He scoffed. “The EDF will not kill us. They will board the ship, free me then take you and your friends for trial and punishment. I need only sit here and wait for events to take their course.”
Rork stood up and wandered in a circle. He found a wall and banged his head against it, again and again.
“Need you on the bridge!” Mankin screamed through the intercom.
Zero, Mary Ellen and the girl huddled together at the table. Zero looked up at Rork and shook his head. Rork took a step towards the bridge and the bridge door flew at him.
Rork found himself on the floor, his headache at full throttle and looking up at an EDF soldier’s laser rifle.
“W
HAT
IS
my path?”
Rork shook Zero awake. Zero sat up and yawned.
“Where’s Sarita?” Rork asked.
Zero nodded towards the next cell over. “In there with Mary Ellen.”
“I need to know my path. I ran out of time. I can’t call Lala— I need this.”
“Now you want my help? Now that we are in a cage and moving away from where you want to go?” Zero shook his head.
“Do you have any ideas, Mankin?” Rork turned his back on Zero to look at the man.
Mankin shook his head. “We gotta escape. But I got no ideas on how to do it.”
Rork turned back to Zero.
Zero waved his finger in the air. “Don’t you start on me again. I warned you.”
Rork sat down next to Zero on the chilly, plastic bench. “I know. I see it now. I’m ready for your wisdom.”
Zero narrowed his eyes. “Don’t llamabrax a llamabraxer.”
“You’re not a llamabraxer.”
Zero’s head hung low. “Indeed, I am. I tried to serve as a spiritual guide to those in trouble in space. That was my mission.”
“That still is your mission.”
Zero shook his head. “I am too weak.”
“You helped me throughout that ordeal with the trainship. You got me out of trouble on Earth—”
“Which is where this soul belongs.”
“—you saved Sarita. And you’re helping me right now. I can feel it. I’m already feeling like something is going to happen. I just don’t know what.”
Zero glanced up at him. “I will meditate.”
Rork nodded in approval. “That’s how awesome you are.”
“I am but stardust, the excrement of the stars, a worthless—”
“Okay, okay! Just do your thing!” Rork walked to the bars and craned his neck one way, then the next. He touched a vertical metal rod with a pinky finger and his hand went numb.
Jupiter!
A door swung open to Rork’s left. Dad and Jord walked towards him, their hands bound in front of them. Two EDF men in their dark blue fatigues followed, batons in hand.
“Mankin,” Rork whispered.
Mankin stirred behind him.
The cell across from his opened and the EDF men pushed their prisoners toward it. One hung back and the younger, thinner one pushed Jord forward.
“Hold on!” Rork yelled. “They’re my family. You have to put them in here with me.”
Jord twisted his head back. “It’s true.”
The older EDF man nodded his head from down the hall. The other cell door closed and Rork’s slid open.
Rork slouched against the bars and looked back at Zero, still deep in meditation. Dad entered. Jord hung back. Rork shot a look at Jord, met his eyes and raised his eyebrows.
“By the way, can you guys bring me some painkillers?” Rork yelled.
Jord slammed his knee into the younger man’s nose.
The EDF man reeled and fell back against the opposite cell door. A tremor ran through his body and he was still.
Rork bolted out of his cell. The older EDF man was already through the door and pulling it shut. Rork dove. He got his fingers on the circular door’s edge, then swiveled his feet around and anchored them against the door frame, his injured foot aching. He pushed with his feet and pulled with his arms.
“Give up now and we won’t hurt you,” Rork yelled through the closing door. He heaved and the door opened a crack more.
How many men does he have back there?
“Little help!”
Feet smacked the floor behind him. Jord grabbed the thick door and pulled. The EDF man landed on top of Rork and connected a fist with Rork’s nose. Rork pushed off of the wall and rolled back, the EDF man underneath him now. Rork slammed his fist into his opponent’s temple. The soldier went slack.
Rork grabbed the key card from his pocket and handed it to Jord. “Free the girls.” He pulled himself up and coughed, a dizzy weakness hitting him. “Zero! Time to go!”
The lights went red and an alarm sounded. Rork took the unconscious EDF man’s baton and stepped out into the hallway. It ran straight down, at least five hundred meters. In the distance, more men in blue fatigues marched this way and that. Rork turned back. He came face to face with Zero.
“This is not the path,” Zero said, his face strained.
Rork rolled his eyes.
Hurry up and tell me the right path!
“Mankin, get dressed. Everyone else, hands behind your backs. We’re going to move fast.” He stripped the elder EDF man and pulled the fatigues on over his own clothes. It was messy but they didn’t have time.
“This is a mistake!” Mary Ellen hissed from behind Rork. “We’re safe here. I’m not coming. I’ll give you the coordinates but I’m staying here. The girl should stay with me, too.”
Sarita ran out of her cage and hugged Zero’s legs. Zero smiled down at her.
Rork nodded to Mankin. The rail-thin man zipped up his baggy costume and grabbed Mary Ellen under one shoulder.
“But Rork!” she screamed.
“Shut up!”
Rork led the bunch forward, followed by Jord and their father. Zero followed with the girl and Mary Ellen. Mankin brought up their rear. They reached the first door of many. Rork motioned to Zero.
“The path,” Rork said.
“I don’t know.”
“I believe in you and we need this. Which way to the flight deck?”
“Third door on the left.” Zero swallowed.
Jord walked up behind Zero and grabbed his shoulder. “What’s this?”
“He knows things. Let’s go.”
“EDF flight decks are always aft,” Jord said.
“And?”
“Aft is to the right.”
Rork shot a probing stare at Zero.
“It may lead you to the flight deck but it is not the path to what you seek.”
“Did the magnetic waves of Allah tell you that?” Jord guffawed.
“We’re thinking too small. Let’s take this ship,” Rork said.
Their old man came up. “Listen to your brother. He’s practical.”
“This is not a debate. We’re going left,” Rork said. He trotted forward and found the third door on the left. He pushed against it, then stopped.
Zero nodded to him.
“What are you leading me into, Zero? What’s on the other side?”
Zero’s eyes glazed over. He shook his head. “I only feel that this is the way. This is your path. The one predestined for you.”
“Predestined? Listen to this quack!” Jord said.
The rest of the group caught up. Mankin eyed Rork.
Rork pushed open the door. Lights came on. The room was circular and a thin bar ran around its inner circumference. Rork’s eyes went wide and he stepped in. It was an elevator and there was a button that said bridge.
“Ladies and mystics in the back, men up front.” Rork smiled at them. “It’s a lift.”
He stationed himself next to the buttons and the rest piled into the cramped space. Mary Ellen elbowed Rork.
“Give me some space!” she whispered.
What a spoiled brat!
Rork pushed himself up closer to the bank of buttons.
Mankin found a spot next to Rork. “What’s the plan?”
The doors closed and Rork punched the bridge button. “Dad, Jord, how many men are on a bridge like this?”
“At least a dozen,” the old man said.
“Your path does not require killing anyone,” Zero said.
“We need a weapon. A real one,” Rork mumbled.
“This is so stupid. They’re going to capture us as soon as we step off the elevator,” Mary Ellen said.
“Shut up!” the rest intoned.
Above the lift door, the numbers counted down the levels. Twelve, eleven, ten...
“Here’s the plan, folks,” Rork said. “Sprint off of this thing and grab any weapons you can find. Take hostages, especially women and our little girl.”
Seven, six, five...
“It’s risky but I like it,” Mankin said.
Rork met Jord’s eyes and the two nodded.
“I will not permit you to harm the child,” Zero said. “And you don’t have to—”
Three, two, bridge. The door swooshed open. Rork pushed out and immediately caught against Mankin’s shoulder in the narrow space. Rork pushed forwards, then turned sideways. Mankin burst free and turned left. Rork went right. Jord tripped out after them and fell down some steps, face first, in the middle.
Rork focused on a pulse pistol. It hung from the belt of another blue-suit. The blue-suit startled and an arm reached for the pistol but Rork’s hand closed around its grip first. Rork grabbed it and pointed it at the man’s head. He eased in behind him, his arm around the blue-suit’s neck.
Rork aimed the pistol at the high captain’s chair in the middle of the circular room.
“Y
OU
CAN
’
T
hijack an EDF battleship!”
The captain stood up in front of his chair, his mouth agape, his face outraged.
“We just did,” Rork said. “Everyone drop your weapons and sit down in that corner, hands under your butts, backs to me! Now or your captain dies.”
A dozen blue-suited men and women hastened away from Rork. Mankin took their weapons. He positioned himself at the back of the bridge and surveyed the room.
Rork shot off Jord’s and his dad’s handcuffs. Jord took up position behind the captain’s chair. Their father seated himself at a long panel that ran parallel to the front viewport. Mary Ellen, Zero and Sarita pressed themselves against the back wall next to the lift door.
“I need those coordinates,” the old man said. He snapped his fingers.
Mary Ellen tiptoed forward. She passed the captain and glanced at him. “Ship’s captains can perform marriages, isn’t that right?”
“Mary Ellen!” Rork released his hostage and approached the captain. “Your name?”
“Eldridge, Captain, ESS
Moskva
, E-G-Y dash 43904759. It is my duty to inform you that you will be prosecuted to the—”
“We need to get to Jupiter.”
“Our fleet is already out there and top officials are negotiating with him as we speak. Now let us do our jobs.”
Negotiating?
Rork looked to his father, a frenetic heat assaulting his cheeks. “Can we get underway?”
“Almost there,” the old man said.
“I’ll have you know,” Eldridge said, “that the weapons systems are locked to my voiceprint.”
“Got it!” the old man yelled.
“Max acceleration,” Rork said.
Finally. We’re close now, Lala.
The old man dragged his finger across the panel. “Plotting the course. ETA twenty-eight minutes.”
Rork steadied himself against the captain’s chair as the g-force kicked in.
“How much combat experience do you have with a Yi-class battleship?” Eldridge asked him.
Rork sensed the years of discipline and training behind the captain’s face. The unswerving integrity and honor. “Zero.”
“I’m responsible for seven-hundred and eighty-six men and women on board the
Moskva
. You need to give me back control of the ship. We can work this out. The rest of this battle group is already engaging Barbary, as we speak.
What is it exactly you want? Because I can’t sanction revenge.”
Rork narrowed his eyes. “Indeed, it is revenge I want.”
“But…” Zero interjected from the back of the room.
“But I can maybe delay that very briefly if I can just get back the girl he kidnapped.”
“Is she still alive?” Eldridge asked.
Rork’s gut fell.
I don’t know.
“Yes.”
Eldridge nodded. “I have five-hundred girls on this ship, Mr. Sollix, and—”
“Captain,” Rork said.
Eldridge stared at him. “What?”
“I’m a captain, as well.”
“Captain Sollix,” he said with withering sarcasm. “Why would I risk my five-hundred for your one? When she could be dead? How long has Barbary had her? Because they don’t usually last that long.”
Rork stepped closer to Eldridge, a burning rage filling his heart. “She’s not dead! And if she is, screw you and your five-hundred! You’ll fight when Barbary fires on you. Save your five-hundred then.” Rork turned away and took a position behind the captain’s chair.
Zero touched Rork on the shoulder and Rork startled.
“This is no time to be afraid. You must steel yourself for what is to come.”
“Am I finally on the right path?” Rork asked with a tinge of sarcastic skepticism.
Zero nodded. “It is the right path for you. But not for me. This is a dangerous path for me. I feel I will not survive it.”
“I’m going to protect you.” Rork seized Zero’s shoulder and squeezed until he hit bone.
“If I do not survive, then you must carry on my mission.”
Rork shook his head. “I don’t even understand you most of the time.”
“It will come to you. Care for your soul. It matters.” Zero returned to the rear wall where he sat and closed his eyes.
“ETA.” Rork asked.
“Twelve minutes.”
“Can we zoom in on the Cylinder?”
Captain Eldridge turned to face Rork. “I need your men under my command. I need operational control. I can’t risk the negotiations being interrupted.”
Rork laughed. “‘My men’? As if.” He nodded at Mankin. “Can you work the viewport? And toss me a couple—”
Mankin tossed Rork a pulse pistol, then another. Rork put one in his pocket and the other he walked to the back of the room.
“I need you armed,” he whispered to Zero.
Zero shook his head.
“Can you explain this to him?” he asked Mary Ellen.
“Give it here.” She rolled her eyes.
Rork looked back to Zero. “At least to protect Sarita, if nothing else.”
“It is not her body that requires protection but her soul.” Zero hugged the little girl tighter to him.