Chapter 9
THE AMBUSH
The alarm angered Ollie. He wondered why humans liked mean noises. He sensed fear in the people around him. He could smell it, and it made his blood run hot with excitement.
Come on boy! Don’t be afraid.” Tom said more to himself than to Ollie. Tom felt that Ollie was brave, this made Tom feel brave too; he could face anything as long as Ollie was with him. They were running at a full sprint to sick bay. People filled the hallways running in different directions. Tom could hear Ollie’s clawed feet on the metal floor as he ran. They turned the corner and dashed up the long corridor to the door to Sick Bay.
Sick bay was always ready for any emergency. Tom had spent hours with Dr. Johnson learning First Aid. He could have volunteered to load torpedoes with Roger, but Tom wanted to save lives not take them. Dr. Johnson made him feel at home in the small hospital; it was clean, white, and full of equipment. He stepped through the extra wide doors and walked pass recovery rooms and the exam room until he came to the lounge outside the operating room. He expected to see the staff in an operation on some blood covered mangled victim of a space battle and was surprised to see old Dr. Johnson and the nurses drinking coffee. They stood there as if they had no cares at all. Steam drifted up from a cup of hot chocolate on the table. Two silver robots built to look like humans were wearing white medical uniforms and were cleaning instruments.
“Have some cocoa. I made it the way you like it.” Dr. Johnson was always friendly and took a special interest in Tom. The doctor became the family Tom missed while traveling alone. He liked the doctor and teased him about the gray in his short beard. ”Sit down, son, and relax. Nothing for us sawbones to do yet”
“Thank you. Dr. Johnson. Tom sipped the hot chocolate
. “You know Tom when this all blows over I’ll need extra help. I’ll have to check on the livestock in the cargo bay. We don’t want any of the farm animals getting upset.”
Dr. Johnson was not a veterinarian, but a space doctor needed many different skills. Tom knew the good Doctor was trying to distract him from worrying. It was nice, but Tom had Ollie so he knew he would be fine. Just the same Tom always liked to visit the farm animals on the ship.
“Sure, I’d be glad to.”
Ollie was sniffing around the sick bay. He went through to the next room. The lights were out. Tom followed in, and the lights came on as he stepped through the door. He found Ollie in a re-compression chamber. Ollie liked the bed- sized compartments in the wall. They were like a wolf’s den. Ollie lay down ready to nap.
The communications center on the lounge wall lit up, it was almost invisible before. Tom ran back as everyone gathered around it. The Captain was speaking. He had short hair and wrinkles around his eyes. There was a gold rocket insignia on his collar. The image flickered in an annoying way.
“As you all know there is sunspot activity from the nearby star." Static interrupted his statements. "And sunspots jam our communications. But only minutes ago we received a distress message from station Cirrus Four. Cirrus Four has been attacked. We are trying to get more information." The screen flickered. "We are going to assist. All persons are to remain at their emergency and combat stations until further notice. Thank you.”
Fear twisted in Tom’s stomach like cruel icy fingers. Glancing at Dr. Johnson for reassurance he saw a hard serious expression. The two nurses looked like they were about to cry. The Doctor put an arm around one nurse that was trembling.
“Look!” The other nurse pointed at the monitor, her eyes were big with horror. They all crowded around the view screen. It showed the space station. It was shaped like a wheel. It looked lost and empty. A cloud of debris drifted around it, smoke floated out where sections were ripped open, giant pieces tumbled slowly away, and the white sides were scared black from explosions.
As everyone watched the monitor, five bright dots crept out from behind the yellowish moon. They came closer and grew bigger until the dots became space ships.
“Pirates!” Gasped the nurse.
The lead pirate ship fired two torpedoes at the station. The computerized torpedoes rushed to the station seeking the best point to wreak massive destruction. They struck with enormous balls of yellow fire. The balls of fire grew like flowers that blossomed yellow fingers of flame. The explosion left a cloud of gray smoke which hid the small pirate ships.
“Where are they?” Everyone spoke at once.
The screen went white with a cloud of static.
“Oh, man, I can’t believe they cut the image,” Tommy complained.
“No, son. Look,” the Doctor was as calm as ever. “It’s one of our escort ships. It crossed in front of the camera. I bet the other ship is pulling around to get them in a squeeze.
Ollie began to howl. Tom ran back to him.
“The smart collar! It is picking up static from the ships.”
“Or a jamming signal, try a different frequency. Try the low end am band,” The Doctor suggested.
“Doctor, Look.” The nurse was white with horror. Her mouth was gaping open. The monitor showed torpedoes racing toward them. Each moment they doubled in size as they got closer. The room jarred under their feet as anti-torpedo rockets were fired. Explosions pounded the ship. A torpedo struck, the blast threw them all crashing to the floor.
The small ships darted out from behind the smoke. They were on the run, and as they fled they aimed dozens of torpedoes at the ship, the space station, and ranger’s cruisers. There seemed to have an endless supply of torpedoes. The five small pirate ships quickly disappeared into space. One ranger cruiser followed after in angry pursuit.
Stardiver Four vibrated as anti-torpedo rockets were fired. Sick-bay shook with a drumming vibration. Equipment toppled over. A cabinet broke loose and was thrown to the floor. The walls seemed to moan from explosions against other parts of the ship. Somewhere glass crashed.
It grew quiet. The ship held still. On the monitor the escort ship fading in the distance as it pursued the five little pirate ships. The escort’s engines leaving a glow of white plasma trailing behind it. The stars began to twist around it as the hiper-drive deep space engines came to full power. Then it moved too fast to see and was off the screen.
“Well, that’s that.” The Doctor said as he stood up. “Is everybody okay. “ The sick bay was a mess. “We need to clean up quickly, everybody. You know, Tom, a five-minute battle keeps us healers busy for days. Ready?”
“Doc, I don’t think it’s over yet.” Tom’s eyes were fixed on the monitor. Dr. Johnson strode over to look. Two huge space ships slid from behind the planet. They were monstrous battle cruisers, giant and deadly. Every angle seemed to project rocket launchers, torpedo tubes, or cannon of every imaginable type. A swarm of small attack craft began to flow out of their sides like a cloud of bees. On the silver ships were painted the timeless symbol of piracy, the skull and crossbones.
“Clever of them.” The Doctor mused. “The little ships were a trick to draw off the escort.”
A new battle began.
(c) Adron
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