Nicholas Smith - Captives

She kept down and got the first Cazador soldier in her sights. Climbing over the starboard rail, long hair pulled back, glistening wet.

Closing one eye, she pulled the trigger.

The bolt flashed through him, and he peeled off the rail. Two more Cazadores took his place, one of them managing to get off a shot before Sandy caught them with short bursts from her assault rifle.

They both vanished over the other side.

Slinging the laser rifle, Katrina ran toward the grappling hooks, drawing her sword as she moved. Another soldier emerged over the rail, head poking out and eyes scanning for a target.

Her blade was there to greet him. A swift stroke opened his neck. He reached up to grab the spurting wound, then fell backward.

Not wasting any time, she leaned over the edge and saw several more men climbing knotted ropes. The closest looked up at her as she cut through the rope. He let out a yelp, his arms flailing air until he bounced off the motorboat he had just climbed out of.

Katrina sheathed the sword and unslung the laser rifle as the comm channel in her helmet crackled.

“Captain, half the boats are ending their pursuit!” Eevi shouted.

Katrina could see multiple lights heading away. Maybe they had caught on to the trap she was laying. Or perhaps they were returning to the capitol tower to deal with Team Raptor.

“Layla, now’s your chance,” she said over the comm. “Take out those boats. Eevi, bring us about. We’re going back in.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Eevi replied.

There was no response from Layla.

“Layla,” Katrina said. “Do you copy?”

The electrical storms were messing with the signal.

Katrina felt the ship begin banking to the left and heard the crunch of the hull obliterating a Cazador vessel. Ten boats were still out here, firing small arms at the warship.

The .50-cal on the bow blazed, riddling another twin-hull craft that was still trying to keep up with the Zion. Then the machine gun fell silent as the last spent casings rained onto the deck.

“That’s all the fifty ammo we got,” Edgar reported. “Three shells on the MK-65 remaining.”

Katrina opened a channel to Layla again.

Please, kid, I need you.

Again her hails went unanswered.

She started back to the bridge with Sandy, keeping low and out of view of any hostile vessels. They were halfway across the deck when gunfire cracked behind them.

Sandy screamed and went sprawling.

Heart thumping, Katrina aimed the laser rifle at a team of four Cazador soldiers moving fast toward them. Before she could take them down, they opened fire, forcing her behind a bulkhead.

Sandy crawled toward Katrina, trailing a streak of blood.

“Captain,” she said. “Captain, help…”

“Be still,” Katrina said.

Gunfire ricocheted off the deck by Sandy, and Katrina moved her laser rifle around the corner to lay down suppressing bolts. Then, breaking cover, she dragged Sandy to safety.

As soon as Sandy was around the bulkhead, Katrina grabbed her laser rifle. She was about to fire again when something punched through the metal wall and slammed into her midsection.

The impact took the air from her lungs, and pain so overwhelmed her that she almost lost consciousness. There was no question the bullet had penetrated her flesh, even with the bulkhead and body armor to slow it down.

Gunfire pounded the deck to her left as she fell.

“Help,” Katrina mumbled over the comm. “We need…”

She looked over at Sandy, who lay to her right. The bulkhead only barely covered both of them. Holes crowned outward as more gunfire ripped through. Someone was shooting armor-piercing rounds.

Katrina tried to speak, but all that came out was a croak. She gritted her teeth and reached out to Sandy. They laced their fingers together just as a round lanced through Sandy’s helmet. Her fingers went limp.

“No…” Katrina choked. She crawled over to the hatch, leaning against it to sit up. Then she drew the sword and waited for the men.

When the first soldier rounded the bulkhead, she jabbed him through the groin and pushed upward. The pain from her abdominal wound was almost too much, but it didn’t stop her. The man had killed her friend, and she wanted him to suffer.

Boots hit the deck, followed by shouts from the other Cazador soldiers. She prepared to meet her end, when the hatch behind her opened.

She fell backward and felt hands under her armpits. Jaideep looked down at her.

“Are you o—” His words cut off at the sight of Sandy’s corpse.

“Where are they?” he asked, anger in his voice.

Katrina lifted her chin in the direction of the approaching enemies.

“Can you walk?”

With his help, she sat up gripping her gut, almost blacking out from the pain.

“I… maybe.”

Jaideep helped her to her feet.

“Let’s get you back inside,” he said.

Katrina looked down at Sandy’s body one more time and then left Jaideep.

“Take the laser rifle,” she said, knowing that these were likely the last words she would ever speak to the courageous young Hell Diver.

Jaideep nodded. “Go, Cap,” he said. “I’ve got this.”

There was no trace of fear in his voice, only anger and confidence. With his brother dead, he had little to lose. The young diver had finally lived up to the family name.

Jaideep Abhaya raised the rifle, truly fearless.

Gunfire cracked behind her as Katrina shut the hatch.

“Come on, you animals!” she heard him yell. “I got a little somethin’ for ya!”

Katrina limped through the passages back to the bridge and locked the hatch behind her. Eevi was standing at her station.

“Captain, you’re…”

“I’m fine,” Katrina lied.

Eevi hesitated as if too shocked to speak.

That makes two of us , Katrina thought.

“Stay with me, Eevi,” she said. “I need a sitrep.”

“We’re almost back to the Metal Islands, and we still have four boats pursuing us, but they’re quite a ways back.”

Katrina brought up the comm line to the command center. “Edgar, fire the remaining MK-65 rounds at those boats. Make ’em count; then help Jaideep, to starboard. We’ve been boarded by at least four hostiles.”

“Copy,” he replied.

She slouched into the captain’s chair and looked down at the blood leaking from around her gloves. Red encroached on both sides of her narrowing vision. She blinked and tried to manage her breathing. She just needed to stay conscious a little longer…

Gunfire cracked outside the bridge, snapping her alert.

An explosion rang off the port side, then the starboard side.

“Two boats down, two left,” Edgar said. “I’ll deal with them in a minute.”

Katrina kept pressure on her wound, but the combination of bruised rib and gunshot wound made breathing a painful chore. Stars broke before her vision, and fear gripped her in that moment.

She had minutes before she lost consciousness.

Stay with it. Your people need you.

Katrina blinked and filled her lungs.

More gunfire cracked outside, followed by shouts.

Edgar returned to the bridge a moment later, assault rifle cradled across his chest. But Katrina wasn’t deceived. She could see blood leaking down the armor over his upper chest.

“Jaideep?” she asked.

Edgar shook his dreadlocks.

“Just us three now,” Katrina said. “Edgar, are you with me?”

He nodded. “Till the end, ma’am.”

“Good. Keep them off the bridge. I just need a few minutes.” She looked over at Eevi. “Go to the cargo hold and take the last Zodiac.”

“Ma’am, no,” Eevi said.

“That’s an order. Your husband is still alive out there. Go find him.”