The Alienbutt Saga, Book 1. War of the Coffee Bean. Part 46.

Then the doors to the cargo bay opened. Nifty swung the gun ready to fire but saw Blackarachnia leaning against the door.
“Next time you gas me and chuck me in stasis, could you give me a day to recover before I have to go running around the ship? I’m not as young as I used to be.” He staggered forward and started down the steps.
Nifty dropped the gun and ran over to him. She ran into his arms at the bottom of the stairs and stood, enjoying just being back with him for a moment. Then she saw movement at the doorway from the corner of her eye. Instinctively she spun Blackarachnia around and pushed him back just before something hit her in the chest, lifting her off her feet.
Blackarachnia landed on the floor and looked up to see Nifty lifted off her feet, blood spraying from her chest. Without thought he had his pistol out of its holster and pointed at the doorway, so when Geurick came into sight he took two shots in the upper chest and fell back through the doorway.
Blackarachnia scrambled over to where Nifty lay, blood flowing freely from the wound in her chest. He had only minutes to save her. Scooping her up, he headed for the ship’s runabout that was stored in the cargo bay so there was more room in the hanger for extra fighter ships. Opening the doors to the small ship he carried the already unconscious Nifty inside. His only chance to save her was to get her into the mobile stasis booth aboard the runabout until he could get her to proper medical help. Once there, they could use a medical stasis field over the injuries and nano probes to heal the injuries.

Geurick felt pain like never before. He had been hit in the upper chest and shoulder, smashing his collar bone. Taking a small pot of powder from a pouch on his belt, he sprinkled it on the wounds, gritting his teeth as the powder burnt the wounds closed and stopped the blood flow. Almost passing out, he was brought back to the here and now by large explosions that rocked the ship, then his communicator came to life.
“Commander Tackful, a small runabout has just taken off from the enemy dreadnought. Do you want us to destroy it?”
Geurick got to his knees. He had underestimated the bounty hunter. He had believed the stories of the gentleman hunter who always fought fair, but the truth was Blackarachnia was a pub scrapper who would use any trick going to give him the edge.
“Beam me aboard now, I will destroy the ship myself,” he ordered. Blackarachnia had been much more devious than he thought he would be. The gas attack had been unexpected, but now he would shoot him out of space and it would be done with.

Blackarachnia jumped into the pilot’s seat and fired up the engines on the runabout. Manoeuvring the ship into the centre of the cargo bay, he charged up the forward cannons and fired at the outer doors, blowing them out in an explosion that rocked the entire ship. Looking out to open space through the ruined doors, he retracted the ship’s landing gear and set off. As soon as he was airborne he saw the Federation frigate begin to move to intercept him. He knew he would have to be at his best to outrun this ship, and he was far from that, and he didn’t stand a chance in a stand up fight. Angling away from the enemy ship he hoped the pilot wasn’t very good at steering in such a close chase. Then there came a flash from ahead of him as a second ship jumped out of light speed. Blackarachnia began to turn the ship from the new arrival, cursing the universe in general.

Hydroponic jumped out of light speed and took in the scene before him in an instant. Ignoring the runabout, he sped for the Federation ship, opening fire. As explosions battered the ship it swerved away from its intended prey and quickly jumped to light speed, not wanting to face this new arrival that obviously had it outgunned. Hydroponic watched the Federation ship leave and opened up communications as he swung his ship back around.
“Blackarachnia, let’s get you out of the wee daft ship and out of here before that Federation ship comes back with some friends.”
“Hydroponic?” asked Blackarachnia, amazed at his old partner’s arrival. “Help me, Nifty's hurt, I think she's dying.”

To be continued.

thanks for reading, all images are mine.