Trampship Wars 2 Page 11
Ducking into the next trunk she thought about skipping the next couple of holds and using the central elevator but the fear of half-asleep snakes and a few Antoids not in their hibernation pods in the hold above, was less than being locked into an elevator with a bunch of mostly mail pirates that always seemed to take special interest in her big boobs. She had no fear of individuals as she could take care of even two or three of even the biggest but a whole pack while locked in an elevator was just asking for trouble. Besides too many pirates had already came up missing over the last couple of weeks when they had ventured down onto her slave food deck looking for a good time from the human female slaves as well as the all too human looking ship’s slave Doctor.
On the officer deck outside the bridge she was finally able to relax for a few seconds. After only being seen a couple dozen times she had managed to avoid pursuit without having to kill anyone. But then her reputation for killing those that attacked her had long ago stopped most sober pirates from messing with her when the Pirate Lord Blackbeard’s threats had long been forgotten. At least the officers knew not to mess with her. She was what kept half the menagerie of alien pirates alive on the ship.
Walking onto the bridge she made sure she kept from gagging since she was not allowed to use her gas filter cloth there . Which was something else that set her apart from all other cats and bears and horses and all the other half human hybrids including the dogs. She could not stand the smell of any of them. Not that humans were much better, but no t having fur, they at least did not stink as bad as long as they washed once in a while. While the humans on the bridge had not showered recently and smelled like it, the lion complete with a huge main sitting in the Command Chair literally reeked , forcing her to work hard not to throw up as she took a breath to speak.
“You ordered me to the bridge Captain?”
The big lion with scars running down his face and flanks turned to the Puma. “Yes Doctor. I keep having crewmen disappearing. My weapons officer is the most resent. Would you have any idea as to where he could have gotten? He was headed for the slave deck with several other crewmen the last anyone heard of him.”
The Puma was Earth’s final and most sophisticated hybrid ever produced and was genetically engineered to be doctors for all the other hybrids of all species. Puma offspring were genetically coded with the information at birth to be doctors before they reached the age of 6 on worlds where the life expectancy was little more than 20 years when the worlds were first settled. The trait was expected to die out by the time each world reached a large enough population to make life easy enough for normal life spans but that had not happened. Now 10 thousand years later, Puma cats were famous for their abilities in the medical sciences if they could get past their tendency to be lazy. A hold over from cat’s original ability to make rapid high speed attacks for short periods of time before having to rest.
The Puma fought down her panic with practiced ease as she frowned in thought. She suddenly realized that the lion that had tried to rape her, most be close to the Captain and that she was going to have to tread lightly. “Ok , I don’t seem to remember any visitors recently. May by Maybe they got lost and wound up on the snake deck or even the earthworm deck and passed out. They love to eat anything just laying around.” Thinking for a few seconds. “Tell me when they disappeared and I will tell you when to take a look around the Earth worm shit pit. Their bones will still be in some semblance intact. Now. If they stumbled into the sleeping den of the snakes ? I hear snakes give damn good head. ” Fighting down a chuckle. “They , they could be another month. I would look for several very fat snakes in that case. ” She suddenly realized that the lion that had tried to rape her, most be close to the Captain and that she was going to have to tread lightly.
A snake turned from one of the side consoles and hissed. “You joke of a friend of mine and a fellow officer Cat Doctor.” The snakes hissing words were easy to understand as was his indignant face. “We would not swallow such large pray. Besides the Weapons Officer would leave such a bad taste in my stomach I would regurgitate him in a matter of hours. Though I have heard dicks are damn tasty and go down well once they are bitten off. ”
The Puma could not help smiling at the snakes little joke pointing out that the weapons officer had not been that much of a friend if any.
“Enough!” The Lion Captain roared. “I am going to search the food slave deck for my officer and the crew men who disappeared with him.” His main bristled up making him look twice as big. “And if I find any evidence that any of them were on your deck against their will, I will have your skinny ass as our next meal over a roasting pit and Blackbeard can just go and screw himself.”
Without thinking the Puma turned and looked at her substantial ass and swallowed as she forced a smile, it was all mostly muscle. While the doctors in her cages that were still alive and were slated as food long ago, had helped her change the way each of the crewmen that tried to rape her looked. DNA scans would quickly find the two that were left. She was going to have to stall until she could get them off her deck replacing others scheduled to serve as food that night. “You have fun doing that Captain and I will tell Lord Blackbeard when they start killing my food slaves while they are searching doing it since that is how Gronks work. It will greatly reduce the live food I can send up ship. We are already months out on this patrol with our food slave stocks getting low. If I have to cut back any farther, your crew will start dying and you can look forward to a mutiny. After all , isn’t that how you became Captain? Captain.”
Shaking her head. “I don’t have your missing weapons officer or the crewmen. Nor have I seen them but send me pictures of them and I will check out my cells just in case they got locked into a couple of the cells while they were raping the slaves and could not or did not want to return to duty since I am sure I would have heard them screaming to get out if it happened very long ago. That is if they even want out since having their own sex slave is hard to give up. When did you say you lost them?”
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As Mark walked into Sickbay, he found himself whistling. The thought of seeing Dian again made his heart sing with every step. They had only been roommates for less than a week but it was enough to know now that he loved her. Even if he was starting to get a little tired of her bitching at him half the time. His whole body yearned to be with her as h is e blood boiled every time he thought of her naked in his bed and is mind insisted on following . F , fo o rgetting the second thoughts he was starting to have even after a few days and the fact that the trip to the station was an attempt to make peace with her about a dozen problems they were already having. Problems that he now forgot all about. He could not wait to hug her as he entered sickbay. Saying high to the doctors and nurses he walked into the intensive care unit and up to her bed. Happy to see her awake as the last time he had seen her she was one step from being dead.
Dian turned and looked up at him, surprise turned to shock for a second. Then she started screaming murderer at him and for him to get out and that she hated him as she threw her water glass and then everything else she could get a hold of at him. Mark stood there shocked as things bounced off of him. The nurse had to drag him out around the corner from of Dian’s room and then out of the Sickbay. Telling him not to come back ever for any reason, She wasn’t going to have a monster like him in her sickbay. That she would not put up with a murderer terrorizing her patients.
He tried to tell her that he had other patients that he needed to check up on as well but she slammed the hatch in his face.
Mark stood there for a few minutes in shock.
“Mark, we need to check into the Admiral while we have a few minutes.” Mickey said trying to get Ma rk’s his mind off of Dian.
“Oohaa, yaa, sure Mickey.” Shrugging his shoulders. “Bet they will just kick me out of there to.” Mark stepped into the elevator and headed for the Computer Core Compartment not really believing his own stat e ment. Walking in through
the hatch , Mark found Doctor Wells sitting at the console with the Computer Chief sitting beside him staring at the screens. A frown on both their faces.
“How is the Admiral, Doctor Wells?”
Shaking his head from side to side. “Does not look good Mark. I think he is in a Coma. At least I hope he is. But I keep seeing short spikes. The Chief tells me that he is completely isolated from all outside stimulus with the interface between his mind and the AI computer down. While the interface is there , it does not seem to be working. All the Chief is getting out of it is a bunch of jumbled crap. I doubt that anything makes much sense as jumbled as I see the data that is trying to go in is . And if the Admiral does wake up without sensible outside stimulus, he could slowly go crazy. In otherw otherward , ise if it takes to too long to fix the comm problem , the Admiral could turn into an ideate or go crazy and crash the ship on takeoff or into this planets sun or lose us in the deep of space or even kill the entire crew as inefficient vermin by opening the external hatches in space. Hell there have been hundreds of horror stories about rogue psychotic AI Controllers.”
Taking a deep breath the Doctor sighed. “No, I am having to keep make sure the Admiral is in a chemical coma until the problem is fixed. Only I can’t be sure he is. Now go on boy and get out of here. You cannot help.”
“But Doctor, I can…”
“Go on boy.” Said the Computer Chief. “Leave the admiral to experts. Get going now and leave us alone. I am trying to concentrate here.”
Chapter 5; Dead killer pipe -------------- 44
After checking on engine room 2’s upgrade progress. Making sure that they were following the rebuild orders exactly. Which they weren’t and again told to get out. Though from what he could see they were following it close enough that the engine would hopefully run. At least he told himself that. Mark still had a hard time understanding all the hostility he had been getting from the engineering officers since he became an officer after working for all of them as a ca det and part time student worker. He had thought that after upgrading engine 3# into the most powerful and efficient engine in existence , that they would start treating him as an equal . B ut the more he tried the more they treated him like shit. But then he had to remind himself that th ey had been treating him like shit for 13 years. He had just been too stupid to see it or was it too abused to know the difference until he got out from under them and actually accomplished something , to see their shit for what it was. But then he had spent a good hour that morning telling them what stupid moronic fucking dumb shits they were. The fact that he had used the very same words and tones that they had used on him for years only made him feel worse.
Mark walked across the truck deck toward the dispatch office. Taking a deep breath he relaxed. At least the truck crews had treated him with respect most of the time while helping him as much as they could. Even though some thought that he should never be allowed near a trucks pilot ’ s seat. They had never gone out of their way to abuse him or talk bad about h im to others behind his back as some of the engine room crews and mo st of the officers had done at every opportunity . While the Engineering Chief had treated him like a dog he fed out of pity, that he wa n ted to kick but would not take the time. Mark just wished he had seen the truth years sooner so he could have transferred to another department.
Why he had though t he wanted to serve and insisted on staying in Main Propulsion when several other sections like weapons and the computer core Chief s had even asked him several times to transfer to them over the years was beyond him. They had always gone out of their way to help and make him feel comfortable in their departments. Saying he had a knack for the work. He had even loved working in their departments finding the work easy when h e had been assigned there as a cadet . Yet he had insisted on staying in Engineering. Only thing he could think of was the fact that he loved the throb of the big engines powering the ship thr ough space. Keeping them running made him feel important . Made him feel like he was helping each and every crewman and family passenger get from one star to another. All 6,000 of them. Mark suddenly realized that was why he had put up with all the shit over the years, making him smile. The Engines had al ways been a friend that never failed him.
Mark turned around and stared back at the tall sides of the engineering compartment towering up the center of the ship with the truck deck circling i t. In his mind ’ s ey e, h e could see the massive engines towering up a half dozen decks and shook his head with pride at his revolutionary impro vements . He fought the erg to go back and help them finish the upgrades but knew he was no longer welcome d , if he ever had been welcomed. It no longer mattered that he had been abused for 13 years . It had been his choice and now it was time and his choice to move on.
Turning around , Mark walked into the Truck dispatch office. “High Tom, how is it hanging?”
“Oh fine sir shit head." Tom, his best friend since he was 6 , dropped his exaggerated salute. "A few of your Ensign’s friends showed up at the shop last night after you stiffed everyone by not landing in the pit. I take it you were too busy getting laid after flying around the planet to join the party with your buddies before it was over. But then I have never heard of anyone landing on the shuttle ramps decks before while planet side and thought number 3 was locked and forbidden territory.”
“Well , I have been on a few shuttle missions that did just that. If you had stayed in the cadet program , you would have had the fun to. As far as land ing in lock 3. The pit was too damn crowded and shut tle lock 3 was the only one I could get open since no one had been in the damn lo ck for 20 years to manually lock it from the inside. ”
Tom looked up and frowned , thinking hard. “All I remember from when we snuck in years ago besides a sore butt from getting spanked when we were caught coming back out the air shaft, was a lot of empty space and piles of junk and cloths. So I don't know why you couldn't.” Tom instinctively reached for his butt before shaking his head. His mind never even thought of going back after the paddling he got. “Anyway; are you going to need the truck deck closed again and for how long your hinny- ass sir? The refit crew seem to be doing fine without the added space but then they are taking their time about everything on that engine. The airtruck mechanics have returned to working on our trucks in disgust at the way things are going over there since you left. Then the Chief puts them out humping cargo to help make up time. ”
Tom spun around in his chair looking at the almost empty rack for the truck of keys and then back at Mark. " Why number 9 is still here is beyond me except that no one trusts it to actually haul anything.” Smiling Tom chuckled. “I even volunteered to pilot it but the Chief told me I had to get my commercial license first and another birthday before he will let me volunteer for a suicide mission .” Shaking his head as he took a deep breath. “ W i e ll . Y y ou need us to close the truck deck or not while you straighten things out over there zit face?"
“No . N n othing like that. I got the engine 4 s back on track as you already know from the tests a few hours ago. And you already have to know I am now in command of the torpedo fighter bomber squadron wing . So except for checking on things once in a while , I have nothing to do with the engines. And why the Captian Captain is having me take these stupid cars out to sell them when I have a hundred things that need s to be done with the new squadron is beyond me. So right now, all I need is a truck and trailer to haul those stupid cars around to the dealers to sell and then bring back some trade goods. And then I will spend the rest of the night trying to catch up on my squadron duties . ” Shaking his head dejectedly . “Wish I had never seen the damn cars.”
“What? The junk cars from the auction your puke face or the sports car that turned out to be a fighter you couldn’t even bother to show me ? Especially after I had to help clean up your mess from your initiation party last week when you puked all over the ensigns boobs and you can‘t even hang around to say high and show me your fighter before you took off in it. You showed everyone else down here but not
your o ld wn buddy just because I he was a little late getting down to the truck deck.” Looking around at the rack on the bulkhead again. “Well the Lieutenant is out right now and the Commander is up at some stupid meeting and all I have is old number 9 butt hole. Everything else is out for the day trying to make up for the lost time when the ship was closed down whil e the ship was being decontaminated from when e you were getting gassed and blew the outside hatches on the water tank decks a few days ago. I still don’t believe all the rumors about what happened. As for the truck. If you had called yesterday or dropped by the clubhouse late last night instead of playing with your girlfriend, I could have reserved one of the good trucks for you. But old # 9 should haul those 4 pieces of junk around with no problem. As for the pickup truck, you will just have to drive it Mr. Stuck up Butt Hole sir. The fans are too wide for it to fit in the box. ”
“Sorry but I was a little pre-occupied last night Tom. Dian was wounded when the fighter was shot up and the boat lock was the closest I could get to sickbay ass hole. Besides like I said, the pit was packed.” Taking a breath as he tried to put the bad memories behind him. “But my daddy always told me beggars can’t be choosers. So throw me the keys and I will let you get back to playing with yourself.”
Tom threw the keys as hard as he could hitting Mark in the chest before he could catch them but Mark managed to grab them before they fell on the deck. “Wow hitting a superior officer will get you 30 days in the brig on bread and water jerk wad. Don’t forget to remind me when I get back scumbag.”
Tom gave Mark a smile and his middle finger as Mark walked to the hatch. Then frowning a little embarrassed. “Oh. So that rumor was true. Sorry about Dian, I guess you had a good reason to stiff your old buddy last night.”