"Okay, we've found them. And now to obey your wishes, it's time to finish them," the Big Man snarled as he punched the communications button to Weapons Control. "Arm and fire The Sentinel on the designated target." He turned to the Geisha. "So now it will be finished. I hope you are happy." For a split second there was a roaring sound. The lights went out and the world went away. Awareness returned to muted alarm sounds. The darkness was filled with choking smoke and glittering flashes of arcs playing over the instrument panels. He ached everywhere and realized he had several arc burns on his hand where he had gripped the metal ball of his cane. "You said you had everything under control and that they presented no real danger to us as long as we stayed out of the range of the missiles that they had acquired. So what have they done to us?" the Geisha fairly screamed the question into the stinking air around them. "They will pay for this outrage," he snarled as another arc reached out for him from a panel he had drifted near. The voice of his pet assassin reached them both. "Are you INSANE!" he screamed. "You may have killed us all with your stupidity." "Don't talk to me like that!" snarled the Big Man. "I'll talk like that when your ego gets in the way of our survival. Let me guess! That was a Sentinel anti-matter particle beam you fired." "So what? It's the biggest and meanest weapon I could get and it will work in jump space." "And you may have killed us all because of it. Don't you realize why they don't have those on Naval vessels? Those things are installed on uninhabited moons and asteroids for local space defense because firing it from a ship is almost as lethal to the ship that fires it as it is to any target! Every system on this ship has been damaged or destroyed. INCLUDING THE LIFE SUPPORT! And, as you may have noticed we are now floating in normal space, in free-fall, light years away from any rescue!" "Well call for help, then." "EVERY SYSTEM includes the tachyon comm gear, the sub-space comm gear and all of the regular radios. Until we get the power system straightened out we can't even blink a flashlight out a port." "WELL DO SOMETHING!" the Big Man roared. "Oh, yeah. I'm working on it. Half the crew is dead from acceleration, electrocution or being impaled on ship parts when we lost the stasis fields. I'll try to keep us alive but don't EVER order that thing fired again." "So now you must humble yourself in front of your pets. Typical! Don't think the Council won't take notice of this delicious little tidbit of information," the Geisha grated. "A Council Seat for you? I'm not very sure that's wise anymore." The grinding sound was his teeth, he realized. And there wasn't a thing he could say in return. Crossing his arms he tumbled through the smoky air accompanied by the snickering chuckle of the Geisha. To be continued.......