Rise the Renegade (Rork Sollix Book 1) (22 page)

“You a mechanic?” Rork asked.

“Yeah, sure, I’ve fixed things. We take ‘em now. Then we fix it.”

“What make and model is that?” Rork asked.

The wind howled across them. The Barbary mechanics poured hot drinks for themselves from a container, the vapor spiraling pleasantly into the cold air. Rork pulled the rags tighter across his hands and rubbed them together.

“Screw you,” Sharp hissed.

Rork grinned. “That’s what I thought. Here it is. They finish. We wait for the wind to blow against us—”

“Against us?” Sharp leaned in to meet Mankin’s eyes. “He’s psycho. That’s why he ended up here.”

“It’s so they don’t hear us dragging this load.” Mankin startled, then pulled Sharp and Rork down with him. “They may have spotted us.”

“Then,” Rork continued, “we slide the bomb right up next to the main hatch, arm it and get in and surprise them. They’re probably resting in the cargo bay. There are fold-out beds in there.”

“This is llamabrax,” Sharp said.

“We have the element of surprise,” Rork said.

“I’m going in now, before I lose feeling in my legs.” Sharp pushed up, turned and his head vanished in a cloud of red.

Rork grabbed Mankin and forced them both down further. “Brax!”

The other two men stood up in front of him and Rork motioned them down. Their heads exploded in red clouds and their torsos crumpled to the ground.

Rork grabbed Mankin’s arm and pulled him over Sharp’s headless, gushing body. He crawled over the ice, through a trough between two outcroppings, elbow over elbow, his legs scissoring over the ice, his pants soggy as his fading body heat melted the frosty surface.

Footfalls crunched nearby. Rork stopped.

“What the hell is this?”

They’d found the bomb. Rork rolled over and shook his head at Mankin. Mankin pointed an index finger in the direction of the ship. Now was their moment.

Rork nodded, he pulled himself up and sprinted. The raw air burned in his throat and his lungs tightened up.

The engine hatches were closed. Rork stopped at the bottom of the lowered gangplank and looked back. Dad’s two men stood next to the bomb, their rifles raised. Rork felt them aiming on him and his heart jumped in his chest. He turned to enter the ship and a laser pulse sizzled on the gangplank.

Mankin slipped and fell on his face with a dull thump. Rork turned. The man he’d saved lay flat and unmoving. But Rork couldn’t do this on his own anymore. Mankin needed him and Rork needed Mankin. Rork stepped forward and a laser shot opened a hole in the ground next to him. Water boiled off and a cloud of hot vapor burned Rork’s nose and eyes.

He ran to Mankin, grabbed his hands in his own and pulled him backwards onto the gangplank and up into the ship. The bridge was empty. He reached for the button to raise the gangplank and another laser shot landed next to his hand.

Brax, that hurts!
Rork resolved not to look at it. He slapped the closing button then closed the door to the cargo bay and locked it with a sharp snap.

More laser blasts entered the bridge and the men screamed but the gangplank closed and locked.

Rork threw himself into the pilot’s seat, sparked the starter and gunned the engines for vertical take-off. It purred almost as smoothly as his MORF-9. Barbary hired good mechanics. Too bad the bastards would freeze to death down there. He smirked at the thought of it.

A banging sounded on the cargo bay door. “Open this damned door! I didn’t give the order for takeoff!”
Dad.
The smirk disappeared. They likely had Mary Ellen back there.

He focused on the controls. The ship rocked and tumbled. Chunks of ice fell around them. Rork switched on radar and enabled auto-guidance to avoid more icy clouds.

“What the hell is going on out there!”

Rork’s smirk returned. The old man always was a control freak. Everything had to be done perfectly, according to his specifications, in the order he wanted, the way he said. Nothing Rork did was ever good enough for him.

He felt sorry for the old man.

Heat flowed through the vents now. Feeling returned to Rork’s toes and fingers. His legs ached and his stomach turned from hunger. They’d find the MORF-9, re-compress it. All his clothes were there. He’d shower, gear up, eat. And then sort out the conundrum in the cargo bay.

He brought up the course history and found where Dad and Jord attacked them. He approved the coordinates and engaged the engines.

Nothing happened.

“You fool! We haven’t fixed the zolt drive yet!”

Rork looked at the door to the cargo bay and massaged his temples. The bridge turned red and an alarm sounded. Rork looked back at the control panel.

“Thirty minutes of breathable atmosphere remain,” the computer said.

Rork cleared the alarm but the control panel continued to flash red.

“We were waiting on a new atmospheric assembly, too!” The old man’s laugh came through the door in a modulated metallic outburst. “Who the hell is this stupid? Say something before you get us all killed!”

On the surface they had air but there were two armed men waiting for them with laser rifles. Dad and Jord had more weapons in the cargo hold. Mankin was down for the count. Rork looked around the bridge. No weapons in sight, not even a fire axe.

A beeping sounded and the control panel disappeared. A series of concentric circles replaced it. Radar. A red dot approached them at high speed. The radio buzzed on.

“Unidentified craft, prepare to be boarded,” said a voice like a dartle saw cutting steel. “And looted.”

“H
ERE
HE
is!”

Rork felt the cold first. It made the skin tight on his finger bones and constricted his movement. He coughed. Dust everywhere, his head swam. It was dark but a lone light ticked on and off, on and off. It was somewhere nearby.

“Hello,” he croaked.

A face appeared above him. Rork recognized it. The face smiled, its white teeth reflecting the blinking light.

“It’s Rork! He’s here!”

Zero. Zero’s alive?
“I saw you die.”

“You cannot kill an idea whose time has come!” Zero yelled.

“What about...” Rork started.

Thryk’s rosy-cheeked jowls came into focus.

“Captain, I... Oh my Universe.” Water splattered on Rork’s cheek.

“It’s okay,” Zero said. “We didn’t know. You didn’t know. You did the right thing.”

Rork pulled himself up. “Were those Barbary guys?”

Zero squatted next to him and frowned.

“They fired on me, right?” Rork asked.

“That was us.”

“Thryk shot me down?” When did he get that good?

“Come on.” Zero grabbed his wrist and heaved him to his feet. “Temperatures are falling fast. Careful where you put your feet.”

The ship was upside down and the bridge had split wide open at the hatch from top to deck. The control panel lay strewn in pieces. The cargo hold door remained sealed.

Rork grabbed Zero’s arm. “Mary Ellen, she’s— How did you guys survive that? I saw them blow the air out.”

Zero grinned, his star-white teeth sparkling. “You underestimate Thryk.”

Rork nodded. “I think Mary Ellen is in the cargo hold.”

Zero reached for the door release latch but Rork grabbed his arm.

“Barbary’s agents are in there, too. There are likely two others still on the surface, armed with laser rifles.” A lightness hit Rork and he tottered to one side.

Zero steadied him. “We must go.”

“I need her. She’s my in to get Lala, remember?”

Thryk stood outside the busted ship, his hands digging into his scalp, sobbing.

“You’ll fight them. They will go with us,” Zero said.

“What about you?” Rork asked.

Zero shook his head.

“I can’t do it alone. Can’t risk Thryk.”

“What is your plan?” Zero asked.

“Those shooters could be on us any moment. Get out of here. Get safe. Don’t let them have the ship. Stay close to the radio and check back in the morning.”

“For ice cubes?”

“We’ll never have the advantage if they get the MORF-9. They’ll take it and strand you here.” Rork grabbed the mystic’s arm and pushed him towards the broken hatch. “Get out of here. And stay tuned.”

 
Zero walked outside. His breath turned to vapor as he talked to Thryk. Thryk looked back at Rork and shook his head, his face a wobbly wreck. He took a step into the broken ship but Zero grabbed his arm and pulled him.

They piled into the waiting MORF-9. The hatch closed and it rocketed into the darkening night. It crashed through the force field with a shower of magnetic sparks and receded as only another pinprick of light among the multitude of distant stars.

Rork hit the latch and the cargo bay door jarred open a few centimeters. He jammed his eye up against the crack.

The blinking control panel light revealed a pile of misshapen junk. Were those arms that jutted out? Rifles?

A pulse pistol came through the opening and the cool metal sent a new chill into his head.

“Don’t move.”

The door screeched open enough for Jord to step through. He cracked the heavy weapon over Rork’s head and Rork fell to his knees.

“Jupiter! That was unnecessary!” Rork dug his fingers into his scalp, trying to displace the pain.

“Who were you talking to?”

“No one!”

“Why did you crash the ship?” Jord screamed.

“I didn’t! Another Barbary ship fired on me. He wants us all dead.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Don’t you see? Barbary has turned us against ourselves. We’re a family. What does he have anyway? What’s so special that you’ll betray your own? And is Dad...?”

“Oh brax.” Jord climbed into the cargo hold, then turned and pointed the gun at Rork, the barrel angled down from a height at his baby brother’s forehead. “Get in here.”

“I was coming anyway.” Rork climbed in, the barrel scraping across his scalp.

Jord blocked his path, the light flickering across dead eyes, the gun pushing into his temple.

Rork whipped his arms up and pushed Jord hard. The older brother crashed into the darkness, his pistol rattling across the metal cargo bay roof. Rork took a step to the side.

“You son of a bitch!” Jord rocketed back to his feet and blew past Rork in the darkness. “Where are you!”

Rork stepped in behind his brother, wrapped his arm around his neck and jerked back. “If I wanted to kill you, I could do it now.” He let go.

Jord turned and clawed his fingers around Rork’s throat. “We waited for you.”

“I was a kid,” Rork croaked. “I thought you were dead.”

“You didn’t look for us. You don’t know what he did!”

“The station was junk. Nobody could have survived that! I barely had air and fuel to get down to the planet. I begged for weeks before I started trading again.”

“You abandoned us!” Jord screamed and tightened his grip.

Rork’s knees buckled and he hung in mid-air. “I almost died while you ate his food and did his dirty work.”

“Let him go!” The old man stepped in between them and Jord let go. Rork crashed down and gulped the icy dusk air.

“Well, you got back here fast. You do that all by yourself?” the old man asked.

“Where is Mary Ellen?” Rork climbed to his feet and met his father’s eyes. “What did you do with her?”

“She’s in here somewhere but that doesn’t mean squat if we can’t get off the surface in, oh, the next thirty minutes.”

“The hull is—” Jord started.

The old man silenced him with a movement of his hand. “I heard the other ship. If you want this girl to live, you’ll get it down here in the next ten minutes. Otherwise, we’re all popsicles.”

“You have to save her anyway.”

“She died when you shot us down,” the old man said.

“She’s not even here. What did—”

The old man turned and walked into the gloom. Metal scraped and crashed. Something heavy slid across the cargo hold roof-turned-deck. The old man let it fall with a wet splat.

Rork reached to catch her but missed.

Mary Ellen coughed and groaned. “You bastard.”

“Are you okay? Can you stand up?” Rork asked.

She grabbed his leg and pulled herself up.

“Had enough of you two lovebirds,” the old man said. He brought his pistol up and put it to her temple.

A sigh escaped her lips and she grabbed Rork tight. “Don’t...”

“Now.”

Rork put his wrist to his mouth. “Thryk. Come on down.”

“Is it safe, Captain?” Thryk’s heavy voice came too loud in Rork’s ear.

The old man drew the pistol back and whipped Mary Ellen. She fell at Rork’s feet and sobbed.

“Yes, Thryk. Please proceed with all appropriate haste. Rork out.” He leaned down to pick her up. Rork held her close against his body. She was frigid, shivering. He hugged her chest to his and she laid her head on his shoulder.

“We should be on the same side. We found each other again. We can work together! We’re a family! This is our chance to get revenge!” Rork yelled.

“That’s what I’m doing,” the old man said.

“Screw this.” Jord strode into the bridge.

Mary Ellen touched her lips to Rork’s ear. “We have to do something! I won’t go back.”

“Oh ain’t that cute, these two lovebirds.” The old man looked towards the bridge and raised his voice. “What’s your problem, boy?”

Jord poked his head through the doorway. “He’s right.” He tapped the floor with his boot.

“Forgot this quickly, huh? Everything...?”

The electric hiss of the MORF-9’s breaking engines sounded outside. The ship was inside the magnetic bubble now. Rork pulled Mary Ellen outside and looked up. The wind ripped through him and she screamed.

“Don’t let them take me back. Please, please. I’ll do anything you want. I can’t go back there,” she whispered in his ear.

Rork turned, his eyes caught by something bright. A laser blast sizzled against the hull next to him. He stepped back in and brought his wrist up to his mouth.

A hand clamped down over his wrist. “Radio silence,” his dad said and pushed him out again.

The long, carbon-stained barrel of the laser rifle settled against Rork’s temple. The shooter held a finger up to his mouth. Mary Ellen trembled at his side, her breasts against him, her chest rising, falling.