“Tell them you won’t hurt them!” I finally shout out as the whole ship spins head over heels again.
“What is she doing here?” Kronos shouts back. They are locked to their consoles, unable to move as the ship spins. It occurs to me that’s why Sharp tried to put me in a strapped-down table. He was probably trying to keep me out of danger once the ship’s gravity systems stopped working properly. He should have mentioned that. Did he mention that? I can’t remember. I am six kinds of upside down.
Sharp brings the ship to a halt to stop the spinning.
All three of them turn around to look at me.
“I’m fine,” I say. I am mostly fine. My hair is all over my face, and I’m bleeding from the nose, but I guess you get that when you’re being thrown around the bridge of a spaceship.
“I’m sorry. I know this isn’t what you wanted me to do,” I apologize to Sharp. “I didn’t realize about the restraints and stuff, and I wanted to see…”
“Get her off the bridge!” Kronos booms.
But they can’t because they are in an all hands on deck sort of situation right now and nobody has a free hand to drag me away and beat me.
“I told you we have to be harsher with her this time around,” Kronos says. “Every time we showed weakness, she took advantage of it.”
“Oh, fuck off,” I curse at him. “I’m not afraid of you.”
Pew! Boom!
The ship shudders as we take fire. How the tables turn.
“I have to move,” Sharp says. “And we’re not going to be running gravity systems. Come here. Now.”
I go to him, and he wraps me up in front of him, sort of like a kid on the handlebars of another kid’s bike. The security straps ensconce the pair of us as Sharp once more sends the ship into a series of violent turns and exciting spins that make me giggle and laugh with excitement.
Speaking of excitement, I think I can feel two thick rods of anticipation pressing against my back. He’s turned on by my excited wriggling in front of him.
“Are you firing, Boss, Kronos?” Sharp calls back. “Not seeing a lot of hostile action on this screen. Sligtonian shields are about to drop completely.”
It’s such a fucking mess, and I love it. The Sligtonians deserve everything they have coming to them. I don’t know who the pirates are, but I am on their side. It’s a pity one of their ships already got absolutely toasted. As Sharp does his best to chase the attackers away, I enjoy watching the Sligtonians get fucking nailed.
“We have human cargo!” the Slig captain shouts, not to us, but to the attackers. “We’ll share it with you if you spare us.”
The pirate ships respond with a fresh barrage of fire to the belly of the ship. Trying to use humans as shields has not worked. Life is cheap in deep space.
“Fuck. We have to save them so the humans don’t die,” I curse. “Can we talk to the pirates?”
“Stay out of this please, pet,” Sharp says. I can feel his focus behind me. He wants to kill those pirates. He’s not happy that the clients are begging for their lives. It makes it seem like my mates are not doing their jobs. Probably because they’re not. I’m a real distraction.
He hits the button to talk to people.
“Pirate attackers,” he says. “Flee and I will allow you to go. Keep attacking and you will have no chance of survival.”
There’s a brief hiss through the mic.
“How about you try to survive,” the lady pirate says. “You’re taking damage too, bitch.”
“I like her. She seems fun,” I say.
Sharp makes an annoyed sound. “I still had the channel open. She would have heard you.”
“Who is that?” The female newly minted captain speaks over the intercom.
I hit the button I saw Sharp hit before.
“Who is who? Who is me?”
