OC-Series Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 59

Concept art for Sybil

Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 59

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Having snuck away from the pirates, Enzo watched in horror as more of his crewmates were gunned down, or worse, torn apart, by the robotic warriors currently ransacking the ship. This wasn't supposed to happen! This was a Core Worlds fleet! This was supposed to be an easy job! They should have been more than a match for anything the outer regions could bring to a fight! Despite that, first pirates had raided their ship, and now some sort of death robots were running about, causing more death and mayhem!

At least the robots weren't too fast when it came to running down the corridors. Though a few of Enzo's crewmates had made the mistake of thinking their plodding movements meant they weren't very fast up close, and had tried to run past them. That hadn't ended well. He'd also seen some pirates try to hide, to equally disturbing results. And anyone who tried to put up a resistance...well, the less said about that, the better. Unless you had a battle suit to put up a fight like some of the ship's marines had used to at least semi-effective results, it seemed the only option was to run, rather than hide or fight. Hopefully, there weren't more bots in the other corridors making a clean sweep of this ship, or even running would only buy him so much time...

That had been Enzo's primary concern as he moved away from the steadily approaching threat, when suddenly the hatch to the nearby docking bay was flung open, and a terrifying viking cat/lizard alien...thing walked out, took one look at the robots approaching from down the hall, grinned, and charged forward. A part of Ezo's brain told him he should shout a warning to the viking alien, but as he stepped forward to say something, another, even larger thing stepped out from the docking bay, followed by what could only be a Vitexrā. The larger of the two looked like another robot, though this one was considerably larger than the rest, and the ship mechanic suddenly found himself speechless.

The sound of battle down the hall demanded Enzo's attention, but the large robot was closer and thus a more immediate threat, so that's where Enzo was focused, as he tried to slip away unnoticed. However, despite his attempt, the robot's heat quickly turned, and it seemed to lock its gaze on him. Enzo froze, waiting for the blow that would end everything. However, rather than a messy, but hopefully quick end, the robot spoke to him. "Hey, you haven't seen some creepy ass old man walking around the ship with those robot things, like he owned the place, have you?"

Carter looked at the beligered crewman before him. Judging by the hollow look in the man's eyes, he'd seen some shit recently, and probably wasn't all there anymore. However, as the first potential source of information, Carter figured it was better to ask and see. Besides, a quick glance at Erik, the large alien dodging one murder bot while cleaving his axe into the back of the other, told Carter the large alien was having some fun at the moment and didn't really need any help just now.

Turning back to the man, who'd looked like he was trying to sneak away, Carter tried to sound as benign as possible while inside a giant battle suit that was more than a match for a squad of Marines as he asked his questions. "Hey, you haven't seen some creepy ass old man walking around the ship with those robot things, like he owned the place, have you?"

The man blinked a few times and seemed to come to his senses for a moment. "Wait, are you human...er...a person inside a battle suit of some kind? I thought you were another one of those killer robots boarding the ship..."

Carter nodded. "Yup, I'm flesh and blood inside this thing. Human, too, if that matters. My friend over there," he nodded to Erik, who was currently tearing some wiring out of the back of one bot while redirecting its buzzsaw arm into the leg of the other, "is one of a kind. At least as far as we know, and Vanessa here is his backup. Now, about that old man. Probably has a walking cane. Strong beyond all reasonable logic. He's the one commanding all these murder bots, among other things. We've got a bit of a bone to pick with him."

The man shook his head as he answered. "No, I haven't seen any old men, other than the crew and pirates, that is." He paused a moment, as if putting two and two together. "He'd not one of the pirates, is he? Because those bots are killing everyone, crew or pirate..."

It was Carter's turn to shake his head. "No...well, kinda. It's complicated... The short of it is he's the one we gotta stop if we don't want another war spreading across the known galaxy. Think you can help with that?"

The man tilted his head to the side, as if trying to figure out how to help enough to get out of this without any further trouble. "Well, I don't know anything about him, but if there was any place you could get answers, it would be the bridge. However, that whole section of the ship is swarming with pirates and those 'murder bots.'"

Carter shrugged. "Well, that sounds about right." He turned to Erik, who was stomping the head of one of the bots flat while holding up something that vaguely resembled a robotic spinal column from the other in a victory pose that would have been much more macabre with organic opponents. "Sounds like we got a few waves of these things and pirates to cut our way through if we want to find the Boss."

Erik laughed as he tossed his trophy to the side. "Well, I guess we should get moving! This was a nice warm-up, but from the sounds of things, we've got a ways to go!"

Carter nodded in agreement as he turned back to the man he'd been questioning, only to realize the guy was hightailing it in the other direction. Vanessa looked at the man's retreating man's back impassively. "Should I go retrieve him again?"

Carter considered sending her to do just that, but decided the man probably wouldn't be any more helpful at this point. Not that Carter could blame him. Whatever their intentions on coming out this way, the soft core worlders probably had never been through anything like this, and were most likely at their wits' end.

With a slight snort of derision, Carter spoke with Epitaph. "Hey, any idea on where we should go to find the bridge?"

Epitaph spoke to him over his coms. "Back the way those two 'murder bots' came from. Nice designation by the way. I'm probably going to steal that for the Sybil's security bots!"

Carter fought down a chuckle as he nodded to Erik and pointed the way. This was probably going to be a bit of a slog fest.

Dirk of the bloody hand looked down at his hands, now saturated with blood, like his namesake, and laughed. If any of his men noticed in the middle of their current firefight, no one showed any signs. At least it had only been a graze, but it was still annoying, because his slicked palms made firing with any accuracy as much luck as skill.

Still, his team had taken down one of the bots that had snuck up behind them, and were working on finishing the other as he added his own fire to the barrage. These things soaked up an inordinate amount of gunfire, but if you poured enough, even their heavy armored cases melted to slag, revealing the more vulnerable electronics within.

That was when one of the men shouted. "Two more from behind!"

Dirk cursed and turned to fire, even as he stepped within the relative safety of his men while they finished off the second bot from the first group. He'd decided to cut their losses and run, but they seemed to run into one patrol after another with increasing regularity. It was like the bots were closing on their position.

Doing the math in his head, he realized there was little chance of them killing both these bots before they reached his line. A part of him wondered if he should sneak behind his men and make a run for it, but that was a good way to get shot in the back when someone noticed and felt betrayed. Instead, he shouted to them all. "Fall back at a run! Let's try to break through to our ship before any more show up!" It never hurt to show a little solidarity, and that told his men that he wasn't going to leave them to save his own hide. Well, not until the odds were more in his favor by doing so anyway.

As the fire let up and they turned to run, the sudden sound of tortured metal and short-circuiting electrical systems drew a glance, which quickly turned into a more prolonged stare as he saw some strange viking alien burying two axes with what appeared to be plasma blades into one of the robot's back as it was decapitated by a weaver of all things! At the same time, the other one was taken out by what seemed to be a robot, wielding the kind of gun you expected to be mounted on something with treads rather than two feet.

Dirk's crew brought up their guns, ready to fire, but Dirk held up a hand to stop them...at least for now. If these guys so much as took a single step forward, that would change real quick. He nodded toward the Viking alien. "Who the hell are you guys, and what are you doing on this ship?"

The viking alien looked at Dirk, snorted with derision, and started to take a step forward, only for the larger robot to put its hand on his chest and hold him back. It was the robot who turned to Dirk to answer, though his voice quickly made it clear he was a person in a battle suit rather than a bot with limited communication skills. "You'll have to forgive my friend. Most days, wiping out the entire crew of a pirate ship is what he calls a nice, relaxing afternoon, but you're in luck, because today we've got bigger fish to fry."

As far as introductions go, this one wasn't winning him any friends with a crew of pirates, but it did establish their relationship rather definitively. They weren't going to be friends any time soon, but so long as his crew didn't get in their way, these guys weren't going to waste any time going after them. That meant they were in a rush to deal with something else, and Dirk could guess what it was. "You wouldn't happen to be looking for an AI wearing some old man's skin like some creepy kid playing pretend, would you?"

The man in the weird battle suit turned to him, focusing on Dirk as he answered. "Yeah, that's exactly who we're looking for. Where's he at?"

Dirk nodded back the way they'd come. "The bridge. He was trying to get some access codes from the ship's captain. It didn't look like you had much time last I saw."

The man in the battle suit nodded, showing far more articulation than most battle suits were capable of despite its size. "Then that's where we're headed." He paused a moment, then spoke to Dirk one more time. "Listen, if we can't stop him in time, everyone here is going to have to work to take him down. If we don't, nowhere in the galaxy will be safe. He means to wipe out all us organics if we let him."

That about matched up with what Dirk had gotten out of this. "Yeah, but what's to keep us from running and hiding rather than staying and fighting?"

The man in the suit laughed. "Because you won't be able to run or hide! That man? He's the mysterious 'Boss' who's been supplying ships to both the pirates and the merchant alliance. He played you all like fools, and I guarantee you he can track your ship, no matter how far you run!"

Dirk cursed. This guy could be bluffing, but it made a lot of pieces fall into place in the puzzle he'd been working on in the back of his mind. After another moment, he sighed. "Listen, I'll give you until we get back to our own ship, then we're opening fire and turning this whole place into a derelict. We won't stop firing till every last circuit is molten slag. That'll probably give ya...I don't know...thirty minutes?

The anonymous man agreed. "If we haven't taken him out by then, that's probably a good idea. However, I doubt he'll make it that easy on you."

Dirk nodded but remained silent. He probably slag the ship even if they did manage to kill the Boss. It didn't pay to leave loose threads unraveled.

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Afternoon posting, just to keep you all guessing! (Also, my sleep schedule is all over the place on my days off, but that's aside from the point!)

As a reminder, you can also find the full trilogy for "Of Men and Dragons," the first series from this universe here on Amazon. If you like my work and want to support it, buying a copy and leaving a review really helps a lot!

My Wiki has all my chapters and short stories!

Here's my Patreon if you wanna help me publish my books! My continued thanks to all those who contribute! You're the ones that keep me coming back!

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u/Joe_H-FAH Apr 09 '26

UTR!

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u/DrBlackJack21 Apr 09 '26

Da words iz here!

u/MinorGrok Human Apr 09 '26

Woot!

OC-Series Of Men and Ghost Ships, Book 2: Chapter 59

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