The two hakan silently glided down off the tops of a shelf. One nded on top of the butar, the other on Eli. Using their talons, they cut away the pstic cuffs that bound them. The pirate named Karr suddenly looked in their direction. His eye piece moved out from in front of his eye.

  Tarl’s butar and both of his hakan let out expletives. Karr’s weapon had been leaning up against the contain he stood beside. He grabbed it and took aim.

  Tarl’s bodies scattered in all directions. Karr used the underbarrel shotgun to bst a hakan out of the air. Eli rolled behind one of the shelves. He got up and started running. Karr blindly fired his rifle at the shelf, bsting holes through containers. Eli kept running, pieces of shredded pstic striking him, bullets zipping by.

  There was still another pirate in the room. He had been hanging around, looking in random crates and such. Now he was rushing out from behind a shelf, struggling to unsling his carbine. Tarl’s remaining hakan swooped above a shelf, grabbed one of the frag grenades that it had left up there, and swooped back down. It dropped the explosive onto the pirate. The explosion cut off his scream.

  Karr stopped to reload. Eli rounded a corner. There it was, ying on the floor against the wall, his biomechanical horror of a pistol. Smiling, Eli picked it up out of the dust. He moved into a position where he could engage Karr.

  Karr was holding Tarl’s butar. He had the underslung shotgun pressed against his belly.

  “Don’t do it,” the pirate warned, “or little buddy will get a tummy full of shot.”

  Eli did it anyway, putting a bullet right between his all white eyes. A death reflex kicked in. Karr’s st act was to do what he had threatened. Tarl’s body y on the floor screaming.

  The surviving butar nded nearby, “Do me a favor and take care of it. It is agonizingly painful!”

  Eli walked over to it and pointed his gun and its head. His finger was on the trigger, but it refused to move.

  “Do it!” Tarl pleaded, “It isn’t me! The part of me that matters is in my room.”

  Eli did it. Even after what Tarl had said to him, it was still extremely difficult.

  “Damn!” Tarl’’s remaining flying body moaned, “I just got done growing a butar, now I got to grow another one and a hakan too.”

  “That sucks,” Eli managed, still a bit disturbed.

  Tarl went wide eyed, “Oh no, Rotek just took me hostage.”

  “You mean the real you?”

  “Yes. If she shoots the part that she’s got her gun pointed at, I won’t be able to move any of my other bodies.”

  ***

  On the bridge, three of Tarl’s butar sat in a row. The pirates heard Rotek’s call for help and rushed out of the room. The trio jumped up, one taking the controls, another bringing up the camera feeds.

  ***

  Holding Karr’s weapon, Eli made his way to the staircase.

  “Two coming from the bridge!” one of Tarl’s bodies warned.

  Eli squeezed off a few rounds, dropping both of them.

  “From the work room!”

  Eli bsted him with the underslung shotgun. Then he went up the stairs and into the passenger section. The door to Tarl’s room was open. Weapon at the ready, he entered.

  There was a dead pirate leaning against the wall, a dart stuck in his neck. Another was lying on the bed, looking very pale and clutching the stump of a severed hand. This hand, still holding a pistol, y on the floor.

  Gami was in the process of giving Rotek a very aggressive pat down. She had been relieved of her weapons, along with the whip and a lockpicking tool.

  “Okay! Stop! He’s bleeding out!” the female pirate pleaded.

  Gami finished her search. Rotek went to the pirate and injected the wound with an Iredell. Then she proceeded to tie off the stump.

  “How did you get her to surrender?” Eli asked Gami.

  The armored woman stood there, cold and soulless behind the mask, “I promised her that I would let her treat his wounds,” she gnced at Eli before returning her gaze to the prisoner, “You look like you’ve been through hell.”

  Rotek stepped away from the pirate, “He’s gone.”

  Gami spoke coldly, “You surrendered for nothing. Gave away your advantage for nothing.”

  “Not for nothing. There was a chance. He was one of my people. I had to try.”

  Rotek went over to the pirate that had been hit with the dart. Foam bubbled out of his mouth. His eyes were locked open, but there was nothing behind them.

  “Why use a lethal agent?” the pirate woman asked Gami.

  “He didn’t have a bounty on his head.”

  Rotek stared at her with those wild eyes.

  “Come on,” Eli said.

  He escorted her into one of the other passenger cabins. Removing a hidden panel that sat next to the door’s regur controls. He converted it into a prison cell. Bars slid into pce, while the door stayed locked open.

  “Wait!” Tarl objected, “They can do that?”

  “Ya, I’m a bounty hunter. I need to be able to transport prisoners,” Eli stated.

  “Fair enough, but my room is a prison cell.”

  “Can be,” Eli corrected, “But I wouldn’t do that. Unless you really pissed me off.”

  Tarl went wide eyed.

  “It was a joke, man.”

  “No, not that. Remember when I told you that the pirates sent more ships to take over the asteroid? Well, they just unched back out, and they’re being pursued by the Erarat.”