Read Online Revolution: The Ship Series // Book Two by Jerry Aubin - Free Book Online Page A

his throat nearly crushed ended with Zax retching the final
remnants of his breakfast on to the deck next to the dead civilian.
    “Th…than…thank you,” he managed to gasp. “Wh…what took
you so long?”
    “Sorry, Zax. I’m really sorry. I know that was close,
and I can only imagine how scary it was for you. It looked like that guy just
about had you strangled? Am I right? Were you almost dead? Wow, that must have
been scary. That guy was huge!” Kalare looked at all the blood pooling around
the dead civilian and giggled for a couple of secs before continuing. “I
watched you floating for the blaster and wanted to help, but when the gravity
came back I landed on my head and was in a daze. Not all of us have the
well-practiced zero-g capabilities of Puke Boy! Hah! Well, anyways, my head
cleared and I could see he was on top of you, but I didn’t think I had a chance
against him without a weapon. I couldn’t get at the blaster because it was
sandwiched between the two of you. I looked around for the knife, but it had
slid under a workstation and I wasn’t able to reach it at first. Of course,
Captain Clueless over there just sat and whimpered the entire time.”
    Kalare’s monologue provided Zax with sufficient time to
recover. Her last comment reminded him that Aleron was with them, and he looked
over to find the boy in the corner quietly sobbing. The cadet’s hands were
still bound so Zax stood, grabbed the blade off the deck where Kalare had
dropped it, and used the civilian’s pants to wipe off the worst of the blood.
After he freed Aleron’s hands, Zax helped the boy to his feet. Being rescued by
the frequent target of his abuse was clearly unpalatable for Aleron. He brushed
aside Zax’s assistance and turned away to use his freed hands to wipe the
remains of tears from his face.
    Kalare had the presence of mind to not only pick up the
blaster but also secure the compartment hatch shut while he worked to free
Aleron. They were lucky none of the roving groups of civilians had passed the
open hatch in the middle of their struggles. Zax looked at Kalare, then back
towards Aleron, and finally back to Kalare before speaking.
    “Now what?”
    No one spoke for a min as they each considered the
question. Aleron broke the silence.
    “We wait here, of course! We’ve got the hatch locked and
there’s a possibility no one even knows we’re in here. You saw all those
civilians roaming around out there. There’s no chance of us making it far if we
try to get anywhere else. Besides, we just managed to take care of this
monster, so you’ve got to think other Crew, especially the Marines, have taken
care of this mess. It won’t be much longer, I bet, before the Captain is on the
vidscreen letting us know this whole damn thing is over.”
    Zax was forming a snide comment about the “we” in
Aleron’s description of the dead civilian when Kalare jumped in first.
    “No. They know we’re in here. He didn’t bring us to this
compartment randomly. He knew exactly where he was going. We don’t know what he
was supposed to do after securing us in here. He clearly didn’t think we posed
any threat since he wasn’t going to stick around and guard the compartment.
They might have already missed him and sent more goons here looking for him.”
    Aleron and Kalare looked to Zax as the tiebreaker. He
took a few deep breaths and then spoke.
    “I agree with Aleron.” Zax felt a pang of deep regret
when Kalare deflated in response to his statement, but pushed onwards. “I can’t
believe I’m saying this, but I think he’s right. That FTL jump was brilliant in
allowing you and me , Kalare , to take care of this idiot. I’ve got
to think the Marines and Crew throughout the Ship have cut up the rest of these
jokers and they just haven’t had a moment to tell us it’s over yet. Wait—the
vidscreens are coming back online. I bet this is the Captain now.”
    They all expectantly faced the compartment’s screen as
the