9 days after Hadorix gained control of the prison ship, five medium sized ships bearing the emblem of the Pigeons arrived. Unlike the ship Hadorix now commanded, these were obviously built for combat. Each were of the same design and visibly contained 5 manned turrets. Seeing the change in situation, Alice spoke to Hadorix alone. "I can teleport you and the ship to the space near Deviant Home if desired. None of our spy AI are on the ships you see. Those are top of the line carriers. The firepower of those ships alone would destroy you in seconds. Unfortunately, I estimate each ship will contain no less than 10 high grade heavy fighters. Even if you were to utilize the 5 fighters you presently possess you would be quickly destroyed. You are outclassed, out manned, and outgunned."
Hadorix had expected some form of retaliation, however this was beyond his expectations. While he considered what to do, the ships began to encircle him. As they moved into position, many fighter ships flew out and aided in surrounding the prison ship. Once the encirclement completed, the fighters began landing on the docking ports of the prison ship. At this point, Hadorix made his first real command to Alice. "Have Shadows 1 through 5 board the stealth fighters we recently obtained. Force them into stealth mode and teleport them in my location as far outside the encirclement as possible. Their orders are to infiltrate the carriers. When they land inside a carrier, I want you to take over the carrier by whatever means necessary and teleport it back next to Deviant Home. At the same time, command the AIs that are currently infiltrating the Pigeons base to take over the largest ships possible and teleport them to the space outside Deviant Home as well. If any ships were known to possess a significant number of firearms for the mercenary group, those would also be appreciated."
Hadorix then summoned the rest of the Shadow Armory to him. If they were boarded, the Pigeons would be in for a major surprise. Hadorix realized that the Pigeons wanted to keep as many of the prisoners alive as possible. They would do everything in their power not to fire upon the ship Hadorix resided in. This would work in Hadorix favor in a major way as they would be unable to fully utilize their advantage in superior firepower.
Hadorix split the Shadow Armory members into groups and placed them outside of each docking port. The prison ship had 25. This meant that Hadorix was able to position at least 9 of the Shadow Armory fighters at each of the docking ports. In comparison each of the fighters could possess no more than 3 combatants and they were unable to enter more than 1 at a time per docking port. This would be like shooting fish in a barrel. Hadorix ordered each of the groups to send 1 person in to claim the ships once the hostiles were detained. They would fly into space and return to Deviant Home. Hadorix looked forward to acquiring his new heavy fighters.
The Pigeons on the other hand had no idea what they were walking into. They slowly forced open the docking ports and charged in. One after another they moved into the ship. One after another they were slain. The Pigeons had severely underestimated the power that resided in the prison ship. The boarding party consisted mainly of Grade C and D supers. The Shadow Armory contained mainly A and B supers. The boarding party battle was won before it even began. The Shadow Armory members quickly boarded the ships and blasted off into space. Moments later, they teleported back to Deviant Home.
At the same time, Shadows 1 through 5 were venturing their way toward the Cruisers. As everyone's attention was on the prison ship. No one noticed the stealth fighter's approach. They easily landed in the hangars. Once they landed, Alice began the process of taking over. Once she managed to suppress the Ais on the ships, she recalled the rest of the fighters. As soon as they landed, she teleported the cruisers with the fighters on them back to Deviant Home. All the Pigeons on board the ships were incredibly surprised and confused by the sudden change in scenery.
Before they could get to accustomed to their new surroundings, Alice, her crew of Spirits, and the Shadow Armory killed each creature. Alice made sure every soul of the crew members was captured. She then added the bodies to the reserve of crafting materials and the weapons and armor to the armory. They would be integral to the next part of Hadorix's plan. She then began constructing new bodies for them. As there were around 200 total, this would take at least a month to accomplish. That would satisfy Hadorix, after all, they were far more successful than he would have imagined a month ago.
Shortly after the crews of the cruisers were dealt with, the spy AIs teleported in with one of the massive carrier spaceships that Hadorix had originally seen when he went to the home of the Pigeons. Alice could feel few AIS lives outside of those she commanded already. While it was not unusual for a Grade S AI to control a vast quantity of ships, if a Grade S were in control, the Ais Alice commanded would not have succeeded. This made Alice believe they were looking at a setup. With that thought in mind, Alice quickly took control of the ship from the Ais and had all the Ais that were now members of Deviant move into the fortress and claim bodies. While they were claiming bodies, Alice began locking down the spaceship. All the doors were closed, and escape was made impossible. Once the doors were closed and the Ais had claimed bodies, they moved with Bill, Alice, and her spirit crew into the spaceship and began to kill any who resisted. Those that surrendered were moved into a group of prison cells in Deviant Home to await Alexus or Hadorix decision on what to do with them. Most of those that did surrender were non supers that served the Pigeons in capacities that did not require fighting. The souls of the combatants were moved in que with the others that had been slain to be returned to life in custom made robots that resembled their original forms within Deviant Home. With the quantity now in que it would take months to revive them all. It would also greatly diminish the resources they had available.
Once the ships had been claimed, they were linked completely to Deviant Homes network. Alice moved all the AI lives and the robots into Deviant home so that she could keep an eye on them. Deviant Home was the seat of her power. With the Well of Souls powering it, even a Grade S would stand no chance against her. While she watched the massive carrier, she began to discuss the situation they were now in with the AIs from the 5 light carriers, the fighters, and the prison ship. Once she convinced them to join and reduced their ability to only be able to transmit on the Deviant Home network, she began to train them up to Grade A. this would take some time. Those that were already Grade A also continued to train. Even if it would take a century, it would greatly benefit the Deviant faction to gain many grades S AI.
Once everything had been claimed and the weapons, bodies, and resources moved into Deviant Home into the proper areas for use, Alice reported the success to Hadorix.
Hadorix was beyond thrilled. He had expected the spy AI's to come back in fighters, not in a fully manned massive carrier. With the new acquisitions, they suddenly had a reliable fleet. Hadorix had great plans for what to do with this newly formed fleet. Now he only needed to find a proper individual to command it… He had plenty of time to figure that aspect out. Hopefully, a reliable individual would spring up over the next few months.
With that problem solved, Hadorix continued his way to the Sandman system. There he would be able to free the other prisoners and claim ownership of the prison ship and all the robots on board. Hadorix feared that the Pigeons would send more ships to capture back the Hadorix and the prisoners. Yet to his surprise the following weeks were rather uneventful. He managed to familiarize himself with some of the other prisoners and gained a significant base knowledge of several areas of the universe.
Eventually, Hadorix entered the Sandman system. Alice guided him toward a Marshal planet called Dillon. Once Hadorix landed, he explained the situation to Marshall Matt Dillon. Dillon verified the story with the prisoners, took the former pilot prisoner, awarded Hadorix legal ownership of the prison ship and all it contained, and aided the newly freed prisoners in contacting representatives of their home worlds. Most of the prisoners felt they owed Hadorix a huge debt and asked to transfer credits to Hadorix account. Upon hearing the request, Alice spoke to Hadorix, "I have setup 2 accounts for us. One is for your private use and is based on the prison ship. The other is for the Deviant Faction and resides within Deviant Home. In it, I will transfer the funds of all those that were slain. As we will provide for them once they are revived, it is only fitting they help us to gain a foothold in this galaxy. Once you obtain a home port, I will transfer your personal account there."
Hadorix was happy to have this detail dealt with. When the prisoners offered him credits, they would be accredited to his new account. Once the prisoners saw the account was based on the prison ship, they realized, Hadorix had basically nothing to his name and were far more generous. By the time they had all left the ship, Hadorix had received a whopping 500,000 credits from the 2,000 prisoners. There were also 5 supers and 5 normal people that wished to serve Hadorix in whatever capacity he would allow them. Hadorix considered whether he should accept them, and eventually he accepted them. He would need the manpower for his newest plan. For this portion, he asked Marshall Dillon for advice.
"Marshall, do you know of a good place to get my ship retrofitted? I want to turn this prison ship into a low budget cruise ship. It already has the rooms; they and the kitchen just need upgrades, and a lounge would need to be added."
Marshall Dillon considered this strange request and replied, "Ya might wanna paint it too. It looks like a prison ship still. There is a shipyard a few systems over on Four Seasons. It's ran by a feller named Cooter. Tell him I sent ya and he will give ya a discount."
Hadorix thanked the Marshall and proceeded toward his newly claimed ship. His new workforce joined him. Hadorix hadn't really paid much attention to them yet. He would have to find out what they could do to help. He had initially planned on using the robots on the ship to run the new business. But it couldn't hurt to have a few living creatures with him. With that thought in mind, he loaded up and headed toward Four Seasons. It would only take a weeks travel to get there.