Tamed By the Alien Pirate by Celia Kyle Page 0,50

glorious golden-skinned hull flash by the main view screen, smoking from a few damaged points but still space worthy. Swipt is a fantastic pilot, and the Queen’s only advantage in this battle is her speed.

Another ship races past, looking almost like a tentacled sea creature. I don’t recognize that design at all. Must be a custom job. But if they’re shooting at the bad guys, I don’t care if they’re flying a magic carpet.

Unfortunately, the second ship has also suffered damage in the fight. They’re giving this Mephisto Capital class ship holy hell, but the outcome isn’t really in doubt.

I need to find Thrase and then we need to devise a means of leaving this ship. Once we’re clear, the Queen and her unlikely ally can jump to super luminal speed and escape.

Sounds so easy, but I know it won’t be.

The doors opposite the bridge have got to be Mal’s quarters. At least, I desperately hope they are.

Using the lanyard, I gain access. As soon as I step onto the thick carpet, I realize Thrase isn’t here. I do see a pair of legs thrust out at an awkward angle from behind the kitchen counter, however.

Dr. Mal has seen better days. His face is covered in blood, and there’s a knot on the side of his temple that probably indicates a concussion. A broken bottle of spirits lies nearby, its contents soaked into the carpet.

But no Thrase. Damn it, woman, where are you?

Dr. Mal stirs, and manages to push himself up onto hands and knees. Just as he looks up at me through a haze of agony, I kick him flush in the mouth, sending him back to dreamland.

I’d love to kill him, but there’s no practical need. Still, just one squeeze of my trigger, and Dr. Mal and his bigotry would be no more…

But then, I would be just like him. Wouldn’t I?

“I’m not you.” I reload my pistol with another charge and glare down at him. “And I never will be.”

With that, it’s back to the lift. I have find Thrase, but first I’ll secure our means of escape. That means I need to take over this ship’s hangar bay.

Down I go, to the bottommost deck. Along the way, the ship lurches a few times as the Queen and her unknown ally continue to raise nine kinds of hell. I mouth a prayer to the Precursors to protect them just a bit longer.

The cargo bay doors are secured, of course, but my lanyard gives me easy entry. It’s not a full-sized hangar bay like on a starcraft carrier, but it’s still three times the size of the Queen’s cargo bay.

And it’s not empty. A dozen Star Crushers turn about to face me, stopping their task of arming a fission torpedo as long as one of the Queen’s shuttles.

Every one of them is armed, though most only have slug-thrower pistols. Still, the odds are not in my favor as I scramble for cover behind an arcing support strut. Bullets ricochet all about the bay, shells hitting the floor like rain.

Bullet casings aren’t the only things striking the deck plating. My wounded bicep is bleeding pretty bad. Didn’t get an artery, but he may have nicked a vein. If I had a moment to spare, I’d cauterize it with the heated barrel of my spread shot rifle, but I don’t even have a nanosecond.

I can’t risk using a grenade down here with that fission torpedo waiting to explode. There are other munitions as well, not to mention we’re at the thinnest part of the hull. I’d rather not be sucked out into the vacuum of space.

With a flick of my thumb, I change the weak force pistol to constant emission mode and then fire blindly around the support strut. I don’t actually manage to hit anyone, but I do send them scrambling for cover beneath the decommissioned hull of a Dart, an Alliance star fighter of great agility but limited fire power.

The momentary break in their fire is all I need. Using the spread shot, I take out two and three of them at once, perforating their bodies like human pincushions. As their screams fade into eternal silence, I realize I’ve won.

The hangar bay is mine. But there’s no way that Dart is going to fly with all of its electronic components ripped out, not to mention there’s no cockpit shield.

So how in the hell are Thrase and I going to get off this ship before the Queen and her