The Loop Shop

The Traitor on Deck

The heavy steel door of their cabin blasted inward with a deafening crash, sending flying metal and blinding white fire straight across the room.

Julian pulled Maya down off the bed in a split second, shielding her body with his own as the heat wave scorched the air above them. Smoke filled the narrow space instantly, burning their eyes and lungs.

"Get down!" Julian said, coughing as he rolled to the side and grabbed his tactical rifle from the floor.

Before the smoke could clear, a tall figure stepped through the ruined doorway. It was not Lord Vane. It was Viktor's chief tactical officer, holding a heavy assault rifle with a cold, cruel grin stretching across his scarred face.

"Viktor sends his regards," the officer said, raising his weapon to fire point-blank into the room.

Maya moved before Julian could even blink. She did not look panicked or surprised; her dark eyes flashed with cold, calculated rage as she kicked out hard, catching the officer square in the chest and knocking his aim wide. A burst of bullets tore into the cabin wall, showering them in splinters and drywall dust.

Julian sprang to his feet, lunging forward to slam the butt of his rifle against the officer's helmet. The man staggered back into the metal hallway, dropping his gun with a loud clatter.

Commander Eleanor Vance and Old Man Marrow appeared in the corridor a second later, their weapons drawn and ready.

"What happened?" Eleanor asked, looking at the smoking hole where their door used to be.

"Viktor sold us out," Maya said, her voice sharp and steady as she stood up and brushed the soot off her gray hoodie. She did not sound shocked at all; she sounded like someone whose predictions had just been proven correct. "He never cared about our deal. He just wanted to use us to get the Vance bank transfer codes, and then hand us over to Lord Vane for a bigger bounty."

Marrow cursed loudly, spitting onto the metal floor. "I knew that pirate could not be trusted. The moment we turned our backs, he called his contacts in the upper district."

Sirens began to wail across the cargo ship. Red emergency lights flashed along the narrow ceiling, casting an eerie glow over the steel walls. Heavy footsteps echoed from both ends of the hallway as dozens of Viktor's syndicate mercenaries rushed toward their cabin to finish the job.

"We are surrounded," Eleanor said, pressing her back against the wall as she checked the ammo clip in her pistol. "The ship is out at sea, and we have nowhere to run."

Julian looked at Maya, his heart pounding hard against his ribs. Despite the trap, he felt a strange sense of calm. They had survived five hundred years of a time loop; a double-crossing pirate captain was nothing compared to that.

"We don't need to run," Julian said, his voice hard. "We take the ship."

Maya smiled, a sharp, dangerous grin that meant she was already three steps ahead of their enemies. She pulled her phone from her pocket and tapped the screen twice.

"Viktor forgot one important detail," Maya said, her fingers dancing across her phone. "When he plugged our encrypted drive into the ship's main navigation computer ten minutes ago to verify the bank codes, he gave me full administrative control of this vessel's core systems."

Across the hallway, the flashing red emergency lights suddenly turned green.

The security blast doors along the syndicate ship dropped shut automatically with a series of heavy metallic thuds, trapping Viktor's mercenaries in the forward corridors and cutting off their path entirely.

From the intercom speaker overhead, Viktor's angry voice echoed through the ship. "What is happening? Who locked the bulkheads? Open these doors right now!"

Maya walked out into the corridor, holding her phone up like a weapon. She tapped a final button on the screen.

"You should have checked our security clearance first, captain," Maya said smoothly into the nearest wall intercom.

The ship's automated defense turrets mounted on the upper deck whined to life, turning their heavy barrels downward and locking onto the bridge where Viktor and his men were standing.

"Self-destruct sequence initiated for all syndicate combat units," Maya announced, her voice cold and merciless. "Clear the deck."

Before Viktor could scream an order, the automated turrets opened fire with a deafening roar, blowing the bridge windows to pieces and forcing the traitorous captain and his guards to dive for cover.

Julian, Eleanor, and Marrow stepped out of the ruined cabin into the hallway, watching Maya take total control of a floating fortress with a few taps on her phone. She was ruthless, brilliant, and completely unstoppable.

"That is how you handle a betrayal," Marrow muttered, a wide grin spreading across his weathered face.

"We are heading straight for the Vance main residential estate," Maya said, turning around to face them with a fierce, burning light in her eyes. "Viktor's ship, Viktor's men, and Viktor's weapons are ours now. Let us go wake up Lord Vane."

Julian walked over to his sister, taking her hand and squeezing it tightly. They had crossed the line from victims to conquerors, and there was no turning back.

As the massive cargo ship turned its bow around and headed back toward the glittering lights of the upper city, the heavy steel doors at the end of the corridor suddenly blew inward with a blinding flash of white energy.