For her part, Captain Striker was rather surprised that her ploy had actually worked.

It was simply her natural instinct to take charge of situations, and though she naturally hit the deck at first, just like the rest of her crew, it was seeing this Cyexian girl attempt to make a break for it that gave her the idea. Her mysterious attackers’ tactics made perfect sense if this was some kind of rescue attempt, and besides, when the shooting started, it was never a bad idea to have a hostage. Or at least a human shield, if nothing else.

And when the shooting abruptly died out, she knew they had fallen victim to some dirty trick or another, still she was perplexed that her foes would stop shooting when the weapon she threatened her hostage with was likely as useless as the others’, let alone surrender.

Figuring this girl must be of some importance to them, Striker stayed on her roll, snapping at Kato’s companions, “You too! Stay where you are if you value her life!”

Kato watched her friends with quiet resentment, hating the fact that they couldn’t move for her sake. Cursing her own powerlessness in this situation, she finally turned her attention to her would-be benefactors’ ship as it coasted to a halt next to the Triad III. As the pirates regained their initiative and threw a plank boarding ramp across, she found that she could not recall having ever laid eyes on this particular vessel before, and this only piqued her curiosity as she tried to guess the nature of their supposed saviors, what this was all about.

She got her answer as Captain Striker’s newest prisoners marched up onto the deck.

“You?” Kato demanded as Max and his crew strode onboard. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Saving your ass again, what else?” Justin grumbled, keeping both double-barrel power pistols trained on his would-be captors as he advanced on them.

The tables, it seemed, had not quite turned against the crew of the Maximum, and Striker clutched her sidearm as if it were control itself. For Max also held her crew at bay with his refurbished power rifle, and Shades brought up the rear, tentatively aiming Max’s power pistol at them. Ordinarily, the three of them would stand no chance in a firefight against so many without solid cover, but the pirates were all too aware of the uselessness of their own weapons, and backed down as their enemies’ surrender became a reverse boarding party.

Shades noted that these pirates wore lots of guns, like their old-fashioned forebears. A look and an arsenal that would have been quite intimidating earlier. But now just mocking them, as not a single one actually worked.

In the midst of this strange confrontation, Kato and her companions could only stare at the three bumbling travelers they thought they’d left behind in Centralict.

“Not one more step!” Striker snapped, retraining her gun on Kato’s head. “This is my ship, and I make the rules.”

“Do it,” Justin said flatly, “and I’ll shoot a few of your friends.”

“The girl shares the same fate as anyone you kill,” Striker shot back, “so fire away if you dare, boy.”

Max somehow managed to keep an outward façade of resolve despite the fact that he really didn’t like all this talk of hostages and killing, while Shades just hoped his mirrored lenses would conceal his growing unease.

“That’s it!” Kato thundered, no longer able to stand the suspense even one moment longer. In that same second, she swept Striker’s arm aside, and elbowed her in the ribs, sending the pirate captain staggering back as she staggered forward, blinking. Kato was quite certain Striker pulled the trigger in the midst of that attack, and the fact that nothing happened was all the proof she needed that Striker was bluffing all along. “Shit! Why didn’t you just call her bluff!”

“You know,” Shades began—

But was cut off by an energy beam streaking past his head, followed by another, straight up in the air.

“The hell…” Justin muttered.

The rest of Striker’s crew stepped aside to reveal two sentries who were previously standing at the bow. At the farthest point, they all understood, from where Max’s EMP grenade went off. Just out of range. And so the tables turned once again as the two pirates targeted Chase and George.

“Now,” Striker told them, “I will only tell you one more time to throw down your weapons and surrender. This is the last warning I intend to give.”

Shades, for his part, had already fumbled his gun at that last shot, reducing it to two gunman versus two gunwomen. Max lowered his power rifle in silent frustration, unable to think of what to do next. Justin kept both guns trained on Striker for a long moment, every instinct acquired in his outlaw life telling him he should kill her now, as she would most certainly kill them later, but something stayed his hand. All he could figure was that he somehow just couldn’t do that in front of Max.

“Fuck!” he spat as he threw down both guns. Glaring at Kato as the pirates moved to encircle them, some already heading for the now unguarded Maximum, he told her, “This is all your fault, bitch.”

“Kiss my ass,” Kato replied.

“Do you know how much all our weapons cost?” Striker demanded, striding up to Max. Though not quite as tall as he, she drew herself up to her full height as she faced him. She whipped out her own laser blade even as she spoke. A most unusual specimen, with a thicker, longer grip than most, and a hilt that looked like a wickedly curved axe blade. “Do you?”

Max answered her with defiant silence.

“Surely you must have known you were no match for us,” she told them.

“The thought had occurred to us…” Shades surprised himself by actually answering her. With a casual audacity that was uncharacteristic of him.

“Hey! Do you know who you’re talking to!?” the mousy one demanded, staring sharply at Shade’s impassive lenses. “That’s Captain Striker to you, so you better show some respect!”

“Mousy,” Shades said, coining the name the exact same moment Justin did, trying not to giggle as he said it. Couldn’t believe he was cracking wise at a time like this.

In the midst of all this, Justin found a moment to wonder, Does every Cyexian pirate captain have one of those? Though she looked different from Slash’s Mouse, her personality and manner were nearly identical.

“What’s so funny!?” Mousy screeched. “Nobody laughs at Captain Striker in front of me!”

Striker. Justin had heard the name before, and now realized they were in even more trouble than he could have imagined. Though Cyexian, Striker and her crew were not of any of the clans he was familiar with. Unlike Slash and the clans that operated on the islands beyond the Triangle State, the Ocean itself harbored its share of free-roaming pirates and marauders. And it looked as if they had finally run afoul of one.

Though Slash was infamous in Cyexian and Triangle State waters, Striker’s name was feared on the high seas at large. Had overheard accounts of her exploits among travelers in the port town of Benton. To be honest with himself, if he had had even the slightest inkling of what he was really up against, he would have just dropped the whole business and left the Triad to their own fate, Tri-Medals or no Tri-Medals.

“It just sounds so ‘butch’.” Shades found it hard not to laugh at names like “Striker” and “Slash” for some reason. The more nervous he got, the more smart remarks seemed to fly from his lips. Before, he wasn’t caught in the midst of this dangerous crowd; now, though, he feared he might slit his throat with his own tongue, yet found it the only weapon he had left to wield. Though he found his confidence was in short supply, still he would stand tall.

Something inside of him just refused to back down.

“Shades,” Justin hissed, elbowing him, “what the hell are you doing?”

“Why don’t you speak for yourself, pipsqueak?” Shades quipped.

Smoldering silence.

“Why are you pissing her off?” Justin demanded. “They’re already gonna beat the crap out of us!”

“It’s obvious you’re only Striker’s bitch,” Shades continued.

“Nobody messes with Striker!”

Shades shrugged.

Meanwhile, another battle of wills was playing out nearby as Striker stared down Max. Or at least tried to. Thus far, this mysterious young man returned her gaze with a defiance she had never seen in one so young.

“You won’t act so tough when I’m through with you, boy,” Striker informed him.

“I’m not going to beg for mercy…” Max told her. Even as he feared for his friends’ lives, Max found he couldn’t keep his eyes off Striker’s weapon. Was increasingly certain he had seen that exotic design before. Not merely heard descriptions of it, but having actually seen what might have been its like before…

As Max and Striker stared each other down, Justin turned to Kato, her eyes still wide, and shrugged, muttering, “Bet you didn’t think you’d ever see us again, did you?”

“Some rescue, shorty,” Kato hissed. “But you just came here for…” thinking quickly, “for revenge, didn’t you?”

“Damn straight, bitch!” Justin shot back. “After you stole our Tri-Medals when we helped…”

Kato grimaced as Justin blustered on.

Shades smacked his forehead in spite of all the enemies who were probably just looking for an excuse to beat his ass.

Justin’s tongue finally stumbled to a halt, but the damage was already done. Pausing for a moment in mid staring match, Striker wheeled on Kato and Justin, firing up her energy blade in a gesture that cut right between the two of them. Revealing a pair of red laser blades running parallel to each other, the leading edge slightly shorter than the other, giving the combined blade the illusion of curvature, its massive hilt finally making sense to its hapless observers.

“You were saying?…” As Striker’s gaze shifted between the two of them, she held up the three Tri-Medals in her other hand. When neither of them spoke, she said, “Please don’t stop on my account. You were having such an intriguing conversation, and we have all the time in the world out here.”

“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Kato said brusquely. “Ask him.”

“Bullshit!” Justin shot back. “You’re the one who told us all about it in the first place!”

“Not very talkative now, are you?” Striker mused, looking over both of their travel companions. “Maybe they can convince you to pick up where you left off…”

“Ha! You wouldn’t talk so tough without your crew!” Justin found he actually resented Max, and even Shades, being used to leverage him. “Without them, Max would kick your ass!”

“You talk too much, little man.”

“Fine. I’ll tell you.” After making such bold promises to himself before the battle, Max had to force out every word as he spoke. “All I ask in return is that you let my friends go. Take what you wish, but let—”

The explosion shook the entire ship from stem to stern as the rear munitions stash blew, taking most of the Brazen’s hindquarter with it.

The shockwave tossing the panic-stricken pirate and her plasma rifle into the sea like a rag-doll, just more debris. The main propulsion screw propelled across the water, skidding like some surreal skipping stone. The deck canted sharply forward, then backward, as the ship started taking on water.

No one was spared from being rolled across the deck as randomly as dice, people and objects falling where they may.

Max’s luck hadn’t failed him yet, for Striker was knocked over backward, her blade yanked away from his neck before she could finish him. Wasting no time, he scrambled back to his feet and played his last trump card. Now that he had a window of opportunity, he whipped out his other laser sword, the fallen adventurer Chad Owen’s teal energy blade shimmering to life to continue the fight.

With no one left in his way, Bandit sprang to his feet and bounded for the boarding ramp.

Shades stumbled to his feet, both having had their feet bounced out from under them, ears still ringing, clutching both stun-sticks and covering Justin as he crawled across the deck, retrieving one, then the other, of his of his double-barrel power pistols. Then he covered Shades as he grabbed Max’s power rifle. By now, most of the pirates were getting back up, so the two of them booked it for the Maximum. The boarding ramp was only halfway on after the explosion, and Justin finished the job with a grand sweep of his laser blade, holding off any wannabe boarders with both guns while Shades went to start the engines.

On his way, he barely sidestepped a couple pirates as they made a hasty exit from the cabin. Who must have made a run for the ship once the fight broke out, most likely hunting for working weapons. But all they found was another who sought refuge on the ship. They both backed away from Bandit, who proportionately advanced, his enormous fangs bared against these interlopers.

Even Shades was taken aback in spite of himself by this almost comical repeat, saying, “Don’t look at me, gals. He’s a cat. You expect him to just sit, roll over, and fetch on command?”

That was enough for them. Without any further prompting, they scrambled overboard, choosing to take their chances with the sea rather than face the feline nightmare that guarded this ship.

“Try to keep any unwanted passengers off this ship!” Shades said as he made for the helm.

“With pleasure!” Justin replied.

Meanwhile, before Kato could even open her mouth to warn him, Chase was struck upside the head by a flying hunk of debris from the Brazen, laying him out across the deck of the Triad III in a dazed heap. Seeing that many of the sinking pirate ship’s crew were eying her ship as a possible escape route, she took a page from Justin’s playbook, taking out the boarding ramp with a slashing flick of her laser whip. Silently hoping George could jury-rig the engine somehow, knowing that some of those pirates would try to jump if she moved from her position to check on Chase without first putting some distance between themselves and their enemies— between themselves and Max’s crew, too, while they were at it.

She turned her attention back to the sinking ship, hating to admit it, but as she watched Max resume his duel with Striker, she just couldn’t figure out any way to get her Tri-Medals back from this situation, so all she could do, much to her vexation, was hope that Max could somehow pull off what she herself could not.

From the helm of the Maximum, Shades gave them, then Max, the V, hoping it would stick.

“You bastard!” Striker thundered as she rose to her feet, hand still clamped on her laser blade, eyes blazing with unchecked rage. It was well known that the most grave offense on the high seas was the sinking of someone else’s ship, and she was one of those who subscribed to the death penalty for it. She brought on her attack with renewed energy, telling him, “I’m gonna make sure you go down with this ship, boy!”

“We’ll see about that,” Max replied, glancing over his shoulder for a second. Most of the crew had abandoned ship, and both his friends and the Triad appeared to be holding their own for the moment. Now all that was left was the Tri-Medals. “You have taken something that doesn’t belong to you.”

“Try being more specific,” Striker snarled. “And for your information, what I take is mine!”

“If you return our Tri-Medals,” Max continued, “I’ll help you with the lifeboats. There’s still time—”

But Striker wasn’t having any of it, jumping back in and carrying on the fight as if unaware of the watery grave that awaited them if they didn’t escape soon.

And so Max was forced to meet her head-on, knowing that time was running out, and fast. It quickly became apparent that she was trying to push him back over the shattered edge of the deck; In Brazen Defiance was finished, never to rise again, and she clearly meant to give him the same treatment. Perhaps it was the knowledge that seconds were counting down to his demise, but Max dug deep, hammering back at her with redoubled fury.

In spite of her rage, Striker was now beginning to understand that she had over-reached. Now that her initial onslaught had washed over him, she was starting to run out of steam. It began to dawn on her just how long this duel had dragged on; she was accustomed to ending her fights sooner than this, and wasn’t used to prolonged combat.

This Max, on the other hand, seemed to possess almost bottomless stamina, and was still going strong, was now forcing her on the defensive, her advantage slipping.

All the while, aboard the Maximum, Shades watched their battle from the cabin in dumbstruck amazement, beholding swashbuckling swordsmanship the like of which he had only ever seen in the movies.

“Shades!” Justin called out, not wanting to be anywhere near a ship this size as it went down, “Why the hell aren’t we moving?”

“What about Max?” Shades demanded as he snapped back to the here and now.

“He can take care of himself!” Justin answered. “We’ll be stranded out here with these assholes if we go down with their ship! What good is that?”

Their debate was interrupted, though, by a distress flare rising from the Brazen’s upper deck.

“What the hell was that!?” Justin demanded.

“I don’t know,” Shades replied, not liking the look of it. Then, as the implication of it sunk in, he concluded that time might no longer be on their side. “Okay. Fine. Let’s get into position. If they’re trying to signal somebody out here, it means we might not have as much time as we thought.”

With that, he rotated the Maximum, nudging up against the still disabled Triad III’s hull and pushing it away from the half-submerged ruin of the Brazen. Away from its pull, as well as anyone else who may have boarding on their minds.

Aboard the fast-sinking ship, both Max and Striker also saw the signal flare.

“Captain!” Mousy called out as she ran up to them, though still keeping a safe distance, flare gun still in hand, “I’ve signaled our other ship, Cruel and Unusual! ETA twenty minutes, if they haven’t already noticed our loss of radio contact!”

Striker ignored her, glaring at Max.

“Please! You have to escape while you still can, Captain!”

“She’s right,” Max told her. “If we don’t get out of here now, we’ll both die!”

“Not ’til I finish you!” Striker lunged again.

Max, now seeing that Mousy had demonstrated the limits of trying to reason with her right now, realized that he needed to end this quickly. As if the growing slant of the deck wasn’t enough of a warning of the gravity of this situation, of his ever-shrinking time limit, he was also unsure how long he could keep up this sustained offensive. Yet at least he was starting to get the hang of Striker’s fighting style, getting used to her patterns, brutal but rather predictable.

It came to him in a flash of lightning, a flickering glimpse of that stormy night years ago, and he turned about, taking a more evasive stance and allowing her to press him back against the leaning main mast.

Desperate to end this fight, Striker lashed out at him again, and Max sidestepped her, snagging a rope dangling from the mast and swinging away from her. Striker’s downward slash missed him entirely, and without even an attempt to block it, the laser blade burying itself almost hilt-deep in the deck, throwing her so far off-balance she nearly fell on her face. Struggling to pull the axe-hilt free, she finally sprang to her feet, looking around frantically for her vanished adversary.

Only to realize belatedly that Max swung all the way around the mast and now loomed behind her. And moving too fast for her to avoid as he kicked into her back with both legs, sending her sliding over ten feet up the canted deck to land sprawled on her side.

Mousy watched with tangible apprehension as Max walked over to Striker, taking back the Tri-Medals, then strode over near where he had fumbled his original sword, a treasure he was not about to let go down with this ship.

He turned to Mousy, telling her, “Get her out of here. I’m leaving.”

Mousy nodded. She then picked up Striker’s blade, tucking the exotic weapon in her belt. Hoisted her Captain over her shoulder as best she could and dragged her the other way, feet dangling. A couple crew members still had the presence of mind to launch one of the lifeboats, and she would see to it that they were not left behind.

Firing up both energy blades, Max ran for the edge of the deck, making a spectacular flying leap into the ocean. Taking a double-swing with both swords, sending any nearby pirates splashing frantically away from him.

And Shades would have given him a perfect ten on the landing.

While Max swam over to board the Maximum, Kato finally got a moment to check on Chase now that she no longer had drive back potential hijackers. The first thing to go right all day, as far as she was concerned. Ordinarily Chase would make up more than half of their firepower— with his weapons restored, there would be no stopping him— but now he lay crumpled on the deck, his head bleeding slightly. Still, she noted, at least his breathing was steady, so she settled for resting his head on the lower half of his coat, grabbing the jacket George left behind and pressing it against his head to stop the bleeding.

At least she wouldn’t have to listen to him complain.

Turning her attention back to the situation at hand, she ruefully wished George would hurry up and finish fixing the engine so they could get the hell out of here, hopefully before Max and his crew could get back on their case.

Her thoughts strangely distant against her own bitterness, as she couldn’t believe the Tri-Medals were lost, gone down with the ship…