Back on the Appalachia, Hendricks and ANDI were guarding the airlock when an alarm suddenly started going off. Hendricks went to the cockpit to see what was going on, and noticed the sensors indicated there was another ship in their vicinity.


    He couldn’t see anything outside the cockpit window, but he heard the same message coming in that the rest of the crew of the Appalachia heard. "This is Captain Lich of the AGIS Gomorrah. Surrender, or we''ll blow your ship away, and all of you into the void with it."


    “How’d they know our location? Our signal is still being jammed.” Hendricks was shocked. He detached the Appalachia, and maneuvered it around the Baron to get a look at the Gomorrah.


    It was massive. The Gomorrah was a dreadnaught class starship that was several miles in length, and over ten times larger than the Baron. It prominently displayed the usual blue and yellow colors of AGI, along with the more rectangular hull common among human ships.


    Back in the engine room, Rebecca and all the recently released slaves all threw their hands up and cheered. It happened right on time too, since several pirates were about to converge on the engine room in an attempt to retake it.


    As for the crew of the Appalachia and Raging Crimson, the pirate captain found himself in a tight spot. He initially had no interest in surrendering, but the rest of his troops had already put their weapons down and had their hands behind their heads. The helmsman of the Baron had confirmed that the Gomorrah in all of its might was right above their heads with their main guns ready to fire.


    With all of this going on, Raging Crimson stood down and ordered his crew to do the same if they weren''t already. He pointed at the door, then got onto his knees and put his hands behind his head. “Go ahead and leave. You win."


    Captain Starforged, Rodriguez, and Morgan took the opportunity to leave, but Captain Starforged looked at Raging Crimson before exiting the mess hall. He wanted to get a good look at his face because he knew if he ever saw him again, one of them wouldn''t be coming back alive. There was a part of Captain Starforged that knew it would be less trouble to kill him right now, but he was aware of the pirates’ capabilities. Raging Crimson could easily pin him against the wall, and choke him before he could draw his pistol.


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    Captain Starforged walked out the door he heard a voice in his head say, "Wait!"


    When Captain Starforged turned around, he saw the revolver that Raging Crimson kept on his hip floating toward him, and the old pirate captain had gotten up to face him. "They''ll take this away from me anyways. Let that be a trophy showing that you defeated the great pirate Captain Raging Crimson. And a reminder that if we ever cross paths again, I''ll kill you."


    Captain Starforged took the revolver as it was hovering mid-air in front of him, and pointed it at the captain. His entire body immediately froze, and he could feel the force of the pirates’ psionic powers covering him. Despite the fact that he pointed the gun at the pirate, his finger was off the trigger, so Raging Crimson released him from his grasp.


    "Then you better hope I don''t see you first." Captain Starforged grinned, and tucked the revolver away in his coat.


    With that Captain Starforged, Rodriguez, and Morgan all left for the Appalachia.


    ***


    To the crew’s surprise, Rebecca arrived back on the Appalachia shortly after them with Bar-moon in tow.


    Captain Starforged felt relieved when he saw that Rebecca was okay, but he was also a little curious about the stranger Rebecca had with her. "Now I''ve got two questions for you, and I expect you to answer them. Who is this? And what were you thinking?"


    Rebecca looked back at Bar-moon and began to explain the situation in detail. "Well, this is Bar-moon. He''s a former slave that I freed. He helped me sabotage the ship, and send out a distress signal which brought the Gomorrah here."


    "Wait, so you''re saying you two send out a distress signal to AGI, and they responded?" Captain Starforged was surprised, but he couldn’t think of any other ways that AGI would’ve known where they were. "That''s how they ended up here. Because you recklessly went off on a hostile pirate ship after somehow escaping, and were able to send a distress signal. That''s how all of this happened?"


    Rebecca had a big grin on her face. "Yes, that''s correct."


    "Well, I don''t know whether to be furious that you escaped and were being so reckless, or thankful that your actions helped us in the end, but good job kid."


    "Does this mean I can become a member of your crew?" Rebecca asked, expecting him to agree without a second thought.


    "We''ll talk about that later. Before that, we have to report to Captain Lich. Our payment’s waiting."


    Everyone piled into the cockpit, and Morgan punched Hendricks in the arm before she sat down. "My mech better be in one piece."


    Hendricks rubbed the spot on his arm that she punched and said, “Don’t worry it''s fine."


    "I still can''t believe that Hendricks actually did something during the fight besides hide away in the bathroom." Blackbird said, causing the entire crew besides Hendricks and ANDI to laugh.