to fly directly toward the Krag ship, At the last minute, right before impact, he went under the ship, then immediately steered the ship upward! The Jolly Roger made impact with the lone Krag ship, causing it to fly upwards, right into a laser blast that was previously shot at the Jolly Roger.
Peter turned the Jolly Roger around and went right for another Krag ship. This time he didn’t go full on, but instead beamed to the right of the ship. Right as he passed it, he duked a hard right. The Krag ship was hit so hard it flew directly into another Krag ship, causing them both to explode. Peter smiled and was a tad surprised this actually worked. Then again, that’s how most of his plans worked out. Cautious optimism hoping the plan that can get you killed actually saves your life. The Pan way!
Peter turned around the Jolly Roger again and using the 360 view he had, planned his next assault of bumping Krag ships. He took off and this time, hit one Krag ship and rammed it into a fleet of 3, each one destroyed on impact.
Meanwhile Winter was being flung around in the firing brig. Each of her hands were firmly gripped on the armrests of the chair she was strapped into. “Peter!” she radioed him when she had a free hand. “What the hell are you doing up there, mate?”
But Peter didn’t hear what Winter radioed to him. Instead, he was tuning everything out, completely focused on all the screens that were in front of him.
He briefly heard Winter’s cries for help. “Peter! Peter!” she would yell whenever she got a moment. He wasn’t sure if he was really hearing them or if he was hearing someone else. Slowly, his smile and enthusiasm for the mission faded. Even though he was in complete concentration mode, not a single emotion was formed on his face. He was completely dead on the inside and his expression showed that.
“Peter! Peter!” Winter yelled again over the com. Only he didn’t hear Winter’s voice, but Wendy’s. Peter winced at this, but quickly shook it off, continuing ramming into various Krag ships.
“Peter?” he heard Wendy ask in a calm voice. His eyes shifted to the right, where he heard the voice and saw nothing. He quickly refocused to the task at hand. His eyes kept looking out of his peripherals to double check that nothing was there. He could have sworn he saw something he never thought he would see again.
“Peter? Peter?” Wendy’s voice rang out again. Peter shook his head, knowing his mind was just playing games with him. “Peeeeter!” Wendy’s voice said playfully. Peter took a massive breath and hesitantly turned toward the voice.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He saw Wendy, standing there in her space suit. She was around 20 something, the same age where they took a massive vacation together. The last time he truly believed she was happy. She was flinging around a laser sword. “Peter! Check this out!” Wendy deactivated the sword and passed it to her other hand, the same trick he had just taught Winter. She reactivated the blade and stabbed an imaginary enemy. “Wasn’t that great?” she asked.
“Magnificent,” hardly came out of his mouth. His entire mouth was dry. The type of dry you get right before giving a massive cry.
“You won’t ever leave me, right?” she asked. The question hit Peter in darker ways than it was intended. Peter couldn’t and wouldn’t respond. “Peter?!” Wendy asked, showing a tad aggression. Peter swallowed. He couldn’t comprehend why this was happening to him, but he knew where it would lead. “Peter!” she yelled. She was now full of rage at him. A darkness went over her once innocent eyes. She took a step forward towards Peter.
In that one step, Wendy had aged 10 years. There were crow’s feet around her eyes and bags underneath them. “PETER!” she screamed at him. Her eyes were filled with malice and vengeance. Peter couldn’t stop the tears now, he let them fall from his eyelids. She aged again. Wendy now looked like the last time he saw her. Her body filled with despair and hatred. “Why’d you leave me Peter?!” she screamed from the bottom of her throat. Without Peter knowing, his hands let go of the steering throttle. “Why did you leave? I needed help!” she cried out. Peter’s entire body went numb. Wendy collapsed onto the floor. “Peter,” she whispered. “Peter…please,” she said staring up at the ceiling of the spacecraft.
“I’m sorry,” Peter said to her. He closed his eyes, not able to look at her anymore.
“Peter?” he heard Wendy say. Or was it Winter? He wasn’t sure anymore. “Peter!” Winter yelled into her com link.
Peter jolted awake. He looked over to where Wendy was and found nothing. He was short of breath and unsure of where he was. He looked forward to see the screens of the Jolly Roger in front of him and it all flooded back to him. The ship was ramming into Krag ships still, but now without any skill. Some of them he just rammed and exploded, causing massive damage to the Jolly Roger. The ship was on its way to collide with one of the Lost Boys ships. He quickly gripped the controls. He put on a huge smile as if it were a mask.
“What’s wrong Winter?” he radioed. “Just having a bit of fun!” Peter quickly course corrected the ship, narrowly missing the Lost Boys ship he was about to ram.
“Maybe try having a little less fun for once in your life!” Winter yelled, still bracing herself for a possible crash.
“What’s the point of life then!?” Peter yelled out with a smile. But like always, the act dropped when he didn’t need it anymore. His face went lifeless again and the dead look in his eyes returned.
Peter juked the ship upwards and hit a ship, making it head right into a laser blast. Peter was finding it harder and harder to find a ship. “Slightly, you seeing less of these guys?”
Slightly, still piloting the Dodger, radioed over, “I think it’s working, Pan. You think they’ll be coming out soon? Got my boys ready to blast ‘em to hell!”
Suddenly, a small armada of Krag ships started heading their way. They flew at full speed toward them, something neither Slightly nor Peter had seen yet. They had taken Peter’s tactic to their own use. If they were going to be rammed, it was going to be on their own terms.
“Are they really expecting to ram us, Pan?” Peter zoomed in on his screen. Why would the Krag ram their ships when they knew they weren’t powerful enough. The most it would do was damage the ship, but at the cost of their own life and ship. Peter focused on the ship furthest away from the armada. From the windshield of the Krag ship, he could see that there was a red blinking. His eyes widened.
“Slightly! Avoid the ships at all cost!”
“Real genius thought there, Pan!” Slightly sarcastically taunted.
“They’re not just ramming!” Peter yelled, but it was too late. The Krag ship he was following, collided with one of the Lost Boys ships. The explosion was massive, dealing an incredible amount of damage to the Lost Boys ship. Peter saw a band of lone Krags appear and fly toward the damaged ship. “They’re sacrificing their ship and trying to take our ships.”
“Pan, how did that happen? That was way more destructive than any Krag ship can produce.”
“I think they’re arming their missiles inside their own ship and activating them right before they evacuate. If you look closely, there’s a blinking red light inside them. That’s their missiles.”
“Great!” Slightly exclaimed. “For once they had a brain!” he said agitated. Peter was about to radio Slightly back when a Krag rammed into the Jolly Roger’s windshield. A Krag is quite an ugly creature. Its body shape was that of a bodybuilder that was clearly using steroids. Its skin had a pyramid checkered pattern that alternated with black and blue. Every move of a muscle produced purple bulging veins throughout its body. Its yellow piercing eyes met Peter’s. It gnarled yellow jagged fangs at him. Peter grabbed the controls and sped up so fast that the Krag flew off the windshield.
“Slightly! Now’s the time to send out the troops. Stop them!” Peter yelled over the com. He was now higher than the Krag ships, giving him a bird’s eye point of view.
“Why don’t we just take your technique and ram them before they get to us?”
“I think that’s what they want. That tactic would work if they didn’t arm their missiles. Plus, I don’t know about your fleet, but I don’t have enough power to make it through the rest of them.”
“I think we can outlast them! Plus, we’ve got plenty of funds for all the repairs.” From Peter’s point of view, he was able to see beyond the Krag ships. They were trailing something behind them. Peter zoomed in and it confirmed the last bit of their plan.
“Think you can outlast the field of mines they’re dragging behind them?” Peter asked Slightly.
“There just had to be mines,” Slightly said defeated.
“Mines!” Winter yelled. “How much fire power do these brutes have? You said they were stupid.”
“Why don’t you go out and ask them how they came up with such a clever idea?” Peter asked.
“Oh, shut it, Pete!”
“Tink!” Peter yelled. “Message all Lost Boys.” He cleared his throat for a radio transmission. “Lost Boys, all squadrons, send your fighters out. They’re trying to overtake all ships. Leave your best pilot to man the ship. Each ship is a literal bomb and is trailing other literal bombs. Avoid at all costs.”
“Will transmit stat, captain!” Tink said as she flew throughout the ship.
A Lost Boy appeared behind Slightly. “What are you going to do captain? You’re the best pilot and fighter on this ship.”
“Eh, you know my sword hand has been feeling neglectful,” Slightly said as he relinquished controls to him. “Pan, will I see you out there?”
“You really think I would leave this ship in Winter’s hands?”
“Hey!” Winter snarled.
“Oh, don’t take it personally, love,” Slightly said, making his way out of the Dodger.
“Winter?”
“Yes, captain?” she grudgingly answered.
“Head on out!” Peter stated as he flew past a mine from the Krag.
“With those barbarians?”
“What? You were just saying how you wanted to help!” Winter gave out a huge sigh, she had no idea why her fear had grown.
“I don’t think I’m ready for this,” Winter explained. Peter thought she was correct, but needed every man out there if they were going to beat them.
“I taught you to fight and to fly. What more could there be?” he said hoping to inspire. Winter sat there a moment, replaying his words in her head. She nodded aggressively, pumping herself up.
“Be right out!” she yelled to Peter. She leaped up from the firing brig’s chair and zoomed out.
Winter made it to the cargo hold and thought of the first time she went out. She was stronger now, smarter. She was able to do this all before without an ounce of training. So why was she so scared now? She grabbed a jet pack and put it on. “It’s just like Hook’s men, nothing more,” she said hyping herself up. She turned on her sword and flung it around in her hand. “Tink, open the hatch.”
“Go get them girl,” Tink said trying to motivate her.
“You can do this,” she said to herself. She lifted off the ground, confident and full of courage. She saw the openness of space and was about to fully leave the ship when a Krag flew right in and knocked Winter down to the ground! She screamed, falling to the ground of the ship. She landed hard, rattling the ship around her. The Krag fell with her.
Winter winced as she saw the Krag get closer to her. She closed her eyes, afraid of its body collapsing on top of her. “Ugghh,” the Krag yelped out as it fell onto Winter.
She thought the Krag would start beating her or at least get up, but it just stayed on top of her. She could smell its gnarly breath. She cautiously opened one eye to find the Krag staring directly at her. She gave a quick shake in fear, but then realized, the Krag had no emotion. It just kept staring at her, causing herself mass confusion. She then realized she couldn’t move her right hand, which was holding her sword. Looking over the Krag’s shoulder, she found her blade sticking through its body. It had fallen directly onto her blade!
With all her might, she lifted off the Krag and threw its body off to the side. Winter stared at the sword that was protruding from its body. Reluctantly, she approached the body to reclaim her sword. She wasn’t scared that the Krag would awaken. She was terrified that if she pulled out the sword and nothing happened, it would mean she had committed murder.
Winter cautiously pulled out the blade, which was now bathed in green blood. She turned off the weapon and stared at the corpse that she had caused. She had fought Hook’s men, but had never killed any of them. She turned the Krag body around and shut its open eyes. Who was the Krag she had just killed, she thought. Did it have a family? Was it male or female? Did it have other hopes rather than just fighting as a mercenary. As brutish and smelly as it was, she felt sorry for what she had done. She took a life.
“Winter!” Peter radioed in. “What’s going on?” Reality checked in for Winter. She blinked several times and recomposed herself.
“Got a rough start, I’ll head out now,” Winter said, still staring at the life she had just ended.
“Copy,” Peter replied back. Winter looked up to the open hatch and flew through, prepared to battle.