He had quickly decided it was his best, if not only, chance. But the enemy wasn’t letting up, and
this time a gun barrel cracked against Xandar’s skull. Moaning out of pain, Xandar received one
more kick to his face before blacking out.
Joanna was worried now. Steven was still unconscious from the previous attack by Xandar.
Michael was missing. And though cries of Xandar were a little over a meter from her location,
she could still see nothing. Squinting to give her eyes some “extra” edge, she closed her finger
gradually over the trigger of her needler. Xandar was obviously down. His silence came as no
surprise, for this was one well-trained pirate or stowaway. Understanding both of her crewmates
were unconscious and most likely on the ground, Joanna quickly devised a plan. She would
spread needler fire across the open space of the room. Splintered plastic from most needlers
maintained very little ricochet capability. If she peppered the entire room around chest height, she
would probably injure this pirate without killing her friends or herself in the process.
Stretching her arm across her chest, Joanna fired the needler. Starting off to her left, she quickly
spread her stream of high velocity plastic across the room’s tight confines. Finishing her sweep to
the right, she exhaled softly. Something wasn’t right; the pirate hadn’t even been shot, let alone
revealed his location. Firing the constant stream, she had wasted almost an entire block of the
polymer. Joanna decided to lunge for the hatchway. After jumping through the opening she
began to run down the corridor and out of the smoke. Seeing more clearly now, she made out 2
figures in front of her standing near the corridor corner. Joanna flailed out her right arm to reveal
her needler. She quickly shredded the face of the larger of the pair. Maintaining a run toward
them, she trained the needler on the other, smaller pirate. A high-pitched hiss revealed the
needler out of plastic. Screaming out, she flung it at the smaller man. Though mildly distracted by
the action, he pulled a small holdout laser pistol on her. He began to grin as he closed one eye.
Joanna tried to jump to the ground, but before she could she heard a shot from behind her. It
was the other pirate probably, and she was dead. He’d taken advantage of her problems to get
a perfect aim, and now his bullet would end her debacle.
But the bullet didn’t hit. Instead a red-hot beam passed just above Joanna’s head. Her hair was
nearly sublimed by the heat, but instead caught fire. Her scalp felt flash-burned and her heart
nearly stopped. Just in front of her the small pirate hit the floor, his jaw cracking as it crunched
into the hard floor. Blood pooled out of the man’s head towards her, but before it could reach
her she jumped to her feet.
Joanna’s head was still ablaze, but not for long. Before her stood the other pirate, the clever one,
the one whom had lured her from the safety of the command room. He was wearing infrared
goggles of some brand, flashing her his ugly grin. She could almost smell his filth just before he
uppercut her in the belly. The punch landed hard, forcing Joanna’s diaphragm to retreat from the
blow. She gasped for air while maintaining eye contact with her attacker. The man was definitely
intimidating, but not in looks so much as previous actions. His thin body looked weak to Joanna.
She could not understand how such a man had so easily taken care of Michael and Xandar.
Desperate, she tried to knock the pirate over by rushing forwards. The momentum of her sudden
attack failed her. The pirate side stepped her attack and slapped the top of her head, putting out
the fire in one fell swoop of his outstretched hand. Gasping a second time for air, she looked up
to him as his right fist passed across her nose. Joanna heard her bones crack under the blow. “I
must ignore the pain!” she thought. Refusing to give up, she decided to fight with newfound fury.
She recovered from the punch with a knee to the pirate’s groin, actually making contact with her
target. The man released an “UMPH!”. Gradually straightening himself, he approached her as
she continued gasping for air. His left elbow lashed out at her cheekbone to drive Joanna down
on her left side. She landed with a thud. Though she picked herself up, her eyes began to fail her.
Her nerves were now against her. Nearly vomiting, she received a right hook to her already
weakened right cheek. This blow pressed harder yet, fracturing both the pirate’s knuckles as
well as Joanna’s jaw. Her eyes dripped tears of pain, and the pirate yelped out as his fist
recoiled from her face.
This time the pirate let off. He turned his back to Joanna as she fell to her left side once again.
Releasing a hellish moan, Joanna struggled to find a new polymer ammo block she had earlier
strapped to her belt. Grasping the block, she realized her needler had been lost in the fray. She
looked around madly. It was nowhere in sight. Had the pirate taken it from her? Picking herself
up once again, she slowly walked towards the green smoke. It was a poor decision but it was
her only way out.
But was it actually her only way out? Joanna suddenly remembered the smaller pirate’s holdout
laser pistol. If the weapon were not a “one shot” it would serve her well against the bearded
pirate. She turned around quickly. The fight had sapped much of her strength. Her tired body
failed her. She fell to the floor now a third time. Crawling to the dead pirate, she reached the
pistol. After checking its battery she discovered it good for another 2 or even 3 shots. She
turned back once again, facing the smoke. But this time no one came. Instead the dropship’s
commline thundered to life.
"ATTENTION. ATTENTION. All invading pirates report to the command center of this
dropship. This is fellow pirate BECKETT. I repeat, all onboard pirates report to command
center. We have successfully taken over the dropship and are now awaiting orders from our
commander, the pirate king of Butte Hold and this entire star system, REDJACK RYAN."
Joanna's hopes dropped as she realized just what this pirate Beckett had said. All surviving
pirates were now on their way to her location. Her newly salvaged laser pistol could only kill 2
or 3 of the enemy invaders. She would have to make her way back into the command center to
capture the other weapons.
Looking to the command center Joanna noticed the green smoke was now clearing. She also
noticed her captain, Michael Farraday, laying on the ground in a stooped over heap. Anxiously
she began to run to him. She would wake him from his unfortunate slumber and he could help her
to kill these pirates.
Reaching Michael, she turned him over onto his back. His face looked peaceful, and there were
no signs of gunshot wounds or blood. Smiling she gently slapped the side of his face, calling his
name. "Michael, Michael. Get up. We have to kill this bastard. He's taken control of the ship!"
Nervously she looked up, trying to stay alert in case the pirate chose to open the command
hatchway and try to kill her. But she could see no sign of him inside the smoky room.
"Michael, come on Michael." Joanna carefully looked him over, fearing the worst. Then she saw
what her mind had warned her of, a small hole in the right side of Michael's chest. He had been
shot by a laser pistol, probably the pistol she now held in her hands. The heat had cauterized the
wound but savaged Michael's insides. He had probably bled to death, the wound leaking blood
into his chest cavities while sealing it off from the outside world. Joanna checked his pulse.
Michael, her captain, was dead. His panic attacks had left him vulnerable.
