Chapter Three: Siege on Solaris Reverie
In which Shin-sin-fa comes upon an answer about which life is more dangerous.
The girls, however, had collectively thought to dump their belongings on the ship, and were far from the places Pendragon was looking. They were already wandering about on deck when Shin-sin-fa arrived. He groaned inwardly, but they had their luggage with them so they must not have gotten into the forecastle yet. If he got down there soon enough, he could still pick out his favorite bed.
The noise of a light haversack hitting the wooden deck alerted the five to the presence of their crewmate. When they turned to look, they were just in time to see him flatten his ears against his head, squinting behind him at the crowds on the docks.
After a moment, he turned around to find the girls aware of his presence, and he touched his cap momentarily before grasping the straps on his pack again and plodding to the fore of the ship
It seemed that his pathetically scrawny backpack was so empty it could maybe only have one thing in it. Everything else he owned was quite probably attached to his boots. The difference in their lifestyles sank his stomach as he walked by at least two heavy suitcases per girl. He cursed the feeling that he ought to help them carry them.
"You sleep down here, so this be where your things go," he said helpfully, heading toward the bow hatch and flipping it up easily.
"We know that," one of them snapped, apparently offended at his assumption that they had not left their bags on the deck for fun.
Opting not to reply, he swung down the ladder and was met with a surprise. There were no bunks here--this was the mess. Just beyond, the galley took up midships, and through a doorway behind he thought he saw lines of bunks. The crew's quarters...in the back? He had never heard of such a pleasant and overly fair setup, and he grinned in pleasure. The luxury of a smooth ride while he slept was enticing indeed, and the presence of a bunch of nattering females suddenly seemed worth the reward.
He made his way back to look around the available berths. There were a good many more than there were crew, that was for sure. This ship looked like it could hold twenty-five men before the mast, and then there would be the officer's cabins in the very rear.
He chose the bottom berth closest to the door that led into the mess--sure, it would be noisy with everyone coming and going, but he would have quick, unimpeded access to the decks during a storm or an attack, and that was nothing to look down your nose at. He dropped his backpack on the bed and looked around. The girls were dragging their suitcases down the ladder behind him, and he winced at the ungainly thumping noises.
Taking a breath, he called, "You need help with--"
"No!" was the curt response. A suitcase hit the floor with the loudest noise yet, and he shrugged, scowling, and moved off to explore. This door by the galley it was--oh, great Ten-Ki. Apparently at least one officer's cabin was at the near end of the crew's quarters. He winced and almost reconsidered his berth, as he was directly across from the door.
No, there's going to be a regular crew, he reminded himself sharply. After these girls are gone, I'll want to be as near someone that can break up a fight as I can. He swallowed hard and tried to rid himself of the thought.
"So that wasn't where we sleep after all," Anya said smugly, walking past him toward the berths at the far end. "Is that the loo back there?"
"Go look. I wouldn't know, I been wrong once already," Shin-sin-fa said in a gruff tone. So was she, he consoled himself.
"Don't pout," she said mildly, peeking in through the door before affirming her own suspicions. He was more irritated that she was right than that she had dared to voice it.
This is going to be a long two weeks, he thought sourly.
He had no idea.
* * *
Solaris Reverie was a sound vessel, small and sporty but stoutly built. She was at least a match if not the better of any of the other vessels Shin-sin-fa had sailed on in the past few years, and that alone was reassuring. Properly driven and with sufficient warning, the lad was certain that this ship could outrun any pirate in the Belt. Once they were rid of his tittering "crewmates," he had a feeling he might like it just fine on a ship like this with a captain like Quartz.
The creative layout of the vessel sat well with him--he could hear the talk in the mess from his bunk, if he felt like listening to conversation he had no part in, and there were partitions every half-dozen steps, so he would only have to listen to three snoring crewmates rather than a whole fo'c'sle full. The loo and the showers were all the way at the back of the ship, but at least the toilet had a door that locked, which Shin-sin-fa thought a splendid treat.
He had hoped the girls would leave their few things just to mark the berths they had chosen and go back to their rooms, where Quartz could lock them in for the evening, but the Giggle Brigade was far too enchanted with the ship to leave it. Their frantic exploration had been cut short upon discovering from a reluctant source that they were allowed to sleep here tonight. Delighted, they had actually sent Anya and Elaine back to check out of the inn and retrieve the rest of their luggage.
Xan, the slightly chubby cook, had busily (and enthusiastically) taken stock of the kitchen and its contents for a grand total of ten minutes before deciding they ought to use some of them up. Shin-sin-fa was already hungry again, and even though he thought it imprudent to eat the supplies off the ship before the ship was in the air, his stomach said that shutting up and eating what was placed in front of him was the best course.
Fahna Muy sat directly across from him, and while he tried to concentrate on his food rather than her delicate, elven features, once he was finished he had very little excuse for staring at his plate.
"Just what did you mean, Shin-sin-fa," she asked deliberately, "About someone following us from our inn?"
"Like I said," he muttered, "The author'ties might not believe 'tweren't your doin'."
"The authorities could easily find out what ship we were on just by asking the innkeep," she said coolly. "The only people that would need to follow us would be criminals." She leaned forward, her pale eyes outlined by a fringe of dark, sexy lashes. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" she pouted.
Shin-sin-fa watched Fahna carefully and after a moment, opted to respond rather than finding out what she was hiding under the cutesy facade.
"You know that guy you...taught a lesson?" he asked quietly, lifting an eyebrow. "He be a member of a group o' rather dangerous men. He in partic'lar might not be the one as follows ye." He remembered his hat was still on his head indoors and pulled it off, obviously irked at his forgetfulness. "At any rate, be on your guard until we leave, an' don't be lettin' anyone know your name or the name o' the ship unless you trust 'em with your life. Literally."
"I can take care of myself," she snapped. She gave a sideways glance toward the others that he followed; Xan and Rikki were engaged in a lively conversation about nutritrional requirements for spacing. "You still've not told me who you think's followin' us. I come across plently of pirates and pirate wanna-bes in my past. I appreciate your warnin', but I'm not gonna take it at face value, sweets, if you don't make it sound like more'n a little boy scared o' the big dogs. You catch me?"
Shin-sin-fa lowered his brows in a fierce scowl and straightened up in his seat. Of all the bullheaded--As if the academy on Valtharska were teeming with pirates instead of a high-walled sanctuary that scanned you for unauthorized weapons at every entrance.
His voice was thick with sarcasm. "If you'd simply avoid brawlin' for the next few hours, I think we'll manage. But I s'pose that's up to your PMS rather'n your brain." He narrowed his eyes, then continued, "You can choose to do as ye like. But if I see you 'takin' care o' yourself,' for my own benefit I'm gonna put ye in a box an' store you in the hold until we've left port."
"Oi'd like to see you try," she said frostily, raising an eyebrow. "Oi've been studyin' defense arts for over half my life. It looks like you ain't got past Bathing 101."
Shin-sin-fa swallowed his response, as it would probably get him hanged. No dignified options came to mind, but the sound of heavy boots hitting the deck above saved him from needing an escape. Anya and Elaine were back.
The solar propulsion engineer's feet came into view first, then the two heavy bags she carried, and then her pinkened, sweating face. "Fahna, you oaf, if I'd known you had so many damn bags I'd've had you come with me. Elaine and I were lucky we got help. You've more makeup than a Ceridean nightclub postergirl."
Fahna laughed good-naturedly, completely abandoning the cold tone reserved for Shin-sin-fa and popping to her feet. She grasped one of the bags and started carrying it forward. "At least half of it's weaponry anyway. You ever seen steel makeup?"
Shin-sin-fa felt a surge of panic. Something was wrong, something was indefinably but definitely wrong. He surveyed the mess; Xan and Rikki were still talking, Fahna and Anya were lugging her suitcases toward the berths, and here came Elaine, hefting two smallish suitcases down the stairs.
So who was on deck?
The heavy thumps he had originally mistaken for luggage being dumped from a cart were now quite obviously a group of footsteps. Shin-sin-fa had a hard time believing that many strangers had just decided to help the girls for no reason. Assuming they were bipedal--for a nauseating moment, he entertained the idea of something insectile.
Shin-sin-fa's eyes widened, and he quickly slipped a few knives out of his inside pockets, twiddling them nervously but surely through his fingers, one in each hand. For a brief juvenile moment, he felt savage glee at seeing Fahna's impressed countenance, but he had to look away as he edged toward the door. The second Elaine was through, he slid the heavy wooden panel shut and locked it.
"So, Anya," he said, affecting nonchalance despite a pounding heart. "That help ye got...where'd ye find 'em?"
"Just at the end of the pier here--we had to go through most of town on our own," she said irritably. "Why?"
"How many o' them?"
She squinted at him, clearly about to ask why he had closed the door, and suddenly looked up at the ceiling, obviously listening to the number of feet. "Oh crap," she breathed. "What's going on?"
"Crap is right. That lil' bugger won't tell me nothin' either," Fahna hissed. "He was sayin' somethin' 'bout some men as might come after us since I gave that guy what for."
"Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Anya raged, dropping the suitcase and throwing up her hands in disbelief. "You knew it and kept us in the dark, so we led these bastards right back to the ship?"
"I'm sure you must be mistaken, lass," Shin-sin-fa retorted. "I only got a bad feelin' is all. Shut that door, an' if that is all weapons rather'n girl stuff, keep it in here so's we might use it."
"If you give me one more order, you scrawny lying shit, I'm gonna toss you out to keep 'em busy while the rest of us charge up our guns, roight?" Fahna snapped.
Shin-sin-fa flattened his ears against the sides of his head, seething as he silently looked around for ways to make the room more defensible. They had all of the galley, which was separated by a low half-wall, and the mess itself, which was comprised of four six-person tables with benches on either side. They were bolted to the floor.
Xan, Elayne, and Riki were asking frightened questions, and in answer Fahna grabbed each of them and pushed a laser pistol into their hands.
"If we can be sure they come in that door," Shin-sin-fa suggested, gesturing toward the bow, "We can use the half-wall in the galley like a trench to shoot from behind." At that instant, the attackers had apparently come up with their own plan, because two sets of feet stampeded across the deck above, presumably toward each door.
Fahna gave him a hard look before glancing over to the wall and affirming its suitability as a shield. "And how do you think to do that, captain?" she asked sarcastically.
"You, princess, help me rip up one o' these tables and we brace it over the door from the barracks."
Fahna cocked her head. "Everyone else, stand here in the middle o' the room, back to back. Don't go shootin' at the doors until they come open, but you see anything live comin' through, you shoot the shit out of it, got it? Aim for the belly--you're more likely to hit somethin' that way. Don't lock your elbows or the kick's gonna knock you silly. Come on, Shin."
The felinoid quickly pattered over to the table nearest the sternward door, his steps lost in the barrage of pounding on each door. They could hear loud voices arguing over the best way to break in coming from behind the doors on either side of the room.
"Damn lucky the windows're as high as they are," Shin-sin-fa muttered. He reached into one of his boots to grab a wrench but she put a hand on his, shaking her head.
"Not enough toime. These weren't made for it, but here-- let's see how we do," she said, shoving a pulse blaster at Shin-sin-fa.
"I ne'er shot one o' them," he said disdainfully, hoping his tone covered the somewhat nervous look on his face. "I can turn a bolt an' you use--"
"No toime." She grabbed his hand and wrapped it around the hilt, flicking off the catch. "Point it at the table leg where it gets thinnest, boi the bolt there, and keep the gun about a foot or a foot and a half away. It moight take a few blasts on each leg."
Shin-sin-fa knelt, his body breaking out in a cold, sticky sweat, and gingerly pointed the gun toward a metal leg. He heard something hacking at the doors, and swallowing hard, he squeezed off a pulse. It knocked him back a foot, though he fortunately caught his balance, and he realized he had not been close enough; there was very little damage. The metal was a bit warped, and there was an acrid scent in the air. Steeling himself, he leaned in and shot once more, a curious sound--or rather, a hole in the air around him that lacked sound completely, putting pressure on his ears. This time the table leg buckled and twisted under the force. A second, more confident shot severed it all the way, and he moved on to the next table leg. Fahna was just finishing her second and waited impatiently as he severed the last. Together, they flipped the heavy table on its side and began to drag it toward the door.
"Anya," Shin-sin-fa called, choosing the girl likely to have the most muscle. "Help us out, aye?"
The red bandana ducked close to the floor as she carefully set her gun down, and the three of them heaved the table along, littering the floor behind them with uneven trails of splinters as the table leg ends scored the wood. Even with their combined force, it was still an arduous and painfully slow process.
Finally, the table was in place, braced solidly between the end of the galley half-wall and the door to the crew's quarters. The act was none too soon--the sound of splintering wood was painfully clear from the door near the bow. The defenders piled behind the galley wall, Fahna's suitcase of weaponry a reassuring bulk among them.
"I don't know how to shoot a gun," Rikki panicked quietly, sneaking a glance at Shin-sin-fa, who was crouched beside her.
"Neither do I, Miss," he admitted. "We'll all just do the best we can, an' hope Fahna's the crack shot she thinks she is."
"Shut up or Oi'll practice on you," came the retort from their dainty armsmistress.
"Don't waste your ammo!" Rikki gasped, panicked.
Fahna's retort was lost in a splintering as the door finally cracked off of its hinges, and at that moment, pandemonium broke out.
A loud deep voice called, "We're through boys, on this side!" and heavy feet stomped along through the berths, presumably to join the three invaders. The men had ducked low immediately, but not before Fahna shot off one of their heads as he was coming through the door. She would have had the second if Rikki had not bumped her when the kick from her own blaster surprised her.
Shin-sin-fa was relatively certain the next thing Rikki would hit was his head, and he wrapped his free hand around her forearm. If the extra pressure did not help her aim, at least it would keep her from accidentally blasting off his ear.
Crockery along the shelves behind them exploded with sizzling snaps as the lasers hit them, and the smell of burnt flour wafted through the air, as well as clouds of the powder itself. Shin-sin-fa sneezed more than once, and he emptied the last of his pistol with flour in his eyes, hardly able to see. Fahna, too, was blinking and seemed hesitant to shoot while she was half-blinded. The others were far enough away from the flour to be unencumbered, but they were also less used to combat.
Dropping the now-useless blaster, Shin-sin-fa dug into his pockets and listened to the heavy boots now thumping down the stairs. With all the blasting, it was almost easier to feel the vibrations through the planks, but however he knew they were coming, he was definitely ready. A knife took one of the men coming down the stairs in the throat, and another, who had rolled down to cleverly make himself a more difficult target, still took a knife near the small of his back. He thought it was Anya that took the legs out from beneath another one, but he could not be sure because of all the confounded cooking supplies floating through the air. He sorely wished they would have thought of that and cleared them away.
A nascent thought prodded at his consciousness, something about the clothes the men were wearing, but he shoved it away. Couture assessment, at this particular moment, seemed inappropriate to say the least.
He ducked behind the counter again, breathing hard and coughing from all the damned flour--oh, and coffee now too, he could smell it--and slipped another knife free. It would probably have been useful if he could have thrown it, but a stunning blow to the back of his head knocked his vision into stars, and though he could hear the fight for what felt like long seconds later, could still smell the burnt flour and coffee, he was dizzy, sick, and though the lightbursts cleared away, the darkness took over.
The girls, however, had collectively thought to dump their belongings on the ship, and were far from the places Pendragon was looking. They were already wandering about on deck when Shin-sin-fa arrived. He groaned inwardly, but they had their luggage with them so they must not have gotten into the forecastle yet. If he got down there soon enough, he could still pick out his favorite bed.
The noise of a light haversack hitting the wooden deck alerted the five to the presence of their crewmate. When they turned to look, they were just in time to see him flatten his ears against his head, squinting behind him at the crowds on the docks.
After a moment, he turned around to find the girls aware of his presence, and he touched his cap momentarily before grasping the straps on his pack again and plodding to the fore of the ship
It seemed that his pathetically scrawny backpack was so empty it could maybe only have one thing in it. Everything else he owned was quite probably attached to his boots. The difference in their lifestyles sank his stomach as he walked by at least two heavy suitcases per girl. He cursed the feeling that he ought to help them carry them.
"You sleep down here, so this be where your things go," he said helpfully, heading toward the bow hatch and flipping it up easily.
"We know that," one of them snapped, apparently offended at his assumption that they had not left their bags on the deck for fun.
Opting not to reply, he swung down the ladder and was met with a surprise. There were no bunks here--this was the mess. Just beyond, the galley took up midships, and through a doorway behind he thought he saw lines of bunks. The crew's quarters...in the back? He had never heard of such a pleasant and overly fair setup, and he grinned in pleasure. The luxury of a smooth ride while he slept was enticing indeed, and the presence of a bunch of nattering females suddenly seemed worth the reward.
He made his way back to look around the available berths. There were a good many more than there were crew, that was for sure. This ship looked like it could hold twenty-five men before the mast, and then there would be the officer's cabins in the very rear.
He chose the bottom berth closest to the door that led into the mess--sure, it would be noisy with everyone coming and going, but he would have quick, unimpeded access to the decks during a storm or an attack, and that was nothing to look down your nose at. He dropped his backpack on the bed and looked around. The girls were dragging their suitcases down the ladder behind him, and he winced at the ungainly thumping noises.
Taking a breath, he called, "You need help with--"
"No!" was the curt response. A suitcase hit the floor with the loudest noise yet, and he shrugged, scowling, and moved off to explore. This door by the galley it was--oh, great Ten-Ki. Apparently at least one officer's cabin was at the near end of the crew's quarters. He winced and almost reconsidered his berth, as he was directly across from the door.
No, there's going to be a regular crew, he reminded himself sharply. After these girls are gone, I'll want to be as near someone that can break up a fight as I can. He swallowed hard and tried to rid himself of the thought.
"So that wasn't where we sleep after all," Anya said smugly, walking past him toward the berths at the far end. "Is that the loo back there?"
"Go look. I wouldn't know, I been wrong once already," Shin-sin-fa said in a gruff tone. So was she, he consoled himself.
"Don't pout," she said mildly, peeking in through the door before affirming her own suspicions. He was more irritated that she was right than that she had dared to voice it.
This is going to be a long two weeks, he thought sourly.
He had no idea.
* * *
Solaris Reverie was a sound vessel, small and sporty but stoutly built. She was at least a match if not the better of any of the other vessels Shin-sin-fa had sailed on in the past few years, and that alone was reassuring. Properly driven and with sufficient warning, the lad was certain that this ship could outrun any pirate in the Belt. Once they were rid of his tittering "crewmates," he had a feeling he might like it just fine on a ship like this with a captain like Quartz.
The creative layout of the vessel sat well with him--he could hear the talk in the mess from his bunk, if he felt like listening to conversation he had no part in, and there were partitions every half-dozen steps, so he would only have to listen to three snoring crewmates rather than a whole fo'c'sle full. The loo and the showers were all the way at the back of the ship, but at least the toilet had a door that locked, which Shin-sin-fa thought a splendid treat.
He had hoped the girls would leave their few things just to mark the berths they had chosen and go back to their rooms, where Quartz could lock them in for the evening, but the Giggle Brigade was far too enchanted with the ship to leave it. Their frantic exploration had been cut short upon discovering from a reluctant source that they were allowed to sleep here tonight. Delighted, they had actually sent Anya and Elaine back to check out of the inn and retrieve the rest of their luggage.
Xan, the slightly chubby cook, had busily (and enthusiastically) taken stock of the kitchen and its contents for a grand total of ten minutes before deciding they ought to use some of them up. Shin-sin-fa was already hungry again, and even though he thought it imprudent to eat the supplies off the ship before the ship was in the air, his stomach said that shutting up and eating what was placed in front of him was the best course.
Fahna Muy sat directly across from him, and while he tried to concentrate on his food rather than her delicate, elven features, once he was finished he had very little excuse for staring at his plate.
"Just what did you mean, Shin-sin-fa," she asked deliberately, "About someone following us from our inn?"
"Like I said," he muttered, "The author'ties might not believe 'tweren't your doin'."
"The authorities could easily find out what ship we were on just by asking the innkeep," she said coolly. "The only people that would need to follow us would be criminals." She leaned forward, her pale eyes outlined by a fringe of dark, sexy lashes. "You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?" she pouted.
Shin-sin-fa watched Fahna carefully and after a moment, opted to respond rather than finding out what she was hiding under the cutesy facade.
"You know that guy you...taught a lesson?" he asked quietly, lifting an eyebrow. "He be a member of a group o' rather dangerous men. He in partic'lar might not be the one as follows ye." He remembered his hat was still on his head indoors and pulled it off, obviously irked at his forgetfulness. "At any rate, be on your guard until we leave, an' don't be lettin' anyone know your name or the name o' the ship unless you trust 'em with your life. Literally."
"I can take care of myself," she snapped. She gave a sideways glance toward the others that he followed; Xan and Rikki were engaged in a lively conversation about nutritrional requirements for spacing. "You still've not told me who you think's followin' us. I come across plently of pirates and pirate wanna-bes in my past. I appreciate your warnin', but I'm not gonna take it at face value, sweets, if you don't make it sound like more'n a little boy scared o' the big dogs. You catch me?"
Shin-sin-fa lowered his brows in a fierce scowl and straightened up in his seat. Of all the bullheaded--As if the academy on Valtharska were teeming with pirates instead of a high-walled sanctuary that scanned you for unauthorized weapons at every entrance.
His voice was thick with sarcasm. "If you'd simply avoid brawlin' for the next few hours, I think we'll manage. But I s'pose that's up to your PMS rather'n your brain." He narrowed his eyes, then continued, "You can choose to do as ye like. But if I see you 'takin' care o' yourself,' for my own benefit I'm gonna put ye in a box an' store you in the hold until we've left port."
"Oi'd like to see you try," she said frostily, raising an eyebrow. "Oi've been studyin' defense arts for over half my life. It looks like you ain't got past Bathing 101."
Shin-sin-fa swallowed his response, as it would probably get him hanged. No dignified options came to mind, but the sound of heavy boots hitting the deck above saved him from needing an escape. Anya and Elaine were back.
The solar propulsion engineer's feet came into view first, then the two heavy bags she carried, and then her pinkened, sweating face. "Fahna, you oaf, if I'd known you had so many damn bags I'd've had you come with me. Elaine and I were lucky we got help. You've more makeup than a Ceridean nightclub postergirl."
Fahna laughed good-naturedly, completely abandoning the cold tone reserved for Shin-sin-fa and popping to her feet. She grasped one of the bags and started carrying it forward. "At least half of it's weaponry anyway. You ever seen steel makeup?"
Shin-sin-fa felt a surge of panic. Something was wrong, something was indefinably but definitely wrong. He surveyed the mess; Xan and Rikki were still talking, Fahna and Anya were lugging her suitcases toward the berths, and here came Elaine, hefting two smallish suitcases down the stairs.
So who was on deck?
The heavy thumps he had originally mistaken for luggage being dumped from a cart were now quite obviously a group of footsteps. Shin-sin-fa had a hard time believing that many strangers had just decided to help the girls for no reason. Assuming they were bipedal--for a nauseating moment, he entertained the idea of something insectile.
Shin-sin-fa's eyes widened, and he quickly slipped a few knives out of his inside pockets, twiddling them nervously but surely through his fingers, one in each hand. For a brief juvenile moment, he felt savage glee at seeing Fahna's impressed countenance, but he had to look away as he edged toward the door. The second Elaine was through, he slid the heavy wooden panel shut and locked it.
"So, Anya," he said, affecting nonchalance despite a pounding heart. "That help ye got...where'd ye find 'em?"
"Just at the end of the pier here--we had to go through most of town on our own," she said irritably. "Why?"
"How many o' them?"
She squinted at him, clearly about to ask why he had closed the door, and suddenly looked up at the ceiling, obviously listening to the number of feet. "Oh crap," she breathed. "What's going on?"
"Crap is right. That lil' bugger won't tell me nothin' either," Fahna hissed. "He was sayin' somethin' 'bout some men as might come after us since I gave that guy what for."
"Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Anya raged, dropping the suitcase and throwing up her hands in disbelief. "You knew it and kept us in the dark, so we led these bastards right back to the ship?"
"I'm sure you must be mistaken, lass," Shin-sin-fa retorted. "I only got a bad feelin' is all. Shut that door, an' if that is all weapons rather'n girl stuff, keep it in here so's we might use it."
"If you give me one more order, you scrawny lying shit, I'm gonna toss you out to keep 'em busy while the rest of us charge up our guns, roight?" Fahna snapped.
Shin-sin-fa flattened his ears against the sides of his head, seething as he silently looked around for ways to make the room more defensible. They had all of the galley, which was separated by a low half-wall, and the mess itself, which was comprised of four six-person tables with benches on either side. They were bolted to the floor.
Xan, Elayne, and Riki were asking frightened questions, and in answer Fahna grabbed each of them and pushed a laser pistol into their hands.
"If we can be sure they come in that door," Shin-sin-fa suggested, gesturing toward the bow, "We can use the half-wall in the galley like a trench to shoot from behind." At that instant, the attackers had apparently come up with their own plan, because two sets of feet stampeded across the deck above, presumably toward each door.
Fahna gave him a hard look before glancing over to the wall and affirming its suitability as a shield. "And how do you think to do that, captain?" she asked sarcastically.
"You, princess, help me rip up one o' these tables and we brace it over the door from the barracks."
Fahna cocked her head. "Everyone else, stand here in the middle o' the room, back to back. Don't go shootin' at the doors until they come open, but you see anything live comin' through, you shoot the shit out of it, got it? Aim for the belly--you're more likely to hit somethin' that way. Don't lock your elbows or the kick's gonna knock you silly. Come on, Shin."
The felinoid quickly pattered over to the table nearest the sternward door, his steps lost in the barrage of pounding on each door. They could hear loud voices arguing over the best way to break in coming from behind the doors on either side of the room.
"Damn lucky the windows're as high as they are," Shin-sin-fa muttered. He reached into one of his boots to grab a wrench but she put a hand on his, shaking her head.
"Not enough toime. These weren't made for it, but here-- let's see how we do," she said, shoving a pulse blaster at Shin-sin-fa.
"I ne'er shot one o' them," he said disdainfully, hoping his tone covered the somewhat nervous look on his face. "I can turn a bolt an' you use--"
"No toime." She grabbed his hand and wrapped it around the hilt, flicking off the catch. "Point it at the table leg where it gets thinnest, boi the bolt there, and keep the gun about a foot or a foot and a half away. It moight take a few blasts on each leg."
Shin-sin-fa knelt, his body breaking out in a cold, sticky sweat, and gingerly pointed the gun toward a metal leg. He heard something hacking at the doors, and swallowing hard, he squeezed off a pulse. It knocked him back a foot, though he fortunately caught his balance, and he realized he had not been close enough; there was very little damage. The metal was a bit warped, and there was an acrid scent in the air. Steeling himself, he leaned in and shot once more, a curious sound--or rather, a hole in the air around him that lacked sound completely, putting pressure on his ears. This time the table leg buckled and twisted under the force. A second, more confident shot severed it all the way, and he moved on to the next table leg. Fahna was just finishing her second and waited impatiently as he severed the last. Together, they flipped the heavy table on its side and began to drag it toward the door.
"Anya," Shin-sin-fa called, choosing the girl likely to have the most muscle. "Help us out, aye?"
The red bandana ducked close to the floor as she carefully set her gun down, and the three of them heaved the table along, littering the floor behind them with uneven trails of splinters as the table leg ends scored the wood. Even with their combined force, it was still an arduous and painfully slow process.
Finally, the table was in place, braced solidly between the end of the galley half-wall and the door to the crew's quarters. The act was none too soon--the sound of splintering wood was painfully clear from the door near the bow. The defenders piled behind the galley wall, Fahna's suitcase of weaponry a reassuring bulk among them.
"I don't know how to shoot a gun," Rikki panicked quietly, sneaking a glance at Shin-sin-fa, who was crouched beside her.
"Neither do I, Miss," he admitted. "We'll all just do the best we can, an' hope Fahna's the crack shot she thinks she is."
"Shut up or Oi'll practice on you," came the retort from their dainty armsmistress.
"Don't waste your ammo!" Rikki gasped, panicked.
Fahna's retort was lost in a splintering as the door finally cracked off of its hinges, and at that moment, pandemonium broke out.
A loud deep voice called, "We're through boys, on this side!" and heavy feet stomped along through the berths, presumably to join the three invaders. The men had ducked low immediately, but not before Fahna shot off one of their heads as he was coming through the door. She would have had the second if Rikki had not bumped her when the kick from her own blaster surprised her.
Shin-sin-fa was relatively certain the next thing Rikki would hit was his head, and he wrapped his free hand around her forearm. If the extra pressure did not help her aim, at least it would keep her from accidentally blasting off his ear.
Crockery along the shelves behind them exploded with sizzling snaps as the lasers hit them, and the smell of burnt flour wafted through the air, as well as clouds of the powder itself. Shin-sin-fa sneezed more than once, and he emptied the last of his pistol with flour in his eyes, hardly able to see. Fahna, too, was blinking and seemed hesitant to shoot while she was half-blinded. The others were far enough away from the flour to be unencumbered, but they were also less used to combat.
Dropping the now-useless blaster, Shin-sin-fa dug into his pockets and listened to the heavy boots now thumping down the stairs. With all the blasting, it was almost easier to feel the vibrations through the planks, but however he knew they were coming, he was definitely ready. A knife took one of the men coming down the stairs in the throat, and another, who had rolled down to cleverly make himself a more difficult target, still took a knife near the small of his back. He thought it was Anya that took the legs out from beneath another one, but he could not be sure because of all the confounded cooking supplies floating through the air. He sorely wished they would have thought of that and cleared them away.
A nascent thought prodded at his consciousness, something about the clothes the men were wearing, but he shoved it away. Couture assessment, at this particular moment, seemed inappropriate to say the least.
He ducked behind the counter again, breathing hard and coughing from all the damned flour--oh, and coffee now too, he could smell it--and slipped another knife free. It would probably have been useful if he could have thrown it, but a stunning blow to the back of his head knocked his vision into stars, and though he could hear the fight for what felt like long seconds later, could still smell the burnt flour and coffee, he was dizzy, sick, and though the lightbursts cleared away, the darkness took over.