Baldy responded to Emry with his gun aimed right at Emry’s temple. “Looks like Noretrade is saying you lot are not associates of theirs.”

Baldy then gave Emry a few taps on her temple with the tip of his pistol. “Now let’s take a little trip to our holding cells before I blow a hole through your pretty little head.” Baldy said with a threatening tone.

Emry gave me a look out of the corner of her eye. “I’m not so sure that’s going to work for me fellas.”

I knew some shooting, of some sort, was about to go down. That being said, I definitely did not expect to see what I saw transpire. As it turns out, when little Eps was being threatening, I was very correct to be nervous. Eps was a mini mechanical machine of death.

To be perfectly honest, I had not the slightest clue where Eps came from. All I knew is before I knew it, Eps had cut Baldy’s throat and was flying to his next victim.

Now let’s back up here. When I say Eps was flying, that is exactly what I meant. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Miniscule blue flames were projecting out of all of Ep’s limbs. The little guy was so fast it was almost impossible to keep track of him.

I then snapped back into the reality of the situation, which was that there was still a gun pressed against my skull. Lucky for me, my buddy holding a piece on my head hadn’t snapped back into reality himself. With my back to the man about to blow a hole through me, I gave him the hardest elbow to the gut I could muster. Which had to be a pretty decent amount, because the man dropped to the floor and dropped his piece at the same time.

Following Emry’s lead, I grabbed my Noretrade handgun and started shooting at the Rocco thugs around the desk. Good thing Emry took most of them out already. My heart was beating so fast I could hear it almost as clear as the blasts from the shooting. Before I knew it, everyone that was in Emry’s and my way were all no more.

As I turned around to face the rest of the room, ready to go out shooting, there was no need. Eps took care of all the other occupants in the room. Remind me to never talk smack to Eps ever again. If I got out of this alive, I was going to have to make the guy my new best friend.

Speaking of best friends, Grady. I ran over to the door I had last seen Grady go through, and ran towards it. I could hear Emry’s light footsteps following close behind me. When I got through the door I entered a massive spacecraft hangar. To my left, was a couple flights of stairs leading to the hangar floor. To my right, was an elevator platform that brought you down to the hangar floor as well.

What was in the hangar itself was the most beautiful sight I had ever laid eyes on. The most magnificent freighter was gleaming down below me. This was no small freighter by any means. By the looks of this vessel it was indeed brand new. The color of the freighter was a darkish grey. The ship’s frame was rectangular, with the nose of the ship narrowing to somewhat of a flat point. At the top of the nose of the freighter were windows where the cockpit was located. The middle of the ship grew in width and length. That is where you could store more freight than I could imagine. Last we had the thrusters located on the rear of the ship. There were 4 huge circular thrusters all next to each other making a square shape. The thrusters were just a tad bigger than the middle section of the freighter.

Even from my distance away from this freighter, I could see why Noretrade brought their ship to Rocco’s. This freighter was decked out with some serious firepower scattered all over the ship. These guys were definitely not messing around.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have all day to admire this glorious piece of work. I was praying to whatever was out there to not let my friend be dead. I was down those stairs in no time at all. Immediately, I started running towards the freighter. Right as I was approaching the ship, Grady appeared on the ramp to the main part of the freighter.

Unfortunately, there was a man with a gun to the back of Grady’s head leading him down the ramp. Looks like Grady wasn’t missing out of any of the fun either. I noticed that Eps was taking out the remainder of Rocco’s goons around the hangar, as I continued to run. The man and Grady stopped at the middle of the ramp.

“Stop right there or I’ll blow your friends brains out! Tell your little… whatever it is to stay away from me or I’ll shoot!” Screamed the man.

I stopped immediately. This guy looked so panicky he might just pull the trigger on accident. The man looked like he was probably in his fifties with a very long grey beard. He had many teeth missing, and looked like he was no stranger to smoking some major dope. Grady looked extremely scared and had his hands up towards the sky.

Right as Emry arrived by my side, so did Eps. “What do you want to do here boss, you want me to take out loudmouth? ” Asked Eps calmly. I was surprised Eps had any compassion for Grady.

I, however, was not so calm. “Yes please! You have got to save him or I’m not flying us off this rock!” I yelled at both Emry and Eps.

As soon as the words left my mouth I saw something change in Emry’s eyes. They went from their normal pleased look, to something extremely dark. In a blink of an eye Emry pulled out her gun and shot Grady’s holder right in the face. The man crumpled to the floor of the ramp. Grady let out a horrific scream.

Emry looked straight into my eyes, her shooting arm still stretched out. “How many times must I tell you I’m the boss here. You do as I tell YOU!” Screeched Emry.

Emry pulled the trigger of her gun once more. Grady was shot in the chest, and stumbled a couple steps forward before falling completely on his face. Grady began to roll a few times before falling off the ramp. The fall had to be about 6 to 7 feet.

I howled at the top of my lungs and immediately lunged for Emry. Emry moved quicker than anyone I had ever met before. She kicked me in my face so hard I’m glad my jaw stayed attached to my face. Next thing I knew I was on my back, and was trying to get up with no success. Emry took my gun from my side and tossed it far away.

Emry was then kneeling beside me and jammed her piece in my bloodied mouth. “If you want to live, get your ass up and pilot this freighter for me, or I will put a hole in the back of your pretty little mouth.”

A part of me at that time probably wouldn’t have minded if she shot me dead right there. Another part of me wanted Emry dead by my hands. I couldn’t do that if I was just another dead guy in this hangar.

I gave Emry a small nod. “Good, now get yourself up and let’s get out of here before anyone else shows up. Eps, go make sure if anyone else is in that freighter, that you kill them.” Ordered Emry.

Eps looked unsettled. “That wasn’t part of the plan Emry. You said you would…” Eps started to speak but Emry cut him off.

“Just go! I don’t have time for your honorable ways right now.” Emry said with great irritation.

Eps stayed floating in midair and said nothing while staring at Emry. “We will talk about it later. Now please go.” Emry said with a calmer tone.

Eps stayed put for a few seconds longer before reluctantly flying away towards the freighter. I then began to try and stand. “Hurry up let’s go! We don’t have all day!” Wailed Emry.

I finally got to my feet and started to stumble behind Emry. We made it up the ramp and inside the freighter. The whole time I was following Emry, all I could see was the gun slightly bouncing on her hip. We turned left down a metal hall toward some stairs. Looking back at what I did next, I was extremely stupid, yet extremely lucky.

Without thinking I lunged for Emry once more. This time with some success. I was no match for Emry’s obviously trained fighting skills and unreal speed. The one advantage I had was being twice the size of Emry. We got in a tangle and I gave her a couple of good shots before seeing an opening to grab for her gun. Using my superior strength, I began reaching for the gun, while able to hold Emry off.

Right before I was finally about to get ahold of her gun, Emry pulled out a hidden blade and stabbed me in my forearm. I groaned in pain, while Emry slipped my hold and rolled away from me towards the open door where the ramp was. Emry drew her weapon directing it right at me.

As I looked down the barrel of Emry’s gun all I could think about was how I had failed Grady. “You stupid fool, you think you… ” Emry began to say before the blast came.

I opened my eyes and looked at Emry, who had a surprised look on her face. Smoke was emerging from behind Emry’s back. Looked like Rocco’s reinforcements showed up right on time. At least I would die knowing Emry went down with me.

A big arm and hand emerged on Emry’s shoulder and pulled her down the ramp. Grady’s big goofy face emerged through the door.

“Miss me?” Grady said with a great deal of pain in his voice.

To be continued…