Chapter 5

“Come on, fart boy,” Tantka started, “I’ve been telling you all these years that I was better. Finally, I have proof. I am recording this to transmit all over the empire; even if you survive, you’ll never live this down.”

Mark’s neural link was working overtime, transmitting all the data his comp detected. Knowing he had only a few minutes to get this done, he thought the commands to his comp as soon as it started transmitting. Mark just smiled at Tantka.

“What are you smiling at, fart boy?” Tantka spat out at Mark, “I have all the advantages; I think that in less than an hour, you’ll be these fine warriors’ meal.”

Mark could see that the Styrox were staring at him with a longing hunger in their eyes. The drool that was leaking from their jaws was also another sign that if he didn’t escape soon, he just might be their next meal.

Tantka was laughing, an irritating sound like nails on a chalkboard, though in his case, his voice was a nasally whining that just grated on the nerves. Mark tried not to move or let on exactly what he was doing, though the smile he had on his face was close to giving everything away.

“Stop that!” Tantka almost screamed, outraged that Mark could smile when he was in such dire straights, “Stop it now!” Aiming the strange weapon, Tantka fired. The orange beam just divided when it hit Mark’s shield, hitting the wall behind him.

“As I’ve said so many times before,” Mark said, an even bigger smile on his face, “you’ll never be nearly as good as I am.”

This time, it was Tantka’s turn to smile, “You obviously haven’t checked your readings; this weapon does more than destroy; it is also an energy sapper.” With that, Tantka again started laughing.

Mark only shook his head; he’d seen that when he first analyzed the weapon. Ah! Mark could see that the upload was complete now to just get the hell out of there. Mark estimated that the program would be noticed within the next 20 minutes, and he most definitely didn’t want to be here when all hell broke loose.

Suddenly, an idea came to Mark. Knowing Tantka as well as he did, a plan started quickly forming.

“You little shithead,” Mark spat at Tantka, “I was well aware of your weapons capabilities! As if I’d make a first year’s mistake like that, the way you did when I uploaded that virus on you. Actually, it was hilarious watching you run like the scared child that you are!”

Mark could see Tantka’s face going from red to blood red; good, any time now, Tantka would blow his top, and Mark would have him.

“You son of a bitch,” Tantka screamed, “I WILL kill you this time!” Mark thought about the neural link, a new adjustment to his shield. Moments later, Tantka started firing non-stop.

Tantka’s anger had so blinded him that he didn’t even see the beams bouncing back at him, striking the Styrox that were with him. It had also made him deaf to their screams and hisses as the beams sliced into them, boiling a few in their own body fluids, several sliced in half. Mark watched with satisfaction while Tantka destroyed his own guards. Finally, the last issued a high-piercing sound, breaking Tantka from his enraged state.

Looking around, he saw that, indeed, all the Styrox guards were dead; turning back to Mark, he was about to scream at Mark when he saw that Mark was gone!

“Run, you bastard!” Tantka was screaming at the top of his voice, “You’ll never get off this ship; I’ll make damn sure of that!”

Mark was running as fast as he could; he only had a few more minutes before the program went into full effect, and then nothing would be safe on this ship. Finally reaching the hanger bay, Mark breathed a sigh of relief; he still had a few minutes left, but he had to go now!

Remembering what Tantka had said, Mark initiated another upgrade he’d been working on. The shuttle rose from the deck, though to those there, it appeared to be just another Styrox fast attack ship, long and silver, stream-lined for fast entry into an atmosphere and quick retreat. Mark was praying that the energy mask he’d activated worked as well as the tests had shown. Finally exiting the bay, Mark accelerated, activated his light-bending cloak, and activated his com to call the Imperial space leader.

“Mark? What and where are you? I don’t have you on any scope,” the leader started.

“I’m using a light-bending cloak; you said you wanted a better advantage; here it comes,” Mark replied.

“Huh,” the leader said, “just what are you talking about?”

“Just watch; I think you’ll enjoy this,” Mark chuckled, thinking about what was about to happen.

“Alright, Mark, I trust you far more than anyone. You’ve gotten me and the troops out of more than a few scrapes,” the leader replied.

Finally, far enough away from the ship, Mark watched as a huge swarm of ships were destroyed by the fleet. The Mother ship released another swarm to engage the Imperial fleet; ah, good, thought Mark, this should be good. The swarm started to accelerate toward the fleet. Then, suddenly, each ship began to explode till they were all gone. Laughing, Mark watched the Mother ship release another swarm. These were barely out of their hanger bay when each of them started to explode. A smile growing larger on his face, Mark thought the leader ought to really like what was about to happen next. As they all watched, the huge ship began to shake violently, then its engines cut out, the lights went out, and finally, the ship started to experience small explosions all over it. Finally, after maybe twenty minutes, the entire ship exploded in a brilliant explosion of different colors. Good, Mark thought, that ought to even the playing field more. With half the production of their ships gone, the empire should finally gain the upper hand.

His com beeped at him, and, answering it, Mark saw the jubilation of the crew on the leader’s ship.

“I don’t know how you did it, and I’m not sure I want to know, but I think I’ll take this advantage,” the leader said with a widening smile on his face. “Too bad you can’t do it to the rest of their fleet, but hey, I’m not complaining; the fact that you are here means you had to actually go ON that ship, doesn’t it?”

Mark nodded, deep in thought; he was just hoping that Tantka had still been on board when it went up; that way, there would be an end to all this shit.

The leader noticed that Mark wasn’t as overjoyed as the rest of his crew. For a moment, it worried the leader; what had Mark gotten involved with this time? After all, he’d known Mark for a number of years, so he thought he knew Mark a little better than most.

“What the hell is going on, Mark? Thought you’d be happier than this about this.” The leader stated as he watched Mark for a reaction.

“Oh, sorry, I was almost caught by Tantka. I was just hoping the explosion caught him on board. I barely made it off in time, the way he was acting, though, I’m not so sure now that Tantka is gone.” Mark haltingly replied.

The leader’s face showed his surprise that Mark had actually risked his life like this for him and his men. A newfound respect for Mark was growing with the leader; looking down at his readings, he flipped through them as fast as he could.

“I’m not seeing any human readings among their fleet, but since that mother ship went up, our sensors are still a little blinded,” The leader said. Looking up, he saw that this wasn’t making Mark feel any better.

“Yes, I know,” Mark spat out, “it blinded mine as well. I’m nowhere near confident that I got that bastard at all,” Mark mumbled more to himself than to the leader.

The leader nodded; he knew just what Tantka was capable of; the bastard needed to be taken down.

Clicking off, Mark started to adjust his sensors to bring them back up faster; for a moment, while they were re-cycling, he thought he saw a faint energy trail leading away from the mother ship explosion. Damn! It appeared to be heading back towards King Rufus’s planet.

Mark engaged the shuttle’s engines, pushing them to the edge. He had to get back as fast as he could. Worried, Mark tried to call the planet, cursing, when he found that his signal was being blocked.

Pulling out a special comp, Mark activated it; he tried to contact Sam, but a moment later, he got a partial signal. Knowing he didn’t have much time, he hurriedly said, “Sam, Tantka’s alive, headed your way.”

On the planet, the signal was barely able to get through. All Sam got was “Sam, Tantka’s ... way”. Sam wasn’t exactly sure what the entire message was, but the fact that her brother had sent one put her on full alert. Immediately after his call, she checked Catrina and Arthur’s wrist comps, telling them not to take them off. A bad man was heading their way, and the comps would keep them safe. She was shocked when Arthur nodded, then turned to Catrina and started to explain about when he had been recently captured and was hurt by the bad man. Catrina’s eyes got huge, and then she got enraged, promising she’d never take it off unless Arthur or her daddy told her to.

Both Nissie and Sam’s mouths were hanging agape. The maturity both their children had just shown surprised them.

Mark hoped that the shuttle engines held up. He’d never pushed them this hard before. It wouldn’t do to have them burn up before he got back. From what he’d seen, Tantka had an extremely fast ship. The energy trail was starting to grow stronger, but he was no closer to catching Tantka. After a day and a half, his engines straining to keep up with the demand, Mark was within sight of the planet. Slowing his approach, he finally saw Tantka’s ship entering the atmosphere. Damn it! Firing off a missile, Mark knew it was a long shot at best, but was pleasantly surprised when it exploded only a few hundred meters from Tantka’s engines. Almost immediately, the planetary defenses snapped up the shields, causing Tantka to divert to a more devastated area.