Capricious - The Lightning Crew Chronicles

Part Two - 18 - Allan

Captain's log, entry four hundred and one.

I recruited the seventh member of our crew. She'll be our cook. Finally, someone that can make edible dishes in my damn crew. Her name is Min-hee. I doubt it's even her real name but I don't care. She came to us during negotiations with clients. She needed a safe and discreet passage to go as far as possible. She worked a dangerous job, I figured that much, and she didn't contradict me. Something happened to her, something terrible. Sometimes her mind wanders and she loses touch with reality. She gets confused. But most of the time, she's lucid, and that's good enough for me. Min-hee is smart and she has certain knowledge about the Milky Way and skills that could be very useful. I asked her if she wanted to become part of my crew. She had her conditions but she said yes.

Log entry over.

"Okay guys, back on board. NOW!" said Allan.

They all obeyed without hesitation and in less than a minute the cargo hold hatch was closing, all his crew safely inside. Allan spared a last glance to all the goods they had managed to gather in the last two days on this shitty planet, still on the sand outside. Such a waste. But they had bigger problems at the moment. Like the incoming vessels from different nations and bounty hunters' gangs, all heading straight to their location to get his head. He turned and ran up to the cockpit.

Jessie was already preparing the take-off. As soon as Allan appeared in the cockpit and jumped in his co-pilot chair, she said, "We have tons of messages. They're spamming us with warnings and threats."

She slid the virtual screens toward him. He groaned but started browsing the different video and audio warnings. It varied between petty threats from small bounty hunters to ominous ultimatums from the three nations' ships. After opening twenty of them, all asking for their surrender without delay, Allan slid the virtual screens away and put two fingers on the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

"What a mess," he said.

Jessie sighed. "Yup. Are you going to answer?"

"Nope. Let's keep them wondering if we accepted anyone's surrender offer. Might keep them busy with suspicions and infighting."

Kala, the smart kid, was already sitting on a safety seat behind them, hand on the bulkhead.

They took to the sky, leaving the abandoned settlement behind.

The first enemy ships pierced the clouds. Judging by the models, all coming in different sizes and shapes, the bounty hunters were the first ones to make their move.

"Looks like the small players entered the game first," said Allan.

"I wouldn't call five ships bigger than La Capricieuse small players," said Jessie.

Allan waved a hand dismissively. "Size is not all that matters, dear Jessie. Not when I have you as a pilot and Kala as a shooter. And they all serve different masters. That might play in our favor." He pointed to the sky above, through the windshield, and indeed, the hunters were already shooting each other in their race to get to their prey. "Let's enter the dance," he said with a wicked smile.

Jessie nodded, put her hair behind her ears, and launched them straight into the fray.

The following minutes were intense, to say the least. Kala took advantage of any skirmish between the bounty hunters to help them shoot each other down. Vessels fell from the sky like flies. The explosions shone like beacons in the twilight and Allan couldn't tear his eyes off the destruction. Thanks to Jessie's flying skills, La Capricieuse took but a few hits and her shield held strong.