After seeing the alternative coloration of the light cruiser which approached the Appalachia, Rebecca determined that that must be the ship of the pirates Tranquil Blue had sent after them. A few moments later the crew returned to the cockpit only to see the same ship.


    Hendricks was the first to point out that this was likely the pirate ship they were expecting. "Well Captain it looks like our guests showed up."


    The crew took their seats, and Captain Starforged began giving orders. "Contact AGI and let them know our location. We''ve got these guys now."


    The same panel that had the star map popped out as Hendricks tried establishing communications with their contact in AGI. However, the signal wasn''t able to get through despite all of his attempts. "Captain we have a problem. I think they''re jamming us."


    "What? I thought this kind of com couldn''t be jammed."


    "Correction, it can''t be jammed by the standard jammers that come on ships outfitted for military service. They must have something stronger."


    "We''ll crap. There go all of our plans." Captain Starforged rested his chin on the palm of his hand while thinking about how to respond to this new development. "Well, no problem. Raise the white flag Hendricks; the rest of you prepare for boarding."


    The rest of the crew got up, and filed out of the cockpit into the central room with the ladder to the turret.


    ANDI was about to leave the cockpit as well when Captain Starforged placed his hand on its shoulder. "Except for you ANDI. I''ll need you to protect the ship, and watch the girl. Make sure she doesn''t get off the ship."


    Upon receiving those orders ANDI went back to standing by and staring at Rebecca to make sure she didn''t move.


    "Oh great! They fight pirates and I sit here cuffed to a chair while talking to a robot", Rebecca said, not hiding her disappointment.


    Hendricks flipped a switch that sent out a signal to inform the enemy ship that they were surrendering. Henricks then clicked his tongue at Rebecca’s complaint. "Hey, I''m stuck here too."


    Rebecca once again realized what a crappy situation she was in and did nothing but sigh in response to Hendricks''s comment.


    The rest of the crew were in the center room between the cockpit and the living quarters. Captain Starforged opened up a small panel on the wall next to the door to the living quarters and input a code into the keypad. The wall flipped to reveal shelves with several weapons on them.


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    Rodriguez already had his own weapon on him; the assault rifle he had earlier when they were on the surface of Sortis, but Morgan and Captain Starforged needed a change in their arsenals if they were going to be raiding another ship. Captain Starforged picked up what looked like a tommy gun and a couple of strange spheres the size of a hand grenade that looked like they had several holes all around them which he stuffed into his coat pocket. Morgan grabbed a couple of pistols off of the wall. Once they had their weapons, Captain Starforged hit another button on the panel, and the wall returned to normal.


    Captain Starforged was filled with determination as he headed to the door leading to the airlock, and looked at Rodriguez and Morgan. "Alright is everybody ready?"


    Rodriguez and Morgan both looked at each other and nodded, then looked at the captain.


    Rodriguez stood with his back against the wall to the left of the airlock door with his assault rifle in hand, ready to fire. "We''re all set."


    Captain Starforged pressed a button on a panel next to the door to open the first door to the airlock, and patiently waited for the fighting to begin.


    Meanwhile, the enemy light cruiser swung around to the side of the Appalachia, and Henricks was able to see the name of the ship. It was the UFS Baron, which was an older ship from before the formation of the Earth Galactic Federation. It had likely been decommissioned and fell into the hands of pirates at some point. This happened a lot to smaller military vessels. They''d usually get stolen, or go missing, and would be salvaged and restored, then sold off to various different groups like these pirates. Sometime the salvagers themselves would get it into their heads that they could make a ton of money by turning to piracy as well.


    Either way, seeing old military vessels wasn''t terrible uncommon, but it did put the Appalachia at a major disadvantage since it didn''t have the fire power to take a ship of this caliber down with just a turret. Their best bet would be to ambush the pirates as they boarded the Appalachia, infiltrate their ship, and find a way to disable the jammer so they could call their contact in AGI for backup.


    They could hear the clicking sound of the two ships docking, and the sound of a door on the other side opened. Captain Starforged and Rodriguez pointed the barrels of their guns at the airlock door, and after a few seconds three red Kelafi walked through the door.


    Pew, pew, pew! Lasers fired from Captain Starforged and Rodriguez’s weapons, and the first wave of pirates fell with just a few shots. Although Captain Starforged’s gun looked like a tommy gun from the 1920''s, it was a fully functional laser gun.


    At this point in time guns that used bullets were essentially relics and no longer produced, but it was common for weapons manufacturers to model the appearance of laser guns as guns from the 20th and 21st centuries. Given the captains fascination with 20th century culture most of his weapons were modeled after the weapons from that century.


    Even with the first wave taken down it wasn''t long before the next wave appeared, but this time instead of walking through the door they took cover on either side of the doorway onto their ships just like the captain and his crew were.


    This is where those spheres that Captain Starforged picked up earlier came in handy. He pulled one out from his coat pocket, and chucked it across the hallway connecting the two ships while Rodriguez laid down cover fire. With one click of a button on Captain Starforged’s wristwatch the sphere suddenly fired lasers in every direction incinerating the enemy.


    Once Captain Starforged and Rodriguez confirmed it was clear, Harpy proceeded down the hallway. She didn''t see any enemies in the hallways when she stepped into the light cruiser, and signaled the others to come onboard.