What Rebecca and Bar-moon saw next completely surprised them. One of the slaves was holding a rifle and had just shot the pirate holding Ti-bar hostage.


    The first slave was a Gida named Mons. Just like any other Gida, he looked like a cross between a human and a goat, except he didn''t have any fur, or hair. He had rough tan skin, and black goat horns that curved toward his back. Mons had red eyes, and stood about seven feet tall which was average for a Gida. He held a rifle that was presumably from a dead pirate, and had a collar just like all the other slaves.


    There was another male human slave with no hair on his head or face. His skin was pale, and he looked malnourished. His eyes were a hazy blue color, and reeked of oil and sweat.


    Rebecca sealed the door to the engineering room, and gathered up all the slaves to see what had happened. “Okay, so can someone explain what led you to revolt?”


    Mons walked to the front of the group along with the human who stood by his side earlier. Mons then placed his hand on the human’s arm. “Bellamy here heard the commotion upstairs and in an act of desperation to escape hit the last remaining guard with a wrench until they died, took their pistol, and slowly made his way up the stairs. I picked up the rifle, went up the other set of stairs, and fired once I had a clear shot”.


    With the full story laid out in front of her, Rebecca freed all of them from their collars, and distributed the firearms from the dead pirates to whomever was willing to fight.


    ***


    Back on the Appalachia, Hendricks and ANDI waited in the central room unsure of what was going on with the rest of the crew, or the pirates.


    Hendricks was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed getting anxious. “Does anyone copy? What your status?”


    Morgan responded to his call over the comm. “We’re currently pinned down in the common area. I’ll update you once we get out of this mess.”


    “Copy that.” Hendricks began pacing back and forth unsure of what to do. Thoughts of leaving plagued his mind, but he couldn''t abandon the others if they were still alive. He thought about making a direct attack on the ship, but they only had a turret and would easily get torn apart by the Baron''s missile batteries. Then an idea popped into his head. "ANDI I need you to stay here."


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Hendricks got into the cockpit of Charlotte again, and launched into space. Charlotte''s thrusters allowed it to quickly maneuver in space, so he planned to attack the ship’s missile batteries. However, he avoided getting too close to the turrets which could easily tear Charlotte.


    Hendricks contacted the rest of the crew on an open frequency as he left the cargo bay. "Charlotte and I are going to buy you guys a little more time."


    "You better not break my mech." Morgan responded, furious that he took her mech out without asking.


    "Don''t worry I''ll be gentle with her." He said, confidently thinking he was going to be some kind of hero. "We''re going to take a little space walk, and wipe out a few missile batteries."


    As Charlotte touched down on the hull the Baron, Hendricks smirked when he saw a quad-barreled turret right in front of him. "And maybe a few turrets too while I''m at it."


    Pew, pew! It only took a couple of shots from Charlotte''s rifle to destroy the turret. Hendricks then flew along the hull of the Baron to other missile batteries and turrets.


    “I guess no one is manning the turrets. This’ll be easier than I thought.” Hendricks focused his attention on the turrets first so he could destroy as many as possible before the pirates figured out what was going on. "It''s probably due to the others keeping the pirates so busy. This should be easy pickings then."


    For the most part he was correct. Only a few of the ship’s guns were being operated, but unfortunately for Hendricks, a few turrets started firing upon them.


    ***


    Back when Hendricks started breaking open the side of the, the captain of the former UFS Baron, Captain Raging Crimson, received an alert from one of his crew about the incident. Raging Crimson theorized that the crew of the Appalachia was using either a mech, or some kind of fighter, so he sent a few men to man the turrets in case they tried something.


    He didn''t send anyone to man the turrets closest to the Appalachia however, because he was hoping that the pilot would get reckless seeing that they were unmanned. This would give the pirates the opportunity to catch the pilot off guard. However, Hendricks was a skilled pilot.


    Hendricks came across one that was being manned, but thankfully he noticed it just in time to take evasive maneuvers. He destroyed it just in time before it could lock on to Charlotte, but a shot from the turret skid the surface of the armor.


    “Ah, crap.” Hendricks decided that it was now too risky, and returned to the Appalachia just before Raging Crimson ordered more men to man the turrets.


    This incident convinced Raging Crimson himself to get involved in the fight. “These mercenaries, I will make them regret standing up to the Crimson Tide.”