The Last Horizon by Anthony Hartig

extent, but they weren’t professional soldiers. They were careful in the way they pressed through the cargo bay--they kept their spacing eight feet apart and two constantly scanned the opposite areas to their sides while the pointman focused on what was in front of them. Their only mistake was a fatal one: they neglected their overhead and relied too much on the reconnaissance drone for accurate information. Amateurs.
    Scott attached the flash and soun d suppressor to the pistol and flicked off the safety. As far as he was concerned, they walked right into a kill zone…

    I heard the bulkhead door to the pressure lock slide open, a few seconds passed then the cockpit door opened and a probe trekked into the bridge and came to a hover less than a foot away from my face. I felt the small wafts of air from its power source buffeting gently against my skin and could hear the whirr of small servos as it adjusted its pitch to maintain level flight in front of me.
    “Aviator,” a deep, electronically enhanced voice sounded from behind, “remain facing forward, put your hands on your head, and stand.”
    I raised my arms slowly and laced my finge rs together as I placed them on top of my head. The probe stayed at eye level as I rose to my feet. Why hasn’t Scotty ejected yet? Why is he still on board? I wondered as I stared out the canopy.
    The intruders stood in a half circle around me with their weapons raised. “Pilot, turn and face me.” The one behind me ordered.
    They removed their rebreathers and I was su rprised to see the one to my right was a female. She was a little taller than I was and had straight, platinum blond hair that fell to her shoulders. Her emerald-green eyes were cold and unnerving; I could see her lean frame even with a kevlar vest and rebreather pack on.
    The two men were a little over six feet t all. The tallest of the trio was also the oldest--probably in his mid-forties. He was also the one that gave the orders. His skin was fair, and he had red hair pulled back into a ponytail. He frowned as he eyed me suspiciously. The second male had short, dark hair; and there was a nasty scar that ran from his left temple down to his chin.
    “So you’re the one that interrupted my dinner and pissed-off Seinz.” The younger male said menacingly as he passed his eyes over me. “You’re just his type,” he grinned as he eased his weapon down and took a step closer, “mine too.”
    “Keep it tucke d, Edik.” The female interjected. “No one touches her for now.”
    “Oh c ome on, Echo,” the young male replied as he frowned at his female shipmate, “just let me have a little fun with her. Seinz don’t have to know.”
    “In your dreams, numbnuts.” I growled. “Not in this lifetime or the next.”
    “Woo! I’m gonna have to teach you some manners.” Edik snarled as he leaned into my face.
    I could feel his breath as he brought his head down and sniffed the left side of my neck behind my ear. I turned my head the other way and closed my eyes in disgust. “EEW!”
    “Edik that’s enough!” Echo said firmly. “You’ll have plenty of time to use her later.”
    “Mmmm!” Edik exhaled loudly as he closed his eyes. “You smell delicious…” he smacked.
    “And you…just smell.” I grimaced. “You remind me of something I saw floating in the water closet of a public restroom, except the lump of shit had more personality than you.” I smiled.
    “Why you little…”
    “Give it a rest, Edik.” Echo smirked as she put her hand on his shoulder and pulled him back. She kept her weapon pointed at me. “What was your point of origin, pilot?”
    “ Earth.”
    “What was your destination?”
    “Medusa.”
    “ Solo flight, thousands of miles away from the main shipping lanes, and we didn’t detect any distress signals from you when we fired on your vessel.” Echo stated matter-of-factly. “You’re a smuggler.”
    “That means she has no manifest.” Edik leered.
    Echo shouldered her