Free Slave World by Johnny Stone

is functioning properly. A massive power surge bypassed the redundant overloads of Mark’s brain destroying it. I’m reading zero output on his synaptic coupling. The ship intercom as well as the long-range burst transmitter is also temporarily inoperative. We are unable to send an emergency distress at this time.” Damn, I’m screwed.
    “Changing course to 254-115.5. There is an opening in the field.” I rattled off, seeking the relative safety of open space again. My thoughts suddenly changed direction. “How’s the cargo doing?” If something happened to it, the Cartel would want their money back, and that was money I didn’t have to spare at this point.
    “Ship systems are still experiencing intermittent power failures; I cannot get an accurate scan or status on the cargo at this time.” The stasis tubes are running off ship power to keep the occupants alive, and with all the issues we were having, there’s a good chance they were dead already.
    “Go back and check, we can’t afford to lose it.”
    “Yes, Captain.” John stood, starting to inch by me in the narrow two-foot gap between our seats. I saw it coming out of the corner of my eye, powerless to stop the inevitable. When John turned above me, Mr. Adonis slapped the front of my visor, rocking my head back, leaving a smear mark in the center of my vision. There’s nothing like a colossal dick-slap in the face to make a woman feel better, is there? Why me?
    “Sorry, Captain.”
    “It’s all right, John, just…just go check on the cargo and report on its status, okay?”
    Years of training finally took over, allowing me the level of control I would need to make it out of this abortion alive and in one piece. While waiting for an update from John, I began checking the damage we’d sustained. I made what repairs I could from here, continuing to avert a near disaster. It wasn’t good, but things could have been much worse.
    “John, what’s the status on the cargo?” He’d been gone awhile now. “John? Respond.” Surging static came through my helmet from periodic power fluctuations. Damn, I forgot the intercom was out, and with Mark gone, I had to keep manual control now. I didn’t like it; I wanted to know what was happening. The minutes slowly ticked by with no word from John. The cargo must really be messed up, if it was taking him this long to get everything up and running again?
    Yes! I managed to get the intercom working by rerouting it through the emergency lighting.
    “John, can you hear me? What’s the status on the cargo?” I waited several tense moments. Nothing.
    “John, come in, over.”
    I felt the slight, but heavy vibration of him coming down the corridor through my bare feet, letting out a sigh of relief. “So how’s the cargo, get everything straightened out?” That odd sense of imminent doom hit me again just before a length of electrical wiring crossed in front of my visor, and two large hands flashed in my peripheral vision.
    My hands flew from the stick, blocking my neck just in time to stop from being strangled. The pull from my assailant momentarily jerked me back against my flight harness. My turn asshole… I bucked forward, pulling him with me, and he crashed into my back, easing the pressure at my neck.
    “What the…?” A high pitched male voice cried out, followed by my elbow coming up and back, connecting against the side of his head with a sickening crunch. The electrical cord garrote disappeared from view, and I fumbled at my harness, panicking to get free.
    “Get her, hurry up,” a deep commanding voice yelled.
    Now free, I turned from my seat. The man I’d just hit was crumpled on the deck, bleeding profusely from his ears and nose, while a large bulge continued to swell on the side of his shattered skull. Despite my heightened reflexes, it had been a long time since I’d been put in a situation like this, and it showed.
    I failed to block the huge fist that descended towards my face from a