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Pegasus (Part 101)

“Come on Casey,” I roared over the din of laser fire.

She fired another salvo, before quickly looking back at me. Then she sprinted towards the craft. Once inside, I quickly pressed the button for the cargo bay to close as I saw the uniformed men aiming their weapons.

“Get us the hell out of here.”

Laser fire started hitting the ship as the sound of its engines came online.

I went to Tabitha and Leanne, ensuring they had their belts on, before turning my attention to my own.

The thrusters ignited, and I could the ship moving much to my relief. I felt exhausted. There was a familiar smell of drugs.

I must have drifted off for a while because when I woke up everybody, including the supposed pilot was sitting in front of me, and deep in conversation. Casey was holding a medical device in her hand, and a blue beam emanating from it, healing Leanne’s wound. She would be back to full fitness in just a few minutes.

Casey was in deep conversation with her Mum.

“What now? We have lost all our product, we’re wanted criminals, and have nowhere to go?”

“I don’t know Casey. Just concentrate on your sister.”

Yes, they have major problems, I thought to myself.

Pegasus (Part 100)

We ended up dragging her along by her feet.

“Come on Leanne, try to help us. Keep taking steps,” Tabitha implored.

“I’m trying,” she sobbed,

The laser fire was continuing unabated behind us.

I looked up and saw the ship we were heading to. It was not exactly what I had been expecting. It was a medium-sized craft, totally pink, with a large cargo bay entrance to the rear.

As we got close, I stopped helping to hold up Leanne and ran forward to press the button to open it. Tabitha and Leanne immediately fell unceremoniously to the ground. I then ran back, and carried Leanne over my shoulder to the ship, before gently placing her inside. Tabitha stayed tending to her, while I looked out to see if I could see the other two.

For a few moments, all I could see was the flashes of laser fire in the distance. Then, Chrissie appeared out of the corner of my eye sprinting towards me. Then she shouted.

“I’ll get us out of here. Don’t you close up till my Casey is inside.”

She darted past me.

There were more flashes of laser fire.

Then I saw Casey. She was walking backwards towards the ship returning laser fire.

Pegasus (Part 99)

There was the sound of feet clattering.

I looked up to see the mother standing beside me. The muscles in her face tensed as she continued to fire away. She looked down at her stricken daughter.

“Are you okay baby? Mummy’s here.”

Leanne stoically recovered her composure.

“Yes Mum, I think so. These people help me. I’m sorry.”

The Mum replied, “Don’t be sorry baby. I got us into this mess.”

Then she gave me a glance, before firing another shot.

“Buster, the name’s Chrissie, nice to meet you. I don’t know you and your woman. But you looked after my Leanne, so you must be good people. Well for drug dealers and all. Now, I don’t know what your plan for getting off this base was, but I’ve got a ship sixty meters away, behind those crates. There’s enough space for everybody. What ya say, you two bring my Leanne over to it, I’ll give you cover. And we get the hell out of here”

I didn’t need long to think about it. There was no other option. I nodded to Tabitha, and then we lifted Leanne to a standing position, putting an arm over each of us. She smelled of perfume.

Pegasus (Part 98)

Well fuck me

The blonde didn’t hesitate and immediately opened fire, and then shouted.

“You treacherous bastards, come and get me.”

Then, I heard the sound of laser fire coming from behind me. Myself and Tabitha ran behind some cargo boxes for cover, trying to keep our heads down. A barrage of fire then came from the other direction in response.

A squeal of pain.

Tabitha popped her head up.

“It’s Leanne,” she whispered with a frown, “she’s been shot in the leg. Looks pretty bad.”

I nodded wondering if there was anything we should do.

Then Tabitha made a run for her.

What’s she doing doing?

I peeked to see her struggling to pull Leanne to our position.

Damn it

I leaped up and helped pull her behind the cover. Leanne was sobbing.

Tabitha took charge, while I looked on in dismay wondering why we were helping a stranger.

“It’s okay, Leanne. You are going to be alright. It’s just a laser wound.”

She then pressed down on it with her hands, but blood gurgled in between her fingers.

Wide-eyed she looked at me.

I took off my shirt, and tightly tied it around her injured leg knowing that her life depended on it. The firing continued, and distant roars of pain ran out.

Pegasus (Part 97)

The blond woman took charge pointing a laser at me.

“Casey, go check if they have the merchandise,” she said in a high pitch, old American voice.

She gave us a wide smile as the brunette walked past us to check the craft.

There was a pungent smell of fish coming from further away in the cargo bay. The blond woman face was stern.

“Nobody need to get hurt. The transfer will be completed once everything is in order.”

A shout came from behind us.

“It’s all here Mum.”

The blonde woman pursed her lips.

“I told you not to call me that. For Fuck’s sake, Maura”

They are family.

There was a surreal silence for a few moments.

“Leanne, go help your sister.”

The other woman then walked past us. A sound of rumblings came from behind us, and the occassional sound of bags hitting the surface. As the minutes, passed the woman’s eyes started to blink more often.

“Girls, are you nearly done? We don’t have all day.”

A different voice from before spoke before me.

That must be Leanne

The blond woman he up a small screen and then spoke again.

“You can see that the bitcoin has been transferred. You are free -“

Just then a group in green uniforms appeared from a distant entrance. A shout went out for us to drop our weapons.

Pegasus (Part 96)

It took three hours for us to reach our destination. As I expected, it was small compared to the other surrounding it.

A request for the password came over the intercom.

I inputted it into the onboard computer, and it was automatically transmitted.

Then, a tractor beam latched on the ship and my control panel switched off.

“I’ve lost control, do you have anything?”

“No, everything is gone back here too. Should we be alarmed?”

“I don’t think so. But stay alert.”

The habit grew larger as we approached. It looked like we were going to the main docking bay before the ship did a sharp turn to the left to a smaller one.

Feck it – This is looking very secluded. Nice place to bump us off.

The ship glided in and landed perfectly. All the hatches opened. They heard a female voice coming from outside.

“Howdy, you can get out now. We are armed, so no funny business.”

I climbed out of the ship, Tabitha did likewise. Three petit women were standing in front of us.

Not at all what I was expecting.

They were all dressed in tight jeans. A blonde woman in her forties was in the center flanked by a brunette, and a jet-black-haired woman. They were much younger, probably in their twenties.

Pegasus (Part 95)

Magellan four, five, niner was not a habitat I had previously heard about.

I talked to Tabitha.

“Have you heard of this habitat we’re going to?”

“No, but there are so many. I’ve only heard of a tiny percentage of them. I found where they’ve hidden at least some of the drugs. They are not concealed at all. They are just under the floor and If we’re searched, we have a major problem. It would take somebody two seconds to find it.”

“We’re just going to have to trust them I guess. This merchandise must be worth an awful lot to them, I’d day.”

“Oh yeah, they definitely won’t want anything happening to this.”

I inputted the name into the online search and a raft of information appeared on the screen.

It was more of a depot than a true habitat, with a population of only a few thousand. This was not the endpoint for the drugs. No, they would be transported across the system from there.

I had watched documentaries about drugs. Over the centuries their potency and addictiveness have been optimized, causing habitats to fail where they have gotten out of control. This was not something I wanted to be associated with.

Pegasus (Part 94)

The two Scottish men led us back out. I guessed they were foot soldiers in the gang.

“Off with ye now. Maybe we’ll see ya ‘gain.”

We climbed back up to the surface to the sweltering heat and quickly returned to the ship. As I hopped into the cockpit, I could see a fearsome sight in the distance.

It was a swirling wall of burning, red, sand that was closing in rapidly.

“Tabitha, get in the ship and quick!”

“What’s the problem?”

“Just look.”

I didn’t need to say anymore. Her pace quickened and she was in the ship.

There was no time to check where they had hidden the drugs. I ignited the thrusters, and we were once more climbing through the atmosphere. I was startled that I felt joy to once more to be above the clouds, and see the blue sky. My heartbeat only returned to normal though, when I saw the darkness of space.

“So, what now Tabitha, are we to become drug dealers, the destroyer of lives?”

“What do you want me to say? What can we do? It’s the lesser evil. The Emperor must be stopped.”

And deep down, I knew she was right and inputted our destination into the autopilot.

Pegasus (Part 93)

I sat down on what I hoped was a clean surface. Tabitha did likewise but rubbed it with her hand before looking at me with a frown.

A burly, bald man with a sliver of grey hair and a woman wafer thin sat down opposite us at the round table. Both were in torn, shabby clothes, with black smut on their faces.

The man spoke first.

“Your ship is being loaded with the merchandise. You must bring it to Magellan four, five, niner to receive payment. On the approach to the station, you must say “Deontay” to get past security. You don’t have much time. A heatwave will be upon us imminently.”

I just had to ask.

“What is the merchandise?”

He blinked and then stared straight into my eyes. Then he pulled his bottom lip back before continuing.

“It’s Ezine 126 in tablet form.”

Fuck me, that’s the most proscribed drug there is. Ten times stronger than fentanyl, and much more addictive. And I had thought or perhaps hoped it was a relic from the past. The devastation this was going to cause to the people in the habitat is unfathomable, not to mention the automatic death sentence if caught.

Tabitha held her hand up to her mouth, but I tried to show no emotion.

“Let’s go Tabitha, no time to waste.”

Pegasus (Part 92)

The two Scottish men led us round the rear of the closest semi-standing building to an old manhole. They lifted it open and started climbing down a ladder. Tabitha followed them first, then me. I pulled the manhole close and immediately felt much cooler.

They were waiting for me at the bottom, lit by torches at the side walls.

“Ye shud take some of dis, don wanna ya dying before we even get to no yous,” the blonde one spoke as he showed a flask in his hand.

“What is it?” Tabitha asked.

“Water.”

She slowly gulped it down, before handing it to me. I did likewise. It tasted like the best thing I had ever drank.

“Dis used to be a sewer.”

I stopped drinking to laughter from both men.

“Don worry, the water is from elsewhere. Follow us dis way.”

We walked along the tunnel for a few minutes. It was dry and dusty, and there was little evidence of its previous use. We heard chattering in the distance, then reached a large cavern full of people, tables, and their body odor.

“What’s this?” I asked.

“The East End,” came the reply.

We were then led through the throng of people to an enclosed area with chairs and a table.