“Let’s hear it.”

  “Victorious,” said the speaker. “This is the Sidewinder. We are about to board you. Keep hands away from weapons and no one will be hurt.”

  Scraping sounds came from the airlock. “They’ve grappled us,” said Tigert.

  Crystal backed away from the airlock. Dr Perthonogis came to her side. “What is happening?” he whispered.

  “It looks like we’ve run into some pirates,” she said. “Just try to stay calm.”

  “That’s it,” Dandridge said. “Stay calm.” The colonel looked anything but calm himself; he was sweating profusely. Crystal wondered if he had ever been in a fight.

  The airlock opened, revealing a man in skin tight black leather, eyes dancing nervously from side to side. His dark hair was pulled back in a tail, but his brutal face combined with his harsh sneer belied the girlish impression. He held a long laser rifle aimed at them.

  The pirate stepped into the ship and four more men followed him. He gestured with his rifle. “All of you, get together now.”

  The pirates herded the Victorious’ crew together near Crystal and the glyptodont. The chief pirate nodded to his men. “Go check out the quarters. See what you can find.”

  “Y—you want to warn them to be careful,” said Dr. Perthonogis. “There’s a very sensitive instrument in my quarters. They shouldn’t touch it.”

  “Right,” Crystal said. “It might explode.”

  “Really.” The lead pirate stepped closer, squinting at her. “We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

  She nodded. “You’re Grimshaw. I remember you.”

  “Right.” He grinned at her. “We sold you on Kawkab Souk. Guess we’ll get to do it again. And is this your mascot?” He nodded at the glyptodont.

  The doctor folded his arms. “I am Dr. Perthonogis, a xenoarcheologist.”

  “What do you want, anyway?” demanded Dandridge. “We’re not carrying anything of value, and we’re on a vital mission. You need to let us get on with it.”

  “Oh, indeed?” Grimshaw looked amused. “We will, as soon as we’ve stripped your ship of everything we can use. Find anything?” he asked his men as they emerged.

  The taller man dumped a box of equipment on the floor. “Not a lot. The galley’s got ice cream, though.”

  Grimshaw sighed. “Stingray, all you think of is your stomach. Ziptie these characters.” He nodded at the crew members.

  He kept his rifle aimed at the crew while they were immobilized by his men. “All of ‘em,” he said. “The pilot too, and the woman. We’ll take her with us.”

  “Look what I found.” A heavy-set pirate came out of the quarters, lugging Perthonogis’ device.

  The doctor started forward. “Oh, you shouldn’t have touched that!”

  “Why not?” asked Grimshaw. “What’s it do?”

  “It—I’m not totally sure.” The doctor’s forehead furrowed with worry. “But it’s not safe.”

  The device made a whirring sound that climbed higher and higher in pitch, until it grew to an earsplitting screech.

  “Oh dear.” Perthonogis wrung his hands.

  “Ha. What’s this do?” The pirate reached toward a blue button on the device.

  Perthonogis stepped forward to stop him, but before he could, the pirate touched it. The device seemed to expand and disappeared. The pirate vanished in a puff of vapor. In a moment, the device reappeared, to resume the whirring sound.

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  They all stared in shock. The pirate did not reappear. “One down,” Crystal murmured.

  “Bring him back!” demanded Grimshaw, aiming his rifle at the glyptodont.

  The doctor had tears in his eyes. “I can’t. I don’t know how. It’s interdimensional.”

  Grimshaw stepped forward, his voice guttural. “You’d better—”

  “Oh, don’t be silly,” Crystal said. She stepped before the little doctor. “Your man was stupid enough to push a button he was told not to. He earned what he got. Back off.” She glared in defiance at Grimshaw.

  He gritted his teeth, but took a step back. “I won’t forget this.”

  “Maybe you’ll learn something,” Crystal said coolly.

  Grimshaw glared at another of his crew. “Patch, knock the controls out.”

  Dandridge raised his fists. “Look here, you can’t do that. We won’t be able to navigate!”

  “You won’t need to, Captain,” said Grimshaw with a grin. “You’ll be spaced.”

  Fists clenched, Dandridge came at him. Grimshaw raised his rifle and struck him a smashing blow across the head. He dropped like a rock.

  Crystal jerked away from the man trying to bind her arms and knelt beside Dandridge. He was out cold, his head bloody. “You monster!” she spat at Grimshaw.

  “Now is that polite?” he said. “You shouldn’t complain. At least we’re keeping you alive.”

  She felt cold fury, but staring into the barrel of his rifle, pushed it down. She tried in desperation to think of something she could do.

  They heard a thud on the side of the ship. Grimshaw looked up in alarm. “What’s that?”

  Stingray grew pale. “There’s nobody on board the Sidewinder. Shouldn’t be moving.”

  Grimshaw turned back to his men. “Get going! Patch, I told you to wipe out those controls!”

  The airlock opened. “I advise you not to do that,” said a familiar voice.

  Crystal looked up, startled. In stepped Long John, a laser gun in each hand aimed at Grimshaw.

  “Well, I’ll be—” said Grimshaw. “It’s Queeg himself! What are you doing here? And why shouldn’t we?”

  “Mostly because if you disable this ship, you will have no ships left. Since I’ve just set the Sidewinder to self destruct in . . .let’s see . . . four, three, two, one . . .” He cocked his head. “About now.”

  The viewscreens filled with a burst of blinding light. For a long moment, Crystal could see nothing but the flash. A rattle and crash of shrapnel hit the side of the Victorious, which she realized was the debris from the Sidewinder’s destruction.

  When her vision cleared, Grimshaw was aiming at Long John.

  Long John spoke over his shoulder. “Get ‘im!”

  Out of the airlock behind him boiled a scrum of spiders, all waving small guns and knives. They raced to the pirates and overran them. The pirates fired but could not hit anything, the spiders moved too fast.

  Long John took three running steps across the deck and gave Grimshaw an uppercut that knocked him down.

  She jumped to her feet and struck Stingray in the stomach, then slammed him to the deck. Several spiders jumped on him. All of Grimshaw’s pirates were on the floor.

  She blinked rapidly as her sight returned. “Where did you come from, Long John? You know these bastards?”

  “Been following you for a bit. Yes, they were my erstwhile crew. Tie them up,” he said to the Victorious’ crew members, and they hurried to obey.

  They hauled Grimshaw to his feet. He gritted his teeth in fury. “You destroyed my ship! Not to mention all the treasure and loot we’ve accumulated!”

  “Oh, I think we managed to collect most of it before it blew up.” He nodded at his spiders. “The boys are fast workers.”

  Grimshaw spat at Long John. “This isn’t the last time we’ll meet.”

  “It might be.” Long John eyed him coldly. “Since I think the best place for you and your buddies is prison.”

  “You’re not going to turn us in! We were your shipmates.” Grimshaw actually looked shocked.

  “And you just tried to kill me. Also, I tend to get irritated when someone commits murder and tries to pin it on me.” He turned to the pilot. “Do you have any place on board to use for a temporary cell?”

  Tigert frowned. “Storage room. Be a little crowded, but it won’t bother me none.”

  “Sounds ideal.” The crew of the Victorious bundled the prisoners off into storage.

  Dr. Perthonogis was kneeling beside the still unconscious Dandridge, checking his vital signs.

  “How is he?” asked Crystal.

  The glyptodont shook his head. “He needs a hospital. I think he will recover, but that was quite a blow.”

  “Where are we, exactly?” Crystal asked. “Are we near the Danje system yet?”

  “We’re only a few hours away,” said the pilot.

  “Set a course for the planet Hejmo. And some of you, carry Colonel Dandridge to a bunk.”

  Tigert glanced at Dandridge, who clearly was in no shape to issue orders, and nodded. “All right.”

  She turned to the glyptodont. “After we drop off these prisoners and get the colonel into a hospital, I intend to continue with the mission. Are you willing to come along?”

  “Certainly,” said Dr Perthogonis. “That’s what we came for.”

  Long John twirled his finger in the air, and all the spiders gathered around him. The largest, Limpet, saluted. Crystal thought the spiders were adorable, in an insectile kind of way.

  “I have a suggestion,” said Long John. “Land the Victorious on Hejmo, and you two can come with me in my ship to complete your mission.”

  “Are you serious?” said Crystal. Looking at him, he seemed more serious than she had yet seen him. “You know it may be a suicide mission.”

  He shrugged. “Looks like it may be suicide for the system if we can’t figure this out.”

  “It isn’t your problem.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Why not? It’s my galaxy too.”

  She had no answer for that.