Year 3504 of the Leron calender. The unknown mass has established an orbit three light minutes from our home star. Miraculously, the object has not overtly effected the orbits of our planet nor the outer most planets like we feared. Our probes still do not return any useful data, giving us no clue what it is nor why it's here. Some idiots initially wanted to fire our planet killer weapons at the object but were overruled. Even a planet killer was only intended to wipe out intelligent life, not to destroy the planet in question. Luckily, we didn't. Our fears were for naught, as the object appears to be doing absolutely nothing.
(Callie)
Standing in front of the airlock, Callie watched as Captain Shimmer argued with her vice captain Lenny. She couldn't hear the silent conversation because of their sealed helmets, but she could read their tense postures.
She could read human lips, but that didn't mean she could read the lips of two fox like Tallax. Especially since they were arguing in a language that was difficult to understand at the best of times. Her grasp of their language and body language was considered adequate by the instructors.
That didn't mean she could tell what decision Shimmer might make by body language alone. Shimmer looked enraged and was likely not thinking straight. Likely, the pirate captain was wondering if death was preferable to giving over command of her crew.
Callie was no fool, she knew that if she killed the captain, then there would be no reasoning with the crew. Unexpectedly, the crew seemed devoted to their captain. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched the crew of Tallax and humans gather on the other side of the airlock.
They looked concerned and angered by her standing there. Luckily, none of them were stupid enough to shoot the exposed airlock to their ship. Well, their small fire rounds weren't enough to damage the thick composites, but they didn't know that.
Luckily for Callie and the entire crews of both ships, Shimmer restricted the pirate crew to stun rounds instead of risking explosives. Callie plastered on a frosty glare for the pirate's benefit. Each time she glanced at them, she received dirty looks or rude gestures.
Despite defeating half of them, Shimmers' crew looked determined to break through the airlock and save her.
Captain shimmer was practically snarling and Lenny looked to be pleading with her. Lenny's ears were lowered in submission, but his shoulders held firm with resolve. Callie could tell Lenny held respect for his captain and was extremely loyal.
If not for that, she would have just killed Shimmer and made Lenny Captain. Callie sighed. What a pain. As she suspected, Shimmer was a pirate captain that engendered not only the trust of her crew but their loyalty.
Her threat to kill shimmer was just a bluff, as taking over the crew after that would be impossible. If Shimmer refused, Callie would have to kill the entire pirate crew and be back to square one. Callie cleared her throat, drawing their attention.
"Your time is up. Are you going to follow me or are you going to die?" Callie asked coldly, as though discussing the weather. For effect, she let a trickle of her art go out of control, creating ominous sparks around her.
The two Tallax tensed at her words, giving her weary looks. "You want to become captain of my ship?" Shimmer asked hesitantly.
Callie shook her head. "I do not desire to operate your ship or manage your crew. I simply wish your pirate ship to follow my orders. You, your ship and your crew will do your very best to complete whichever objectives I order you to." Callie said frankly.
"You want us to be your servants?" Shimmer asked angrily.
Callie raised an eyebrow. "You will benefit from the arrangement. Under my command, your group of pirates will some day be feared throughout the galaxy." Callie said confidently. At that moment, she had no such plans, but she was coming up with something along those lines..
Shimmers' anger seemed to wane slightly, and a look of speculation crossed her foxlike face. "How will you make us feared throughout the galaxy?" Lenny asked, cutting in for his captain.
"I'm glad you asked Lenny. I plan to find more pirates and force them under my command." Callie stated a plan, forming in her mind.
"You are planning on commanding a fleet of pirate ships?" Shimmer asked, her eyes glimmering with interest.
Callie smiled, catching something in that look. "Yes, and I will need a loyal captain to rely on, one who I can trust. If you prove your loyalty, I may put other crews under your influence." Callie said, setting the bait.
The position of pirate captain usually attracted the insatiably ambitious. And she was doubting Shimmer was any different. Judging by the greed in shimmers bright yellow eyes, Callie was correct in her assessment.
"How will you force the other pirate groups to follow you?" Shimmer asked, trying to contain her excitement.
"It's a simple captain, Shimmer. I will start killing them until they decide to follow me. They might resist at first, but I can assure you they will fall in line." Callie said coldly, her face a mask of calm.
The two Tallax both tensed up, as they both realized yet again they were in the presence of a monster.
"And what if my crew does not want to follow you?" Shimmer asked.
Callie shrugged. "I don't care what they want, so long as they obey my orders. They can bitch and moan, but they will follow my orders or they will die horribly." Callie stated.
Shimmer sighed, "Alright, I will follow your commands. That is if you can convince the crew to follow you."Shimmer said dejectedly, bowing her helmeted head in deference.
Callie grinned and strode towards the two Tallax confidently. She paused next to vice captain Lenny, giving the brown furred Tallax a friendly smile. Lenny flinched but didn't move away, eying Callie wearily.
"Let us greet my new personnel. Lenny, would you open the airlock for us."Callie said. Lenny walked forwards, striding with his tail between his legs submissively. She turned to Shimmer, looking into Shimmers' slitted yellow eyes through her faceplate.
"So captain shimmer, which of the crew in front of us is the biggest troublemaker?" Callie asked. Shimmer gave Callie a questioning look. "That would be the human, Gervan. He is ambitious. If my guess is right, he will someday try to sway the crew to join him as captain."Shimmer said.
Callie turned slightly, keeping half of her attention on Shimmer and the other half on the approaching group of angry pirates. The airlock doors swung open, and an angry crew cautiously approached, their guns raised.
"Let's see how well your diplomacy works on the crew!" Shimmer said, giving Callie a cautious wolffish smile. That look was absolutely adorable on such a fluffy faced fox. Shimmers' white fur looked so soft, like the softest teddy bears.
Keeping her expression calm and dispassionate, Callie gave each of the ten pirates in front of her a glare so cold it could freeze a star. Their expressions ranged from outraged and baffled to some who were giving Callie looks of curiosity. They looked like a group of angry geese.
That thought made her smile, which caused some of the angry pirates to get even angrier.Amongst the group were four Tallax and six humans. Well, these were the remaining pirates. They hadn't even bothered to pick up their wounded in the mad rush to get back to the ship. Unfortunate, as some of them may die if they didn't get help soon.
She pushed that from her mind, focusing on the pirates in front of her. "Good evening crew, if you would please quit down I have something to say."Callie said jovially, as though they were long-time friends.
She backed up her polite request by conjuring a swirling ball of darkness in her left palm. The negative energy crackled menacingly for effect, of course. The pirates in front of her took a step back, their anger turning to fear.
Why wouldn't they be terrified? Each of them had seen their five dead, and the other five that were so badly injured they couldn't even walk by themselves.
From the crowd, one pirate stepped forward. He was either brave or stupid. "What do you want? You stuck up, wench!?" the man shouted, a scowl on his face.
"Wench? Did you get your insults from the renaissance era?" Callie asked, amused by the man's bluster.
The man scowled and faced his captain. "Captain, why haven't you killed this stuck-up bitch already?" The spindly man asked. Beside Callie, Shimmer growled menacingly. "Mind your tongue Gervan, I am the captain, and I give the orders. If you know what's best for you, you will shut up and listen to the new commander."Shimmer said, nodding to Callie.
Shimmers' deference to Callie only seemed to make Gerven more furious. He glanced back over his shoulder, turning to face the crew, exposing his side.
"Can you believe this? Are you all going to just stand there and let Shimmer give away our ship?!" Gervan asked, his tone deep and confident.
Callie smiled, well this was an interesting development. A mutiny, and she had front row seats to the show. Figurative seats. She was standing.
Callie gave each of the clearly nervous pirates a sweet smile. They were glancing from her, to captain Shimmer and back to Gervan, trying to decide which side to choose. She could just kill Gervan now and be done with it, but Callie was curious to see how many of the crew supported Shimmer.
"Let's make this extremely simple. All those who support Gervan and wish to die stay where you are. All those who support captain Shimmer and are willing to follow my commands take ten steps to the left. You have twenty seconds to decide." Callie said calmly.
Callie focused on the energy in her left hand and tasked the useless ball of energy to something besides looking menacing. The energy undulated and changed, weaving chaotically into fine strands of silvery energy.
Many of the pirates in front of her, who looked to be hesitating, noticed the terrifying swirling ball of energy expanding and moved away. Her display of power left only three pirates in front of her, including Gervan.
"Your time is up, but I'm a gracious commander. This is your last chance."Callie stated, giving the single Tallax behind Gervan a look. The relatively small Tallax flinched at her glare and moved to Callie's supporters, leaving only two enemies.
Gervan had a pained expression and raised his rifle defiantly. By the look of defiance on his face, he would not go down quietly. The air around Callie cracked with gunfire as Gervan depressed the trigger of his rifle. Crackling electricity deflected off her barrier, lighting up her smile like she was the villain in a terrible movie.
Unhurriedly, as though bullets couldn't harm her, Callie raised her left hand and tossed the ball of silver and black energy at the two mutineers. The energy separated opening like a flower in blossom. The net expanded, the hair thin lines of energy covering ten feet so neither of the two could dodge.
Silently the net closed, covering them like a birdcage, its weighted ends sticking to the floor plating.. The hair thin strands of energy ignored their bullets, and as everyone soon realized, it was not because it was harmless.
Realizing firing stun rounds at her was futile, Gervan swung his rifle like a bat at the closing cage around him. The hair thin strands of energy looked fragile, but they were razor sharp. The rifle passed through the net easily. Gervan's face went from angered to excited then to horrified as his rifle clatter to the deck plating in over two dozen neatly severed pieces of rare composites.
Callie's stomach clenched, and she felt sick. The net wasn't responding to her commands, and it was closing far slower than she intended. The execution was meant to be quick yet gruesome, to cement her as a person to be feared. What she got was something different.
Thirty seconds of stomach churning terror. She kept her face blank, dispassionate, but during the slow execution she wanted to throw up. Even for her, the scene was too much.
After thirty seconds, Gervan and his supporter lay in a pile of finger sized chunks. The net didn't slow, not even for a second, cutting through thick armour, muscle and bone easily until it was touching the floor plating.
All the crew, Shimmer included, were giving Callie a look of absolute terror. She looked Shimmer in the eyes. The Tallax shudder at her look, glancing away. Callie swallowed down bile. Maybe next time she shouldn't test a new technique on people?
"Commander, shall I task a bot with cleaning up that mess?" Shimmer asked, her growling cadence trembling.
"Yes, of course, captain," Callie said, with emphasis on the word captain. Shimmer straighten up slightly at Callie's hinting tone and the captain turned to her crew, pushing aside her momentary weakness.
Callie took deep, calming breaths, the stench of blood and other bodily fluids filling her nose. A bot the size of a cat came out of a small vent near the floor and began vacuuming up the mess. She didn't regret their deaths, but the needles torcher of the pirates was unnecessary.
They were criminals, and would be executed if caught, but they didn't deserve torcher. Maybe that was a naïve way of thinking, but Callie hated torcher, she hated it with every fibre of her being. Killing was often necessary, but she never wanted to stoop to the level of Villus.
She knew she was no saint, but she recognized that look of terror in the crew's eyes. It was the same look her classmates gave Villus during training.
"So what now? What would you like us to do, commander?" Shimmer asked hesitantly.
"What is the monetary cost this raid so far?" Callie asked, straight to business. Shimmer hesitated, glancing from the corpse smoothy to Callie. She was clearly wondering what kind of monster could so easily kill two people, then go to business so casually.
"Forty eight thousand lagnars."Shimmer said.
"And how much does a pallet of unrefined fuel sell for?" Callie asked. Shimmer's eyes glimmer with interest at that question..
"Each pallet is worth ten thousand lagnars to the right buyer. Our storage bays are mostly empty so we can fit about a hundred pallets."Shimmer said with a gleam in her bright yellow eyes. It filled the captain's eyes with greed.
"Captain, what do you think the owner of this cargo ship would do if we stole over one hundred pallets of unrefined fuel?" Callie asked. Weary of angering her new commander, Shimmer thought on that question for a moment.
"They would hire a warship to escort them in the future?" Shimmer reply hesitantly.
"Correct. Costs of a warship escort are high, but not as high as losing over half of their cargo. If you want to continue preying on lightly guarded cargo ships, then I suggest we only take fifteen pallets. That offers us a substantial profit, while also not costing the cargo ship company so much that they hire escorts in the future."Callie said confidently.
Shimmer gave Callie another appraising look. "You are planning for the long term?" Shimmer asked.
Callie smiled, "Well, if I'm going to be a pirate, then I'm going to do so in a manner that offers the most profit in the long term. Short-term gains are good, but if we play our cards right, we can make a lot more Lagnars in the future."Callie said thoughtfully.
Shimmer nodded her head. Callie turned to her new crew, giving them a warm smile. After witnessing her recent execution, they all flinched back." Ignore the crew of ship. Collect our five wounded and dead. Captain, do we have medical supplies aboard the ship?" Callie asked, ignoring their fear.
"Not much, commander. We only have basic medical supplies. Bandages, ointment, and some low-quality energy gel."Shimmer said, cautiously.
"Bring the wounded and all of our medical supplies to me. I will see to their wounds. " Callie order. The crew stood there like a mouse in the headlights, unsure of what to do. Captain Shimmer stepped forwards with a low growl, drawing everyone's attention.
"You heard the commander! Get your tails moving, we don't have all day!" Shimmer ordered, in a deep growl.
The crew turned around and rushed back into the cargo ship, clearly happy to get away from their new monstrous commander.