Galaxy of Heroes

Jod strode across the hangar to them. He stopped and looked down at Genie who was working on Grimes’ open head wound.

The two Craaldans behind Jod stared icily at Spade.

“Greetings, Captain Casey,” Jod said. “It is a pleasure to see you again. Is this Captain Spade?”

“No,” Capt. Casey said. “This is a mechanic I hired to flush the sanitary station on my ship. Spade left Portogallos, from what I’ve heard.”

The Craaldan officer wearing the executioner blade turned his focus to Capt. Casey. She felt his stare burning into her with such intensity that it made her sweat and shift in her boots.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Is that him?” Jod asked the two Craaldans behind him.

Chank nodded his head, staring at Capt. Spade with fire in his yellow eyes.

“Sergeant Chank,” Spade said. “I thought you were dead.”

“No. And I have not forgotten your betrayal on Naos,” Chank said, in the low, gravelly tones of his species.

“I did not betray you, Sergeant,” Spade said. “You were betrayed by your Noctish advisors.”

Chank’s hand shot out and clutched Spade by the throat.

Capt. Casey stepped back and pulled her firearm.

“Call him off, Jod,” Capt. Casey said. “My sights are aimed at you. I will blow your head off.”

Jod ducked behind a row of metal crates as Capt. Casey fired off a shot, which shredded a crate in an explosion of sparks.

With lightning speed, Genie jumped up and struck Chank in the chest with her open palm, throwing the big Craaldan back. Genie pulled Spade from Chank’s long, serrated fingers.

The Craaldan officer next to Chank unsheathed his blade.

Chank and Spade both drew their firearms and aimed them at each other.

“Stop this!” Jod demanded.

Chank fired his weapon which discharged a powerful blast of molten metal. Genie pulled Spade down. The hot slug blasted over them and blew out a large section of the hangar behind them.

The Craaldan officer whipped his blade at Capt. Casey, but Genie blocked the blow with her forearm. Genie kicked at the big Craaldan and sent him hurtling onto his back.

Capt. Casey jumped for cover behind some crates and blasted away with her M-2, while Chank and the Craaldan officer fired back. The Craaldan weapons pulverized swathes of crates and blew out sections of the back wall of the hangar with each fiery shot. The back-and-forth barrage of gunfire filled the hangar with a deafening roar of cracks, pops and booms. Sparks, flame and flying metal exploded through the air as metal crates and large sections of the hangar were hit by detonating rounds.

Jod loped for cover behind the shuttle.

“So this is why you wanted Captain Spade?” Capt. Casey shouted after him. “To turn him over to a couple of Craaldan assassins?”

“Yes,” Jod shouted back from his hiding place. “Captain Spade is invaluable to the defense of this planet. Through him, I can save us all.”

Grimes groaned. Even with half his skull removed and his brain exposed, he had taken up a fighting position behind a metal strut and was taking aim with his firearm and firing off shots.

“You had better attend to your patient, cyborg,” Jod said. “He appears to be dying.”

“Get Grimes out of here,” Spade called out to Genie. “I’ll cover you.”

Spade stood up and fired off a rapid succession of shots at the Craaldans, who ducked behind a row of crates. Genie darted forward and scooped up Grimes and then sprinted out of a hole in the hangar wall that had been created by one of Chank’s blasts.

Spade looked over at Capt. Casey. She was in an exposed position. Several of the Craaldan blasts had nearly struck her. For some reason, their shots at him went wide, serving only to keep his head down and prevent him from fleeing. But they were shooting to kill Capt. Casey.

“OK, let’s talk,” Spade called out from his hiding place. “What do you want, Jod?”

There was a momentary silence.

“We have come to capture you,” the Craaldan officer said from behind a stack of crates, “and return you to higher headquarters on Goff so that you can be tortured and your brain compressed and run through a neuron analyzer.”

“Well, why didn’t you just say so?” Spade said.

“What is this about, Jod?” Capt. Casey demanded. “These Craaldans are not deserters. Who are they?”

“I am Lieutenant Zeth,” the higher-ranking Craaldan said, “an intelligence officer of the Craaldan Empire sent to capture Captain Jace Spade. Our higher command has deemed him a high-value target. This human, Spade, is suspected to be an agent of the Noctish species and is wanted for the deaths of a Craaldan general, a brigade commander, a sergeant major and thousands of infantry soldiers attached to the Craadan 17th Fleet. This human will be tortured for his crimes and his brain will be dissected in order to collect intel on Noctish treachery.”

“You bastards murdered my crew,” Spade shouted.

Capt. Casey looked over at Spade from her hiding place behind a smoldering stack of crates. “You killed a Craaldan general?” she asked.

“The Noctish are your enemy, not me,” Spade called out to the Craaldans. “I was betrayed by Professor Mahlis, same as you.”

“Your words will be confirmed or disproved in the dissection,” Lt. Zeth said.

Lt. Zeth and Sgt. Chank were moving behind the crates, attempting to gain a better firing position. Capt. Casey fired off shots to keep their heads down. She couldn’t run for better cover without exposing herself. They were getting closer to her. It was only a matter of seconds until they would be in position to take her out.

“There is no escaping the Craaldan Empire,” Jod called out. “We all know that. They are determined to hunt you down, Captain Spade, and we know how relentless they are. As I speak, a Craaldan Fleet approaches Gallos to destroy us. But Lieutenant Zeth has offered us a deal. He agreed to let the humans of this planet live in peace if we turn you over to him. If you stand and fight we might all die here now, but if you go with them this planet will be spared.”

“As much as I’d like to be a martyr for your cause, I’m going to have to decline,” Spade said.

“Captain Spade, we humans have finally found a planet where we can become whole again,” Jod said. “We can rebuild our lives and our civilization here. Wasn’t that the dream of your beloved Dr. Zander? The Craaldans have sworn to let us live in peace. Captain Spade, I ask you to make the choice that Dr. Zander would make.”

“I’ve already been tortured by the Craaldans,” Spade said. “Once was enough.”

“Captain Spade,” Jod said. “You can become honorable—a hero that humanity will immortalize through the ages. Seize this opportunity and be the salvation of the new civilization that is arising here. It is what Dr. Zander would do.”

“Don’t listen to him, Jace,” Capt. Casey said. She fired off several rounds.

“If I surrender, the Craaldan Empire will spare this planet?” Capt. Spade called out.

“Yes,” Jod said.

“For how long?” Spade asked.

“For as long as humans do not interfere with Craaldan affairs,” Jod said. “That is my agreement with Lieutenant Zeth. Please, Captain Spade. I beg you. Give humans the chance for a new tomorrow.”

“What say you, Craaldans?” Spade called out.

“Submit yourself to us and the Craaldan Empire will let this planet be,” Lt. Zeth said.

“Do you give your word?” Spade said.

“Yes,” Lt. Zeth replied.

Spade lowered his weapon. He looked over at Capt. Casey and locked his eyes on her for a moment. “Listen to me. When I walk to them, slip away. Copy?”

“Don’t be a hero, Jace,” Capt. Casey said.

Spade stood up and raised his arms.

Capt. Casey looked at him with alarm.

“Make a run for it, Mina,” Spade said. “Go find your house on the beach.”

“No, Jace,” she said.

Spade walked away from her, across the hangar to the Craaldan position.