Solarian Down
Chapter 8

When Ben came out of the toilet he saw the three of them sitting around the table with coffee. He smiled. He was gonna make a fortune off of these elves once this damned war was over.

He walked to the kitchen and poured himself a cup. Once he had it the way he liked it Ben returned to the table. Lenny was sitting in the corner with Cailhem on the bench to her right. And Daroon in the corner of the other bench just to her left. Which had been his spot.

He sat across from her. “Replace me already?” He asked her before looking at Daroon.

She wanted to scream but instead she took a breath. “I would be grateful if you did not talk about my men as if they were…” She looked at Daroon. “What is a good human term here?”

“A dick in a box.” He replied happily.

“Oh, that is colorful.” She looked at Ben. “That.”

“You’re right. After all, it’s not his fault he’s sitting in my spot… It’s yours.” She frowned back at him. “You did tell him to sit there. Didn’t you?”

“Yes.” She sighed. “Now instead of being a child about it why do you not tell me your great plan for when your friends arrive.”

“Great - plan?”

“Yes, Ben. You know? The one where these paratrooper friends of yours do NOT come in here and execute the three Wardens. Like the Dark elf scum we are?” She asked as she sipped her coffee.

He looked a little peeved as he shook his head. “We don’t kill cops. They would have used tranq’s.”

“Sorry?” She asked with raised brows.

“What you call sleeping needles.”

“Well, that is news. Your friends must be very honorable men.”

Yup. He knew he loved her. Because that fucking condescending tone of hers was really pissing him off.

Thankfully, Ben was saved from this infuriating conversation when an alarm started blaring. They all ran to the console but Daroon slid into the chair.

“Signature… Civilian cargo vessel. Setting into orbit.” He said.

“So a pirate ship.” Ben stated. Daroon nodded. “What would make them show up now?”

“We installed our emergency beacon.” Cailhem stated.

Ben looked incredulous. “Why in the hell would you do that?”

“She told me to.” Cailhem jerked his thumb at Lenaga without emotion.

“And if she told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?!”

“Yes.”

Ben looked at Lenaga. She thought a moment before answering. “I wanted to keep our options open.”

He gave several short fast nods. “Meaning you hoped the Luthiel Navy wold come by and throw my ass in the brig.”

“It was just a hope.” She smiled.

{Hello on the ground. This is the Titan ship “Gulliver.” We picked up your beacon and came to render aid. How copy? Over.}

“Titan doesn’t have any ships. Their pirates.” Ben stated.

“How do you know that?” She asked.

“I just do…”

She cut him off. “TELL - ME!”

He sighed. “...Titan is an automated fuel station. All it does is convert the local methane lakes to microwaves. Then transmit them to the rest of the Solarian Nations for power. That’s it. No ships.” He pointed at the comms. “Pirates.”

{Hello on the ground. This is the Titan ship “Gulliver.” We’re investigating your beacon. Do you read me? Over.}

“What do I tell them?” Daroon asked.

“Ah! Ah!” Ben held up his finger to stop Lenny from talking. She looked furious. “Tell them you’re three Luthiel Wardens stranded on this planet. Two of you are in need of immediate medical attention.”

Daroon nodded and relayed the information. The conversation that followed was very pleasant. Gulliver said it was sending its shuttle to rescue them.

“Well, they seem very nice.” Daroon smiled.

“I am sure they are lovely.” Cailhem commented. “Where are you going?” He yelled to Ben who was walking to the ladder to his quarters.

“To get my armor.”

“No!” Lenaga yelled just before she ran to get in front of him and make him stop. “No! If you put that on you can tear through us like… like…”

“A hot knife through butter?” He queried.

She gave a quick shrug. “Sure.”

He nodded once before spinning her around. Grabbing her by the throat with his left hand. As he spun toward her friends while pulling her gun to point it at Cailhem. He and Daroon had been caught flat footed.

“I don’t need armor to kill three Wardens. But I -do- need it to kill a crew of pirates.” He said to her before letting her go. He handed her gun back. “I’m getting my armor.” Then he climbed down the ladder.

She holstered her pistol. “What is the plan?” She yelled down to him.

“We sync comms. I throw a gorilla fur over my back and ride Frank out to wait for the shuttle. The fur will camoflauge me white and the heat and motion will show up as Frank. They come out of the shuttle. I kill them and call to you to meet me in the shuttle and we head off to that ship.”

“Then what?”

“Then we kill every pirate between us and the bridge.”

“Good plan.” She said under her breath. She looked at her men. “Cailhem, get our helmets. Daroon, stay on communications playing the happy victim.”

Once she had her helmet she slid down the metal ladder to sync her comms with the human device. Ben looked at her when her feet hit the floor. She shook her helmet at him in explanation and realized he was pretty quick with that armor. He already had the boots and pants on. He picked up his helmet and stepped closer to her as they found a mutual frequency their helmets could use.

Lenaga yelled the frequency up to her men and watched as Ben put on the rest of his armor.

“Can you hand me Bertha?” He asked when he had all but the helmet on.

He was pointing to a small sub-machinegun. “Why is she called Bertha?” She asked as she handed him the weapon.

He attached an auto-reel to the weapon that pulled it tight against his right side just under his arm. The magnets in the suit made sure it aligned properly and the reel would pull it home if he dropped it after use. “She’s a little girl. She needs a big name.” He smiled like he knew he was funny. “Can you hand me Betty?” He was pointing to a LARGE calibre automatic pistol.

She handed her to him with an inquisitive expression. He connecting the auto-reel for his left side as he said, “She’s loud.”

Lenaga smiled this time.

“Can you hand me Lenny?” He smiled when she frowned at him.

She picked up the Leonard and Clines 10mm plasma assault-rifle with its 200 round clip of tin ingots. The weapon was known to decimate Luthiel Combat armor. It could certainly blow through what Ben was wearing.

She picked up the weapon and felt the heft of it as she looked at him cooly. “Now, I want you to think about your answer before you just blurt something out.” She nodded. He was trying not to smile at her. “Why is she named Lenny?” She shook her head with a smile.

He smiled as he took the rifle. “Cause she’ll break your fuckin heart.”

She gave a pained smile and nodded.

Lenny was carried by an old style safari sling. So she hung across his lap as he walked. Lenaga didn’t let that bother her as she stepped closer to him. “Ben… I…” She was shaking her head.

He could tell she was angry and hurt about him lying but that didn’t mean she wanted him dead. Or at least he hoped that’s what she was trying to say. He pulled her close and kissed her. Thankfully she gripped his shoulders and pulled him tight against her.

“Low Warden? Signature! Shuttle will be on sight in ten minutes!” Cailhem called down.

They leaned away from each other staring. After a moment she bumped his left breast with three light strikes from the bottom of her fist. Ben nodded and donned his helmet before climbing the ladder.

“Motion sensors on.” Lenaga called out.

“I gotta saddle the bear. I’ll head out right after that.”

“Agreed.” She replied over the comms.

“Lenny? You and Cailhem get the garage door open while I’m doin this. If they see it they may come in that way.”

“We are doing it now.” She said as she finished climbing the ladder,

Cailhem handed her a medium hard-light repeater as he slung Grumpy and followed her to the garage.

“What do we do if they do not come in through the garage?” Daroon asked.

“The only other way in is the bear cave... So look, ‘I’ which now includes ‘you’ don’t do last stands. We hit and run. So when they come in the garage you exit out the bear cave and loop around behind them. They come in through the bear cave you exit the garage. God willin none of them’ll make it that far.”

“Five minutes.” Daroon called out.

“Door is open. We are heading back inside.” She stated.

“Three minutes.”

“Leaving cave now.”

Lenaga watched her motion detector as Frank rumbled his way out across the snow.

{Warden this is Gulliver. Our people should be with you any minute. Just hold on a little bit longer. Over.}

“I really appreciate it, Gulliver. Thank you so much. Over.”

“I am going to feel like complete trash if these people are not pirates.” Daroon stated after he donned his helmet.

“Did they tell you they were sorry but they would have to confiscate your weapons. And hand you over to the nearest Solarian authority?” Ben asked.

“No they did not.”

“That’s cause they’re pirates and they’re gonna kill ya.” Ben answered with an audible smile.

Daroon slung the medium hard-light repeater Cailhem had left for him. Then left to join the others near the bear cave entrance.

They watched their sensors as the shuttle touched down between the garage and Frank. They could see the bear slowly move to the side as people began to exit the ship. It looked like Ben was putting the ship between him and the pirates.

“There are no pirates on the shuttle. They’re all heading in.” Ben announced.

They could see ten dots walking toward the garage.

“Into the cave.” Lenaga commanded.

They moved into Frank’s room as they watched the pirates fall into a single file line. They could see Frank come up behind the pirates. The electric whip like warble of the plasma rounds had a sinister sound to them. They ripped through the air, the armor and the flesh of the unsuspecting men. The sensors showed bits flying off the wounded and dead of the pirates. All of them were hit and down but the warble of the plasma gun continued.

Cailhem, of all people said, “Benjamin? That seems excessive.”

It was a few moments later before he stopped. “Yeah, sorry. It was a partial mag and I wanted to empty it. Join me at the shuttle.”

“Let us go the other way around.” Lenaga stated.

Her Right and Left nodded their agreement as this would take them away from the massacre. When they came around the hill they saw Ben had removed the saddle and bridle from Frank. He was giving him a chocolate bar. “You’re a good bear.” He said as he stroked his neck.

“So far so good, as you Solarians say.” Lenaga commented as they walked up the ramp to the back of the ship. Ben nodded. “What about the next part?”

While closing the ramp he replied, matter of factly.“Convince them we are their landing party. Then fight our way to the bridge.”

“Oh yes. Let us do keep it simple.” She smiled incredulously.

Once they were buckled in Ben hit the thrusters and pulled the vessel away form the planet. He looked to the Wardens as he removed his helmet. “Everyone hush for a moment.” He faced forward and pressed the transmit button. “FUCK THAT! FUCK THAT! FUCK THAT! There must be a platoon o guys down there!!!” He screeched.

He had quickly brought the ship to full speed and killed the comms.

“Bet you didn’t know I could scream that high, did you?”

Lenaga glanced at her men for just a second before saying. “Oh no. I have heard you hit higher notes.”

His smile faded as he looked up at her before going back to the controls where he was inputting data.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

He did not look up as he answered. “This tub has three torpedo’s still on her. I am removing the safety’s. And plotting a solution for them to engage their thrusters ten minutes after firing.”

“Because?” Daroon asked very concerned.

“Once we get closer to the ship I’ll ‘Kentucky Windage’ em towards the engines of the “Gulliver.”

“But torpedo’s will show up on their scanners.” He stated.

“Not if they’re not locked onto a target and not if their engines aren’t engaged.” He smiled smugly.

Once they broke through the atmosphere they could see the Merchant ship off to their left. It was headed away from them.

“Good.Good.Good.” He smiled. “Should make hitting the engines easier... I wish we had a couple of Marines with us right about now.” Ben commented.

Cailhem asked, “Because of their knowledge of ship boarding?”

“Naw! Because they love to go first!” He shrugged. “And we love to let em.” He smiled.

Ben put his helmet back on and waited until he was sure of a good hit on the engines. Once it felt right he released the birds and slowly pulled up until the shuttle was clear of them. The torpedos continued on track as the inertia carried them forward. He only hoped he had aimed well. When he was positive they would not bump the torpedoes. And die in a large fiery ball of clumsy dipshitery. He swung the shuttle gently into alignment with the landing dock of the vessel. Just before the docking clamps engaged they saw shockwaves wash across the vessel. The last one was audible as the rear hatch lowered automatically after docking.

The alarms were blaring.

Someone was screaming over the intercom,

{All hands to emergency stations!}

Ben calmly walked off the the shuttle. Braced his rifle against his shoulder and leaned into a long burst of plasma. The four armed men that had been waiting for them were surprised and done. The Wardens fell in behind him.

“I’ll deal with sweeping the hall on our way to the bridge. You three make sure nothing comes up our backside.”

“Agreed.” Lenaga confirmed.

When they came to the closed exit door of the docking bay he continued, “We’re going left. Keep together.”

“Agreed.” She replied.

Ben opened the door and sprayed two men into the far wall as they were running by. He turned left and mowed his way through a small mob of pirates trying to get to the rear. The Wardens Fell in behind him creeping backwards. Cailhem was in the middle with Grumpy. While Lenaga and Daroon squatted to his sides supporting with their smaller repeaters.

Ben kicked bodies out of the way as they ripped a path to the bridge. The Wardens quietly clicked their way behind him. Destroying anything that popped its head up.

The poor pirates had nothing to stop the four horsemen as they worked their way through the ship. Even if they had known they had been boarded. Unfortunately for them, the destruction of the engines had their full attention.

“Bridge!” They heard Ben call out.

Lenaga looked over her shoulder long enough to see Ben drop Lenny and grab Bertha. “She would do less damage to the controls.” She thought as she faced the rear again.

A team of pirates were starting to make their way toward them when Ben opened the door. The three Wardens opened fire on the pirates in the hall. While they listened to sub-machinegun bursts in the bridge. Along with the screams of the dying.

“Bridge is secure!”

They continued to lay down fire until they had stepped through the doorway. Lenaga fell to the left while Daroon stepped to the right near the door.

Once Cailhem stepped to the right for cover, “Secure the door.” She commanded.

Daroon slammed the door shut and began to engage its locks. Lenaga could hear Ben firing nearby. She looked up to see him spraying into the far hallway. She ran behind him to get control of the far door and waited for him to step out of the doorway… And waited…

“Ready on the door!”

Ben ceased fire as he stepped out of the way. Lenaga slammed the door shut and engaged the locks.

“Door secure.” She stated.

“Checking manifest.” Cailhem announced.

“Shutting out secondary bridge near engineering.” Daroon announced.

Lenaga looked at Ben. “Do you have to be so damned bloodthirsty?!” She whispered.

Benjamin looked at her with cold eyes. “There are two types of people in this universe that paratroopers despise… Pimps! And Pirates!”

Her eyebrows went up as she gave her head a stunned shake.

“We have control of the “Gulliver.” Daroon announced.