Tech Scavengers [Humorous, Action-Packed Space Opera]

As the crowd rushed on them, Nova called out, "Five hundred credits for the first person to cut us loose!"

The humans and aliens stopped, looked at each other, and charged once again at Jeridan and his two trussed-up companions.

They piled on the helpless trio. Jeridan shouted, thinking they were about to be looted, but the crowd must have figured the reward was worth more than whatever they had on them, because knives appeared all around and began to cut the net to pieces.

"I was here first!"

"Shut up, asshole. I was!"

"R'ttokk kri booloo!!"

Knives cut more than the net. Humans and aliens fought each other to be first to free Jeridan, Negasi, and Nova, and did little to actually free them. The fight reached a fever pitch, the three companions getting shoved around like a football, until finally they heard a strange fluttering and the ceiling lights got blotted out.

A swarm of Zenobian bats descended, clutched the remains of the net between their talons, and lifted off with them.

"Wow! I always liked these guys," Negasi said.

"Maybe one of them is the one you played cards with back on Sagitta Prime," Jeridan suggested.

"How would I know? They all look the same to me."

Turning his head as much as the constraints of the net allowed, Jeridan could see the crowd had finally noticed they'd been robbed. They shouted and shook their fists, but didn't pursue.

"Guess they're afraid of the Zenobians," Jeridan said. "And a good thing too."

"Zenobians always work in swarms. They'd outnumber any of those idiots down there," Negasi said.

They sailed high over the marketplace. Jeridan began to relax. He didn't see any more Mantids, and the crowd looked like they were about to give up.

Until something made him realize his usual bad luck had made a reappearance.

He felt the net shift, extend, and then a terrible tearing sound signaled the abrupt end to their flight.

All three of them howled as they fell into the market stands below …

… and right into a pile of soft cushions.

"Welcome to Softlandia," a holo image of a motherly woman said. "Where you can find the finest cushions and pillows made of Denebrian silk. Why suffer discomfort on a long interstellar voyage when you can enjoy the comforts of home? Turn your ship into a luxury spa with Softlandia cushions."

"I am now a loyal customer," Jeridan said, leaping off the heap of pillows. Nova, her wound still bleeding, needed Negasi's help.

The crowd roared and charged at them.

"These people have gone completely irrational," Jeridan said.

"You're one to talk. You got us this job," Negasi said.

The Zenobian bats swooped down in a flapping black curtain. The crowd stopped, wavered, and retreated.

One bat hovered in front of Nova, a finance card in its talons. Nova punched a command into her own card and transferred some money to it. The giant bat let out a high-pitched squeak and fluttered away, soon followed by the rest of the swarm.

Softlandia stood on the edge of the market, where a gate led to the airlock corridor. Jeridan and his companions ran for the ship.

"There are probably more Mantids on board," Nova said, her voice sounding weak. She stumbled as she ran.

"The Syndicate wouldn't think sending four is enough?" Negasi asked.

"Not for what we're carrying."

"What exactly are we carrying?" Jeridan demanded.

"Later. Let's get out alive first."

She let out a cry and stumbled again. Jeridan grabbed her arm and Negasi held the other. They clattered down corridors that had become eerily empty.

"You're lucky," Jeridan said. "They shot flaming slugs at me. If they had hit you with one of those, it would have been all over."

"The Mantids didn't hit me, Negasi did."

"You idiot!" Jeridan said.

"We were in hand-to-hand combat!" Negasi objected.

"You have to forgive my gunner. He's an incurable moron."

"I'm not your gunner, you're my pilot."

"I'm your captain, and I'm still a better chessboxer than you."

"Both of you shut up!" Nova said. "I hear something."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

They stopped for a second. Nova was right. There was a sound.

The sound of running boots. Lots of them.

"Let's get out of here!" Nova said.

They all ran, practically carrying Nova now.

Mantids don't wear boots. The Syndicate could have sent a ton of human mercenaries too. And who knows? Maybe they have some Mantids with them as backup.

Great. Just great.

The sound of pursuit grew louder. The mercenaries were gaining on them.

Jeridan checked his station schematic and saw they were still a few hundred meters from the Antikythera.

With Nova weakened from loss of blood, the mercenaries would catch up well before they made it.

They rounded a corner and approached a sign saying "Under Repair, Please Mind the Uncovered Wires." A bit of red tape cordoned off half the width of the hallway. The steel panels that normally covered the ceiling and one wall had been removed to expose complex wiring and several ducts.

That gave Jeridan an idea.

"You guys go ahead. I'll catch up in a minute."

Negasi glanced at the construction, turned back to Jeridan, and nodded.

They ran off down the corridor, turned a corner, and were gone.

Jeridan had to hurry. The sound of approaching boots grew louder.

He pulled out the three remaining grenades from his jumpsuit and hit a code on the sides of each of them. The casing turned magnetic, and the grenades stuck together. Standing on tiptoe, Jeridan stuck them against one of the metal ducts as close to the ceiling as he could. Then he hit the timer on one of them for five seconds. The other two lit up with the word "Synced."

The timers all counted down at precisely the same time.

The running boots sounded like an approaching thunderstorm. They must be just beyond the corner.

Jeridan checked the timers. Three seconds to go. He bolted for the far corner around which Negasi and Nova had disappeared.

He made it just in time.

As he rounded the corner, there was a deafening explosion. Debris crashed into the far wall and the shock wave pushed him along, making his legs stumble and his arms cartwheel. He barely kept on his feet as he heard the crash of girders and panels. The corridor was sealed.

He caught up to his friends a few seconds later and helped Negasi all but carry Nova the final stretch. They saw no one in the corridor of airlocks leading to the ships. Everyone had gone to ground.

Aurora must have been monitoring the security camera at the airlock, because the door clicked and opened as they approached. They passed through and it locked behind them.

As they entered the Antikythera, Aurora appeared.

"Oh my God, Mom!"

"Get her to the medical section," Jeridan said. "I have to get to the bridge. We need to leave NOW."

Without a word, Negasi sprinted for the turret.

Jeridan got to the bridge and hit the command to disengage the ship.

"Docking system locked." Jeridan recognized the voice of the station's AI.

"Locked? Why?"

Dean's voice came on next.

"You destroyed a big chunk of the market and collapsed an entire corridor," the security official said.

"The Mantids were attacking us."

"Whose fault is that?"

"The Mantids!" Jeridan shouted as he hit the disengage command again and again.

"You nearly blew up one of my security squads."

"When?"

"When you blew up the corridor."

"Whoops. Are they OK?"

"They're fine. They were all wearing body armor. But you're liable for any structural damage to the station due to violent actions. It says so in the terms and conditions of your docking."

"Nobody reads the terms and conditions!"

"Whose fault is that?"

"Charge the Mantids. They started it!"

"Get real!"

Jeridan hit the internal comm. "Nova, you still awake?"

"Yeah." She didn't sound all that awake.

"Send an encrypt beam with this idiot's money."

"No time," Nova said. "The Mantids will be coming."

Jeridan switched to external. "We got to go."

"You need to pay!" Dean bellowed.

"We'll pay you later," Jeridan said.

"And what about the whiskey?"

"Later!"

"We had a deal."

"We're a bit busy right now, Dean."

A soft orange light pulsed on the console, a signal from MIRI that she had a private message for him. He silenced the external comm.

"What is it, MIRI?"

"This ship has an override program capable of unlocking the airlock."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"It's illegal."

"So's dying!"

"As the only intelligent being on the ship who has experienced that life event, I can tell you I suffered no legal consequences."

"Whatever. Unlock the airlock!"

"Unlocked."

Dean hailed the ship again as Jeridan pulled the Antikythera away. Jeridan turned on the comm.

"How the hell did you override a Type Five security lock?" Dean demanded.

"I'm not sure myself. Nova is a bundle of surprises."

"Return to Latimer Station immediately or you will be fired upon."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Wouldn't I?"

A turret on the station sent a burst of heavy slugs across the bow.

"Hey! I said you wouldn't dare. You're supposed to admit I called your bluff."

"I'm not bluffing, cackhead. Return to the station immediately or the next shot goes into your engine core."

Jeridan saw several more turrets fix on them.

"Um … "

"Now or never," Dean said.

Jeridan made a quick calculation. They were drifting away from the station at only five meters per second, a result of the inertia from the force of the lock unclamping. He hadn't yet hit the thrusters, and they were still close to the station.

Too close for Dean to carry out his threat. If the turrets hit the Antikythera's engine, the resulting explosion would do more damage to Latimer Station than anything a battle with a few Mantids could accomplish. Dean would have a lot to answer for to the Freebooters Collective.

But if Jeridan hit those thrusters, the gunners could wait until he reached a safe distance and blow him out of the sky.

Or they could fire right now, targeting parts of the ships that wouldn't blow up.

The bridge, for example.

The console pulsed that Negasi signaled he wanted to send a private comm. Jeridan switched off the external comm.

"What is it, buddy?" Jeridan asked.

"Where are the Dragonfly ships? They weren't docked on the station."

"For once since we took this job, the Dragonfly ships aren't my main concern."

"Maybe they came in on other ships. Dragonflies can't go interstellar," Negasi said.

"Have you not been listening? Dean wants to blow us out of the sky!"

"They wouldn't have left the behind the best fighters in the spaceways."

"So?"

"So they're coming. Those Mantids on the station had plenty of time to send a signal back to the ships while they were chasing us."

The console was flashing an urgent signal from Dean.

"Um … "

Jeridan scanned the rim of Jua Six, the ice world that Latimer Station orbited. He didn't see any sign of any ships.

Then three little bright specks appeared around the rim, reflecting the light of the distant star and the soft, reflected glow of the ice below.

"Dragonfly ships detected," MIRI said.

Jeridan opened the comm link to the station.

"OK, we'll just stay right here," he said.

"What?" Dean replied. "You got Dragonflies after you. Don't you see them?"

"I see them," Jeridan said in a casual tone.

"Run, you idiot!"

"You said if I ran, you'd fire on me. I have no choice but to fight them here. Close to the station. Right next to the station. Or would you prefer I docked?"

The Dragonflies were approaching fast.

"Get the cack out of here before you wreck the entire place!" Dean bellowed.

"First you want me to stay, now you want me to go. You remind me of my last girlfriend."

"Leave, dumbass. That's an order!"

"That's what my last girlfriend said."

Jeridan hit the thrusters and shot away from the station. The Dragonflies detected the movement and increased their speed.