THE CAPTAIN’S DILEMMA

“Attention all crewmembers, prepare for hostile boarding,” the computerized voice repeated over the intercom. “This is not a drill.”

Cedric pressed the visor of his helmet to the crack between the door and the casing. The corridor pulsed with the red glow of a warning light. He’d wedged himself into a small closet, wearing his full spacesuit despite that the life support systems were online. At least he wouldn’t float around.

Then he heard the saw. Sparks sprayed from the ceiling in the next room, or, at least, it was the ceiling from his current perspective. That was exactly where he’d expected the pirates to board. Six months ago, he had been one of them. He betrayed the pirate syndicate, and now they were here for his head.

He watched the scorched line left by the photon saw race across the ceiling, tracing out a rough circle. The panel burst free, and the pirates launched through headfirst, upside-down from Cedric’s point of view. Each one bore a hefty laser rifle that would be unwieldy except in zero gravity. Tiny thrusters on their suits enabled them to fly through ships, exterminating the crew. Little did they know, they would find nothing but a bridge full of androids.

This was Cedric’s trap, not theirs. He captained this frigate for the Nantean Space Force and had leaked his own flight plans. Unless he was believed dead, the pirates would hunt down their betrayer and his new crew forever, which meant that he had to trick both the syndicate and The Nantean Confederation.

Cedric counted eight pirates. He recognized them all despite their armored spacesuits; he’d pillaged and stolen alongside these rugged men. The person he was looking for, his former superior, wasn’t among them. “There are probably only two more on their ship,” he thought, “and one of them is Raid Leader Drezden Groll.” He fingered the laser pistol in his hand.

After the intruders jetted past, he slowly, silently slid the closet door open. Kicking off the wall, he glided into the other room. The drifting roof panel nearly knocked him off course. He tucked his legs in, rotating ninety degrees, and then sprang straight into the hole.

The guard, nicknamed Grinder, was staring at the computer screen built into his arm, oblivious. Cedric put twin laser holes through the back of his old friend. He made his way to the cockpit, pushing off the walls and swinging himself around the corners in a memorized rhythm, and grabbed hold of the handle just outside to stop.

The stentorian voice of Drezden Groll rattled the door. “I don’t care what you have to do; get in there!”

No doubt, the pirates back on the frigate were trying to break down the doors to the bridge. Cedric would have to wait for Drezden to switch off the communicator so that the others wouldn’t overhear his intrusion.

“Squad B, what did you find?”

Cedric moved his ear closer to hear the reply. “Munitions. The bay is chock-full of the most potent ammo. It’s a big score!”

“We’ll take whatever we can, but I don’t think we can get a tug out here before the Space Force shows up.”

“Yes, sir.”

Cedric waited a second more before punching in a familiar sequence of numbers on the code pad. His whole plan hinged on the hope that Drezden hadn’t changed the passcode. Sure enough, the door slid away.

“What do you want, Grinder?” the raid leader hissed as he faced the doorway. His eyes got big when he saw that it wasn’t his idle lackey and froze that way when a laser blazed through his skull.

Pushing the corpse away, Cedric buckled into the pilot’s seat and put his hands to the controls. First, he sealed the airlock. The boarding clamps released, and the raid ship popped off. He put distance between the two vessels and then set the raid ship to ram. As it charged toward the frigate, he rushed back to the airlock. He typed in the code for an emergency exit, and space vacuumed him out at break-neck speed.

Cedric had one more trick up his sleeve. He dug a remote out of his pocket, careful not to lose his grip. The remote was for a detonator planted in the ammunition. It wasn’t odd to him to see the ships collide without a sound or to watch the silent explosion shred them like paper airplanes. The official report would speculate that a firefight in the cargo bay had set off the volatile payload, leaving no survivors on either side.

He closed his eyes to keep from becoming nauseous as he tumbled endlessly through the cosmos. Occasionally, he took a peek to see how wide the debris had spread. One shard caught up to him. He brushed his hand across the twisted metal as it speared past.

Hours later, his back slammed against something, a small spacecraft. One of Cedric’s crewmen drifted out to him with a cable to pull him inside. They were free. They would go to an unfamiliar human colony and start new lives under new identities.