Not long out of the wormhole, the fireworks began as I watched leisurely from the window of the Penal Colony Transport.
A few dots, barely seen in the distance, fired long distance beams. The rescue band wagon of space pirates came on the wrong timing.
The bright blue light trail from a high-yield plasma disruptor torpedo flashed past, heading straight for a Crusade Class escort.
A bright yellow light burst when it hit the escort, setting off a series of detonating fire works across its colossal hull.
Blocked by the rest in proximity, the escort ships couldn't move away fast enough, narrowly missing our transport ship by a close distance.
Five in one hit.
I just imagined the ruckus in the exploding ship and the booming noise effect.
Sound doesn't travel in the vacuum of space unless a vast amount of air is released to create the waves.
First rule of space battles: never let colossal ships huddle together to form a huge bullseye.
Shooting down five large ships which failed to distance from each other is like taking candy from a baby.
From a safe distance, with an amplified view on the window, I spotted large chunks of ignited debris flying from the first exploding ship into the others, setting off a mass explosive chain reaction.
One huge blinding ball of light enveloped the fleet of five Crusade Class battleships and their fighters shattering them into smithereens, like an exploding star.
Ripples of shockwaves through space rocked our transport ship violently, even from a safe distance.
The space pirates idiots couldn't even time the attacks right. What can go wrong will go very wrong.
[Secured Transmission Arabaki: Long time no see]
I grabbed hold of the seat handle and steadied myself at the sudden message running through my neural system.
My war cruiser should be nearby, but how did Aragaki figure out where I am?
I didn't have enough time to take apart the panel for the droids to wander into the system. That was part of the plan. Well, Plan A anyways.
No thanks to the space pirates' mistimed attacks. Not my problem. The transport ship moved out of control, veering from side by side.
It won't be long until another group of Council armed escorts come to the rescue.
[Secured Transmission Arabaki: War cruiser latched under the container]
My optical implants immediately identified the location: a floor below in the main hall. Right. The flooring wasn't all made from astronium.
The droid swarm can easily eat away the vulnerable spots and link the war cruiser's airlock docking port to the transport. Arabaki had thought of the idea before I did.
Arabaki started transmitting a series of instructions. Still, the first step is to get down to the hall.
Gravity ran throughout the ship, but with the severe rocking, getting down will be a problem.
I took a deep breath and dashed for the entrance. One rock to the left threw me onto the mesh. One grab and another rock to the right almost made me fall back into the side of the cubicle.
Mustering my breath, I shouted, "GET DOWN TO THE HALL NOW!"
Fortunately, most of the prisoners are on the first floor, sliding from side to side from the rocking motion.
Some Perunians struggled onto the mesh like I did, and all of us gingerly made our way through the stairway with our fingers latching onto the mesh.
"WHAT'S THE PLAN?" Garan yelled at Zhiva, who struggled to hold on the replicator side of the hall.
"THE OTHERS ARE COMING!"
[Secured Transmission Arabaki: Make it quick because a battle fortress has appeared to engage the other ships]
[Secured Transmission Genja: The others are coming with us]
[Secured Transmission Arabaki: Force-fields engaged in the pilot deck]
Ah, the sweet old standard precautions of isolating the pilot deck from non-Kamuy. The force-fields only allowed Kamuy to pass through.
"THERE'S SOMETHING REDDISH AROUND THE FLOOR!" Trey yelled.
"MY PLAN B!" I shouted back as I made it down into the hall. My eyes fell on the reddish circle.
Everyone looked at me.
"MY WAR CRUISER IS HERE!"
Garan blinked in disbelief.
"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN, JUST JUMP IN ONCE IT OPENS!"
Zhiva never uttered a word, but crawled to the front. "YOU SURE IT will not SUCK US OUT INTO SPACE?"
"YES!"
Actually, I wasn't sure, but doubt is the last thing I needed in this lot.
Any hesitation will create a far bigger chaos. Bigger chaos meant bigger delay.
Many questions on how Arabaki found me ran through my head, but getting off the transport cruiser is the main priority.
Just jump in and take a chance. Arabaki won't blow me out into space. Well, not yet.
*CLUNK*
The round metal plate fell off. No vacuum suction to my relief.
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE THOSE CRAWLERS?" Zhiva hollered as he stared at the droid swarm, chewing through like a bad sea of insect infestation.
I ignored him and took the chance to run to the hole. Before the transport ship rocked again, I jumped into the familiar sight of my war cruiser.
"Welcome back," Arabaki's voice called out around me. "The reinforcements are coming soon. Detected a few signals around, closing in."
*CLUNK*
I felt a sweep of air.
"So this is a Kamuy war cruiser?" Zhiva asked from behind as the sound of a few more Perunians jumped in.
"Yeah, just go to the back," I said. "The force-fields around the pilot deck will zap the rest of you if you try to enter."
"Damn, it's a fucking museum piece."
"What THE FUCK, THE METAL PIECE IS CRAWLING!" Trey shouted as he jumped back.
"SHUT UP," Arabaki's voice echoed around. "IT'S ME!"
"Holy fuck, a living ship," Trey continued as I made my way to the pilot deck.
"Um. I don't think it's a living ship. Just maybe those nanobots things…," Garan replied.
"You got yourself a bunch of retards," Arabaki said.
I ignored Arabaki's remark as I grabbed onto the pilot seat.
"HEAD COUNT : ALL IN," Garan's voice echoed from the corridor.
[Airlock latch secured]
[Pressurisation 100%]
[Dislodging from Transport Ship]