CHAPTER TWELVE
COMMANDER ZOQ KANE
We were in a situation. The situation was critical. There was so much that I wanted to say to Heather, and before we were interrupted, there was something that she was going to tell me as well. But I could not focus on that right now. We had three ships on our tail. Now they were firing at us. I knew instantly that it was the opposition. I had to focus very hard to maneuver away from the onslaught of blasts coming our way. I would not let anyone harm her. Since they were shooting at us, they were not trying to capture us. They just wanted us dead.
“Captain Blace must have gotten a message to the opposition fighters based on Tiok. They are trying to kill us. Normally traitors would be caught; he is obviously pissed to order this kind of death squad to come after us,” I said.
“Death squad?” she said with fear.
“They have one purpose. They are trying to make our ship explode. They want to get rid of us, not capture us,” I said as I maneuvered straight into the field of asteroids.
“Oh God,” she whispered.
“Don't worry, Heather. I will not let you down. We are going to get out of this. I am very familiar with this asteroid field. I know that the opposition fighters are not. I'm going to take care of you; I promise you that,” I said as I pushed the ship into full speed straight toward a giant floating rock.
“I am scared, Zoq,” she whispered.
“We will get out of this,” I said to her. “Keep your belt on and hold on tight. We are going to be rolling through some sharp moves,” I said. Then I maneuvered the ship past a massive floating rock that was the size of a small moon. I had used it before. I was very familiar with this area. I flew around it to the backside and then hit the brakes on the ship.
“You are stopping? What are you doing? They are going to shoot us,” Heather whispered.
“Trust me,” I said to her. I used the large rock as a shield, getting as close to it as I could. Within seconds, the 3 small transporters flew directly by us.
“I am locking onto one of them,” I said as I got one of the transports that seemed to be the one leading the squad in firing range. Then I fired. I watched as the transport blew up.
“Direct hit. But now we have to chase them before they get behind us,” I said as I moved the ship full speed ahead after the two transports. The hunted had now become the hunter. I had to stay behind them as much as I could, firing at them.
“Are they slowing down? It looks like they are slowing down,” Heather said in a panic.
“Yes, you are right. They are going to try to get behind me,” I said. Then in a flash, the two transports split. One went left, and the other went right. I went straight ahead.
“Damn it; they split up. They are going to go around an asteroid to get behind me,” I said. I had an idea. I flew straight up instead of going straight forward. “This will throw them off a bit, but they still have me on radar,” I said. “They just won’t know that I am above them.”
It was eerily empty around us for a few moments, except for the rocks. The opposition fighters were blinking on my radar, but I could not see them. They seemed to be directly below me. I looked out the windshield trying to gage where they were. Then one shot up directly in front of me out of nowhere.
“Firing!” I shouted as I took aim and fired. The ship exploded. I maneuvered away from the blast, but we still went through some of the aftershock ripple. The ship shook. I regained control.
“Where is the other one? Come on, where are you?” I said as I looked around. I looked at the radar. The third transport was not on it. “It’s not on radar.”
“Maybe it’s retreating. It’s now alone so it is probably giving up before you take it down too,” Heather said.
“I think you might be right,” I said as I turned to her and grinned. She let out a sigh of relief.
“I told you we would make it,” I said.
She smiled at me. I enjoyed seeing her brilliant smile again. Her blue eyes sparkled and she was almost glowing. I wanted to pull her into my arms right then and there. I wanted to take her on the bench and never let her go. But there was work to do.
“Yes, you did. You are a great pilot,” she said with a smile.
“You are in good hands,” I said to her.
“I am going to stay in this field for as long as we can. We are still going in the direction of my planet, but this will give us some cover for now. I am going to analyze the ship and make sure that it has not been damaged,” I said. I moved my attention back to the console and began to analyze for any damage.
“I was really scared there. There were so many of them,” she said.
“I understand. Fear is good. Fear keeps you from making dumb mistakes and from being to over confident. I have been in many space battles; I assume this is your first?” I asked her.
She laughed, “Yes, this is my first.”
It was good to laugh with her again. We were being light-hearted and flirty despite the situation. This was how it was in the beginning with us, and I craved it. I could feel the tension leaving her. I myself was also relieved, and after 20 minutes, it seemed like we had definitely lost the last transport. We were coming to the edge of the asteroid field and would be losing our cover. It seemed as though we did not need it anymore.
“This is the last of the asteroids and rocks. We will be entering empty space once more. But we are very close to Kelon. Only half a day or so before we can see the planet before us.”
“I am glad for it. It will be good to stand on land again,” she said.
“I am going to engage the autopilot once more. I need to check on a few things in the engine room. They are showing up when I analyzed the ship for damage. It is only minor wiring, but I should fix it while I have the chance,” I said to her.
She looked at me as though she were impressed. “You can do that?”
“Yes, I can. There is a lot that I can do,” I whispered to her seductively. She smiled. I set the autopilot on the course back to Kelon. Then I unbuckled and made my way to the back of the ship. “Stay buckled in for now. Keep an eye out for me, will you?” I said with a wink.
“Yes, I will be your co-pilot,” she laughed.
“You are one sexy co-pilot,” I said.
I made my way to the back of the ship and pulled on a panel on the floor. It led me down to the engine room. I went to work. There were minor repairs that needed to be done due to the damage of the laser blast. I spent an hour down in the engine room making the repairs. I had lost track of time. I should have come back up at 30 minutes and checked on the radar. But I did not, and it was a huge mistake. While I was working on the wiring, it took the radar out temporarily making it go off and on. There was a jolt that threw me across the engine room. It was such a hard force that I hit the opposite wall hard. I felt a piercing sensation on my side.
“Zoq! Zoq! They are firing at us!” I heard Heather shout from above. Crap, it was the opposition again. I looked down at the piercing sensation in my side. It was then that I realized that I was impaled by a pipe that was sticking out of the wall. It went straight through my entire body, from my back out through the front, just above my hip. I grunted in pain. This was not good.
Another jolt let me know that we were still being fired on. I had to get to the flight deck and take the ship out; hopefully, it was just the one that got away from before. If there were many, then I would not be able to fly us out of this one, not with this injury. I could hear Heather screaming. I had to get to her. I had to fight to stay alive, to keep her alive. It was all that mattered. I was gravely wounded; I did not know if I would survive this type of wound. But I was going to get her safely to Kelon, even if it killed me. Nothing else mattered now. I squeezed my eyes shut and clamped my teeth together as I moved forward slowly, pulling myself off of the pipe. I groaned in pain. Finally, I was free of the pipe. I quickly move to the table where I was doing repairs. I had a very thick cord of heavy-duty material. I tied it around myself just above my hip to keep pressure on the wound both from the back and the front. I tied it tightly. I crawled up the ladder to the main floor of the flight deck.
“I'm coming, Heather,” I said to her hoarsely.
I saw her turn back toward me. Her eyes grew wide. She was still belted in her seat, and I was glad for it. If she had got up to move around, the jolt would have thrown her across the transport, and she could be just as injured as I was.
“What happened to you? Oh my God! You are bleeding,” she said as her hands went to the belt.
“Don't! Don't move! Don't take off that belt. I'm coming to you. It is just a minor injury,” I said as I struggled to walk toward her.
“That does not look minor,” she said.
“Tell me what's going on. What do you see?” I said as I made it to my seat and belted myself in. I rebooted the radar.
“I think it is the same transport from before,” she said.
I looked at the radar as it came up. There was one ship behind us. I turned off the autopilot and began evasive maneuvering, zigzagging across space so that it could avoid hitting us directly. I knew that a few laser blasts had already hit us, but it did not hit us in a way to take down the ship. They were surface hits. “I think you are right. It looks like it has been following us and finally caught up with us. I'm going to take it out.”
“You are bleeding so much. What can I do?” she said with tears in her voice.
“Stay calm; just stay calm,” I said.
I maneuvered the ship and moved it to the right in a big ring as fast as it would go. It was so fast that it flattened us against the seat. But it worked. I came behind the transport in seconds. It was the same one from before. I was surprised that it had not given up. Clearly, Captain Blace was very adamant that I should be taken out. It was probably because I knew too much. I was a great threat to the opposition now, having been on the inside.
“Firing,” I groaned the word. Then I took the shot. Boom, the transport exploded in front of us. I maneuvered away from it. I checked the radar. There was nothing on it.
“I think that is the only one,” I said.
“I have to see to that wound. What happened?” Heather asked.
“I am setting her back on auto pilot on a course to the Kelon village,” I said, putting the ship back on course because I knew already that I was too wounded to deal with flying the ship from this moment on.
“Take off that belt around your waist. Let me see the wound; let me help,” she said, unbuckling her belt and standing up.
“No! Whatever you do, do not take this belt off. I have a major wound. I was impaled from the back all the way through the front by a pipe. The belt is keeping pressure on it. Do not take it off,” I said to her. Her eyes grew wide.
“Oh my God, Zoq. that is a very serious injury. What can I do? Quick, come lie down on the bench,” she said.
“Yes, I will in just a few seconds. Heather, you must listen to me and listen to me closely. The ship is now in your hands. I can feel myself growing weaker. I don't know how much longer I will be able to stay conscious.”
“What? No. You are going to be fine. We are going to get through this together,” she said frantically.
“Listen to me. The ship is on autopilot and will get you to Kelon. But we need to contact them. I need to tell them what has happened and that you are in control. They will be able to guide you with what to do. This way you don't have to do it alone. We are in range to receive transmissions from them. I am setting it up now,” I said as I pushed on the communication panel.
“Me? But what if we are attacked again? Please don't pass out. Come lie down and let me put more pressure on that wound. What kind of medications are on this ship?” she asked.
“Heather, see to the ship first and to me second. I will not have you stranded in space because of me. Do not worry too much about what is going to happen to me. The only thing that matters is that you arrived on the planet safely.”
“No, that is not all that matters. It matters that you live. That is the only thing that matters to me,” she said.
The communication screen popped up in projection form. It was in the process of trying to make contact. I could feel my body growing heavy. I needed to get to the bench to lay down. Sitting upright in the seat would not be a good way to pass out with this type of injury.
“It is connecting. I need to get to the bench,” I said, unbuckling the belt and standing up slowly.
“Let me help you,” Heather said as she came to my side. She helped me walk to the bench in the midsection of the transport. She was crying. I could tell that she was really scared. I did not want to tell her that the possibility of me surviving a wound like this was very low. I wished I had been in Dragon form, because the hard scales would have prevented this pipe from going through me. But there was no reason to be in Dragon form in the engine room, nor was there space for it. Now I had to deal with this, and there would not be a lot of time. I laid down, and Heather ran to the counter and grabbed two large pieces of cloth. She set one underneath my back right on the wound as I laid on top of it. It was good pressure. Then she set another on top of the wound by my hip. Then she placed a heavy bag on it. My eyes were closing. I could barely keep them open. I was drifting off. I was passing out.
“No, wake up, Zoq. Please. Please stay with me. What else can I do? Tell me where the medication is! Please don’t leave me alone,” she cried as she held pressure on the bag on top of me.
“I am right here, Heather. I am not leaving you. I need you to listen to the Draqua I have contacted. They will get us to Kelon safely, and fast. Do you understand?” I whispered in my weakened state.
“Yes, I understand,” she said.
“Come in. Identify yourself,” I heard a Draqua voice say from the communication panel.
“Go, Heather. Identify yourself using my name. Tell them what has happened. They will help you,” I said, trying to encourage her to leave my side.
“Okay, okay,” she said as she ran to the front of the ship. I could hear her talking as I began to drift off.
“We need help! We have an emergency situation. Commander Zoq Kane is on this transport and has been injured. My name is Heather Maven, from Earth. I don't know what to do. The commander called you. Please help us. Please help me. I don't know what to do,” she said over and over.
I could hear the pain in her voice. I wanted to gather all of my strength to help her. I did not want to leave her helpless on a strange ship in space with the opposition hunting us. But as much as I struggled to gather my strength, it did not work. Then I lost consciousness.