He Didn't Come

Chapter Two



The air was full of smoke, and she couldn’t see clearly. She didn’t know for sure who was attacking the ship- she didn’t even know the ship’s name- but she had a good enough idea.



Pirates. They went by various names- raiders, smugglers, whatever. They were all the same. The 'rats ran the back shipping lanes of the Consortium, the ghost lanes, attacking and killing all those aboard the targeted ships. The airlocks on many commercial vessels were changed every standard month, but that was a luxury only the high-class ships could afford.



The pirates avoided the main lanes anyway, because they were patrolled by the Alliance. Police stations were spaced throughout the main thoroughfares all over the populated universe. The Consortium was made up of at least ten different systems, maybe more, with the Alliance as the main governing body. Each world in a fairly affluent system had a sub-council which governed it, and each sub-council had a representative in the Alliance itself.



The Alliance was based on Februus Prime, and governed the entire Consortium. The Consortium was made up of all explored space. As long as someone had been there, at least in orbit, it was automatically considered to be a part of the Consortium. The Alliance policed the interstellar highways and the prime shipping lanes that ran between systems. However, there was a lot of space out there, and they could only patrol so much territory. They therefore stuck to the lanes that ran towards the Februus system, or some other system almost as important. As for the rest of the Consortium, they were left with shoddy defenses and were at the mercy of the pirates.



Someone ran right in front of Jack’s locker, startling her. She clamped her own hand over her mouth, stifling the involuntary scream, hoping that whoever it was wouldn’t hear it. She didn’t think it was likely because the conflict continued around her, complete with sound effects. However, whoever it was turned around and leaned into her locker. Jack stared at his face, which was covered in awful burns. He reached in a hand and seized her arm. She pulled back and yelled, “Let go of me!”



He continued tugging, and she aimed a kick at his groin. She missed. He jerked back and yelled hoarsely, “Stupid boy, come on! You've got to get out of there!”



“Not on your life!”



The strange man said, “Fine! Stay here and die!” He released her arm, and at that moment, his head exploded. Jack was sprayed with blood, brain, and fine bits of bone, and couldn’t stop the shriek that erupted form her throat.



His body slumped to the ground, and she saw his killer, a tall man, head wrapped in a bandanna, muscular arms glistening with sweat. He leered at her, leveling the gun at her head.



Jack couldn’t move. She was going to die. She could almost taste her death looming. The pirate grinned and said, “Say goodnight, kid.”



She squeezed her eyes shut and waited for the plasma bullet to rip into her body, but it never came. Instead, she heard the pirate’s body fall to the ground, much as the other passenger had moments before. She opened her eyes and saw another man, not quite as tall, but far more muscular, wiping a short, wickedly curved blade on his thigh. His bald head glistened as he stared at her through dark goggles, and she felt the blood drain even further from her face. She was next, she just knew it.



The man moved away smoothly, like liquid grace, and without a sound. Not that she could have heard it anyway, what with the chaos raging around her, but the way he moved gave the impression of the feral intensity of an extinct jungle cat from Old Earth. Her legs almost collapsed when she realized she wasn’t going to die, at least at that particular moment. She realized that she had better get out of her cryo-locker, and fast, before it became her coffin.



She slipped out of the dark recess of her locker and looked around quickly. The ‘rats had overrun the ship. She saw so many bodies littering the hold. Was she the only survivor? How many people were on the crew, anyway? Where were they?



She pressed her thin body to the wall and slunk along, trying to remain in the shadows. She was so focused on not being seen that she wasn’t looking where she was going, and tripped over somebody's foot. She landed on top of a man’s leg, grunting as the air went out from under her. The owner of the leg grabbed her shirt and hauled her into the little nook where he was hiding, underneath an overturned cryo-locker that was partially shielded by a metal cargo case. She was panting in fear and surprisingly, anger. These 'rats just had to pick this particular ship, didn't they? They had to fuck with her life. Of course they did.



“Shhh,” the stranger whispered. He appeared to be wearing light-colored robes of some kind. It was hard to tell with all of the smoke added to the darkness of the cryo-bay. “Do not fear, child.”



She looked at him, and pressed her lips into a thin line. She wasn’t as afraid as she probably should have been. He smiled reassuringly and patted her hand. “Everything is all right,” he said. “Allah is with us.” He sounded pretty sure of himself, but as Jack looked down for the first time, she noticed that he was shaking, the wrinkled hand that he hadn’t used to drag her to safety clenched in a fist of nervous tension.



The battle slowly died down around them. After a few minutes, in which a couple of the last crew members were finally dispatched, the ‘rats laughed and passed around bottles of liquor as they congratulated themselves on the victory.



“Any survivors?” one asked.



Another answered, “I think I saw that big bald guy a few minutes ago. Dunno where he went, though.”



“He looks like he could be trouble. Someone go look for him.”



“How many are there?” Jack whispered.



“I believe no more than a dozen,” the old man answered. “Shh. Do not let them find us.”



Too late. A rough hand grabbed Jack’s ankle and dragged her out from underneath the overturned locker. She cried out and clung to the old man, who wrapped his arms around her. He only succeeded in being dragged out along with her.



“Well, well,” said the ‘rat who had found her. “What do we have here?”



“A kid and some old guy. I’ll be damned,” a second ‘rat said.



Jack glared at them, trying to mask her fear. Just please, don't let them find out I'm a girl, she thought desperately. She didn’t want to think about what they would do to her before they killed her.



The old man stood still, looking at each pirate in turn with an eye that seemed to hold the power to judge and condemn them all. The problem was that Jack didn’t think the ‘rats would care. He placed a hand on Jack’s shoulder and squeezed gently. She guessed he was trying to reassure her. It didn’t work. She shrugged her shoulder angrily, casting aside his offer of comfort. She had to be tough. She had to stop being so weak.



“So, what do you think we should do with them?” someone asked.



“Doesn’t Peter like boys? He can have the kid,” a ‘rat sneered, looking right at her.



“Don’t even think about it,” she retorted, surprising both herself and the ‘rats. One laughed, and the rest joined in.



“Nobody’s touching me,” she went on, wondering at her own stupidity. She couldn’t stop the idiotic words that tumbled forth from her mouth. “If you do, you’ll be sorry.” You’ll be sorry? How lame was that?



“Kid’s got attitude,” one of them offered between his laughter.



“Damn right I do,” she muttered, and flinched slightly as the laughter was renewed.



“It doesn’t matter,” one of them said, looking directly at Jack. “We need to get rid of these two. I don’t want word of this getting out. When the ship docks, I want everybody on here dead. We’ll be long gone. Show those piece-of-shit patrols what’s really out here. Someone give me a gun.”



Jack’s eyes widened. Again, she felt her death approaching. Her unexpected protector pushed her behind him, and she hated herself for feeling grateful. The pirate walked to the front of the small crowd and took aim. Jack closed her eyes and counted to ten, and yet again, it didn’t work. It never worked back home, either.



The ‘rat didn’t say a word. He just snickered, and Jack waited to die. Instead of the sound of the plasma gun going off, however, she heard all the pirates begin yelling. She opened her eyes and saw the ‘rat that had about to kill her falling to the ground with a knife sticking out of his back. She gaped for a moment, but the old man grabbed her by the hand and pushed her in front of him. “Run, child! Don’t look back! Head for the emergency skiffs!”