The Tornado Sojourns – Chapter 06 – The Skeet Brothers

 

The Skeet brothers were born on the agrarian world of Shax in the populous Shaxson system, which was one of the last to join the Legion and it was not an easy transition or indeed a wholly welcome one.

In fact it was a protracted and bloody courtship which involved three years of bitter war and it was that war that saw the Skeet’s swap their plough shares for Pulsar weapons and tractors for Spider Hawk Fighters, Lyris was 22 and his brother Zerrad was just 19 when they left their home.

When the war came to an unsatisfactory conclusion for the Shaxson rebels the Legion exacted a heavy retribution which lead to some of the former fighters having to turn their backs on their home worlds to escape the Legions punitive punishments and give up living on the land and live on the lam instead.

Not that the Skeets had much appetite for farming after all the action they had seen.

They had no family left on Shax by the time the war was over so even if the Legion had been prepared to allow them to live in peace there was nothing left to bind them to their birthplace.

So they left the Shaxson system and signed on for to an inter galactic freighter and spent two years jumping from galaxy to galaxy until they tired of the life, albeit a well-paid one, so they disembarked at the Exodus 9 space dock before the Goliath departed through the star gate.

They found life outside of the cossetted world of the “deep spacers” and found that most employers treated people very differently and they had a very uncomfortable 12 months working as flight crew on an Omega class planet hopper, the Phoenix, until one day as they were approaching the Exodus 9 space dock to drop off a load of farming implements Lyris made a hasty decision.

As they were on their final approach an Apantician grain freighter was just leaving and momentarily it put the little Omega on its blindside so instead of proceeding to dock on the outer docking ring Lyris had a sudden rush of blood to the head and concealed the Phoenix beneath the grain freighters starboard engine array rendering it invisible to the ship’s crew and the space docks instruments.

“What the hell are you doing?” Zerrad asked

“We’re getting the hell out of this system before this work bores us to death” Lyris replied

“Better that than being worked to death on a penal planet” his younger brother pointed out “and if we go through the gate we don’t have enough fuel to get us to the next one”

“Firstly these little Omega’s are ten a penny so they’re not going to waste time and money tracking us down and secondly we don’t need fuel, we’ll just hitch a ride on this beast” Lyris said

“But we don’t know where it’s going Ly” Zerrad said

“Anywhere is better than here” he retorted 

Which was how and why they ended up living and working

in the Cammaratian System plying a fairly lucrative trade going from planet to planet, moon to moon and mine to mine where they worked on the margins of legality, frequently operating on the wrong side of the law just to make a living and with Scav Raiders at large they needed their wits about them at all times just to stay alive.

But although the Phoenix was unarmed it had a good turn of speed which could outrun most of the trouble they came across.

 

They were only half-brothers, but despite their differences they were unmistakably brothers.

They were both six feet tall, broad and muscular but Lyris had black hair, dark almost black eyes and a short fuse, while Zerrad was blonde, grey eyed and was quiet and thoughtful.   

 

Like many of the independents in the system they had their base on Alwi the fourth moon of the seventh planet Aragon, which was where they got to know the crew of the Tornado, and Merionwen, Malena and Shiyne were their closest friends although Zerrad secretly hoped for more in regard to Malena.

Lyris was content with friendship though, although they were all really attractive and of the right age for him they all had drawbacks, tall slim Merri with her abundance of red hair trailing behind her like a mane, pale skin, penetrating green eyes and an altogether striking appearance but along with that she was a forthright, volatile and feisty personality and that made her far too like him for them to be anything other than friends.

Then there was Malena, also tall and slim, brunette hair, olive skin and hazel eyes, at least that was how she appeared but of course in reality, she was an Obgaron shape shifter so in her own natural Mercurial form of liquid silver glass she looked very different, not that he had ever seen her in that form or any other Obgaron for that matter, but he understood that even in their natural state they were very pleasing to the eye, but Lyris was a meat and potatoes kind of guy, unlike his brother who he knew saw her in a very different light.

And finally there was the smaller Shiyne, who was completely bald, had cerise coloured skin and purple eyes who he found to be the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, alas though she was a Vann, and the Vann were telepaths and he couldn’t get anywhere with someone who could actually read his mind, it was difficult enough with the ones that thought they knew what he was thinking.

 

For Zerrad it didn’t matter how beautiful Merri and Shiyne were, he had eyes only for Malena and he knew she was Obgaron and was not really as she appeared to him but he didn’t care, he didn’t love her because she was beautiful he loved her because she was kind, gentle and a voice of reason in a turbulent world.

But nothing ever came of his infatuation, because he was far too shy to press his suit, so he just enjoyed her company on the occasions when they were both on the ground at the same time and she filled his thoughts all the time they were apart, not an altogether sustainable situation which is probably why the universe intervened.

 

It was ten years after they left their agrarian home world of Shax in the Shaxson system and four since they arrived in the Cammaratian system and it had suited them very well because it was one of the few remaining neutral zones left in the known galaxy and it bordered 11 other systems, all much busier and more populous than itself so it was in effect a short cut, a rat run between systems with the advantage of far less stringent border controls, ideal for those either in a hurry or more likely those transporting contraband which the Skeets had often been known to do.

Using the Cammaratian routes however was not without risk, which was because of the lack of scrutiny of the system by the Legion and the Mehreen empire, those choosing the less high profile route were left vulnerable to the other inhabitants of the neutral zone “Scav Raiders” which were in essence little more than pirates, so no one entered the system unarmed unless they were in convoy or had the benefit of speed and the Omega class Phoenix certainly fell in that category.

The other reason it was used so readily despite the perils was because it gave the merchant men easy access to the star gates beyond the frontiers, which in turn accessed the lucrative trade routes through hyperspace.

The Phoenix would occasionally travel in a convoy but more often than not they pressed on alone and trusted to Lyris’s instincts which hadn’t let them down before.

They were quick and they knew the most likely spots where they might be vulnerable and avoided them, which was normally enough.

But no one was completely safe even their friends on the Tornado which was fast enough to out run most of the predatory pirates and certainly out gun them with the twin Pulsar Lasers at the front and a rear facing Plasma cannon, got scragged by a posse of raiders and had been grounded with engine problems for three months.

Which was why Lyris chose the safer route of passing close to Zandros on his way back to Alwi, which was regarded by everyone as a safe passage, a milk run even, so they saw no danger.

They were making good time and Zerrad had allowed his mind to wander to an occasion time when he could spend some time with Malena and then it happened, a photon mine detonated off the port side and disabled one engine.

“What the fuck!” Ly cursed “Where did that come from?”

“More to the point why is it here?” Zerrad asked

“It’s probably just a stray” Lyris retorted optimistically but Zerrad wasn’t so sure

“Maybe” he said and studied the scanners looking for more.

“It must have drifted towards Zandros and got caught in its gravitational field” Lyris added trying hard to convince himself but failed, and Zerrad was even less inclined to that notion, and he was right to be sceptical as at that precise moment three Scav Raider craft appeared on their long range scanners.

“We’ve got company” Z said

“Three bogies closing in fast”

“We’ll never outrun them with one dead engine” Ly pointed out

“Hit the beacon and send out a mayday”

With that said Zerrad sent out the distress call as Lyris tried to put some distance between them and their attackers and he managed to keep out of range of their guns for about ten minute before they were caught and they felt the first Pulsar strikes on the hull which were followed by strike after strike.

“Are you sure there’s only three of them?” Lyris asked as he tried to squeeze every last ounce of power from the engines, but they received repeated hits however they were still maintaining forward momentum and had sustained a lot of damage by the time help arrived and they were still taking fire from two of their assailants while the third was trying to latch on to the hull in preparation to breach.

They weren’t aware of it at the time that the help was in the form of the Tempest Class Freighter, Tornado, and they didn’t even know it was there until one of the Raiders, which was circling around to attack again was taken completely by surprise with a sustained targeted strike from the Tornado’s twin Pulsar Lasers which tore a gash along the ships port side and a few seconds later it exploded into a flaming patch of debris.

“It looks like help has arrived” Lyris exclaimed

“It’s too late” Zerrad retorted “They’ve broken through”

In response Lyris killed the engines and drew his Laser and said

“We’d better go and introduce ourselves to our guests”