Chapter 26: Hatchet

Richard snarled in anger as he stood up, shaking his hand he looked at the woman. "I'm going to rip your head off," he said as he charged the woman.

Jerri dodged the man's clumsy attack and grasped his wounded hand. Turning she slammed him into the wall where he bounced off.

Moving quickly, Richard jumped on the woman and grasped her in a bear hug. "Got you now bitch," he growled out.

Laughing, Jerri replied, "You think so? Do your worst." Suddenly she screamed out in agony and blood started dripping to her feet.

With a grin, Richard threw the critically wounded woman from him and everyone stood there in shock as two more arms were revealed, their crystal skin dripped blood as he jumped on the next human and pierced his chest with the two spikes as he ripped the fletchen rifle from his weakened fingers with his other pair of hands. The weapon came up and he opened fired on the humans in the room.

Lieutenant Carvel dropped to the deck, his hand yanked his fletchen rifle around and he fired the first burst of return fire. Before he could fire a second burst, the Crytherian flew backwards and hit the wall as six more weapons fired on him. Taking aim, he put one round of fletchen right where the center eye would be and the creature's head exploded. Before Joshua could take a step, ten of the minors shifted, and attacked the group. The NAT team fell back in surprise as the enemy was reveled in their mists. Three of the teams went down in seconds while the rest whirled and attacked.

"What the fuck?" Joshua said as the Crytherians attacked them.

"Kill the humans. Take the ship back for the glory of the Empire," the Crytherians shouted as they attacked.

Corporal Isis Blackbird whirled, and let loose with her fletchen gun. The darts ripped three of the Crytherians apart before they could attack again. As she was turning the gun to target another hostile, she screamed in pain as a sharp object punctured through her armor just above the hip. She was lifted off her feet and hurled across the room and hit the wall where she dropped to the deck unconscious.

Joshua saw one of his team go down and he turned and snap kicked the Crytherian in the jaw. Yanking out his stun baton, he jammed it into the creature's stomach and making him scream in agony as he held the button down on the baton. He poured all the energy from the weapon into the Crytherian and he didn't let up until he saw smoke coming from the creatures body. Pulling back the weapon he looked at the eyes and saw it was dead. Turning he held the weapon up, but the remaining Crytherians were down.

"What the fuck is going on? How did we get so many of them aboard this ship?" he said as he knelt beside Captain Hope. Seeing she was still alive, he grabbed his medkit and pulled out the nano bandages. Ripping the woman's shirt open, he looked at the bloody wounds in concern. Yanking the first bandage open, he pressed it against the bloody wound and did the same for the second.

"Lieutenant Carvel, you take over. Find out how many more of these bastards are aboard," Jerri said weakly.

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll take over. Now you rest while we get a stretcher for you to take you to medical," he replied as he stood up and looked at the blood-splattered room.

Looking at the medics helping the wounded, he said, "Get a stretcher over here, and get the Captain to medical. I need to contact the Wolverine and talk to the AI." Turning he walked out of the room as the squads leaped to obey his orders. Five minutes later he walked up to the sealed bridge door and banged on it.

Sergeant Jimmy Norris sat at the communications station and watched the Captain fight and go down. He was so angry that he wanted to grab a weapon and rush down there. Then before his eyes a full scale battled erupted that lasted for less than a minute. When it was over, fourteen more people were down, including the Crytherians. Shaking his head, he missed the leader of the NAT teams leave the room. Turning to the com, he sent a message to the Wolverine reporting that the hostage situation was secure. He had just signed off when someone pounded on the blast door. Activating the security camera, he saw it was the NAT commander and he opened the door.

Turning in his chair, he said, "Yes, Lieutenant? What can I do for you?"

"Captain Hope put me in charge while she is in recovery. Please contact the Wolverine for me. I want to speak to Lieutenant Margret Wilson the ships AI/Interface, prepared to send the video of the battle in the galley to her for analysis," Joshua said as he sat down in the command chair.

"Yes, Sir," Jimmy said and contacted the Wolverine asking to speak to the interface.

Seconds after he made the connection, the main screen came on, and a young girl of around fourteen years stood there. Her long red hair flowed down her back and her gray eyes stared at them.

"You called Lieutenant Carvel?" she asked.

"Yes, Ma'am, I'm sending you a video of the events we just took on over here. I'm wondering as to your opinion on how we should proceed," Joshua said as he nodded his head to the sergeant who immediately sent the file.

"File received, viewing ... interesting. I will contact all ships to start scans for Crytherian life signs in the refugees. Please try and get some information from the survivors before you transport them to the flagship for holding ... Lieutenant Carvel, please notify your people that Captain Theodore White of the Oregon has been killed in combat. The flagship has been heavily damaged but the Crytherian Basilisk class battleship has been destroyed. The fleet will close up and proceed to Terra at best speed," Margret reported.

Around the fleet, the orders went out and scanner crews started walking among the survivors looking for Crytherians hiding among them. When finished, over a thousand of them had been rounded up and dumped into the prison cells of the warships. With the internal problem solved, the fleet settled down to travel home.

Aboard the Oregon

Augusta lay on her bed, her daughter curled up tightly against her. She felt healthier then she had ever been in her young life. Kissing her daughter on her forehead, she slipped out of the bed and walked to the window and looked out over the bow of the ship. Standing there with tears running down her face she watched the ship heading for a home she has never known. "Why? Why did he do it?" she asked.

"Because it was his job. It was what he was trained to do. He did it to save you, your daughter and the thousands of others on board this ship," Lisa said as she walked over and put her arms around her sister-in-law.

Turning in Lisa's arms she buried her face into her shoulder and cried. "I never felt this way about anyone in my life. Why did I have to fall for him like this?" she said as she wept.

"I don't know Lisa, but I know we will be here for you and your children. You're part of my family, and my family looks after those in our family. So don't worry we will be here for you from this day forward," Lisa said as tears ran down her face for her brother.

"Can I see him, when I'm ready?" she asked as she pulled back and picked up a box of tissues and wiped her eyes.

"Yes you can. His body is in medical one. When you're ready I will take you down to see him," Lisa replied as she cupped Augusta's cheeks in her small hands.

"I want to go now!"

New information came to her though the link and she replied, "No, you can see him tonight. We are having a memorial for him in the atrium."

"Thank you, Lisa. You've all been so kind to us. I don't know how we can ever repay you, but I still don't understand why he did it," Augusta said.

"There is nothing to repay. You're all going home to your loved ones. That is why we did this. We couldn't allow you all to be left in slavery. It wasn't right, my brother and brother-in-law were horrified that the United Nations sold you all into slavery. True they couldn't fight the Crytherians then, but we can now. Once you're all back on Terra, we will get all the people home to their countries of origins, or they can join up to help us defeat the Crytherians and the T'Lari..."

"What are these T'Lari they you'll keep talking about?" Augusta asked as she walked over to the replicator and said, "Two cokes please."

The soda's appeared and she picked them up and walked back to Lisa and handed her one. Going to the two captain chairs, she sat in one as she waited for Lisa to explain.

"It's better to show you what they look like," Lisa said and activated the holoemitter and showed Augusta what the enemy looked like.

"Oh my God! I have seen those. The Crytherians were showing them around the city one day. We weren't supposed to look out the windows, but I did," Augusta blurted out.

"When was this?" Lisa asked.

Augusta took a sip of her coke and thought back, and then she started talking.

Two months before the rescue

The rain was coming down in a light drizzle on the capital of Karsakini. The smog from the foundries was filling the sky to the east of the city. While to the west, the spaceports were bustling with arriving and leaving ships. The construction yards were busy as usual as the Crytherians worked on building new ships.

"Attention, all humans in the city. In one hour, you're to lock all windows, and close all curtains in the slave quarters. Anyone caught looking out, will be executed on the spot along with any human in the building," blared from the speakers scattered around the city. Crytherian warriors made sure all the doors were locked and guards stationed along the sidewalks watching the windows.

Augusta stood at the high-rise window and looked down on the main road coming from the spaceport. Her master was away at the port meeting some important visitor and she was left alone, in the apartment. Her duties were finished, the house cleaned for him. She was supposed to head back to the brothel to work a few hours and then have time to play with her daughter before putting her down for the night. But then the order came in that they had to stay inside. Going to the telescope that her master looked through at times, she looked at where it was supposed to be pointing and then lowered it to see what was going on.

She auto focused the scope and watched the hover cars coming down the road. She watched the armored hover cars go first then the first of several open ones came into view and she pissed herself when she saw the creature. It was black, had six arms and was armored with some type of plates. It had giant teeth that looked like it could rip someone to pieces in a few bites. It was talking to her master that was sitting next to the creature. She knew it was a 'him', because of the clothes he was wearing. It looked up and at her building, and she could swear it was looking at her and she peed herself again.