Chaos Quarter by David Welch Page B

Lucius shouted.
    Rex twitched the ship to the left, continuing the barrel roll. The thumping sound slackened as the roll took them out of the path of many of the incoming rounds. On the viewscreen the targeting reticule aligned just forward of the slavers’ engine exhaust. Lucius squeezed the trigger.
    Long Haul ’s forward guns blasted away. The pulse cannon streaked out a dozen shots in as many seconds, white blasts leaping out at near the speed of light. Tracers from the thirty mils cut five converging lines through space. They tore into the engine compartments, blasting a hole through the ship’s thin hull. Explosions rippled within as the engines came apart.
    Rex pushed Long Haul above the slaver ship, rotating the bow downward as he sailed past to keep Lucius’s fire on target. The guns poured it on, raking fire across the top of the ship, then punching into a second engine. Explosions billowed out through the breaches, dying off as they reached space. The rear of the slaver mothership broke free, hurtling off toward the planet below. Oxygen, debris, and slavers were sucked out of the front of the ship, into the vacuum.
    “Jump drive status?” demanded Rex.
    “ Powered and ready. We are too close to the system’s star for a jump , ” the computer replied.
    “Set course for the nearest possible jump position. Max speed.”
    “ Course set , ” the ship replied.
    Lucius leaned back in his seat.
    “What in Hades was all that?” he asked.
    “Slavers,” spat Rex. “At least today they are. Tomorrow they could be pirates or warlords or whatever the fuck nasty thing they think up. If we hadn’t blown them up, that is.”
    “Flexible in their evil,” Lucius spoke. “You were fortunate to get back.”
    Rex nodded, a cynical part of his mind wondering if the Europan meant that he had been fortunate to get Chakrika back.
    “Yeah,” Rex said. ”You may want to go talk to Chaki. She seemed pretty shook up.”
    “Slave raiders have that effect on a person. Additionally, she and I are not involved,” Lucius replied, the last words as empty as the space around them.
    Rex smirked and shook his head.
    “Well, that may be. But this seemed different than your garden variety fear of imminent death. She could probably use some companionship,” Rex replied. “Besides, I have to figure out who our new guest is.”
    * * *
    “Six hours until jump,” Rex announced, entering the cargo bay. Chakrika had the assault rifle pointed at the strange woman, who knelt, statue-still, beside the corpse.
    “What do we do with her?” Chakrika asked, the gun shaking as her hands shook nervously.
    “Damned if I know,” Rex said as he descended the stairway. At the bottom he walked over and took the gun from her.
    “Go check on Quintus,” he suggested. “You know Lucius has no clue when that kid is wet or not.”
    Dried tears had traced red paths down her face, slightly darker than her skin. She nodded weakly. Rex chided himself silently for putting her life in danger, even though he didn’t see any other way he could have safely identified their man. He heard her feet on the ladder as he turned to face his newest passenger.
    “And who are you?” he asked.
    She got to her feet, but stood so immobile that she still reminded him of a statue.
    “This servant is second to this Master.”
    He blinked.
    “What?”
    “This servant is second to—”
    “The Master, yeah, heard that. What is your name?” Rex pressed.
    “This servant’s designation is Second,” she replied.
    “Second, right,” Rex said with a roll of his eyes, “And you worked with this man?”
    He nudged the corpse with his foot.
    “This servant was assigned to service him in his duties.”
    “As Ambassador,” Rex prodded.
    “That was his chosen assignment. This servant was made to service him in these capacities.”
    Rex cocked his head.
    “Wait, you were made? ”
    “This line is designed to possess linguistic knowledge to serve the ambassador in