Page 22 of Crossing Quinn

The first thing I noticed was the unceasing rumble of arriving and departing ships. A cluster of plasticrete bunkers, repair hangers, and warehouses surrounded the spaceport.

Most of the vessels were marked with a bloody sword, telling the entire galaxy, they were pirates. Slaver ships had screaming skulls painted on their hulls. A bulky Tai-Kok slaughter ship and several bullet-shaped Marauders sat next to a hodge-podge of buildings.

The auction block was surrounded by cages packed with a variety of species. The females were naked, and their expressions of hopeless despair made me madder than hell.

An alarm began to wail.

The security forces had discovered I was missing.

A guard stepped out of Dolon’s ship and raised a tracking scanner.

Drekk. My illusions didn’t work on tracking scanners. I ducked into a warehouse filled with expensive electronic goodies and a nice assortment of weapons. Laser pistols, top-of-the-line Asus laser rifles, thermite grenades, stun grenades, and battle armor. Of course, none of the armor would fit me. I grabbed a weapons belt, a laser pistol, and stuffed nine of the thermites and a couple of stun grenades into my pockets.

“She’s in the western quadrant of warehouse two,” a male voice called.

Time to do what the enforcers had been unable to do: release the prisoners and destroy the slavers’ base. I set the timers on several of the grenades. I left one sitting on each crate of grenades, turned, and gaped in astonishment at dozens of photon torpedoes. They were military grade and could do a tremendous amount of damage. Or not. I rolled several of the thermite grenades under them.

“I’ve got a visual on the runner. Deploying the stun net!” a guard yelled.

A dazzling green ball shot toward me.

In my mind’s eye, I saw where it would hit me and ducked behind a metal beam fifteen seconds before it would have trapped me. The netting wrapped around the beam and shorted out in an eye-dazzling display of green and yellow sparks.

I tossed a grenade at my pursuers and ran out of the warehouse.

Bam!A blinding flash of light was followed by screaming. Whoosh! Flames raced across the greasy floor.

Ooops. Wrong grenade. I took cover behind a plasticrete barrier.

A minute later, all hell broke loose as the warehouse blew with a thunderous cracking BOOM! The ground shuddered and shook as blazing shrapnel flew in every direction and set buildings on fire. Thick black smoke blotted out the three moons shining brightly in the night sky.

I flinched when a flying door crashed down beside me. I might have overdone the explosives just a tad.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!The torpedoes exploded. The rocketing shards of flaming metal decapitated two angry Tai-Kok charging toward me.

More of the monsters swarmed out of the ship. I pulled my laser pistol and vaporized each one of them. Utter satisfaction filled me. They wouldn’t be eating any more children.

The fire quickly spread across the compound. The smell of burning plasticrete was nauseating.

Terrified cries sounded from the prisoners. Drekk. I needed to release them before they burned alive. Ducking and dodging the still falling debris, I ran over to the holding cells.

“Help us. Help us!” a female shrieked, yanking on the door.

“Step away from the door.”

Once she complied, I hurriedly shot the control panel. All the cell doors opened, and I got knocked on my butt as the frantic captives bolted.

Everyone disappeared into the darkness without even a thank you.

KABLOOEY!A titanic explosion erupted, sending pieces of metal whooshing over my head. A thick column of black smoke belched high into the night sky.

Whoa! I took shelter under the Tai-Kok slaughter ship as pieces of plasticrete and metal rained down. Thwap. Bap-bap. Thop. Bang.

The spaceport lights flickered and died. Huh? Must have hit the power generator, and hopefully, their planetary defenses were down too. This would be the perfect time for the enforcers to swoop in and close this place down permanently.

Flames poured from my uncle’s ship. I grinned when I spotted Dolon with a small fire extinguisher trying to put the fire out. Good luck with that.

Now all I had to do was borrow a ship and get back to Qeeturah. I took one look at the badly damaged spacecrafts littering the landing strips and groaned. Without Papa to rein me in, I had been a bit heavy-handed with the explosives. The only vessel that looked flyable was the Tai-Kok slaughter ship, and there was no way I was stepping foot in it.

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