Fantasy Making of a Starship Captain

"When heretics are brought before him, they are not punished. They are let go! The Sheep people, those who were to have been enslaved, have actually been freed! None of their women have been used for our pleasure, as Sparticus himself demanded of unbelievers!"

"Is this so?" Najib, the High Tollah, demanded to know.

Taylor wet his lips. He started to perspire.

"You see, he has no answer! He has led you down a false path!" said Alexis, pointing dramatically at Taylor.

"He is Milsh! The evil one! He must be destroyed!" someone cried.

"No!" said Alexis hastily. "He is not Milsh! He is merely sick and confused. He must be confined, but not injured!"

Alexis looked at Taylor triumphantly. The crowd was clearly on her side. The guards all worked for her. He was powerless to intervene. Alexis made a curt wave of the hand, and Aresto's guards started to move forward.

And then Taylor yelled. "Wait!" and they stopped. For a moment, all was silent.

"You make grave accusations against me," said Taylor, turning to Alexis. "Do you really mean what you say? Are you really comparing me to Vernamin of Athos, who turned against his people and lead them into folly against the rocks of Phoros?"

"Yes," said Alexis, after a short pause, not sure why he was making such an analogy. But it certainly sounded apt.

"You really feel I have lost my way, as he did all those years ago?" Taylor asked, with pain in his eyes.

"Yes," said Alexis, smiling triumphantly.

"Then all I can say is this," said Taylor, and suddenly the pain in his eyes was gone, replaced by triumph. "Vermanin was not at Athos. He was at Kelmos. And he didn't lead his people into folly against the rocks of Phoros, but the mountains of Trikala."

"And Vermanin was not a man. She was a woman," said High Tollah Najib.

"Yes, thank you, I was just getting to that," said Taylor. He turned to the gathered crowd. "A true God would know all these things, as I do. A false god would know nothing, as she does."

"It's all nonsense!" said Alexis. "I am your Goddess! I order you to seize him! Aresto, seize him now!"

Aresto, who she had thoroughly bribed and had sex with on more than one occasion, did not move a muscle.

"Najib, tell them who I am!" Najib, who she had also bribed and had a long working relationship with, stared at her. He should be supporting her.

"I am not sure who you are," Najib said slowly. "But I know that the Lord Taylor is one of my true Gods."

"Tay-lor! Tay-lor! Tay-lor!" they shouted, over and over.

Taylor casually went over to Alexis and plucked the blaster from her holster. "Confine her," he said quietly.

Alexis, looking shocked, was led away.

Alexis was easy to deal with, compared to the three Ramadhans in Heraklion.

The Laquintan brothers, Chaka, Ahmed, and Khalid had become every bit the problem that Taylor feared they would be. Actually the problem was only Ahmed and Khalid; Khalid had murdered his brother Chaka for not being sufficiently devoted to Laquinta. Khalid, after promising not to indoctrinate the locals of the teeming city of Heraklion in the religion of the God of Blood, did exactly that, murdering any who dared oppose the new radical theocracy. After solidifying his hold, Khalid styled himself the Emir of a new Tronifate, one which would stretch from coast to coast. He built up an enormous army and set about to conquer the entire planet.

Taylor's Fists were a tiny fraction of the size of Khalid's army. They simply didn't have the means to wage war against the forces of Laquinta. They could surrender, and die, or fight, and die. They didn't have a lot of choices.

Taylor chose not to die. He realized that the spacedrive on the USS Asgard was hopelessly crippled.

But the thrusters still worked just fine.

As the armies of Laquinta closed the noose around Arcadia, Taylor took the Asgard up, and hovered over the attacking army.

He was in more than a foul mood; Khalid had taken Tara McCallister prisoner, and threatened to ravish and mur*er her if Taylor didn't surrender Arcardia. As he soared above the fray in the Asgard, Taylor watched as a line of refugees were run down by Khalid's cavalry. Men, women and children were crushed by stampeding hooves. Those who survived were beheaded by Khalid's foot soldiers, who charged forward from behind them, waving curves scimitars which were common on Ramada.

Taylor made out one child, standing on the battlefield, staring at the bodies of what were probably his parents. And then a horseman came galloping up, swinging his blade, and then-

"YOU BASTARDS!" Taylor yelled. And suddenly, his rage went out of control. He gritted his teeth, and set the thrusters to 75%, and then sent the Asgard over the enemy forces.

A giant cone of flame thrust out of the Asgard. The ship hovered low, over Khalid's army, sending sheets of flame scorching into the ground. Men started to scream as they burned to death. Soldiers on fire ran screaming before they fell.

"THIS IS YOUR FATE!" Taylor yelled. "YOU HAVE FAILED YOUR GODS! NOW FEEL MY WRATH!"

He maneuvered the Asgard wildly, sending it shooting horizontally over as large an area as possible, wherever Khalid's forces were concentrated.

"BURN, YOU FUCKING BASTARDS, BURN! DIE A HORRIBLE, BURNING DEATH!" Taylor yelled. "FEEL THE WRATH OF YOUR GODS! FEEL THE FLAMES BURN YOUR WORHTLESS FLESH TO ASH! THIS IS THE FATE THAT AWAITS YOU ALL! THIS IS FATE FOR ALL WHO MOCK THE GODS OF SPARTICUS! BURN, YOU BASTARDS! BURN!!!!"

Taylor watched on the screen as large numbers of Khalid's army were lit on fire. The Asgard was like an enormous blowtorch, moving horizontally over the battlefield, like a flame cooking a giant piece of meat.

"FUCK YOU, YOU MURDERS!" Taylor cried, as he burned more of them.

"FUCK YOU, YOU RAPISTS!" Taylor cried, keeping the ship low to the ground, so the flames would be most intense.

"FUCK YOU, YOU CHILD MOLESTING BASTARDS!" Taylor cried, moving the Asgard as rapidly as possible across the landscape to kill as many of them as he could. From the air, they looked like little ants, running this way and that. Taylor wished he could crush them all with the mighty heel of his foot.

Men screamed, and died instantly, or screamed, and died slowly, running a short distance on fire before falling in their tracks. The ground around them was blackened, and the fields where they stood were lit in flame.

The attack was blunted, and soldiers were running away, trying to flee for their lives.

"You have to get him to stop," said Galactic Hope. "This is no longer self-defense. This is no longer justice. This is vengeance."

"He's enraged. He won't listen to me," said Taylor's Morality.

"We need Taylor to go down a certain path," said Galactic Hope. "If he's consumed by anger, if he's consumed by rage, he's going to stray from the path."

Taylor's Morality bit his lip. "I think... I think he's going to do a little straying, just for a little bit."

Taylor was enraged to see the scattered army of Laquinta, trying to escape his wrath. "More power!" Taylor yelled at Crewman Jefferson. "Thrusters at 100%!"

"Sir, no! The ship can't-"

"DO IT!"

In seconds the flame shooting out of the Asgard grew in size and intensity. Taylor maneuvered the ship as far and wide as he could, as the Asgard belched flame and death over a much greater area.

Men were panicking, running this way and that, still trying to escape the flames coming from the sky. And as they ran, they heard the voice of their vengeful lord. "RUN, YOU SNIVELING COWARDS, RUN! THERE IS NO PLACE YOU CAN HIDE FROM YOUR GODS! YOUR SINS ARE TOO GREAT! YOU WILL ALL BURN, ALL OF YOU!"

People continued to burn and scream and run in terror.

"WHERE IS YOUR FUCKING GOD NOW? WHERE IS THAT PIECE OF SHIT LAQUINTA? RIGHT NOW YOUR FALSE GOD IS DOING THE EXACT SAME THING I AM. HE'S LAUGHING HIS ASS OFF AS HE WATCHES YOU BURN!!!!"

"Goooood!"

"Who are you?" Taylor's Rage asked.

"A friend," said Galactic Despair. "Let the hate flow through you! Use your aggressive feelings, boy! I can feel your anger! It gives you focus, it makes you strong!"

"Shut the fuck up, I'm busy!" Taylor's Rage snapped.

Taylor watched them burn. He shifted the ship further afield to catch the little ants as they ran. He must burn them all! He was consumed with bloodlust and rage.

People screamed, and they ran in terror, but now it wasn't just from the flame.

It was also his voice.

They were fleeing the wrath of their God. Their true God, Taylor.

Taylor moved the ship over another mass of fleeing soldiers. How he wished he could burn every last one of them! The bloodlust was strong in him. All he wished to do was kill.

Suddenly, to his great delight, the ship shuddered and belched out an especially large wave of flames, which hit the ground and spread out like a bomb. In an instant, several thousand Laquintans were lit aflame.

"BLOOD AND PAIN! REJOICE BECAUSE I HAVE GIVEN YOU EXACTLY WHAT YOU HAVE ASKED FOR! NOW, ONLY AT THE END, DO YOU UNDERSTAND. NOW YOU WILL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE FOR YOUR LACK OF VISION!"

Flame and death spat out of the Asgard, and Taylor's voice could be heard, laughing hysterically, for miles around, driving the Laquintans to scream in terror and run for their miserable lives. Taylor gritted his teeth and maneuvered the ship wildly over the landscape, trying to kill as many as possible. More! More! More! He had to kill more of them! Each burst of flame brought a smile to his lips.

Taylor would have continued, killing every last one of them, if ship's power hadn't failed.

Suddenly, the lights flickered, and the Asgard lurched, as power was cut. Then the ship regained power for a moment, shot upwards violently, and then... the power cut again.

Taylor and his crewman made eye contact as the ship seemed to fall, in slow motion. They barely had time to strap their seat belts in before they hit. The Asgard fell all of 500 feet, smashing into the battlefield on its side, crushing a large number of fleeing Laquintans, and then crushing even more as it skidded 2000 feet horizontally across a mushy field, before coming to a complete halt.

Brother Khalid was dead. Taylor had killed him, in a one on one contest in zero G combat. There was an unusual quarry near Arcadia where gravity seemed to almost be nullified. Taylor and Khalid had fought with swords, hopping from rock to rock, until Taylor sent Khalid down a very deep pit. Sergeant Chappie would have been proud of him.

That still left Tara McCallister, and some other prisoners, still being held behind enemy lines, to be rescued.

Taylor stood there, holding his sword, dripping blood, as he stared at the Laquintan front lines. He was all alone, but they had just seen him kill their leader. They were the ones who feared him.

The Stranglers of Laquinta looked at Taylor. He was bleeding from several places. His face and clothes were caked with dirt. But they recognized the expression on his face.

It was the face of their death.

"That is the fate of your false god, and any who follow him!" said Taylor. His voice was so loud that it seemed he was using a megaphone disc, but he wasn't. His voice seemed to resound all across the hoards of Laquintans.

Behind him, the screams of "God Taylor!" could still be heard from his men in the distance.

Khalid's men looked fearfully at Taylor. At their God. Who they now believed was their real God.

"DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!" Taylor boomed. "DOWN ON YOUR KNEES, DOGS, OR YOU WILL ALL MEET THE SAME FATE!"

And then Khalid's men, trembling, started to get down on their knees and plead for mercy. "Please, God Taylor, please forgive, forgive us!" some of them cried.

And then they all heard a roar and they looked up. There was a spaceship, right above them! It could not be the Asgard; the Asgard was virtually destroyed, still on its side, miles away. This ship was bigger than the Asgard, and it looked different, bristling with laser cannons and space artillery. They watched it roar as it set down, not far from them, in an open field. Men screamed, thinking this was more retribution of the Gods.

Taylor used this distraction to his advantage. He made his way purposefully through the crowd. One Strangler, more bold than the rest, ran at him, with his sword above his head.

Suddenly Taylor remembered the words of Master Tan, his instructor in the ancient martial arts of Ju Chi. "Live within the moment," he heard, and suddenly, time seemed to slow down.

The Strangler of Laquinta charging him seemed to move in slow motion crying, "Infidel! There is no God but-" right as Taylor impaled him, neatly through the chest. He gasped as he fell the ground, his face an expression of shock and disbelief, and time seemed to speed up again. The spaceship landed a short distance away, and Taylor could see the outer door opening. Figures started to emerge.

Taylor coolly pulled his sword out of the dead man. It was coated with blood.

And then another Strangler roared and charged Taylor. His sword clanged hard against Taylor's.

"You dare challenge your God, dog!" Taylor roared. And so fierce was his tone, that something in the Strangler blanched, and Taylor leapt forward, and, with a side swipe, swept the Strangler's head from his shoulder. His lifeless body fell to the ground.

A squad of military looking figures from the new spaceship were coming at them, at a run.

Taylor ignored them, and looked at the cowering Stranglers around him. "Who else would challenge their true God? What other dog wants to die like the worm he is! I am your God! Face me and die, you loathesome pieces of dung!"​