Twinks in Space: Fantastic Voyage - Part Two - 24. Chapter 24 - Rescue

Golvinte was locked in one of the reinforced glass cells on the Deathian. He was reclining on the room’s cot. When the bounty hunter was initially sealed in the prison chamber, he had scoured every inch of the cramped space and tested its bars multiple times, but his efforts yielded nothing. There was a pair of guards stationed outside the room, and he was unsure what he would do about them if he did get loose. Golvinte had no plan of escape and no weapons.

He did not know how much time had passed, but no one had come in to threaten him or even to question him. No food or water had been provided, in fact, nothing at all had happened since the guards locked him in.

Then one of the guards’ heads exploded. The other turned in shock, and his head burst as well.

Golvinte was bolt upright, and a man he did not know unlocked the cell door.

“I’m Quigley,” the man whispered.

“You’re Quigley?!”

“Yes! We need to go.”

Golvinte began to say, “Fonith is…”

“We got her first. Phentrom is bringing her to get the Cometskipper. Are you injured?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Good,” Quigley replied quickly, “take this,” and he handed Golvinte one of his blasters. “We need to free the others, and we need to drop this ship out of hyperspace so the Cometskipper can get away. I’ve got another ship that can take the rest of us.”

“What do you need me to do?” Golvinte asked.

“Take out the cavitation engine,” Quigley ordered, “and if you can make it inoperable indefinitely…”

“Done,” Golvinte replied, “where am I going?”

Quigley transferred the Deathian’s schematic to Golvinte and asked, “Where are the others?”

Golvinte looked up and down the hall. “They’re not right here?”

“I’ll figure it out,” Quigley stated. “I’ll find them. Go take out the engine.”

Golvinte raced to the stairs, and Quigley plugged his device into the Deathian’s computer console.

“Now, where did they put you three?” Quigley asked the screen. The answer became clear. “Oh, I’m in the high-security section of the prison level,” he said to himself, and he rushed to the door that led into the main prison area. It was locked, but it had a small window. He peeked through.

Four guards were positioned in the prison, and Quigley could see a large bearded man who he did not know. That has to be Suoki, he thought, and my family must be nearby. Now, how am I going to deal with you four blaster-heads? He eyed the guards, then he focused on the door. It was thick plate steel, much sturdier than the doors he and Phentrom had shot through. Quigley aimed his weapon at the nearest guard through the window, and he pulled the trigger.

The glass melted with the blast, and the projectile hit the side of the man’s head, which erupted in an explosion of brains and bone. The other three guards were shocked and drew their weapons, returning fire, but the door provided all the protection Quigley needed. He took out the second soldier with a blast to the chest, and then he ducked beneath the window and came up on the other side. Two more shots were all it took, and the four guards were dead. He opened the door and entered the prison.

Quigley’s wife and daughter were huddled together in one of the corner cells that had not been visible to him through the small window.

“Finnow! Riah!” He blasted the cell’s lock, pulled the door open, and drew his family into his arms. “We need to go,” he insisted, reluctantly tearing himself from their embrace, and he turned to Captain Suoki. “Come on!” the bounty hunter ordered, blasting the cell that held the big man. “You must be Suoki. I’m Quigley.”

Suddenly, an alarm began to blare throughout the entire Deathian, and Quigley thought, Golvinte has done it!

On the lowest level of the destroyer, Golvinte had found the ship’s engine room. He hid behind some barrels of fuel and watched as several mechanics entered and exited. Each time the doors swung open, Golvinte got another glimpse of what was inside. After a few minutes of silent observation, he drew his dual blasters and attacked.

As an engineer was entering, Golvinte rushed up behind him, shoving the man into the engine room and pulling the trigger. The man’s back ruptured and he crumpled to the floor. Golvinte moved like a machine, shifting his two weapons through the air with speed and accuracy, and taking out one crewmember after another until no one in the room was still living, except the bounty hunter.

Several of his shots had collided with equipment, but the engine was still active and the ship was still in hyperspace. Golvinte stepped up to the main console, brought his hands to the dual levers that controlled the cavitation engine, and he disengaged it.

An alarm started screaming.

Golvinte stepped back, pointed his blaster at the control panel, and opened fire.

In the Deathian’s docking bay, Fonith and Phentrom were hidden at one of the entrances. They were looking at the Cometskipper. The pair had snuck through the massive ship by using less-used maintenance halls. Fonith had killed three soldiers and Phentrom took out one more on their way to the hangar. It was quiet, but then chaos erupted as the alarm started ringing out through the ship.

“Fonith, I can feel that the Deathian isn’t moving through hyperspace anymore,” Phentrom informed her.

Soldiers started running all over the docking bay, but more than half of them disappeared into the other parts of the destroyer, and Fonith whispered, “Now!”

She grabbed Phentrom’s hand and made a beeline straight for the Cometskipper. Her ship’s shields activated as they approached and Phentrom began to panic.

“I did that!” Fonith told him. “I was just testing if my ship was still synched with my cybernetics.”

A soldier suddenly noticed that two civilians were heading through the hangar, and he yelled, “Hey!” but his head exploded before he could get out another syllable.

Fonith snapped her eyes in the direction from where the shot came, and she saw Golvinte several stories up, looking down over the docking bay. He nodded to her and sniped another soldier through the heart.

The Cometskipper’s shield deactivated, and Fonith released an exterior hatch. “Get inside!” she ordered.

Froufrou came racing up to Phentrom as he stepped onboard, and he scooped up the pug. “What about the hangar doors?” the mandroid asked, but they suddenly started to open, and Phentrom and Fonith could see Golvinte waving for them to escape. Then he disappeared from their view.

“Go,” Phentrom said, and the Cometskipper blazed out of the Deathian.

From the upper level, Golvinte watched the ship leave. “Perfect,” he said to himself as he turned and rushed back toward the prison.

What he encountered was a standoff that could not last. A squadron of soldiers two levels down from him was stuck at a bottleneck between the prison and a hallway. Quigley and Captain Suoki were holding them off, but the soldiers had more ammunition and would outlast the warriors.

However, Golvinte was in the perfect place to help. He switched his blaster to its explosive launcher setting and fired. The soldiers below did not know what hit them. Several were killed instantly by the blast, and many others were knocked from their feet. Golvinte launched another explosive down before yelling over the railing, “Suoki, everyone, go now!”

Quigley and Captain Suoki led the way with Finnow behind them, carrying Riah in her arms. The two men fired their blasters into the remainders of the battalion, and Golvinte watched the escaping prisoners make it to the stairs that would take them to the airlock and the Stealth Witch.

Now I just need to get myself out of here, Golvinte thought as he rushed off to find another way down. He checked his map of the ship. A service stairway was right around the corner from him, and he snuck into it. It was quiet and clean within, like the narrow flight of stairs was rarely used.

Golvinte descended, and when he reached the level where the Stealth Witch was docked, he peeked out the door. He saw soldiers rushing toward the airlock. The group of men passed him, and Golvinte slipped out into the hall behind them. He opened fire again with another explosive round, and they were devastated by the blast. Golvinte raced over their bodies and saw the entrance to the Stealth Witch.

“Fonith and Phentrom escaped on her ship!” he hollered at Captain Suoki.

“Good, now get in here, Golvinte!” Captain Suoki shouted back. “Come on!”

A blaster went off behind Golvinte, and its bolt exploded against his back. He fell forward, his body smoking.

“Nooo!” cried the captain.

Quigley slammed his hand down on the Stealth Witch’s door control and the airlock sealed.

“What are you doing?!” Captain Suoki raged, but Quigley shouted over him.

“Eleithon, get us out of here!”

The engineer heard him on the bridge and did not need to be told twice. She disengaged the Stealth Witch from the Deathian, activated its engines, and her vampire ship scorched through space away from the destroyer. Eleithon engaged the cavitation engine, and the Stealth Witch disappeared into the void.

Captain Suoki reared back to take a swing at Quigley, but the bounty hunter was too fast, and he grabbed the captain’s wrist, pulling him into a hug. “He’s gone,” Quigley said. “I’m sorry. He’s gone.”

“No, he’s not!” Captain Suoki wailed, and he tried to pull away, but he gave up and sobbed. “Golvinte!” he cried out, and he repeated his fallen companion’s name with a whimper. “Golvinte.”