Year 3503 of the Leron calendar. We are worried. The object draws ever closer to our star system. It makes little sense. In only three years, the unknown object has travelled through seventy light years of interstellar space. I predict the object will enter the outer star system and throw the outer most planet out of the star's orbit within the year. Author Vergil Tesar.
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Captain shimmer of the pirate ship, Grack Arka, was having a good day. After two weeks of stalking the star lanes, she and her crew ran across a tempting prize. It was a fuel transport ship that would fund the operation fees of her ship for months. She wanted to dampen her crew's enthusiasm, but she, too, was excited.
The cargo ship lacked any defensive guns, giving the Grack arka and its crew an easy target. However, there was an issue. Most of the crew was new to her ship, lacking the experience of veteran pirates.
She couldn't complain too much. She was a new pirate captain, having stolen the ship mere months prior. This was their first mission, and on the sensors was the first ship in weeks to lack the heavy escort of a warship. It was a soft target, but that was perfect for her untested crew.
Her long white fluffy ear unconsciously flicked back in annoyance. Her fur stood up on her back. Sweat soaked her fur, trickling down her back underneath her soft suit. War between empires offered massive bounties to be collected, but it also offered danger. If she wanted to capitalize on the profits, she needed to prepare her crew for something harder to capture than a fuel freighter.
Her pirate ship was small and fast, but it didn't stand a chance against a heavy military grade ship like a battle cruiser, or a dreadnaught.
Running into such a heavy ship alone was extremely unlucky as they travelled with several cruisers for supports. Even alone, she would avoid such an encounter. In the unlucky instance of running into a lone battle ship, she would run, not fight, and her crew would cheer her for the smart decision.
She sighed. Being a pirate wasn't easy. The most frustrating part was most of the valuable ships were escorted. She shuddered, her bushy tail flicking in annoyance. Her crew would mutiny if she ordered an attack on a support ship escorted by battleships.
She needed to start small and work her way up to something bigger. She wanted an entire fleet of ships under her command. In order to do that, she would need to capture high valued prizes like the fuel transport ship in her sensors.
She needed to gain infamy, to gain the respect of her peers. With a few successful missions, maybe she could convince the crew to attack a light cruiser escorting a support ship?
Shimmer sighed, glancing at her second in command, receiving a nervous look.
Her second in command lower his large leaflike ears, revealing his unease. Shimmer didn't show it, but she too was nervous. Her crew were inexperienced, and she hoped they didn't accidentally shoot themselves while boarding the cargo ship.
None of the twenty crew members had live rounds. All of her pirate crew were restricted to stun, so they didn't do something stupid like blow everyone up.
Her ship hid in the deep gravity well behind the rogue gas giant. She watched the sensors, using the data feed from several satellites orbiting the rogue gas giant to track the cargo ship as their prize drew closer.
Closer was relative, and in practical distance was around five light hours. When the bulky hauler laden with fuel passed in their effective jump range, her ship burned hard, escaping the rogue planet's magnetic field before she activated the phase drive.
That's not what it was really called, but the special distortion oscillator was a mouthful. Space in front of her small pirate ship distorted in a chaotic ripple of energy. The phase drive folded space, creating a tear is space time. The ship's nose enters the rip quickly, transitioning six light hours in moments.
"Mam, we came out of the phase shift a hundred thousand kilometers from the target!" Vice captain Lenny said. Pride filled Captain Shimmer. That was the most accurate shift they had made so far. The shift was way too inaccurate to make army fleet standards, but for her pirates, it was on target.
"Send out an active sensor pulse! And open missile bays."Captain Shimmer order, giving the human in charge of their phase shift a nod of approval. She glanced down at his name tag, reminding herself to reward Ned later.
The cargo ship didn't need to know her gunnery crew couldn't hit the broad side of a star with the rail guns, nor the fact that their ship killer missiles had questionable guidance systems. At this range, the Cargo ship could stay where it was and be safe.
"Yes, mam!" Vice captain Lenny said instantly.
"Captain shimmer we are receiving broadcast from the cargo ship." Vice captain Lenny said.
Shimmer smiled, exposing glimmering white canines. Should she make the captain of that ship sweat for a bit before she demanded to board? No, that would be foolish. She didn't want to give the captain of that ship time to scan her ship.
Besides, hanging in the star lanes for too long would be asking for an empire battle group to crash the party.
"Transfer their captain to the main speakers, let's greet our guests."She said, her claws unsheathing in her excitement.
"This is Captain Finau of the cargo ship Sunset. What do you want, filthy pirates?!" asked the captain of the enemy ship. He spoke in Zrixian, but thankfully her ship translated the captain's words. "This is Captain Shimmer of the Grack arka pirates. Stand down and prepare to be boarded. Any resistance will cause unfortunate casualties of your crew."Shimmer order sternly.
"And why should i? How do I know you won't just kill me and all of my crew?" Asked Finau, his words coming out clipped in the translation.
"I give my word as the captain of the Grack arka that once we take your cargo, we will let your ship and crew leave in peace."Shimmer reply truthfully.
"And if we don't allow you to take the cargo?" Captain Finau asked angrily.
"Then I will turn your ship into a cloud of drifting particles."Shimmer said, with a snarl. There was a pause. Captain Finau must be looking at his extremely limited options. She smiled, bearing her canines. Compared to her small ship, his was large and bulky, lacking the speed to get away for long.
"Very well, captain Shimmer, you may board my ship. I trust you will stick to your word." Captain Finau reply, sounding extremely doubtful that a pirate had word to be trusted. She knew he had no choice and was most likely trying to console his crew.
"We are approaching now, Captain Finau. I suggest all of your crew stay in the control center out of my people's way. Any of your crew caught wandering the ship will be considered free game."Shimmer said, much to the excitement of her crew.
The Crew of that cargo ship was probably shaking in their boots once they saw the creepy ten-legged symbol of the Grak arka. She was practically salivating at the thought of selling thousands of gallons of fuel. She grinned, twitching her furry nose in amusement.
"Purdin, bring us in close, take your time, we are in no rush."Shimmer said, glancing at the young Tallax pilot in question.
The Tallax clans wouldn't miss a few thousand gallons of fuel. Her tail swished back and forth excitedly as her small ship used docking clamps to stick itself to the cargo ship's hull. The entire ship shudder and she let out a relieved sigh, glancing at the ship's pilot Purdin, laying in his pilot's couch.
Now that the docking was successful, she gesture the crew to move to the docking bay. This was going to be fun! With several gestures, she commanded her suit to adjust the rotary cannon on her back.
The heavy gun moved, settling more comfortably, its camera giving her a feed directly to her helmet. She adjusted her soft suit, heading for the docking bay. The airlock cycled and after several minutes the door opened, revealing a dark corridor into the cargo ship.
For safety reasons, and to command the crew, she waited just inside the airlock, just in case they needed to shut it in a hurry. She hoped that didn't happen, as they had the entire crew active for this raid.
She smiled, adjusting her helmet's display to see in the inferred spectrum. She startled, noting a crouched figure on the side of the hallway. The crew of the cargo ship were supposed to be all hold up in the ship's control center.
Shimmer glanced back behind her to the twenty pirates of her boarding crew.
The human disappeared, but not before her suit's sensors identified the pistol and knife in the enemy's hands. The human was tall, lythe, and seemed to blur the sensors of Shimmers' helmet visor. That was a curious bit of techknowledgey, but it was twenty to one.
Excitement filled Shimmer. Those pesky weapons were a minor threat to her crew of pirates, who each had a soft suit. The pistol was no match for the heaver stun rifles and back mounted turrets of her crew. As for the sharp piece of steel. A knife was just laughable. Any human getting in physical range would discover the lethality of her Tallax claws.
She spoke over her comms link to her crew. " There is one with light arms. Be weary for traps and other members of the crew."Shimmer said sternly.
The crew didn't respond, knowing she was a stickler for strict comms silence unless it was necessary for the task.
The human members of her crew moved forwards into the cargo ship's dark hallway, their weapons raised. She had the Tallax members of her crew support them. The eight Tallax members of her crew strode gracefully on all fours, the turret style rifles on their backs panning side to side.
Her vice captain strode up beside her on all four paws, the top of his shoulder close to that of a human shoulder. She scowled, exposing a set of canines.
Her vice captain cocked his head, giving her an intense yellow eye stare through his clear visor, baring his teeth in his excitement. His frame was obscured from neck to tail by his own soft suit, but judging by his swishing tail, she could tell he was anxious.
Gunfire rang out from down the hall, picked up by her helmet's sensors. On her tactical display, two dots representing members of her crew were snuffed out in moments. She blinked in shock. It made little sense. Each member of her crew wore soft suits that were supposed to absorb several bullets.
There was no way a human with a pistol should be able to kill any members of her crew unless they were deadly accurate. She watched a screen displayed onto her visor, showing a live link to each one of her crew. She watched for several minutes, following the live video as the enemy darted in and out of sight, moving too fast for her pirates to hit accurately.
Two humans were already dead, and another with a bullet wound in his elbow joint. Not even the Tallax with their back mounted rotary cannons could break through that bizarre glimmering field around the enemy in the brief moments of attack.
Shimmers' heart raced as the person whose screen she was watching through experienced something bizarre. Clad in a shimmering field of silvery energy, a lythe figure lunged forwards, ignoring the undisciplined fire of the terrified pirate.
Far too quickly, the human woman lunged, spanning the gap and slammed her knife into the human's neck, staring through the visor straight into the camera. Shimmer shudder, feeling as though the enemy was starting at her instead of the dying pirate. Shimmer heard a gurgle, and blood dripped out, staining the suits camera.
That shouldn't be possible, no way something as dull as steel should cut through the soft suit. It was impossible! She took in a deep breath. Her denial was useless, and if she kept this strategy, more of her people would die.
She shivered, disturbed by the woman's glare. She could swear that woman put way too much frustration into that stab. She didn't know who pissed that human off, but now she had to kill her. Angered, and not willing to back down because of one pesky human, Shimmer sent new commands.
"Box her in. Don't let her retreat through the ship. However, be careful, and do not use explosives. This ship is carrying fuel! I repeat, do not use explosives, otherwise we all die!" Shimmer shouted over the command channel.