They led the blonde woman right up to me.  A human, too! 

        I tried to keep a straight face, but I guess my mouth falling 
open like that gave it away.  Humans are rare in this part 
of the galaxy; still, I never expected her. 

        "You do know her then?"  The Andarian barked as he led her up 
to us. 

        "Yes,"  I said. 

        "No," she said simultaneously. 

        We stared at each other.  She hadn't gotten any friendlier than 
the last time we met. 

        "Who is he!?"  Her guard prompted angrily. 

        She looked me up and down with those big, blue eyes. 

        "My ex-husband," she said simply, with just a hint of malice. 

        Nightmares do come true. 

        "His name is Chase Broughton.  But he's no pirate.  Not enough 
loyalty in him to be one."  She said icily. 

        "Thanks,"  I smiled surreptitiously. 

        She gave me that look I had tried so hard to forget.  The only 
thing left now was for Kragon to kill me, but at least that 
would be quick.  Unfortunately, Natalie could go on... forever. 

        "He's not worth the effort to kill..." 

        I smiled... 

        "... but his ship.  Now that is worth taking!"  She finished. 

        I eyed her tiredly.  "It's almost good to see you again, except 
for your mouth!" 

        If looks could kill.  But as the silence lingered, my eyes 
casually took her in.  Her sharp words had reminded me why I 
left her, but now my eyes reminded me why I had married her in 
the first place.  There's something to be said for tight 
uniforms on feminine curves 

        "But then again, killing him might make sense!"  She said, 
catching me by surprise. 

        I was beginning to get annoyed, as usual. 

        "Listen..." I began, but was not allowed to finish.  As usual. 

        "Yeah, I should have figured you were somewhere around, Chase 
Broughton.  Everything going wrong almost from the beginning.  A 
deal too good to be true, that was always your style.  When I 
recognized your ship, I should have recommended we pull out 
then.  But we all know how strong the pull of gold is."  She 
smiled, dangerously, as only she could.  "You know, I didn't 
know if I was hoping you'd miss those asteroids back there... or 
slam into one and go out in a million pieces."  Her icy smile 
widened.  "But you always did make for good entertainment value, 
though you always screwed up in the end!" 

        A man can only take so much.  Pirates, assassins, automated 
attack droids and all.  But an ex-wife with a smart mouth is 
just too much.  The guards began chuckling at us. 

        "Ah yes, those long, agonizing months being married to you are 
coming back, and now with just five minutes of your mouth 
flapping in the breeze I also remember how badly I wanted to be 
anywhere other than with you.  Even in the bowels of some dark 
cavern waiting to be executed by Kragon himself, than to be 
married to you again!!!" 

        I don't believe I've ever been slapped that hard before. 

        The two guards began bellowing with laughter. 

        It wasn't bad enough to be chained, waiting to die, and missing 
out on all that treasure.  Now, my personal affairs were being 
ridiculed. 

        And then Dtang began to chuckle with them. 

        "Shut up!"  The guard next to Dtang growled. 

        And then Natalie reminded me of her value in a tight spot.  The 
guard covering her had turned slightly toward Dtang and the 
other guard.  She quickly twisted and kicked him hard to the 
groin.  He bent over in sudden pain. 

        She always knew just how to hurt a man. 

        But I knew he would recover quickly, Andarians are tough as 
they come.  Within milliseconds the other guard started to bring 
his weapon to bear on us, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw 
a dark four-armed form close with him.  Even with his hands 
tied, Holliths are pound for pound the strongest beings in all 
the known quadrants.  Still I quickly shuffled  as his blaster 
went off between my feet. 

        Blows came thick and fast.   A few of Natalie's blows even 
missed and connected with me, almost knocking me off the 
Andarian. 

        I couldn't see it, but I heard Dtang's shackles clanking with 
movement as more reports from the other guard's blaster 
ricocheted off of the cavern walls.  The guard I was wrestling 
with grunted as one blast finally struck him in his leg.  Dtang 
was real good.  At least I hope he was that good. 

        The guard went limp with pain for a second, but it was enough. 

        I rolled away with his hand blaster clutched in my two shackled 
hands.  Keeping the barrel on him as he glared back at me, I 
took a quick look to see how Dtang was faring as the sounds of 
their own titanic struggles became more furious. 

        An extra pair of arms sure seems to help in hand-to-hand combat. 

        Two of Dtang's hands were clenched with the Andarian's hands, 
while his other pair were wrapping his chain around the 
Andarian's neck.  It was over real quick as the Andarian's 
struggles stopped. 

        "Here." 

        I pulled out the old-fashioned keys and threw them at Dtang. 
He unchained his shackles and then put them on his unconscious 
opponent.  Then he came over and freed me as we chained up the 
wounded guard while he stared daggers at us. 

        Putting the blaster on stun setting, I put out his lights as 
well.  I was tired of him anyway. 

        "Now we leave?"  Dtang asked. 

        "It's a good thing you're still so sensitive."  She said 
sarcastically.  "Or my little plan wouldn't have worked." 

        I ignored her. 

        The sound of increasing blaster fire came from the dark tunnel 
from beyond where we had entered.  It sounded like Kragon was 
getting more than he had bargained for.  But I had something to 
do before we cut and ran from this botched adventure.  Actually 
two things, if I got my utility belt back. 

        "No, we go this way, deeper into the mountain. There may still 
be some of Kragon's cache here."  I said. 

        "Now what makes you think that, mister gold nose?  Remember, 
this was all just an ambush." 

        I hate it when she sneers. 

        "Yeah, he turned one of his treasure caches into a good 
ambush.  All those traps, and automated defenses, have been in 
place for quite a while.  If you studied your sensors carefully, 
you'd have noticed not just the location and placement of them, 
but how the vegetation had had years to grow up around them and 
camouflage them to the point where it even got in the way. 

        Dtang smiled. 

        "And we are well past most of the cave's defenses.  Kragon 
saved them for your crew."  I added. 

        "OK," she nodded.  "Let's go see if we can find some gold." 

        I love it when I'm right. 

        "But carefully, let me tune this Andarian sensor so I can read 
it, just in case, and then we'll hurry along.  And Dtang, leave 
it on stun.  We're not pirates, remember." 

        Dtang shrugged dejectedly. 

        We found the gold. 

        Shiny and valuable.  Unfortunately, we could only take as much 
as we could carry, seeing we still had Kragon and company to get 
by.  Still, it was better than nothing. 

        We hurried back, cautiously, down the tunnel, toward the 
intensifying sound of blaster fire.  I was panting under the 
weight of the small chest I carried under one arm while I kept 
my eyes on the scanner in the other hand. 

        We came to the large cavernous room that led to the tunnel and 
freedom.  The sound of blasters reverberated off its walls. 

        That must be it, I  thought.  And then I saw movement from 
off the wall to our right. 

        A red blaster tracer streaked by me as I dropped down.  Dtang 
fired a dozen quick rounds, stilling the Andarian. 

        I crawled forward, almost to the room of battle.  And then I 
saw it, my utility belt lying beside the stunned form of the 
Andarian.   I was becoming my old self again. 

        "Dtang," I whispered as he drew his large form up to me.  He 
heard my quick instructions, growling disbelief only once at my 
ad-hoc plan. 

        And then he began to like it. 

        He hurried away back in the direction from which we had come, 
carrying the two hand blasters as well as an ammo belt and two 
holstered assault blasters.  I counted off three minutes as I 
crawled real carefully to the edge of the floor. 

        I was above the main floor of the large lighted room.  As I 
tried to judge how big it was I noticed that here and there were 
pockets of aliens doing battle from behind and under boulders 
and anything else that would provide a measure of protection 
from the thick flying tracers of blasters.  I could also make 
out the many still forms of the fallen. 

        It seemed Kragon had placed his men around three main points on 
the main floor below, giving them a deadly crossfire from anyone 
who entered from the lone entrance off to my right.  I looked 
along the lip that I lay on.  It encircled the room from above 
and some of Kragon's men were firing down from two points as 
well.  He had them pinned down, but it seemed there was a group 
just inside the entrance firing up, as well as those trapped in 
various points inside the room. 

        And then he saw me, a warrior on the upper level with me. 

        Quickly I enabled my special toy.  Rock burst apart in front of 
my face from his blaster fire as I threw the device up into the 
very middle of the great room.  Time seemed to slow as I watched 
it arc slowly up.  I turned to look at that blaster leveled at 
me thirty meters away. 

        He smiled as he went to close the contact and kill me. 

        There was a bright, blinding light.  Raising my hands, I tried 
to shield my eyes. 

        There must have been a LOT of blasters in that room. 

        A Drainz is rare enough.  I had only used mine twice before. 
Only when I have to.  As I said, they're highly illegal, and 
very rare. 

        But this was quite impressive.  Everywhere aliens dropped their 
weapons or pulled them out of their holsters as if they were on 
fire.  Which, in essence, they were, as my neat little device 
drained their power into its complex circuitry.  I tried to 
look at that falling sphere, but it was too bright for my eye to 
look upon at the moment.  I was going to have to go down there 
and get close enough to turn on its retrieve mode, too. 

        It only took a few seconds for everyone to realize what had 
happened.   And then the real fun began. 

        It looked to me that there were portions of at least three 
different pirate crews rushing towards Kragon's positions. 
Kragon was now very outnumbered, but as his men rose to meet 
this frontal assault, I could tell from the size of his warriors 
that it was going to be one humdinger of a fight. 

        Well, I suddenly thought, Kragon seemed to have a thing for 
low tech traps and all.  A good old fashioned fist fight would 
probably be something he would like. 

        I heard footsteps.  Dtang threw me our weapons.  I quickly 
strapped on my holsters and my belt as he buckled his own. 
There was a certain eagerness on his face as he watched the hand- 
to-hand combat below.  I knew there had been a good reason why I 
had hired him on for this trip. 

        "Dtang,"  I leaned next to him.  "I need to retrieve my little 
device over there, and then I need you to go clear a way out while I 
pay our parting respects to Kragon, got it!" 

        Dtang smiled wolfishly. 

        Natalie  was facing another guard who was  reloading a new 
charge into his now useless weapon.    I stopped short and 
pulled my assault blaster out of its holster and stunned him 
down. 

        She even seemed happy to see me. 

        "Well, you can do something right after all." 

        I ignored that. 

        She looked down at the melee on the main floor which was now 
going full tilt.  Bodies were even being thrown through the air. 

        "By the way, what was that little toy you threw out there?" 

        "Something I picked up.  Handy, isn't it?" 

        We both ducked as something flew over our heads from below. 

        She smiled.  "Sure gets things hopping, anyway." 

        I handed her my blaster pistol. 

        "It's set to stun." 

        She looked at me as if I was crazy.     I ignored that too. 

        "Dtang and I are going to pay our respects to Kragon before we 
blow this party.  The Lightning is primed to go."  I looked at 
her questioningly.  "You gonna fly out with us?" 

        She took a deep breath.  "Well, the crew I came in with is shot 
to pieces.  I guess you'll have to do." 

        "Don't let me force you." 

        Fierce shouting turned our attention to the raging fisticuffs 
below.  A group of Kragon's personal warriors had gathered 
around him while another group of mixed angry alien fighters 
pressed from all sides. 

        I looked at Dtang.  "Time to crash this party." 

        Raising his arms above his head, Dtang roared a challenge.  The 
fighting below slowed as some of the combatants looked around. 
Some a little fearfully.  And then with only a hand blaster in 
one hand, he clenched his other three fists, took two quick 
steps and leapt into the air.  I think my mouth fell open again. 

        He landed on several fighters, bringing them to the ground.  He 
pounded a few heads as some of them struggled to get up.  And 
then he was off, three huge ebony fists flying in all 
directions.  He seemed to be saving the blaster for some reason. 

        "Here.  This way is a bit safer,"  Natalie motioned. 

        We found a rope ladder that led down.  I covered her from the 
top while she scrambled down.  I stunned a few folks from this 
vantage point as the tide of battle flowed.  I took out some 
from each side just to keep it interesting.  And confused. 

        After a few minutes we had made our way close to the pocket of 
fighting clustered around the flowing mane of Kragon.  As I 
pulled out my sensor to get a good look at his right hand, he 
picked up a small reptilian alien and was about to throw him 
down when he spotted me. 

        If looks could kill. 

        While holding the limp form in his left hand, he raised his 
right clenched with rage at me.  I worked my sensor quickly.  I 
only had time to notice the two rings and the large tattoo.  But 
I went ahead and scanned all the way up to his elbow for good 
measure.  I might not get this close... and live next time. 

        For it was said in dark circles, The Right Hand of Kragon 
keeps the secret of his greatest treasure planet.  I didn't 
know if it was true, but though there had been a sizable cache 
of treasure here ( which would probably be gone next visit ), it 
obviously was not the main hoard. 

        Kragon threw him down and then headed for me, his eyes filled 
with hatred. 

        I stunned two of his men, which allowed two more of the 
reptilian pirates to pounce on his back. 

        "Let's go!"  I skirted past Natalie who had been watching my 
back.  She followed, keeping a sharp eye to our rear.  I punched 
my sensor again and  my  toy began flying back towards me.  I 
one handed it and put it safely away. 

        Ahead of us Dtang had fought his way up to five pirates just in 
front of the tunnel that led outside.  With two of his mighty 
arms he easily picked up two opponents while he stunned down a 
third.  Wielding his only free fist, first he bashed one pirate, 
and then with a quick backward motion he bashed the other 
struggling one.  They both went limp in his grip. 

        The last two had just closed with him, their fists pounding 
Dtang.  He tossed the unconscious pirates on top of them, 
sending all four down.  I closed my eyes momentarily as Dtang 
delivered a few swift kicks. 

        They were all down for the count as we stepped beside his huge 
form. 

        "Well, it's been fun, Dtang.  But we mustn't overstay our 
welcome." 

        Dtang looked positively sad. 

        We all rushed down the tunnel.  Fortunately, we didn't run into 
any stragglers, only dead ones.  The sound of fighting at the 
melee behind us began to die down as we exited. 
 

                                 * * * 

        Kragon stood among the fallen, his great chest rising and 
falling from his exertions.  Only a dozen of his men joined him 
as he surveyed the carnage all around him. 

        "Razon!  Signal my ships to prepare to lift and do battle with 
any fools still in orbit." 

        Razon bowed his head to his clenched right fist in salute as he 
stepped away. 

        "Hraag!  Get weapons and kill all those left alive." 

        The Andarian looked around furtively.  "What about our wounded?" 

        Kragon stepped up to him and glared into his face. 

        "Only the strong fly with Kragon!  Kill all that cannot stand!" 

        And then everyone crouched with fear as sonic booms rumbled 
throughout the cavern, sending loose rocks falling like rain 
from the ceiling.  Only Kragon stood tall, staring up as if he 
could see right through the mountain.  He raised his fist 
heavenward. 

        "I have defeated my enemies today in spite of you, human!!" 
His growling hatred mixed with the sonic roaring.  "And know 
this," he whispered savagely to himself, "Today, Chase 
Broughton, you are an enemy of KRAGON!!!" 

                                                * * * 

      I had jumped into the pilot's seat and jammed the power on 
full.  It was time to redline those ThunderStar engines. 

        I could barely move as the G forces smashed me back into the 
seat.  My sensors showed three ships in orbit so I quickly 
banked in the opposite direction as we cleared the atmosphere. 
I heard all kinds of equipment that wasn't latched down falling 
around behind me as those big engines began to scream! 

        I didn't pull back on them until we had cleared the asteroids. 
I even impressed myself as we swept around them and the mines. 
It was then that I called back for Dtang to take over. 

        I was totally exhausted now.  All I could think of was my soft 
bunk and sleep.  And about how I was going to spend my 
chest of gold.  No, it wasn't a total loss. 

        I hadn't even taken two steps. 

        "The Impaler was chasing us back there.  I want you to drop me 
off at the first registered planet in this sector." 

        I didn't even bother to turn. 

        "My first stop is Ramaas, Planet of Adventure..."  I paused. 

        A strange look crossed her face, like complete disbelief .  It 
threw me off a second, and then I remembered who I was dealing 
with. 

        I started again for my bunk.  "And Dtang, disarm her." 

        Dtang moved too enthusiastically. 

        "Let me reword that.  Take her weapons." 

        I did turn then. 

        She was in the copilot's seat next to his hulking, ebony frame. 
She gritted her teeth and handed it over with the barest of 
pauses.  She was getting smarter. 

        But as Dtang took the small blaster he growled one final 
command at me before I could retire to my sleepy bliss. 

        "Dtang hungry!  Make another peanut butter speeecialty!" 

        So I did. 

        I tried not to think about the rest of the treasure we had 
left; one has to learn to be content.  Or how close to death I 
had been.  Again.   I closed my eyes. 

        Tomorrow would be another day in the great, wide galaxy. 

        And another adventure.   * 

Illustrations copyright ©1997-98 by Andrew G. McCann <mccann@hotmail.com> 
except "The Whole Gang," which is by Romeo Esparrago <romedome@aol.com>