On the Good Day, Good Sun

“Don’t look now, but here they come.” Rick said as the space cruiser on the ship’s main monitor screen grew larger, softly heading to make contact with their own ship.
“The Idolists? They’re here already?” Tully’s hands gripped the detonators in both hands. He placed charges on the two main bay doors, but there weren’t enough charges to cover every entrance to the ship. They would find a way on the ship sooner or later. “Go for the main doors, you bastards.” He said to the ship of the screen. “See what’s waiting for you.” He grinned.
“Get ready. Get your gun loaded.” Rick readied his own rifle. The Idolists weren’t happy with what they done to their ship, especially since it was considered a holy relic. It was true the ship was old, but it was maintained in good shape. It was a class C Himline Runner, also called the border breaker. The Idolists called it the Good Day, Good Sun. But they weren’t fighting for the ship itself, they wanted what was on it.
The ship’s cargo bay held a variety of items that the Idolists called sacred. They wanted those items back, but Luko was the reason why they held so much hostility towards the ship’s unwelcomed residents.
Luko was an A.I. program, it’s main hardware module being a holo-projector with speakers. When activated, Luko’s avatar was a young woman with a large snake wrapped loosely around her neck. The Idolists considered it holy because it was personal property of one of their high member, Mary Luko. It was a gift from one of her relatives and Mary loved it. When Mary died, the module was put away somewhere in the large storage houses that Mary’s family owned. Months pasted and the module gathered dust, until one of the Idolists found it.
The module disappeared and Mary’s family didn’t notice it’s absence until one of her siblings discovered what happened. The family wanted the module back and badly. That’s what Rick and Tully had been hired for. Find the module and return it or, if things got out of hands, destroy it. Either way, they would get their money, only half if the module was disposed of.
“Using those explosives aren’t going to make them happy.” The animated avatar representation of the late Mary Luko stated. Anyone could say that the hologram presented her in a good light. The hologram’s features were toned to the fashion of beauty at those times, or maybe to Rick‘s sense of beauty. A fine figure, sharp eyes, mid-sized lips, and a head of long, curled hair. “They’re going to find a way on this ship.” The hologram added politely.
If the real Mary was this calm in this tense of a moment, Vick thought, she would have been his ideal woman. But the Idolists didn’t like the module just for it’s beauty. The module contained Mary’s video journal entries. Everything they wanted know about her, even her secrets, was in the module’s memory. The family of Mary respected the Idolists enough as a religious group, but didn’t wanted them to have their own daughter’s diary.
Vick smiled. “Don’t worry, Ms. Mary. We’ll hold them off long enough to allow our ships to arrive and extract us.
“I hope you’re right.” A concerned face, the hologram presented. The A.I. conformed to Mary’s specific personality and respect it’s own privacy. The A.I. didn’t want the Idolists to know about the journal entries. “How long till their arrival?”
Tully signed, cradling his rifle. “Soon, if they don’t get their asses blow by the Idolist’s ship.”
“They’ll make it. The Idolists aren’t fighters. They may have a ship to make it look like they are, but they don’t have the experience our friends have.”
“Incoming message.” The bridge’s speakers blared.
“From who?” Rick asked.
“Ship located three hundred kilometers to our position.”
“It’s them.” Tully said.
“I know.” Rick answered back. “Open the channel.” The bridge’s main screen filled with the image of a short brown-haired young man.
“Mrs. Bernmick, please,” the young man stated Rick’s alias name. “let us board the ship and receive our property. We will not harm you or anyone onboard.”
“Sorry, man, no go.” Rick smiled widely. “You people know that some of this property doesn’t belong to you and I have to return some of it. You all just have to swallow your pride and face it.” The man’s face wrinkled in anger.
“No! All that property belongs to us and we don’t give a shit about any heathens telling us we don’t deserve it!”
“Well, you’re just going to have to get it from us.”
“We will, Mr. Bernmick. Very soon.” The image disappeared from the screen. Rick knew how far they would go to get back what they wanted. Killing them wasn’t going to put any guilt on their souls.
“Bastard doesn’t know what’s coming for him, does he?” Tully asked as he tapped the two detonator together, happily.
“No, he doesn’t.” Rick laughed. “Because here is our army.” He pointed towards the bridge’s screen, showing multiple shining hulls closing in on the Idolist’s ship. Their weapons fired, missiles, projectiles, laser turrets. The Idolist’s fighter’s hull flared and was eaten away.
“Incoming message.” The bridge’s speakers spoke.
“I hope this is who I think it is.” Rick said. “Open channel.” The screen opened with a bearded and aged face. “Bruce.”
“We’re here, at last, Harold.” The man said, stating Rick’s real name. “Fuckers didn’t see it coming. Stealthy as shit!” The man laughed loudly.
“Good job, man. Have someone pick us up and we’re done.”
“Doing that right now. They’ll be there in a moment.”
“Oh, be sure not to take the main doors. We’ve got some charges there.”
“Gotcha.”
“Well, Ms. Mary, you’ll be home soon. Aren’t you glad?” Rick grinned. The hologram smiled back, her arms crossed against her chest.
“Very.” The hologram laughed softly.