Mitchell's Revenge

Once Flex was sure they weren’t being followed by any of the attack craft, he instructed Rufus to slow the ship so that they could see what was happening. They watched as Lucy expertly despatched the small Eridanian craft one by one and the destroyer did its work. They saw the boarding craft being peeled away from the hull of Mitchell’s Revenge, and the creature floating out into the vacuum.

“That’s one dangerous repair ship,” said Flex. “I wonder who they really are. They seem to be fitted with military grade weapons and have some pretty handy crew.”

Flick quickly reported the information she had found about the crew of Mitchell’s Revenge as they watched the action from a safe distance.

“According to this they are who they say they are,” she said. “Universal Starship Enterprises Breakdown and Repair Service was launched in response to the loss of Ripley’s Revenge. The Captain’s the son of the CEO. Funny that. I bet they don’t know we’ve got one of their FTL drives!”

“Dodgy as it is,” muttered Bolter.

“They must be out here repairing faulty ships,” said Natasha. She felt an overwhelming need to go after them. She wanted to hurt the crew of that ship. She wanted to wreak havoc on the family that had killed her sister. She ran from the bridge to her cabin before the urge to hurt someone got the better of her.

PB jumped up at her as she entered her quarters, his tail wagging overtime. She picked up the small dog and hugged him to her chest. He yelped as she squeezed him too tight. She loosened her grip and stroked his coarse hair. The rage that had threatened to overwhelm her subsided as she held the animal. She thought Lou was right, the dog was special.

“Maybe that was what I needed at home on Tarasov,” she mused. “A pet. If only Father hadn’t been so anti household animals. Never mind. PB’s mine now.”

She lay down on the narrow bed in her cabin, and stroked the dog, as she thought about what to do next.

“That girl is so strange,” said Flick after Natasha disappeared.

“She wants revenge,” said Lou quietly from her seat.

Flex and Flick looked sharply at her.

“What are you talking about?” asked Flex. “For what?”

“Someone close to her was killed recently,” Lou replied. “She wants revenge on whoever did it.”

“Can you tell us any more?” asked Flick. “She’s travelled with us for months now and we know nothing about her.”

“No,” replied Lou. “That’s it. I’m an empath, not a mind reader! I can sense emotions and intensions, not specifics.”

“She told us she ran away from home,” said Flick. “She said she made the mistake of fleeing on a mercenary ship. She jumped that ship and joined us at Topernicus. Then we all nearly died when our FTL drive malfunctioned. We’ve been stuck with her ever since.”

“What ship did she leave?” asked Bot Ramsay, joining the conversation for the first time.

“The Zond,” said Flex. “Why do you ask? Do you know something about it?”

“It’s known, in these parts anyway. It’s an IGM ship,” replied Bot. “It’s captained by Maxim Volkov and crewed by mercenaries. One of their more competent outfits. If you can call it that!”

“We already knew that much,” said Flex. “You can’t tell us anything else about them, or the IGM for that matter?”

“Nah,” said Bot. “That’s all I know. It’s all hearsay anyway.”

“What is?” asked Rufus.

“That they report directly to Yuri Orlov,” replied Bot. “Their orders are supposed to come directly from him.”

Flex frowned. He suddenly had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“What do you know about Orlov?” he asked Bot. “Has he any family? How many people does he employ? How does he operate? Anything?”

“I’ve heard he’s got three children. Two girls and a boy,” said Bot. “As far as I know they all live at the family compound on Tarasov. Boy’s supposed to be some kind of coms wiz. And of course they have access to the best technology money can buy. Or that they can steal!”

“So if Natasha ran away from her family by joining crew of the Zond, what does that tell you?” asked Flex. The feeling in his stomach was going from bad to worse.

“She could be one of Orlov’s daughters!” joked Bot.

Flex looked from Flick to Rufus and back to Bot. They stared evenly back at him. Bot grinned stupidly.

“That’s not funny,” said Flex.

“It would explain why we can’t find any information about her through the usual channels,” said Flick. “Orlov’s probably blocked anything to do with his kids.”

“It would also explain where she got the money for our docking fees at Topernicus,” said Flex.

“Now we really are in the shit,” muttered Bolter from his command board.

“Natasha and the dog get off at Tiberion,” said Flex. “End of story. I don’t want her on my ship. And if Lou’s right about her, she’s as dangerous as the mercenaries she supposedly ran from.”