Twinks in Space: Fantastic Voyage - Part Two - 58. Chapter 58 - Back on the Hunt

The Galaxy Surfer was rising above Boullia Bay. Aboard were Lyoth, Stawren, Phentrom, and Captain Suoki. Fonith was still recovering from being tortured, and she decided to remain at her home on the island. Stawren programmed the interstellar vessel with a destination, and once it was beyond the planet’s atmosphere, it disappeared into hyperspace.

“We’ve got twenty-six liters of godstroll blood, only seventy-four to go,” Captain Suoki commented, rolling his eyes.

Stawren turned to the men, holding in her hands the digital list Neptithia had sent them. “Of the nineteen Brocian Contingent godstrolls, we killed eleven in Boullia Bay, three are together way out in a rim system, one is helping overthrow a planet, and another is in a protected galaxy fighting in a clan war. With the updated information Neptithia sent us last night while we were at the party, we now know that the last three godstrolls are headed to the capital of the Tonizal Empire.”

“And that’s who we’re after,” Captain Suoki added.

“So there were none on the ship that the Boullia Bay defenses took out?” Phentrom asked.

“The godstroll were unarmed,” Lyoth stated. “I wonder if the destroyed ship was full of weapons. You know what would be useful,” he added, “a better means of getting their blood. When an animal is slaughtered for meat, the blood is drained from the body, but how are we supposed to do that with the giants? There must be something – a medical device maybe – to extract the blood for us.”

Stawren looked like she had an idea. “What about morticians?”

Captain Suoki, Phentrom, and Lyoth were confused.

“Don’t they have machines to get the fluids out of dead bodies?”

The three men conceded that she might be onto something, but the conversation was interrupted by an alert warning them that the ship had entered the outer limits of the Tonizal Empire.

“It’s only a matter of time before we attract some attention to ourselves,” Lyoth stated.

“Hopefully we can get close to the capital before dropping out of hyperspace,” Captain Suoki added.

“I don’t know much about Tonizal,” Stawren admitted. “Anything I ought to be aware of in advance?”

Captain Suoki shrugged. “I’ve never been here. Lyoth, you?”

“I have not, but I do know that the Imperial Tonizal capital is a corrupt place.” He gave the other three a sly smirk. “We’ll fit in nicely.”

Phentrom laughed. “We’re not corrupt.”

“No,” Lyoth replied with a chuckle, “but we don’t mind using the tactics of the corrupt against them.”

“Lyoth,” Stawren interjected, circling back to his initial comment about arrival, “shouldn’t the Galaxy Surfer be undetectable at a high enough power of light speed? Didn’t Fonith tell us her ship is undetectable at 10 or 11 light speed?”

“I believe she has different advanced tech on her ship that allows the Cometskipper cloaking capabilities that are far above most others.”

Another beep drew their attention.

“Godsdammit,” Stawren growled.

“I know,” Lyoth agreed. “They’re already hailing us.”

Phentrom looked nervous. “How far are we from the capital?”

“Not close enough,” Captain Suoki replied. He pushed the button that answered the call. “This is the starship Galaxy Surfer.”

“Class XI Sunship,” a voice replied, “you have entered the realm of the Tonizal emperor. The emperor welcomes you into his fold and insists that you proceed to his planet Waelyen, docking platform 9D4RT5 in the holy city of Dullu. The imperial police cruisers on your port and starboard sides will escort you.”

“We are tracking three godstrolls who are headed to the capital,” Lyoth stated plainly. “We’ll take them and be on our way.”

The voice on the other end of the connection scoffed. “You do not have permission to enter the capital! Don’t you think the emperor can handle a measly trio of godstrolls? He doesn’t need you. Proceed along the route your ship has just received. If you veer off course, you will be fired upon.”

“We have no intention of staying in the Tonizal Empire,” Stawren added.

“Your intentions are immaterial,” the voice replied coldly. “Here you are, and here you’ll stay. The emperor is ever expanding his reign and ever taking more subjects. You and these godstrolls are the newest inhabitants in his empire. Again, I say to you, welcome.”

The two police vessels appeared on the Galaxy Surfer’s scanners.

“They weren’t kidding,” Captain Suoki mumbled.

“Please, let us leave,” Lyoth said to the person at the other end of the connection.

The voice just laughed, but the amusement disappeared abruptly, and they heard, “Where did the ship go?” None of the Tonizalian ships were picking up the Galaxy Surfer. “Officers TG76 and 3S3, you’ve lost it! Find that ship!”

“It’s not coming up on my scanners,” one of the pilots replied.

“Wait,” interjected the other, “there’s something way back where we connected with the Sunship.”

“Get on it! Don’t let it escape!”

Both officers’ indicators were registering a heat spot that appeared to be a ship, but it was not moving, and there was no light.

“Approach it,” ordered the voice.

Inside the Galaxy Surfer, only a moment earlier, as Lyoth asked to be allowed to leave, he spoke the words with his index finger against his lips. He made eye contact with Captain Suoki, Phentrom, and Stawren, and each of them nodded to him. They fell silent, and Lyoth dropped the starship out of hyperspace and killed all its functions. He pointed at a screen with the words REMOTE PILOTED and raised his palm to the other three. They remained quiet as the two cruisers returned.

The Galaxy Surfer was dark.

Over the speaker of the police ships, the commanding voice asked, “Are either of you picking up anything?”

“That’s the ship alright, but it looks like space junk. There’s no light, and my thermal sensors indicate that the ambient temperature is dropping. Maybe they jettisoned, but I’m not picking up any escape pods, and we’re far from the nearest inhabited sector of the empire.”

“Dock with the ship,” the voice ordered. “Take the prisoners if they are still aboard. The emperor wants them alive.”

One of the pilots informed his superior, “The Sunship has two separate airlocks.”

“Dock with both and execute a two-pronged breach. Bring these citizens under our emperor’s good rule.”

The ships attached their exterior doors to the entrances of the darkened Galaxy Surfer.

“Opening.”

Standing at each hallway was an android. They were not like Phentrom, with lifelike bodies, minds, and hearts. Each was a machine, being quantum entanglement-piloted by someone on a planet far away from the Galaxy Surfer. The robots shined their flashlights into the blackness, but their sensors picked up nothing for the people who were controlling them.

“Proceed,” the voice ordered.

The androids walked forward until each reached a door.

“This one leads into the ship’s kitchen,” one of them said.

“Mine goes to the common room,” added the other.

The machines each received only a final order.

“Enter.”

The two individuals who were remote-piloting the androids each saw the rooms their robots stepped into, a cooking area and a living space, but one machine and then the other suddenly went offline as Lyoth and Stawren attacked. They each stabbed an android in the neck with an electromagnetic knife, tools normally used for work in zero gravity, and the robots short-circuited.

“Stawren,” Lyoth called out, “are you good?”

“It’s dead!” she confirmed.

The two of them bolted down different hallways and onto the two police cruisers. Stawren disengaged all the power systems onboard one ship, as Lyoth pulled up the destination log in the other. He activated the cruiser’s cavitation engine, and all three connected starships launched into hyperspace together.