Chapter 64: Pirate Takedown

Chapter 64: Pirate Takedown

Location: Red Sun Alliance; Lotin System; VS Stargazer

There it is. Right before us. The pirate ship. It’s bigger than the Stargazer. About twice the size. Compared to the retrofitted Solano this pirate vessel looks like a real starship at least. What worries me, are the guns. They are all around the ship, almost identical to the Stargazer. I gulp. A few kilometers and we enter the red zone of the buoy. Then there is no turning back anymore. I glance around and see only determination. Looks like we’re going to do this.

“Okay guys, it’s time. Lucy shields up. Jack, contact them as soon as they react and demand their surrender. They won’t listen to this probably, so Maja, shoot a few lasers in their direction. We’ve got this! I’m taking the Cloak down once the shields are up.”

Lucy closes her eyes and concentrates. A bit later the small model of the Stargazer on my screen gains a bubble-shaped shield around it. I can’t see anything around the real ship. It’s completely translucent. A second layer of shield joins around the first a bit later. This time I can see a few ripples. It’s a tactic we came up with while approaching them. The flickering outer layer should make them think that our Mage is weak, and they waste all their power trying to punch through quickly, only to get stopped by the stronger layer beneath. Lucy is a Senior Mage after all. Additionally, there are our magnetic shields that are always active and Maja has activated the gravitic repulsion field that should deflect projectiles… In Theory.

“Shields are ready,” Lucy calls out.

I acknowledge her and give the command to the Magitech emitters around our hull to stop fueling the Cloaking spell. Then, just like that, the Stargazer reappears. The pirates’ reaction is almost immediate. Ten seconds later, they start to turn and a magical shield flares up, before becoming translucent. Jack wastes no second and hails them. Surprisingly, they pick up. Even with video. A middle-aged man appears on the main screen. He has short blonde hair and looks nothing like a pirate. He could just be your average salesman working nine to five. Blue eyes, a freshly shaven face, that would actually look quite friendly if it weren’t for the angry scowl on his face.

He doesn’t let Jack come to words and immediately snaps at us. “You have thirty seconds to surrender. Then we’ll destroy you! You made the wrong choice coming after us.”

I can’t help myself and step up next to Jack and smile into the camera. “Funny, I was about to tell you the same. I’ll give you ten seconds, Pirate!” I say the last word with so much hate, that the man visibly flinches. He quickly recovers and turns his head to the side.

“Screw this,” he mutters. “Destro…” The video cuts off and the pirate ship opens fire.

The lasers of course arrive first, quickly followed by railgun projectiles. Maja starts evasive maneuvers and everything that still manages to hit us gets easily repelled by Lucy’s outer layer of shields, even if they flicker a bit. Then she starts retaliating. For the first time outside of trying them out, our own weapons fire away. Thanks to Lucy’s one-way shielding, our shields stay active and the first payload from our weapons impacts on the pirates’ shields. They immediately start flickering as well.

All in all, the first exchange is pretty much getting a feel of each other. Now that we both tested the other’s shields, the battle begins in earnest. Volley after volley from the railguns are exchanged and the lasers only stop when they have to cool down.

Maja does her best to keep us out of their railgun fire and the lasers are tanked by Lucy’s outer shield layer. So far nothing has punched through. But I have the feeling that things are going to change soon.

“How are you holding up?” I ask no one in particular, hoping to get answers from everyone.

Maja still sounds pretty relaxed. “All good, I’ve been ahead of their targeting so far. 90 percent of their railgun fire misses us completely. I give ours about 60 percent accuracy currently.”

“Good, do you need more power? Jack or I could enhance the engines.”

She shakes her head. “No, there’s no need right now. Save the power.”

Lucy is the next to answer. “While their first volley hit us pretty much head-on and strained me a bit, I’m doing good currently. Maja is doing a superb job.”

“Alright, can we gauge their remaining shield strength? I feel like we aren’t going anywhere…”

Maja frowns and sends something to my console. It’s as I feared. Their shields hold as strong as ours. “Dammit… Keep going like this for a bit but reduce our fire a bit in let’s say two minutes. Lucy, if possible, start having the outer shield flicker a bit more in about a minute. Maybe we can provoke them to show their ace in the hole.”

The others acknowledge my orders, and the fight continues for about another minute. Then suddenly, my suspicions are confirmed. There is a much larger surge of magic, condensing around the pirate ship. “Look out!” I shout, right before a giant red blade of magic shoots out in our direction. Maja tries to dodge, but it is too fast. It hits us almost head-on and Lucy’s outer shield shatters immediately. She lets out a loud groan and even the stronger inner shield flickers dangerously.

There is an upside though. The pirates’ shield has suddenly gotten considerably weaker. I guess that their A&D Mage used a LOT of their power with that spell right now. They probably jumped right onto the bait we laid out.

Jack looks a bit concerned. “Everyone alright?” He asks and when we all nod, he continues. “Should I hail them again?”

Hmm, should we? Actually, why not? They probably think we want to surrender. The Captain’s face would be too funny when we uncloak our guns during the call and blast off their engines. What can I say? It’s nice knowing to be the stronger party and pirates just deserve it!

“Yes, do it, but wait till Maja has us aligned with their engines. Greg, are you ready with the guns? I want you to hit their rear once the Captain is on the call. Let’s see who is the one to surrender then.”

Jack immediately catches on and grins broadly. “Oh yes, nice idea, Sara. I’m going to record his face for the others!”

That even gets a laugh out of Greg, and he voices his readiness. Maja calls out twenty seconds later. “We’re almost lined up. You can make the call. I’ll finish this in the meantime.”

Jack changes like a flipped switch. The smile is wiped off his face and he puts on a frightened expression. He starts the call, and the pirate Captain reappears on the screen. His scowl is gone, and he now wears a big smirk.

“I see you finally came to reason,” he laughs. “I have to admit though, I didn’t expect you to survive that blast. Congratulations to your Mage. I promise them good treatment if they join me. Now, power down your engines and lower your shields. We’re coming aboard.”

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Jack continues to show his acting skills and opens his eyes widely. “Oh… Okay… I’ll lower them. Please don’t kill us!” He cries out and I almost believe him. Then his expression changes again and he looks almost predatory.

That’s my cue. I deactivate the cloak around the guns and signal Greg. He nods and powers them.

Jack meanwhile smirks right back at the pirate who looks very irritated after Jack’s shift of expression. “Well, I guess I send the offer of surrender right back at you. Here, have a little taste of our medicine.”

With perfect timing, our guns finished charging and Greg releases the shot. The expression of the pirate Captain is one I won’t forget anymore. It gets a special place in my head, right next to Orin’s face when I jumped away when the missile closed in. The smirk is washed away from the blonde man’s face and his eyes widen in terror. Shouts of “Armortec,” “Why?” and “How?” sound from the background around him. His crew is panicking as well!

Then the twin balls of magic hit their shields and punch right through. The next thing they hit is the exhaust port of the pirate vessel. It pretty much disintegrates and then there is a long moment of silence across the battlefield.

The pirate Captain swallows heavily on the video feed, and then his face hardens. “Screw this…” He starts, but one of the other pirates clubs him on the head, and he drops like a stone.

“We surrender,” the woman says.

The video cuts off, and the pirates lower their magnetic shield that came back online after our shot. Everyone on the Stargazer’s bridge cheers for a short moment. Then we realize that we are not done yet. “Do we have to take them prisoner?” Shay asks the unspoken question.

“I guess? Well, we could wait till someone comes to pick them up, but as we’ve seen before there aren’t any military ships in the system. But Jack, can you call the planet, just to be sure? Or contact Simon… They should have arrived with the freighter crew. Maybe he can find out something.”

Jack nods and concentrates on the Communication spell. This time he communicates silently and about five minutes later, he is back with us. “Okay, Simon said they just brought the crew to the hospital. He’s going to check in with System Security now and tell them about the pirates. I can get his answer in about an hour.”

Hmm, an hour. Can we leave the pirates alone for so long? We have to… There’s no way that I jump over with only Shay and Lucy, and we don’t have a shuttle currently. “Call the pirates again. Tell them to sit tight, we’ll contact them shortly with the further procedure. Oh, and if they try something we’ll aim our next shot center mass.”

“Gotcha,” Jack replies and starts to call the pirates. I turn to Shay and wave for her to follow me.

We walk toward Ronja’s Medbay, and it doesn’t take long till she asks me what’s going on. I tell her that I’ll explain once we’re with Ronja. So when we enter the room, both look at me expectantly. “We need to prepare in case we have to take the pirates aboard. I don’t want them awake… Especially their Mages. So Shay, I need you at your best. You’re our only Ranger. Ronja, work with Shay and get as much tranquilizer down to deck 01. We’re going to use the last empty storage room to keep them.”

“We should have kept some collars…” Shay mutters and I look at her with a strange expression. Those things are horrible! But she’s probably right as well. “But yeah, we can do this. I’ll call you when we are ready. Do you have a plan to get them aboard if it comes to this?”

I shrug. “Yeah, more or less… They should have a shuttle… So they can bring over their people. We do have to be ready in case they try something though. Maybe multiple flights with only a few people each. With Lucy’s shields and our laser guns, we should be able to take care of them. Maybe even teleport them over from the shuttle. We’ll see… Best is of course if someone from the military can take care of them.”

They both don’t have better ideas, so we finish preparing the storage room. When we return to the bridge almost an hour later, Jack has news. Unfortunately, it is as I feared. They don’t have someone to send out here in a reasonable time, which means we have to take charge… I mean we can’t leave them out here without engines on their ship. Well, they could teleport if they’ve got a strong enough Space Mage…

Suddenly I’ve got a very bad feeling. I didn’t account for their Space Mage!

“Jack, call them! I think they might have escaped.”

“Shit, of course. They also have a Space Mage probably. Hang on, I’m calling right now.”

The call connects, this time without video. I immediately notice the same female voice from earlier. “Good that you are back!” She sounds a bit panicky I have to say. “I’ve tried to call you, but I didn’t get into the console after the last call cut off. The captain and our Space Mage are the only ones who know the password… Luckily, I can accept incoming calls without access. You have to help us, please!”

Help them? What the heck? And the Captain isn’t the Space Mage… That’s good news at least, but where is the Space Mage? Jack is as confused as I am and starts to ask. “What’s wrong? Why would you need help? We’re about to take you prisoner.”

“Yeah, I know that…” she snarls. “But that asshole of a Space Mage grabbed most of our loot and teleported away with our A&D Mage! Combine that with a destroyed exhaust and locked down systems, we can’t power down, so we’re sitting here on a ticking time bomb.”

Dang it, I was right… Someone escaped. But what about the Captain? Can’t they wake him up to power down the reactor? He must see reason, right? It’s only a matter of time till it overheats and probably even explodes. But shouldn’t there be safety shutdowns? Hmm, they probably messed with their engines. I can’t think of another explanation. I nod at Jack. We have to save them.

“Okay, I understand,” he says, “but why don’t you wake up the Captain to get the password?”

The woman makes a weird sound. “Well, I’m no Doctor, but I think I might have killed him? He doesn’t move at all, and there is so much blood…”

Oh… That certainly makes getting the password impossible.

Jack thinks the same. “Do you have shuttles and escape pods? If yes, board them and we’re going to get you aboard. I’m sorry, but connecting the ships is too dangerous.”

“Okay…” Comes as an answer and the call cuts off. A few minutes later, the pirate ship starts spilling escape pods. They all turn around and start heading for the Stargazer. Lastly, the hangar bay door gets blown out and a small shuttle exits the pirate vessel.

“Maja, can you hack the controls of the pods?”

“Yes, give me a minute. I’ll let the shuttle here first. Now go and welcome them in the hangar bay!”

Lucy, Jack, and Shay join me. Ronja is already downstairs, waiting with the tranquilizers. We enter the hangar bay, the hatch is already open and ten minutes later, the shuttle enters slowly and sets down.

“Lucy, shields. I bet my cabin that they try something. Shay and Jack keep your guns in the stun setting,” I gulp, “but be ready to switch to lethal… Just in case.”

They nod their acknowledgment, and a shield separates us from the entrance of the shuttle. The door opens and five pirates immediately open fire. Lucy’s shield shrugs off everything, of course, and I grin at the others. “Told ya, now take them down.”

I lift my laser pistol and let loose a few blue stun bolts. The pirates fall one after the other and before long, they lay all on the shuttle ramp, unconscious. One of them is a quite pretty female with long dark hair. It’s the one who was on the call. We haul them to the cargo room and Ronja doses everyone with the tranquilizer and we bind their hands and feet.

The process repeats itself with most of the escape pods, but there are a few outliers who come out with their hands in the air and don’t resist.

Suddenly when we have processed almost three-quarters of the escape pods, Maja’s voice drones through the whole ship. “Sara, to the bridge, now!”

I don’t hesitate a second and teleport there. Greg sits at a console with a white face, and Maja paces back and forth. Lydia even shivers a bit while standing to the side. “What’s wrong?”

“The pirate Captain survived,” Maja starts, “He just readied a missile!”

Shit, shit, SHIT! Missiles are like the strongest weapons there are. I saw what a single one did with the Solano. “Can we get away?” I ask with a bit of panic in my voice as well.

“No, it’s too late. Lucy might be able to shield the blast, but I’m not sure.”

Dammit, that’s too big a risk. I take a deep breath, making my decision. Sometimes you don’t have another choice…

“Greg, please power up the guns.”

He gulps. “I… I don’t think I can do this.”

I walk over to him and put an arm on his shoulder. “I know, I just need you to power them. I’ll press the button.”

He nods slowly and puts his hand on the connector orb, then his magic flares up and the connection is formed. The guns are connected!

I dial in the crosshairs at center mass of the pirate ship and with another deep breath, I push the firing button. The fully powered blast of twin orbs shoots out and heads for the ship. Seconds later they hit it and there is a titanic explosion. That must have been the primed missile. When everything clears again, the pirate ship is just gone. Luckily, we were far enough away, and our magnetic shields held back the debris.

The same can’t be said for the three remaining escape pods. Two are cut in half and the third is just gone as well. I slump down in a nearby grav chair. Shit… I killed them.

Lydia hugs me from behind. “You saved us. Thank you, Sara.”

“But, but the escape pods…” A single tear streaks down my cheek and Lydia wipes it away.

“In the end, they were pirates as well. They made their choice way earlier. Remember, you saved us! I don’t want to think what would have happened if you didn’t act.”

She shivers, and Maja and Greg join in for a group hug. I’m still shaken, but this makes me feel a bit better.