Charles slid over the deck plates as he walked silently toward the down crewmen. There were at least two that were alive, moaning in agony. He resisted the urge to kick them. Instead, he slung his weapon and kicked all the weapons away from the struggling men. He slung three of the collected four and held one in his hands. He quickly checked that the magazine was full. Then he wrenched the portal hatch open and stepped into the room the four men had been guarding.

  Two crewmembers inhabited the bridge. One was wearing an American baseball cap and both threw their hands down to their sides to the holsters that held a sidearm for each of them.

  Charles raised his fully loaded rifle at them menacingly. The younger of the two men that was standing next to the captain’s wheel smiled in a very ugly way and pulled his sidearm from his holster. A single shot from Charles’ rifle rang out through the bridge and the younger of the two men fell backward, a hole through his neck, gushing blood on the floor. Charles swung his weapon toward, whom he assumed, was the captain.

  He shoved his weapon towards the man, indicating that he wanted the captain to step away from the various instruments that he was currently in front of. The captain understood and slowly raising his hands in surrender as he moved in the direction that Charles indicated.

  Charles realized that he didn’t have any handcuffs, or zip ties, or anyway to actually subdue the captain with. He knew he couldn’t just let the man run free. Thankfully though, as the captain was moving slowly away from Charles, he kicked a broom handle that was protruding from an open closet. The broom closet was very small but it was perfect for a make shift holding cell.

  “Stop,” Charles commanded.

  The captain stopped moving and held his hands up meekly. Charles gripped the man by the scruff of his neck. Slinging his weapon, he swept the broom, mop, and buckets from the small closet. He then shoved the man inside. It was a tight fit and Charles had to slam the door to make sure it closed. Good, the less he can move the less trouble he’ll be for me. Charles took the mop and shoved it across the closet door and wedged it behind some pipes fixing it solidly against the closet door.

  Once the captain was taken care of Charles looked out over the instruments and the wheel of the bridge. As he gazed at all the lights, strange gauges, needles, and dials and all the very neatly written Chinese characters under each gauge and dial, he realized that he had absolutely no idea what any of this stuff was, or how to use any of it.

  *   *   *   *   *

  William slid down a stairwell on his arms, trying to gather speed. His feet hit the deck and he just barely got around the bottom of the stairwell before shots rang out from behind him. There were two of them and they had some very interesting looking rifles. William hadn’t got a good look at them and right now he didn’t care. The guns made bullets go really fast; that’s about all he cared to know about at the moment.

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  He dove down another stairwell and shot down a throughway. He could hear the heavy footsteps of his pursuers. He was gaining distance on them, but he knew that if he got caught in a long straight passageway, it didn’t matter how much he had gained, he couldn’t run faster than a bullet.

  He ducked into a side passage and slide around a corner. He listened as the two sets of footsteps ran down past the side passageway, down the main walkway. William breathed a silent sigh of relief, and then he heard the two men come back towards where he was hiding.

  His breath caught in his throat as he quickly looked around for an exit. He had been so preoccupied with just getting behind cover, he hadn’t taken any notice of possible escape routes. There was a bulkhead behind him, the passageway he had just gone through and the passageway stretching out in front of him. But to reach that passageway, he would have to pass in front of the passage way that took him here in the first place. And by the sound of the voices of the two crewmen, that path was already occupied.

  William flooded his body with adrenaline again. He saw the muzzle of the rifle come into view from around the passageway. It slid more and more into view. He lunged forward and gripping the muzzle, yanked the weapon away from the crewman with his adrenaline augmented strength. In doing so the crewman jerked forward and William flung him up against the far bulkhead.

  Spinning the weapon around in his hands he jammed the butt end of the weapon into the face of the other crewman before the man could react. The man reeled backwards as his face exploded in blood. William was sure that he had broken the man’s nose. He didn’t give the sailor time to recover before he reached out and yanked the weapon out of the injured man’s hands. Then he swept his legs out in a shallow arch, catching him solidly and knocking his feet out from underneath him. The man sprawled backwards and hit his head against the solid metal of the bulk head.

  William gripped both weapons in one hand and with his other hand he jerked the crewman with the broken nose up to his feet before shoving him on top of the crewman who William had thrown into the wall. He put down the weapons in the far blind corner that he had hidden in just a moment ago and jumped on the two men.

  Using his body weight to pin both men underneath him, he began his work. He ripped the shirt off of one of the crewmembers and quickly tore it into thick strips. Using the strips he yanked one of the crewmember’s arms behind his back and tightly wrapped his hands together and twisting the fabric of the shirt, he tied it off. He then duplicated that with the other crewmember.

  Once they were both bound, he pushed them both on their stomach, and holding them in place with his knees on their back, gripped both of their legs and folded them behind and pressed close to his back. Then he wrapped their ankles together, and then attached their wrists and ankles together. He finished by gagging each of them. Standing up, he picked up the weapons he had discarded a few moments ago. He slung one weapon across his shoulders and held the other. He slid into the side passageway, leaving the two hog tied crewmembers behind.