Chapter 7: Knife to a Gunfight

“Reinforcements are here!” The sailors cheered, looking on as Yan’s crew slid in beside them.

They were hunkered down behind a makeshift barricade that filled the corridor. It was made of overturned bunk beds, stacked crates and assorted furniture. Everything was shrouded in a shade of crimson from the emergency lighting.

Yan frowned. There were only four sailors here. Her tour of the ship had brought her past more than two dozen.

Just as she was about to ask, she spied another barricade further down the hallway. A few people were milling around that one too, preparing for the boarders.

She realised that the ship was too large to be defended effectively. The crew was spread thin. And who knew how many were already dead or wounded by the ship-to-ship combat?

There were a series of thuds as something - or some things - collided against the outer hull of the Silent Sail.

Over the intercom, the captain roared, ”Look alive, lads! Boarding parties have hit portside! Starboard, hold your ground!”

The door behind them slid shut, as did the one right behind the next set of barricades. The captain was trying to keep each section contained.

“Who’s attacking us?” Yan asked one of the sailors, sliding the knife from her sheath.

“House Ariti, ma’am! Filthy pirates, that’s what they are! They crawl all over the Cristom Cluster, feasting on the weak like parasites!” The sailor spat vehemently.

“How many pirates expected on this side?”

“Eight boarding pods inbound on this side, ma’am!”

Beside her, Luke frowned and continued her question, “How many on starboard?”

“Four, sir! Most of us are here to repel the additional boarders!”

The sharp screech of tearing metal filled the air.

As Yan watched, spinning saw blades slid through the hull beyond the barricade. Sparks cascaded onto the floor. The blades began to move, slicing through the hull.

The sailors around her readied their weapons. Not a single gun was the same. Between the four, there was a rifle, two pistols and a shotgun. The name of that last gun formed in Yan’s mind even as the metal continued to scream.

Then, Yan felt a hand on her arm. Luke. She resisted the urge to shake it off.

“Yan - erhh… Doctor - I’ll keep calling you that if you don’t mind - are you really going out there with that knife?”

She nodded silently. Yan had no idea if she could make this work but she was going to try.

“I’ll try not to shoot you,” Luke grinned but he looked uneasy.

Out of the corner of her eye, Yan saw Neon ready a frag grenade.

“Captain’s forbidden the use of grenades! You could damage the hull!” One of the sailors protested.

Neon sighed. “One tiny little explosion won’t hurt the ship. You can complain to him after we save the day!”

Abruptly, the saws ground to a halt. Then, they retracted.

The intercom crackled again, “We have contact! Portside sections 3 and 4!”

The two cut-out squares of the hull burst into the corridor, slamming into the wall opposite.

A loud, raspy voice commanded, “For House Ariti! Go, go, go!”

Pirates burst forth from the boarding pods. They were clad in a haphazard array of outfits. Yan saw bodysuits, scraps of armour and even somebody clad in civilian clothes.

Without hesitation, the sailors opened fire, streaks of laser flying down the corridor.

The first few to set foot on the Silent Sail paid with their lives.

One of them was effectively vapourised as a concentrated blast from the shotgun-toting sailor seared through him. Another beam cut a clean hole through the head of another pirate.

Then, a disc clattered to the floor.

A barrier of translucent energy rippled out, covering the entire corridor between the two parties. The defenders’ gunfire slammed into it, sending bright ripples surging throughout the barrier.

One of the sailors yelled, “Hold fire! Conserve your ammo!”

Yan saw her chance.

As the sailors watched wide-eyed, she vaulted over the barricade. Though her body still ached, it was actually responding better than she had thought. The short rest had helped.

The pirates continued pouring into the corridor beyond, taking the time to regroup. Yan counted four - six - eight. They just kept coming.

There was a shout behind her, “Yan, duck!”

She complied and a frag grenade sailed over her head, passing clean through the shield to land on the other side.

“By the - Grenade! Hit the deck!” One of the pirates roared.

The boarders threw themselves aside just as the grenade detonated, spraying deadly shrapnel everywhere. Packed as they were into the corridor, the steel fragments tore through their ranks. Screams filled the air as pirates collapsed, writhing in agony.

A few stray fragments flew Yan’s way, only to be repelled by the pirates’ own shield.

She sprinted past the barrier without resistance, blade flashing.

The first pirate she encountered tried to bring up his pistol but his arm, already shredded from shrapnel, refused to move.

She ended his life quickly, sliding her blade sideways through his skull. Before he even collapsed, she was already flying onwards, her knife parting the throat of his comrade.

Blood splattered across her suit but she paid it no mind. Yan could feel the ache in her body recede into a dull throb. She was in a flow state, her body moving of its own accord.

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Her knife slammed into the barrel of a rifle as one of the pirates tried to engage in close combat. Pulling it out of his hands, she slid the gun free and slammed the butt into his head, crushing his skull in.

Faces flashed past her vision as she ducked and side-stepped the remaining pirates’ clumsy attempts to engage. They shuffled and stumbled, almost like they were drunk. She bobbed aside as a laser streaked past her head, searing into and through the eye of the pirate behind her.

Then, her knife was sliding through the ribcage of the last enemy: A woman, gaunt and pale.

Her eyes were wide, pupils dilated.

Yan did not look away as the light left those orbs. Vaguely, she recalled that this was something that once disturbed her.

For a moment, she stood tall among the dead and the dying, covered in blood. A chill had settled over her heart. But as her flow state slipped away, her aches redoubled, hitting her with a force that left her gasping. Her knife slipped from nerveless fingers. Every one of her muscles screamed at her to curl up and die. In her knife hand, especially, she could feel a painful, burning sensation.

There was a good chance that she had strained it.

“Woah, uh, Yan… you alright?”

She looked up to see Neon approach, Luke in tow. The old guard was hobbling a little, the bullet fragment in his thigh impeding his movement.

“I’m fine.”

He grinned. “Well, at least I know I’ll die fast if I ever cross you! Then, you might die. From overexertion.”

Nobody bothered to entertain him.

Luke, in particular, was frowning.

The sailors clambered out cautiously from behind their barricade, not at all eager to approach the massacre.

The old guard spoke up. “Just as I thought.”

Neon raised an eyebrow. “What? Don’t hold out on us!”

“These aren’t really pirates. These are just people forced into service.”

The woman’s gaunt face flashed across Yan’s mind. Looking around, she realised that the bodies around her were clothed not just haphazardly, but also in rags. Some of the attackers were so thin that she could see their ribs.

Only two of the attackers wore bodysuits in decent condition - probably the pirates who led each boarding squad. These bodysuits were orange and had a giant symbol painted on the back in white.

Two long swords locked over a shield.

Beneath that was the word: “Ariti”

Luke was right.

Yan felt sick to her stomach. What kind of monster would do something like this?

Luke shook his head. “Pirates don’t shy away from slavery.”

The rest of the sailors had gathered around them by now, muttering among themselves.

Reaching down, Luke rummaged through a pirate and pulled out a capped syringe.

A yellow liquid swirled within.

He said, “Crazy juice. One shot and there’s no coming back. You stay high and mad until somebody kills you or your heart explodes from the stress.” He frowned and added, “It does make you clumsier than an ox, though.”

Yan swallowed. That would explain why she did so well. She had basically been fighting a bunch of drunkards.

Luke looked over at Yan. “You did them a favour. Clean deaths.”

She gave him a quick nod. His words helped with the bit of guilt that gnawed at her but it was more anger that she felt. She would make these slave-taking pirates pay.

At that moment, the door leading up to the next barricade buckled.

The intercom screeched back to life. “Section 3 overrun. I repeat. Section 3 overrun. Sections 2 and 4, ready yourselves!”

The gathered crowd, Neon and Luke included, immediately rushed back towards the barricade. Neon grabbed an assault rifle as he went.

As Yan turned to follow, she noticed that the pirates’ barrier had disappeared. The battery had run out.

It was only then that she realised that her own shield belt had been off the whole time.

Flicking it on, she scooped up her knife but decided against following the crew. Instead, she stumbled into one of the dark rooms that lined the hall, ignoring the pain in her body.

Crouched amidst a number of pails and brooms, she waited.

The intercom came back to life. “Starboard, we have contact!”

Yan set that knowledge aside. Hopefully, the other side of the ship would be able to repel boarders as well as they have.

There was a shout from one of the sailors, “They’re coming!”

An explosion rocked the corridor. Pieces of the door tumbled past Yan’s hiding spot, thrown clear by the blast.

She held her breath.

Lasers sliced down the corridor in front of her as both sides opened fire. Here and there, she heard the crackle of a more traditional firearm.

“I’m hit!” Somebody shouted. The voice sounded familiar. It might have been the sailor she was talking to before.

Yan grimaced. She wanted nothing more than to dash out there right now but in her current state, that would be suicide. She had to wait for most of the pirates to get past and then strike.

“Go! What are you lot waiting for! Go! Get past that barricade!”

There was a thunder of many feet and a number of hostiles surged past the open doorway. They were stumbling as they rushed past, hollering at the top of their lungs.

Listening to the footsteps, she waited until most had passed. Then, fighting through her pain, she darted out. Her movements were slower now but they were still faster than the slave-sailors high on crazy juice.

Ducking beneath a clumsy swing that came a little too close, her knife flashed forward, skewering a neck. Twisting aside, shots from both sides sizzling against her shield, she stabbed another man in the stomach.

But he just kept coming, raising his rifle into the air and cracking Yan across the shoulder.

She staggered backwards from the force of the blow. That was definitely going to bruise later.

Her opponent stumbled forward, not at all hindered by the gaping wound in his belly. Thinking fast, she dropped to the ground and tried to kick the sailor’s legs out from under him.

More by luck than by skill, he tripped over her leg and went sprawling.

His rifle flew from his grip.

Seizing the opportunity, Yan jammed her blade into the side of his chest. The knife slid in, grinding against his ribs.

Then, she felt the tip pierce his heart.

The drugged sailor gasped once and was still.

“Holy Void! Stay - Stay back!” One of the boarders was hanging back, her eyes wide open in shock.

Yan scrambled to her feet, blood dripping off her bodysuit.

Unlike the others, this boarder was well-fed and well-armed - and she was clad in an orange jumpsuit.

The squad leader.

She levelled her rifle at Yan and fired.

A stream of bullets bit into Yan’s shield, sparking as they vaporised.

For a moment, the shield flickered. Then, it retracted into her belt.

Yan immediately threw herself forward, the urgency of the moment lending her speed. She landed on all fours, heaving, as bullets pinged off the corridor.

The woman jerked her gun after her.

With what little strength she had left, Yan pushed herself forward, slamming into the pirate.

They tumbled to the ground, Yan on top.

Her opponent tried to bring her rifle up as a club. But in such close quarters, it was too long for her to use it effectively.

Gritting her teeth against the screaming pain in her arm, Yan barely managed to get her knife under the pirate’s armpit. She pushed. Felt it grate forward.

The pirate gasped and dropped her rifle. She clawed at Yan, nails catching on the now-crimson bodysuit. They failed to penetrate.

Yan gave the knife one last push.

The pirate jerked hard, almost throwing Yan off. But she held on tight.

Finally, the life drained from the pirate’s body.

Her chest heaving, Yan tumbled off the corpse and looked back.

Luke was shoving the last drugged sailor to the ground with his rifle. A flash of purple burst from his barrel and his opponent stopped moving.

As Yan slowly climbed to her feet, it occurred to her that this world held a unique danger. Projectiles travelled as fast as a xiake and required no more than a twitch of a finger to loose. In this world, even commoners could pose a grave danger to those with qi or magic.

She gritted her teeth.

No matter how dangerous this world was, first, she would survive. Then, she will claw back her memories, bit by bit, even if Sierra took thirty days for each one. And, she will find her way home.

Despite the pain, that dream still pulled at her. That kid in the blankets. Who was that?

Picking her way through the bodies, she returned to the barricade slowly, wincing with every step. Her body would not be able to take something like that again without a long period of rest.

As she stumbled through a gap between two beds, she noticed that a sailor was laid out across the floor, unmoving. His head was bent at an unnatural angle. Everybody else had a wound or two, but all were minor asides from a broken arm on the sailor with the shotgun.

Luke grabbed a small rectangular device - a two-way radio - from one of the surviving sailors. Pressing a button on it, he said, “Portside sections 3 and 4 cleared. Over.”

After a moment, the captain’s voice emerged, “Who - wait. Aren’t you that Luke guy? Never mind. Good on you. Portside sections 1 and 2 are cleared too. Over.”

The captain sounded relieved.

Before Luke could reply, a panicked scream emerged from the device. “Captain! It’s a set-up! Starboard overrun! I repeat. Starboard overrun! They have a lot of firepower! There’s a guy in - ahhhh!”

The line cut out.

Then, the radio beeped again and a deep voice, crackling with static, filled the corridor.

“Give up, Captain Harvey. The Wolf of Ariti demands your surrender. Resist further and…”

There was a scream and something snapped.

“… I’ll break every single bone in your body, slowly. One by one. Until you beg me to end your miserable life. So, choose wisely, swine.”