Nothing happened.
Ranek tried as well, but the sight on the screen continued to follow the pirate; no shot rang out.
Correction. They had no robots left. But the sentinels had done their job, buying their ride off the planet extra time to get here. The pirates had spent a while dodging shots from the rooftop before even reaching the door. Now their allies were already cornering the delivery vessel and its crooked captain in space. Maya and Ranek just had to hold out until they got here.
The camera was still working though, and now that the way was clear, more pirates came. One of them was holding a plasma cutter.
“How long before they get through the door?”
“No need to get through the whole door. Just the lock. A few minutes at most. But they will not expect to have to get through the netting and furniture.”
It wasn’t just any netting either, but the tough stuff meant to haul equipment through the mines. Ranek had stacked all the furniture that wasn’t bolted down in the station in the front room, right in front of the door and windows, then secured the netting over it all. The guy must’ve been a Tetris champion in his past life because that wall of functional metal and composite was solid.
Even if they managed to cut a hole through the whole mess, only one of them would be able to get in at a time, making it easy for Ranek to pick them off.
And if any of them tried to get in through the other tunnel entrance, Ranek and Maya had set a makeshift alarm system to alert them in advance if anything larger than a baby tunnel verlak was coming through the mine. The pirates would find it just as difficult to breach that.
What they hadn’t expected was the pirates to give up on the doors and windows completely the moment they realized they were not a viable option.
“What the hell are they doing?” Maya asked as they started to bring out large pieces of metal and strap them to the front of their transports.
“Fuck.” Ranek ushered her into the hallway connected to the front room, his eyes still on the feed on his screen. “They’re going to ram the walls.”
Fuck indeed!
They were willing to demolish the entire station just to get at them. Maya wondered how many credits were promised.
She was a puppy trainer from Earth. She’d worked for a shitty big chain pet store for goodness’s sake. She was no Cesar Millan. Commander Chaos was special because he was one of the first, but there would be plenty more of them once they had had the chance to work their magic. Taming and training dragus really wasn’t that difficult.
Maybe it was Ranek’s bounty. She wondered if they wanted him alive. What if the bounty was for him dead or alive? Was his life in danger?
Maya reached out to grasp his arm even as the first impact rattled the station.
Commander Chaos snarled and lunged at the sound, and Ranek scooped him up into his arms.
“We will retreat to the supervisor’s quarters,” he said as he led them down the corridor.
It was the most defensible room in the station, and according to the station blueprints, the walls leading to the hallway were reinforced. It still wouldn’t keep them out long, but it would buy them some time.
A chime from Ranek’s comm had Maya remembering to actually breathe as she ran. Faith’s voice came over the speakers. “We’re almost there. And our guys outnumber them. Better armed too. Just hang on a few more minutes.”
They were at the door to the room now, and to Maya’s surprise, Ranek grabbed her and kissed her so hard on the lips she wondered if his fangs had nicked her.
“You are and will always be mine, Maya. You have my devotion forever.” Then, before she could respond, Ranek shoved her and Commander Chaos into the room and closed the door.
What the hell? The idiot was trying to play hero!
No way! She wasn’t going to let him get hurt for her. She tried the door, but it would not open. She hadn’t known it could even be locked from the outside.
“Ranek! Come back. We can wait it out together!”
There was no reply. And she was wrong anyway because the next impact that hit the building was so loud that she knew thepirates were in. Overcome with worry for Ranek, she slammed her fists on the door a few more times.
There was the sound of fighting outside, and Maya could do nothing but pound on the door.
After what felt like an eternity, Ranek’s comm chimed from the floor. He’d left it inside the room for her.
“Maya?”
