Chapter 47 - Chapter 47

---3rd Person POV, Helios Alpha's Bridge---

Standing by his Communication Station, Captain Philip Gibson listened closely as his radio operator repeatedly sent out their distress signal. Regretting his decision to take a less traveled route to avoid a situation like this, this remote route might cost everyone onboard their lives. On the edge of explored space, the chances of anyone being able to assist them was slim and everyone on the bridge knew that. Hearing his fear-stricken patrons screaming in fear down in the passenger cabin, he decided to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

"First Mate Vargast, go down to the Security Room and bring up all the spare weapons and armor we have. Hand them out to every able-bodied person in the passenger cabin.", Captain Gibson ordered, with a grim expression.

"Sir, none of them probably know how to fight, they are civilian women and children.", First Mate Vargast argued, "They could blow a hole in the side of our ship and kill all of us!"

"Vargast, we have a security team of only thirty men. When they board this ship, and it seems like they will soon, our men will be overwhelmed by the Black Legion and pirates. Every additional person we can add to our fighting force helps us tip the balance to our favor, even if it is only a little bit.", Captain Gibson refuted, "Now go get the weapons, and distribute them like I ordered you too. We do not have time to waste arguing this."

Understanding his captain's thinking now, the first mate saluted him and promptly left to fetch the weapons. Turning his gaze toward his console, their shield power now read just nineteen percent. At the current rate of depletion, he estimated they had only two or three minutes before the shields were gone. Deciding to make his stand at the shuttle dock doors, the captain was about to make his way there when responses to their radio calls came through.

"This is the USS Triton; we have received your distress signal. We are preparing to jump to your location, ETA is fifteen minutes.", the Triton responded.

"We have received your distress call; the Daedalus is headed your way now. ETA thirteen minutes.", the Daedalus answered.

"This is the Commander of Sirius Mercenary Group; we are nearby and heading to your location. We expect to arrive in twenty minutes.", the Sirius Commander remarked.

Relieved that help was on the way, that relief quickly vanished as he remembered they had only minutes left now. By the time help arrived, his ship would be picked clean, and everyone onboard would be dead, spirited away by the pirates to be sold on the open market, or handed over to the Black Legion for slave labor. Grabbing the microphone from the radio operator, the captain began broadcasting his own message.

"If anyone else is hearing this broadcast, we need emergency support. We are minutes away from- ", he began to say.

Before he could say more, a powerful explosion rocked the ship causing the power to flicker all over the ship. Uncertain what caused the explosion, as it was significantly bigger than anything prior, the ship's automated system began blaring warnings.

"Captain, we have major issues down here. One of our thruster engines exploded, there is a large breach in the stern of the ship!", the Chief of Engineering reported, "We are trying to seal off the compartment, but the beating we have been taking has jammed the doors open."

"I am sorry to compound the problems, Captain, but we have five shuttles inbound. Our equipment is showing twenty men in each one.", the security chief reported.

Hearing the news, the captain ordered all the crew to grab their weapons and prepare to fight. Watching his team members rush to the shuttle doors, Captain Gibson sent out one final plea for help.

"This is Captain Philip Gibson of the Helios Alpha. We are under attack by a large space pirate fleet and a band of Black Legion space marines. Our shielding has been taken out and we are moments away from being boarded. If anyone is in the vicinity, please help us. I have five hundred souls onboard, mostly refugee women and children.", the captain said, knowing those who had responded moments ago had already jumped to warp.

Hanging up the microphone, the captain pulled his plasma pistol off his hip and ensured it was fully charged. Turning to leave and join his crew, an unexpected alert began sounding across the ship.

'A Spatial Distortion? We are hundreds of light years away from any black holes or wormholes.', the captain thought, rushing to his console to pull up the portside video feed.

"This is the Star Battleship Yamato, we are enroute to help. Please standby.", the Yamato reported.

Watching a large wormhole appear behind the enemy fleet, several vessels close to it exploded due to the monumental forces being exerted on them. Sailing out of the dark abyss, a gigantic dreadnaught-class starship began to appear with an unfamiliar emblem emblazoned on the bow. Opening fire the moment her weapons came through, the enemy vessels immediately began to scatter. Obliterating them one after the other, the captain was left dumbfounded by what he was seeing. He had been a spacefarer since he was young boy and not once had he seen so much firepower attached to one ship, and only half of the vessel had come through at this point.

"CAPTAIN!!", the first mate shouted, over the PA, "Are you seeing this?! What is a Dreadnaught-Class ship doing out here in the middle of nowhere!?"

"I…I do not know, but I am not going to complain about it!", he replied, as tears of relief began welling up in his eyes.

"We got the Engine Room compartment sealed off.", the chief of engineering announced, "Heading to the shuttle doors now!"

Running back to the radio, the captain picked up the microphone and began talking to the allied ship.

"Are you the ones coming out of the wormhole, Yamato?", the captain inquired.

"Yes, that is us.", a different voice replied, "Several of my men and I are preparing to intercept your unwelcome guests. Please keep your men away from the shuttle doors, my soldiers have orders to treat everyone inside that immediate area as hostile."

Communicating this information to his crew, his men immediately retreated to the cargo hold sealing every bulkhead door on the way there. Rushing downstairs to join them, by the time he reached them, they had erected several barriers and set up two heavy laser machine guns. Noticing that a few young boys from among the passengers were with them, each of them held their oversized gun with a death grip.

"Captain, we have done all we can to prepare for them.", the security chief said, "Do our saviors know we are being boarded?"

"Yes, they are sending a team over to deal with them.", the captain responded, with a nod.

"Well I hope they show up soon, our guests are about to cut through the docking doors.", the chief of engineering stated, watching the area through the camera system.

Kicking the doors in, once enough material was removed, the pirates and space marines poured onto the ship. Just as their sensors had indicated, there were twenty men in their boarding party, twelve pirates and eight Black Legion space marines. Sweeping the area for the ship's crew, the boarding party became agitated that all the exits were sealed off.

"Son of a bitch, they are stalling us!!", one of the pirates spat, flipping the bulkheads the middle finger.

"We need to hurry and seize control of the ship. Our only chance of walking away is to take hostages.", another man spoke up, "Get to it!"

Bringing their plasma cutters to the front, the pirates began cutting into the first bulkhead door. Barely getting to work on it, a brilliant flash of light engulfed the room, blinding everyone for a few moments. As their eyes readjusted, the boarding party noticed they were no longer alone. Standing behind them was a group of seven men, six that were equal in height and size to the space marines and a smaller man that stood about six foot six inches.

Before any of them could utter a word, the six larger men raised their enormous rifles and began unloading on them. Obliterating the unarmored pirates in seconds, the space marine's armor quickly began to take heavy damage under the force of the blasts. Charging forward without any regard for their lives, they went for the smaller man assuming he was their leader. Lifting his hands in response to their challenge, the marine's armor began to creak and crumple around them. Closing his fists, five of the marines violently exploded into a bloody mess.

"Is this the full extent of the Black Legion's might? I am disappointed!", Victor mocked them, "You should have stayed in the Eye of Terror. Today I will be your judge, jury, and executioner!"

Stopping their bombardment, so Victor could handle the three remaining marines, Victor stepped forward while covering his fists in dense gamma energy. Slamming his fist into the nearest marine, his upper body violently exploded into a red mist. Blasting the last two marines with gamma energy, both were sent flying into the bulkhead leaving an indenture of their bodies in it.

Pulling themselves back up, they retrieved their former employer's weapons and began firing on Victor. Using his armor's shielding to vaporize all the projectiles, Victor continued to walk calmly toward them. Continuing to fire till their magazines ran out of bullets, the two marines threw rifles away and drew their Chainswords.

"Death to the enemies of Chaos!!", they roared, before barreling toward Victor, "In death, we will be reborn!!"

Ripping the grenades off their waists, the marines activated them fully ready to commit suicide and take Victor out with them. Taking his blue and red lightsabers off his waist, Victor flicked them on and flung them at the marines. Using the force to make them spin rapidly, the lightsabers sliced the marine's legs off. Falling to the ground, they flung their grenades at Victor who made no attempt to knock them away and instead caught them.

"Death has come for you!!", the marine shouted with glee as the grenades detonated.

Believing they had taken him out, their celebration ended abruptly when Victor began laughing.

"As I expected, your armor and weapons are subpar at best. Did you actually think that toy was going to harm me?", Victor laughed, walking out of the dust cloud.

Pulling his lightsabers back to him, Victor turned them off and hooked them back onto his waist. Walking up to the stunned marines, he bent down and grabbed their helmets.

"Tell your Chaos Master's to stay out of my way, or I will mount their heads over my mantle. Be it deity or man, no one will interfere with my goals.", Victor told them, before crushing their helmets and skulls like a watermelon.

Standing back up, Victor collected the bodies and equipment to research later. Turning his attention to the camera, he gave the crew on the other side an affirmative nod.

"Captain, your unwelcome guests have been dealt with accordingly. We will be on standby till the Daedalus and Triton arrive. Do you have any crew members or passengers in need of medical attention?", Victor inquired, assuming their PA system had a connection to this room.

"Yes, we do have several people in need of medical assistance. Please wait a moment, I will come let you in.", the captain said.

Sending his Heavy Troopers back to Yamato, a medical team took their place. Bringing over all the necessary equipment they needed, we waited patiently for the crew to let us in so we could assist them further.