Fighting Lory (English Edition) (Lords Of Arr'Carthian 2) (12 page)

“Yes, but where is her mother, huh? She died. No one has contested that, have they?”

“But Moreena’s not dead. And she’s only got two sons who are of different ages. So it doesn’t apply to her either.”

“No idea, but I had a bad feeling straight away about having alien babies. Instinct, I tell you. No, as much as it hurts me right now, it’s better this way. And somehow I’m looking forward to being at home, too.”

Suddenly the red lights above the door began to flash and a loud siren boomed through the room. Lory and Charly looked at one another, shocked.
 

“I think we’re being attacked,” said Lory.

“But by who? Pirates?”

Lory shook her head miserably.

“I hardly think so.”

“You don’t mean …? Do you think Amano and Kordan are after us?” Charly’s voice was wavering between hope and panic.

“Yes, I don’t think they’re intending to let us go that easily.”

A jolt went through the ship, explosions could be heard and the ship was shaken again and again. Lory went to the door, pressing the buttons to open it, but nothing happened.
 

“Shit!”

“What is it?” asked Charly.

“We’re locked in.”

“But that’s good, isn’t it? I mean, so none of the … So whoever’s attacking us, can’t get in here. We’re safe in here.”

“Safe? We’re sitting here like mice in a trap. We’d be better off if we could run freely through the ship. And don’t think that they won’t get in here. They have laser pistols. With those they’ll definitely be able to override the mechanism somehow. No! I’d feel better if we could get out of here. I’ll try to short-circuit the door.”

Lory took a good look at the small keypad box next to the door.
 

“Have you got a nail file?”

“Yes, I saw one in the bathroom.”

Charly got up and hurried to the bathroom. She soon returned with the nail file and watched Lory use the file as a screwdriver to open up the box. The ship was shaken again and again and Lory stuck the file in her hand.

“Ow! Shit!” she swore, putting the injured side in her mouth to stop the blood flowing.

Quietly swearing and grumbling, she finally managed to unscrew the cover and expose the wires.

“Now comes the tricky bit. Either the door will open straight away or …”

“Or what?” asked Charly.

“Or it’s well and truly locked!” snarled Lory, setting about the task.

“Bingo!” she cried, as the door opened. “Now let’s get out of here!”

They ran along the corridor. Red lamps were flashing everywhere and the siren was deafening.

“I know where we should go,” said Charly, out of breath. “Come on!”

“Damn it, what are you doing?” shouted Lory, watching Charly angrily. What was she thinking, just running off?

Charly stopped and turned round.

“Get on with it! Come on! Just trust me, OK?”

Lory muttered indignantly, but got moving, following Charly through the corridors until she suddenly stood still, looked to the right and the left, and then opened a door. Lory hesitated, but Charly grabbed her by the hand and pulled her inside the dark room. Charly hastily closed the door and it went very dark.

“Where the hell are we?” snarled Lory, not happy.

“It’s a kind of broom closet. But it’s got …”

“Broom closed? I got us out of our cabin because we were sitting in a trap there and you’ve brought us into a broom closet?”

“Wait till I’ve explained,” replied Charly, offended.

“Hmpf.”

“This room has two doors. The first door is the one we came in by. The other door is behind me here and it leads onto another corridor. This room is, so to speak, a connection between the two corridors. So if danger comes from your side then we’ll disappear through the door behind me. If danger …”

“Yes, yes! I get it! OK! Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea.”

“Not such a bad idea? I might have just saved our hides with my
not
bad
idea !”

***

“We’ve shattered their protective shields. Their eight engines are damaged - five of them irreparably. Shall we go on board?” Palic spoke.

“Yes,” bellowed Kordan. “Man the fighters.” He turned to Amano. “We’ll both go with the first fighter.”

“With the greatest of pleasure,” Amano snarled solemnly.

“Good, let’s lose no time,” Kordan urged haste.

They hurried to the docking station where technicians cleared the fighters for take-off. The small, agile spaceships were built for a maximum of six people. Kordan and Amano climbed into the first fighter with four other men. Kordan sat right behind the steering wheel. The seat belts locked automatically as soon as the men sat in their seats: the launch in the fighter was always very powerful and without seat belts there could be fatal injuries.
 

Kordan counted down from ten: “… three … two … take-off!”

The fighter shot forwards with such acceleration that the men were forced back into their seats and their bodies shook. Kordan’s hands clutched the armrests. The high-speed mini spaceship was catapulted into the depths of space. Once the extreme acceleration reduced to normal flying speed the men relaxed and Kordan let go of the arm rests. He made a frontal attack on the main laser weapons of the pirate ship. He maneuvered the fighter skillfully, escaping a series of shots. With ice-cold precision he fired at the laser cannon until it broke into smithereens. Debris was flung everywhere but Kordan dodged it expertly. It would be catastrophic if one of the large pieces were to hit them: because of the impact of the explosion the pieces of wreckage had reached a high speed and could damage the fighter which, at worst, could be fatal.
 

In the meantime the other fighters were also flying alongside them. Three fighters were firing on the entrance to the docking station.

“The docking station is passable. All systems go for boarding,” commanded Kordan over the radio.

***

“It sounds as if the shooting has stopped. Do you think the attackers have been defeated?” asked Charly in a strangely shrill voice.

“Either that or they’re now boarding our ship. We should stay here for a while and wait.”

The two women listened hard but it was deathly quiet on the ship. They were a long way from the bridge and, likewise, the docking station. If fighting was happening there they probably would not be aware of it. Lory was itching to go out and get involved. The stupid thing was, though, that she did not know whose side she was on. If Ellyod was right then Kordan was her enemy. But if he was lying, which she could not one hundred per cent rule out, she would be making a fatal mistake if she attacked Kordan and his men. It was driving her completely crazy. She did not even know whether she was able to harm Kordan even if she absolutely knew that he was guilty.
 

“Fuck!” she murmured in frustration.

“”What is it?” asked Charly.

“Nothing. I just hate this waiting and not doing anything.”

Lory began to search the wall next to her for a switch.

“Whatever are you doing?” asked Charly.

“I’m looking for the light.”

“Are you crazy? Do you want them to find us here?”

“Of course not. I just wanted to quickly see what’s in here. Perhaps there’s something that we could use as a weapon. And anyway, I don’t think anyone can see anything from the outside. There’s no gap under the door that light could shine through and there’s no key hole either.”

“Bingo!” Lory cheered quietly once she had found the switch and a lamp in the ceiling flickered into life.
 

Both women looked around on the shelves.
 

“I’ve got a spray,” Charly spoke. “It might be effective if we spray it into their eyes.”

“Yes, that’s something. But still keep on looking.”

Lory rummaged about amongst boxes, bottles and various appliances until she came across a case. She pulled it out and opened it.

“Scalpels!” she cried with joy.

“Wow! What are they doing with scalpels? Be careful! They look damn sharp.”

Lory grinned.

“And so they should. Don’t panic, I know how to deal with things like this.”

“We should put the light out again, don’t you think?”

“OK,” Lory agreed, putting the case in her belt. She pressed the switch and they sat in darkness again.
 

***

Kordan stuck his sword into the jelly-like figure in front of him and grimaced in disgust as his opponent splashed him with sticky green jelly.

“You really are revolting, brother. It’s time to put an end to your sad existence.”

He struck out and cut the head of the creature from his wobbly body.
 
Yet more jelly splashed about and Kordan swore loudly.

“Watch out!” shouted Amano. “Behind you!”

As he turned round Kordan pulled out his laser pistol and shot a lizard-like creature between the eyes. The beast uttered an angry growl and charged towards him. He frantically tried to work out where the most vulnerable point was on these beasts.

‘Take that, you revolting bastard!’

 
Acting on impulse he lowered his weapon and shot into the stomach of this creature that had nearly closed the gap between the two of them and was reaching out to him with his claw. The lizard cried out as grey-green blood shot from the deep stomach wound.

‘Yes, I’ve got you, you damn lizard!’

“Spare at least one of them,” he shouted to his men.

It did not take long for his men to have the ship and the rest of its crew under control. Kordan had the survivors gathered together in a corner. Two were very seriously injured and would not make it much longer. The other three were only slightly injured. Expressionless, he walked up to the cowering men.

“Where is Ellyod?”
 

“We don’t know any Ellyod. We don’t even know why you’ve attacked us,” said one of the men.

Kordan took his sword and pushed it into the man’s stomach in such a way that he would not die straight away but had time to think about his stupidity. And the other men would now know that he did not tolerate any lies.

“I’ll ask once more and I want a correct answer. Where is Ellyod Allegrass.”

“He’s fled,” responded another prisoner.

“Fled?” asked Kordan in an ominously calm voice. “When and how?”

“During the attack,” answered the man. “He took his stealth fighter.”

“Stealth fighter? You mean he’s invisible with this stealth fighter?”
 

“Yes. It’s only visible during take-off, but as soon as take-off is completed he can activate the camouflage screen.”

“How come a fighter that does not have large energy reserves can maintain the use of a stealth fighter?”

“The camouflage screen was developed by the Regans. Allegrass only recently acquired a camouflage screen. He was planning to equip the mother-ship with a camouflage screen, too.”

“Shit!” Amano swore. “Marruk will kill us when he finds out that this son-of-a-bitch has slipped through our fingers.”

“I’ll still get the bastard. Sooner or later!”

“I should hope you will. But now we should look for our mates. I’m missing Charly.”

Kordan clenched his fists. Yes – he, too, was missing his mate. He was not complete without her. He did not even know how he could ever have been complete without her. He only hoped that Ellyod had not taken the two women with him.
 

“Where are the women?” he asked, his heart pounding.

“They’re in their cabin,” responded another prisoner.

Kordan pointed his pistol at the man.

“You will lead us to them. But I tell you – if you so much as blink out of turn you will have taken your last breath. Is that clear?”

The man nodded.

Kordan and Amano were led through the ship to the cabin where Lory and Charly were imprisoned. But when they reached the cabin the door was open. Kordan swore. The door could only stay open if someone had tampered with the wiring. The women had obviously managed this, as confirmed by one look at the open switch box next to the door. They could now have hidden themselves practically anywhere on this damn spaceship. He could see that Amano was thinking the same thing as he was frowning, bewildered.
 

“Maron,” he said into the radio on his wrist.

“General,” came the officer’s response.

“See to it that the prisoners are bound and taken to the
Cordelia
under guard. All other available men are to systematically comb the ship in search of Lady Lory and Lady Charly. The women may be afraid and might try to defend themselves. Use force, if necessary. But ensure they are not harmed. If absolutely necessary you may use the laser on the lowest setting. If you find the women I want to be informed immediately. Captain Amano and I will search Deck C where the women had their quarters.”

“Had, General?”

“They’ve evidently fled from their quarters and are wandering about somewhere. I’d like them to be found as quickly as possible.”

“Aye, General. We’ll begin immediately.”

“Good. Over and out.”

“Understood. Over and out.”

“Come on, let’s get started. First we’ll search this room and the bathroom.”

“Why?” asked the man who had led them here. “They’ve clearly fled, so why are you looking for them here?”

“Because it could be a trick. It’s possible that they just want to give the impression that they’ve fled so that no one searches here,” Kordan explained indignantly.

“What are we going to do with our friend here?” asked Amano with a sideways glance at the prisoner.
 

Kordan scrutinized the man, squinting. He saw fear flash into the man’s eyes.
 

“Will you cause us trouble?” he asked threateningly.

The man shook his head vehemently.

“No! No! Definitely not, General. I didn’t get on this ship voluntarily anyway. I have no sense of loyalty towards Allegrass. He forced me into service. I will help you, general. I swear!”

Kordan nodded. The man was unarmed, smaller and of lighter build than his mate. Lory would have this little man for dinner. No! He did not pose any real threat. He had the feeling that the man was speaking the truth and the Ellyod had coerced him into serving him.