《Starforged: Our Journey Across The Galaxy》


 Prologue

    Our story begins in the year 2845 with a communication signal being intercepted by a small shuttle parked in docking bay 74 on the Amador Intergalactic Space Station orbiting astral body 69, Planet Name, Sortis (a.k.a Space Vegas).


    Sortis was a small desert planet about the size of the continents of North America that was on the edge of an asteroid belt, and had three rings plus one moon surrounding it. It was owned by a corporate conglomerate called Amador Galaxy Incorporated who owned all of the land on a planet known as Sortis.


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    The communication signal that was intercepted came from one of the crew members of the Appalachia, codenamed Owl.


    The message was as follows. ¡°Appalachia, Appalachia please respond. This is Owl. Do you copy?¡±


    Owl¡¯s message went unanswered.


    ¡°Appalachia do you copy? Hendricks answer the com, we need evac now! Hendricks!¡±


    Owl¡¯s message continued to remain unanswered.


    ¡°Oh, that idiot. I¡¯m going to kill him!"

 Foot Patrol

    On the surface of the planet Sortis, Owl was running through the streets of the Capital city called Neo Vega. Owl was 6 feet tall with slightly tanned skin, brown eyes, short brown hair, and wore a black trench coat over a white button up with black slacks and suspenders with a black fedora on his head. He was carrying a large metallic briefcase in his left hand, and a black laser pistol in his right.


    ¡°Oh crap! Oh crap! Oh crap!" Owl said under his breath while being pursued by Amador Galaxy Incorporated security androids.


    These security androids were about the same size as humans, but their limbs looked like blocky rectangles connected to each other by small round joints. Even their heads and torso were just bigger, tan colored blocks just like their limbs, and they had a single camera lens on each side of their head that they could use for seeing. They were shooting at him with stun rifles while yelling "Halt! Unauthorized personnel, you have stolen AGI''s personal property. Return it at once, or we will detain you!"


    "Not a chance AGI bucket heads.¡± Owl turned around to shoot one of them right through the camera lens. He continued running from the androids, and went around the next corner. He put his back against the wall, and shot another android as it followed behind him.


    The android¡¯s head bounced a couple times and landed in front of a few people who were walking on the sidewalk, causing them to scream.


    "Don''t worry everyone this is just a corporate security exercise No need to worry.¡± Owl didn¡¯t want people to draw attention to him, but his attempts to calm them down failed. Everyone ran away as he just stood there shrugging his shoulders. "Well, can''t blame them for that."


    Owl pulled back his left sleeve to reveal a silver wristwatch with several buttons on it. When he hit the furthest from the left he began speaking into it. "Blackbird this is Owl; I can''t reach the Appalachia on coms. I''ll need an alternative extraction route."


    A male voice came from the com. "Copy that Owl, Harpy and I are on our way."


    After that brief exchange, Owl ran down the street to rendezvous with his associates.


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    ***


    Elsewhere on the planet, two humans were parked in the middle of a desert just outside of the city Owl was running amok in.


    One of them was a large male standing at about 6 feet with no hair, a full black beard, tan skin, and brown eyes was leaning against a giant mech. He had a small scar under his left eye and the aura of a veteran soldier. The man wore navy blue armor with neon blue lines going down the arms legs, and his abdomen, and had a helmet with the same color and design at his feet. There was what looked like a small computer built into the left arm of his suite which projected a virtual display of Owl as he ran through the streets while speaking to him.


    This man was leaning against a mech stood about 30 feet tall with a humanoid build. It was an off-white color with red stripes on its limbs, head, and torso. It had a large rifle on its back with the same pattern, along with what looked like shoulder mounted missile launchers. The build of the unit was bulkier than most revealing that it was a heavy mech meant to both dish out and take a lot of punishment.


    The man leaning on the mech, known as Blackbird, took a couple steps forward and shouted at someone in the distance. "Harpy, the boss just called. Time to get to work.¡±


    Several feet away from the mech stood a petite woman with long black hair. Her eyes were a dark blue color. Despite the cold look she often had on her face her white skin looked soft and smooth, and her petite frame she gave off an aura of strength. This woman wore a skintight navy-blue suit with combat boots to match, and plated armor covered her left shoulder and both of her forearms. She was a little taller than the average woman and held a sniper rifle with a silencer on it.


    She shot at old beer bottles in a standing position that she had setup several hundred yards away from her. While she closed her left eye and looked through the scope. She slowly breathed in, and upon exhaling, she squeezed the trigger. A white beam left the rifle to completely incinerate a bottle at 300 yards out.


    After hearing her code name, the woman known as Harpy turned around toward Blackbird. "It''s about time. I was starting to get really tired of waiting out here in the sun."


    Blackbird put on his helmet, and the two of them entered the mech. Harpy sat in the pilot¡¯s seat, and Blackbird stood behind her while gripping the chair.


    The engines fired up, and the heavy mech flew a few feet off the ground at a rapid pace toward Neo Vega.


    Harpy spoke over the communicator and used their code words for flying forces and ground forces, respectively. "Owl this is Harpy; Blackbird and I are inbound. We''ll meet you at the rendezvous. Try to keep any eagles and scorpions off your back.¡±


    Owl¡¯s voice could be heard coming from the communicator. "Copy that Harpy. I''ll find myself a steed, and ride my way towards you.¡±

 Rendezvous

    Back in the capitol city of Neo Vega, Owl was still running through the streets while talking with his compatriots who were flying toward him in a mech from outside of town. As he ran, he spotted a sphere cycle being parked on the side of the road by a man in a full black leather suit and helmet that completely covered his face.


    With the advancement of technology most vehicles were now capable of flight, but there were a few that still used wheels, and this sphere cycle was a good example. It looked like a regular motorcycle but with spherical wheels instead of regular wheels, and was capable of moving in any direction without needing to turn the frame.


    Owl didn''t have time to take the helmet though, so he hit the man with his briefcase to knock him off the cycle and jumped on.


    Before he took off, he synced his wristwatch with the sphere cycle by pulling out a small cord and plugging it into the ignition. Owl used the hacking program on his watch to disable the anti-theft measures, and gave him control of the sphere cycle.


    Once Owl began riding away, he turned his head toward the rider. "Sorry, place it on AGI''s tab will you. You''re probably not getting this one back."


    The owner of the cycle attempted to deactivate the cycle using his own wristwatch, but it failed. ¡°Screw you, idiot!¡±


    Owl swung a hard right and continued to head toward the edge of town to meet with his associates. He tapped on his wristwatch again to speak to his associates. "Harpy, I''m heading towards the rendezvous on a sphere cycle. ETA is 5 minutes."


    Harpy was still piloting the mech but responded to the message. "Copy that, Owl. We''ll be there less than a minute after you.¡±


    After another three minutes of flying, the mech was within city limits, and landed back on the ground. Harpy had the mech take a few steps forward while scanning the area and alleyways for anyone who might be waiting to ambush them. After scanning the area Harpy got back on the com. "Coast is clear. Heading to rendezvous now."


    A couple of minutes later Owl heard sirens in the distance, then slowed down to a full stop in front of an alleyway that was between two buildings below a large overpass. He turned the cycle so it was facing backwards, slowly road in reverse down the alley while watching the street, and backed up into an intersection with another alley.


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    Owl saw the mech waiting for him on the street to his left. The back of the mech opened up, and Blackbird walked out to meet Owl carrying a similar briefcase to the one he was carrying. Blackbird also had a black assault rifle on him that he often kept in the cockpit of Harpy''s mech when they were planet side just in case they ran into any trouble.


    The two of them made eye contact and placed their brief cases on the ground between each other. The two of them then grabbed each other¡¯s forearms as a greeting, and began talking.


    Blackbird looked around to make sure nobody was watching them, and to see if he could spot any surveillance cameras. "Did anybody follow you?"


    "Nobody that I can see," Owl said, looking around for eavesdroppers, and any potential cameras. "There were some sirens blaring not too long ago, but I''m not sure if they have my location or not."


    Blackbird¡¯s eyes wandered over to the sphere cycle Owl had stolen. "You deactivated the tracker on this thing right?¡±


    Owl clicked his tongue. He often forgot to turn off trackers when he commandeered a vehicle, yet he found Blackbird¡¯s constant reminders irritating. "Yeah I did. Everything is fine. We are all fine!"


    "Okay, we''ll meet you at the pickup. Don''t be late!"


    "Copy that!"


    They each picked up the briefcase that the other one had placed on the ground and went their separate ways returning to their respective vehicles.


    Now that the mech had the actual briefcase it flew out of town in order to draw out anyone who was likely tracking the package. They had planned everything out beforehand. Mechs weren''t allowed in the city unless they were registered with AGI, and were being transported in a trailer or ship. Because of this restriction Blackbird and Harpy had to wait outside of the city if they wanted to use it as part of the escape.


    They figured it would be best for the mech to have the actual briefcase in case they were being tracked since it could withstand more damage, while a dummy briefcase was carried by the man on the ground throughout the city to throw them off. This dummy case had a router in it that they''d be able to route the tracking signal to in order to deceive their pursuers.


    Once the mech got far enough away from the city Blackbird would download a virus into the tracker that would alter the data being sent to whomever was tracking it so they would think the dummy case was the real one. If they had the ability to completely disable it they would, but unfortunately nobody had the know how to perform that in the field. Once they got onto their ship one of their contacts would be able to disable it at the space station floating in orbit around the planet.


    Owl began riding back into the city with the intent of heading toward the ship they had docked. "Did I disable the sphere cycles'' tracking. They treat me like I''m some senile old man.¡±


    Owl immediately plugged his wristwatch back into the sphere cycle and checked to see if the cycles'' tracker was still on, and like his associate had assumed, it was. "Pshh, stupid corporate safety measures"

 Pursuit

    While Owl was busy riding to the spaceport where they had parked their getaway ship, Blackbird and Harpy were flying through the open desert. Blackbird was busy checking the contents of the briefcase to verify everything was in order.


    "Yeah looks like they''re tracking it.¡± Blackbird wasn¡¯t surprised by all the anti-theft measures corporations took to protect their property. He then opened up his com so he could speak to Owl, "Okay boss we''re out in the open. Stand by.¡±


    Blackbird didn''t want to say too much over the communication channel in case anybody was eavesdropping. They weren''t being overly discrete because it wasn''t likely this ploy would work, but it would be enough to cause any pursuers to split their forces giving them a better chance to get away.


    When Owl heard the words "stand by" over the comms, he knew to activate the router that was in his briefcase. He pressed a small button on his wristwatch, and continued riding towards the spaceport. Thankfully, they picked one that was barely within city limits, so it wouldn''t take him long to get there.


    Harpy and Blackbird continued to fly in a straight line away from the city when they saw a squad of hover cars flying in their direction escorted by two standard AGI security mech. The squad cars looked like standard sedans except instead of wheels they had hover wheels which looked like a half sphere that caused the cars to hover through the air. The security mechs also looked humanoid like Harpy''s mech except they, just like the squad cars, were a royal blue color with yellow trimmings.


    One of the officers piloting an AGI security mech shouted over their communication channel when they spotted Harpy¡¯s mech. "We''ve got the target in sight, but they''re in a mech. Our squad cars don''t stand a chance against them."


    Another voice shouted back over the communication channel. "Wait we''re getting another signal. Now the stolen property is heading toward the Memphis Beat Spaceport."


    Upon hearing this one of the mech pilots joined in on the conversation. "You guys go chase that one down. They''re probably in a car, or land vehicle. We''ll deal with this one."


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    Everyone in the squad cars confirmed their new orders, and broke off the mechs to return to the city.


    Blackbird immediately informed Owl over the coms channel. "Boss you''re going to have incoming. About four or five raccoons are headed your way"


    Owl and his group had a lot of different names for vehicles and ship types. This was more for Owl¡¯s amusement, then to serve as effective code. Owl was a peculiar man with a fascination for old things, so a lot of their code names for ships and vehicles were named after classic cars. However, in this case he had already used all of the old car models to name other companies ships and vehicles, so instead they just referred to most of AGI''s equipment as the English translation of the Latin word they were named after. For instance, the squad cars chasing after them were called Lotor''s, which is the Latin word for raccoons.


    Harpy continued to allow the AGI mechs to give chase until they got the signal from Owl that he was safe, and ready to pick them up.


    Meanwhile, Owl parked in front of the Memphis Beats Spaceport. He grabbed the briefcase off of the bike, and showed his wristwatch to the bot at the gate as he ran through. It was a pretty standard bot incapable of thinking, or doing anything outside of its programming. In fact, it was so basic and rudimentary that it just looked like multiple metallic boxes all put together with cameras where eyes would usually be on a human, and a speaker for a mouth. There was also entente on both sides of its head and one on top for receiving signals and sound.


    When it spotted Owl¡¯s wristwatch, it immediately cleared him without the need for any identification, or to check his baggage as he went through as was customary when entering a spaceport. Luckily for Owl, and the rest of his crew, they had a lot of contacts in this sector of space, so they had the ability to move around un-impeded, for the right price.


    Owl ran through the mostly empty spaceport bypassing the security checkpoint, and going straight to landing zone 8 where his ship, the Appalachia, was parked and not quite ready for takeoff. It was a small cargo ship suited for carrying smaller shipments of cargo. The main body was more rectangular with rounded edges. It had four cylindrical vents connected to the internal engine, two on each side toward the back of the ship. Owl knew right away that his so-called pilot wasn''t at the helm because of the lack of engine noise.


    "Hendricks you idiot! You better not be screwing around in there.¡±  Owl hoped that somehow the sound of his voice would reach his good-for-nothing pilot through more than a foot of starship grade metal.


    Owl stepped onto the lowered platform leading into the cargo bay, and pushed a button, causing the platform to slowly rise. He rushed to the cockpit, and saw that it was empty. Rather than waiting or trying to find his good-for-nothing pilot Owl took the helm, and fired up the ship¡¯s engine.

 Getaway

    The engine of the Appalachia fired up and the landing gears slowly withdrew as the ship flew into the air. The yard the Appalachia was parked in had no roof, but the walls were over 100 ft tall, so it took a few seconds before the ship was clear to move forward. The AGI squad cars arrived outside the spaceport just in time to see the Appalachia fly off toward the desert.


    As the Appalachia took off toward the desert a man with blond hair and a faux hawk ran into the cockpit. He had pale skin, pale blue eyes, and was short for a man. Standing at a total of 5 feet, 8 inches, he wasn''t anywhere near as opposing as any of the others. He had a laid-back attitude, but also an aura of confidence typical of those in his profession.


    The ship was moving side-to-side just enough that it was difficult to stand, yet he walked into the cockpit without any problems. "Hey boss, what''s going on? Why are we moving?"


    "Hendricks, we''re you in the crapper when I was calling you?" Owl had a sour tone and a stern look in his eyes while trying to keep the ship steady in low altitude.


    Hendricks started to get nervous, because he knew he was about to get chewed out by his captain for not being at his station. ¡°Yes. Nature called with a vengeance. Sorry, boss.¡±


    Owl picked up Hendricks wristwatch which had been laying on the dashboard in front of the steering wheel. "And did you leave your com link up here so you wouldn''t get disturbed?"


    Without saying a word, Hendricks took the wristwatch from Owl and put it on. His entire face sank as he thought of the tongue lashing he was about to receive from not just the captain, but also Harpy, once she and Blackbird returned to the ship. Hendricks proceeded to sit down in the co-pilot¡¯s seat, and the two of them didn''t speak to one another until they made the pickup.


    ***


    After informing Owl that the squad cars were heading in their direction, Harpy and Blackbird still had to deal with the two AGI mech that were pursuing them. Harpy''s mech was much heavier so it wasn''t as fast as the two standard mechs following her, so she had no choice but to turn around and engage them in a dog fight.


    Harpy had her mech grab the rifle on its back and turn 180 degrees while still flying in the same direction. The rifle she had was the same off-white color as her mech with a single red stripe on both sides of the rifle. It was designed for long distance shooting, but it would work well enough in close quarters combat.


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    A white beam similar to the one that came from the sniper rifle she was using earlier came out of the barrel when she fired the mechs rifle, and hit one of the mechs right in the head taking it out of the fight.


    "Yes! Nice shot!" Blackbird cheered as he saw the mech tumbling after hitting the ground.


    "Don''t yell in my ear." Harpy didn¡¯t mind how close Blackbird was to her, but his shouting was annoying.


    The other AGI mech had enough time to get a shot off that hit her mechs chest plate. Thankfully, the weapon that standard mechs used wasn¡¯t very powerful and it would take a few shots for them to penetrate the armor of Harpy''s heavier unit.


    Harpy prepared the next shot, but the security mech swerved to make it harder for her to hit. She had some difficulty at first, but eventually she identified his pattern, and predicted exactly where he was going to be.


    Bang! Harpy fired another shot, and the second mech went down without any issue. Unfortunately, right after she took that mech down she saw three more approaching them in the distance. Harpy turned around trying to get more speed, then she heard Owl¡¯s voice over the comms.


    "Hey Harpy, Scarecrow and I are inbound. Get ready for pickup."


    "This is Blackbird. Harpy¡¯s busy losing a tail. Was Scarecrow jerking off in the can again?" Blackbird smirked while insinuating that this was a common occurrence that has happened several times before.


    Hendricks stood up in his sea "Hey that¡¯s not what I¡¯m doing. And besides the mission had gone south because¡­"


    Owl immediately interrupted him. ¡°Scarecrow, none of us want to know about what you do in your alone time."


    Hendricks, or Scarecrow as they often referred to him when speaking over comms, sat back down while looking meekly at the floor a little embarrassed by them mentioning the situation.


    Before the other AGI security mechs could catch up with them the Appalachia had caught up to Harpy''s mech, and hovered only a few feet off the ground in front of them. Harpy maneuvered her mech into the air until it was above the Appalachia, then she signaled Owl over the com to open up the cargo hold. Owl flipped a switch on the control panel in the cockpit, and a double door on the roof of the Appalachia over the cargo hold opened to let them in.


    Harpy landed her mech in the cargo hold without any problem, and she and Blackbird left the cockpit of her mech as the cargo bay doors began to close. They made their way to the cockpit of the Appalachia and took the seats directly behind Owl and Hendricks. Once they were all buckled in the Appalachia flew into orbit where they saw a sea of stars laying out in front of them, and a section of a large space station on the left side of the bow of their ship.


    Hendricks lightly chuckled. ¡°Well guys, I might¡¯ve screwed up, but we still got away Scott free.¡±


    Owl and Harpy both glared at him and spoke in unison. ¡°Shut up, Hendricks.¡±

 Rebecca

    While the crew of the Appalachia was planet side on Sortis they were unaware that someone was listening in on their com channel, and was very intrigued by what was going on.


    In a small shuttle in docking bay 74 in the space station in orbit around Sortis sat a young girl with long red hair who was about 18 years old. She had fair, pale skin, and stood at about 5.6. She wore a plaid skirt with white stockings, black shoes, a black vest over a white blouse, and a blue hair band to keep her hair out of her sky-blue eyes.


    This was Rebecca Powers. Child protege, computer genius, talented hacker, information broker, and completely bored with her seemingly uneventful life were all ways you could describe this girl who had no interest in being just a regular member of society. She wanted adventure, and her forays into "impossible to hack" cyber security networks to obtain sensitive data was barely entertaining enough to keep her from going insane with absolute boredom.


    While sitting back in a computer chair with a sucker in her mouth she listened to the communication chatter between members of the Appalachia''s crew, and used the AGI security network to watch events as they unfolded. There were several monitors in front of her which she had hooked up to a small quantum computer that was plugged into the station¡¯s power grid. She had been siphoning power from the station¡¯s power source for quite some time, and spied on several "secure" channels in her spare time to learn the dirty secrets the groups and organizations on Sortis were hiding.


    Several days earlier Rebecca had intercepted a transition from one of AGI''s private communications terminals that was sent out to what seemed like a random ship out in the ether at the time. She treated it like any other communication hack at first, but once she heard what the crew was planning, they started to peak her interest.


    Rebecca hacked into the com frequency being used by the AGI employee, and used that to hack into the communications system of the Appalachia. Now she knew every detail of their plan. She put pressure on the Appalachia crew¡¯s contact in the station who was going to deactivate the tracker on the tech they had stolen from AGI to ask them to move to docking bay 74 after landing and dropping off the briefcase. Their contact was told to say that this was so they could throw AGI off their scent which was partially true, but it was also so Rebecca could stowaway on their ship. She wanted a new life full of adventure, and this was the crew she wanted to join.


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    Rebecca had made a name for herself as the infamous Magus who sold information on the black market to several different groups both on Sortis, and within the surrounding systems. She went with the name Magus because her skills with computers were described as being like magic. It also fit the Latin naming scheme that many location in this solar system followed.


    It was also a name that might inspire aww, and give off a sense of mystery, or at least that''s what she intended anyways. However, most people thought it was just kind of dorky, and believed that Magus was probably just some geek with absolutely no social skills trying to pull one over on everybody. Nobody told her this directly, mainly because she never met anyone in person, and only spoke to her clients through computers, or com links. There was also the fact that she was a good source of information, and obviously talented at her craft so people wanted to keep "The Great and Mysterious Magus" on their side.


    ***


    It wasn''t long before the Appalachia entered a random docking bay, and Owl, Blackbird, and Harpy got off the ship.


    Right as the left the landing platform, Owl opened up the com. ¡°Hey, Scarecrow. Don¡¯t for get to meet us in docking bay 74.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got it. I got it. I¡¯m not that unreliable.¡± Hendricks said.


    Harpy shook her head. ¡°I think we¡¯d all beg to differ. If you''re late this time Hendricks a swear I''ll send you flying into the deep void of space with my mech.¡±


    "I know, I know docking bay 74. I heard you the first time you threatened me. I''ll skip around to a few different ones before I get there too just in case someone from AGI sees the ship."


    "Just don''t be late Hendricks.¡±


    Just like he said, Hendricks moved around between several docking bays while the rest of the crew was getting the tracker deactivated until he finally ended up in docking bay 74.


    Hendricks decided to stay in the cockpit once he landed. He placed his feet on the dashboard and started playing dub step off of his wristwatch. However, he turned off his music and switched over to the coms channel after only a few seconds. "Hey Harpy, I''m all ready to go just like I said I would be. I''m just waiting for you guys.¡±


    "Good. We''ll be there in five minutes", she replied pleasantly surprised, but also half doubting that what he was saying was true. "Make sure that you put the platform down before we get there so we can make a quick escape, and don''t leave the cargo bay until we get onboard. We don''t want any stowaways."


    Meanwhile, Rebecca saw that the Appalachia had landed in docking bay 74 through the station¡¯s security camera. This was it. This was her opportunity to sneak aboard the Appalachia, and finally begin her new life of adventure.

 The Contact

    "Captain, are you sure this guy we''re meeting is trustworthy?" Harpy asked, weary of the motives of their old contact who had been rather shady in the past.


    "Yeah, he''s fine. From what I hear he''s in desperate need of work these days, and doesn''t have many clients. He can''t afford to back stab anyone, or else he''ll go broke." Owl looked around for their meetup spot, but all he could see were several dingy shops and shady people walking around the main hub of the space station. This station was a waypoint for travelers, and had several docking bays, market stalls, shops, and inns.


    "The fact that he''s desperate is why I don''t trust him. Desperate people tend to make stupid decisions."


    "We''ll then it''s a good thing he ain''t regular people."


    As they continued walking through the dimly lit corridor of the space station, Owl spotted a door that had a mongoose standing on its hind legs in the center, and walked towards it. "This is it. Welcome to the Standing Mongoose!"


    Owl held his hands out toward the door, politely gesturing for Harpy to go in first. Harpy yanked the door open and walked through, only to find disastrous pile of junk lying before her.


    The "Standing Mongoose" as the owner called it, was a repair shop for technological odds and ends. The strangest and most random things could be found on the shelves. For instance, one of the items was a small toaster from the 20th century, there was an old record player, a small MP3 player from the early 21st century, a quantum battery the size of a baseball that had enough power to run an entire freighter class starship, small starship models, and even retro game consoles from many previous centuries.


    Behind the counter at the back of the shop stood a blue Kelafi with pure black eyes. The Kelafi were essentially squid people that looked kind of like the head of a squid was planted on top of a human torso. The Kelafi''s entire body was usually a single color, usually red, blue, or purple. They also had suction cups on their limbs, and six small tentacles protruding from right beneath their noses like a long mustache. These tentacles covered their beaks, and could be used like extra hands.


    "Hey Memphis Blues!" Owl said, hoping the Kelafi mechanic would take notice of him. "We''re ready for you to work your magic."


    "How many times are you going to use that ridiculous nickname? I¡¯m not one of your 1950''s rock songs." A strange chorus of voices piped into everybody''s heads as the kelafi responded to Owl''s snide nickname that he always referred to him by.


    The kelafi were a peculiar race to humans because of their physiology and culture. They resembled earth squid, so they could communicate their emotions by changing their skin color to various others based on their mood. They were often named after a combination of the skin color and the emotional expression they exhibited most often, but this was only for the sake of other species. The kelafi were incapable of speech, but could communicate telepathically.


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    This left their species with no written language, no words, and no alphabet. In order to communicate with other species, they had to learn the language and listen to others speak the words so they could learn how to think in that language. However, since they don''t actually have a voice of their own when they telepathically communicate in an alien language it tends to sound like an amalgamation of different voices dependent on who they heard the words or phrases they''re using from.


    Owl was the only one who laughed at his own joke. "It¡¯s from before the fifties, and it just fits you so well. Your kind don''t have facial expressions, and the voices I hear in my head whenever you speak to me always sound so melancholic."


    "If I were miserable my skin would be gray now wouldn''t it? Anyways, hello again everyone. The rest of you can call me Tranquil Blue, unlike your ungrateful Captain Starforged here."


    "Oh, come on Blues! You know you love it when I poke fun at you.¡± Owl, whose real name was Jack Starforged, loved to see if he could get a hint of laughter out of Tranquil Blue. However, it always failed. It was said the kelafi couldn¡¯t laugh, but Owl was determined to prove that theory wrong.


    Tranquil Blue took the briefcase from Harpy and began tinkering with it all while continuing to exchange quips with Owl. "All of your attempts to make me laugh might as well fall on deaf ears."


    "Don''t worry Blues. I''ll crack your case one of these days, and you''ll never be the same again after you''ve enjoyed a good laugh. You''ll go from Tranquil Blue to Jolly Yellow, or something like that."


    "Yeah whatever.¡± Tranquil Blue decided to ignore Owl''s so-called plans for him while he finished his work. "The trackers have been deactivated. You should be good to go now, so where are my credits?"


    During their entire conversation, Tranquil Blue had been tinkering with whatever was in the briefcase. He didn''t need to take it out to mess with it, so nobody else had placed their eyes on it.


    Once he said he was done he and Owl looked at their wrist watches and Owl sent him the agreed-upon payment for the job. Harpy picked up the case afterwards, and the crew filed out the door, but before Owl left he turned around to talk to Tranquil Blue one last time.


    "Hey by the way¡­¡± Owl paused for a moment to let the tension build up. "You got something growing on your face Blue. You might want to get that looked at."


    Tranquil Blue saw Owl raise his finger to point at his tentacles, and the only response he could think to give him was, "Shut it you idiot."


    Owl turned around and walked out of the shop. He knew he was being an especially sarcastic jerk to Tranquil Blue, but he had a good reason to. He suspected for a long time that Tranquil Blue was going to betray them, and he needed him to be riled up so he would make a mistake without thinking about it.


    Luckily for Owl, Tranquil Blue fell for it, and sent a com signal out without checking his shop for any bugs first. While Owl was exchanging quips with Tranquil Blue, Blackbird was busy planting a bug underneath the toaster on one of the shelves, so they would have recorded evidence of everything that happened next.


    Tranquil Blue activated his wristwatch and a projection of another kelafi appeared in front of him. "Raging Crimson, they''re on their way."


    Suddenly Tranquil Blue''s skin started slowly turning a dark red color, a symbol of the repressed malice he felt toward Owl, whom he had already planned on betraying before the job even began.

 The Stowaway

    While Owl, Blackbird, and Harpy were speaking with Tranquil Blue, Hendricks was sitting in the cockpit of the Appalachia. The ship was parked right in front of the shuttle Rebecca was using to house her computer equipment.


    Rebecca took the opportunity to sneak aboard right as the Appalachia landed. She immediately hacked into the ship¡¯s systems, and lowered the platform leading to the cargo bay.


    She uncovered her sleeve to reveal a computer console that wrapped around her forearm, and used it to activate the platform while she approached the ship. Rebecca entered the cargo bay and saw a wide-open space. The cargo bay was a decent size being a few dozen feet in each direction. The mech that Harpy used was parked in the back of the docking bay along with some kind of machine with a tarp covering it.


    The cargo bay was practically half of the ship which was pretty common considering it was a cargo vessel. However, Rebecca noticed a large wall toward the front of the cargo bay that wasn¡¯t standard with ships like the Appalachia. Rebecca walked through the door and found herself in a common area which took up half the cargo space. It had a two-story, open-air design with multiple rooms, and a stairway that led further into the ship.


    Rebecca scanned the area for a place to hide, but the only pace that might work was the area below the stairs. Before Rebecca had a chance to investigate further, she heard the door upstairs open. Rebecca quickly bolted under the stairs and went through the first door she saw. Under the stairs and to the right there was a door that led into a small room that was the size of a walk-in closet.


    Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief when she closed the door behind her. However, she was struck by an inexplicable feeling that she wasn''t alone in here. Rebecca slowly turned around to see an android standing at a power station in sleep mode.


    The android looked almost human to the point where it was kind of creepy. Everything from the shape of its face to its slender build seemed like a male human in shape. With the exception of the outer shell being silver you could easily mistake it for one if you dressed it up in clothes and had it walk around.


    The android was at its charge station at the moment, so its eyes were closed, and it wasn''t moving. However, Rebecca was concerned that it might turn on at any moment, but before she could leave the room she heard people talking and it sounded like they were approaching the common area.


    "Well, I¡¯m surprised Hendricks,¡± Harpy said. ¡°So, you actually can be on time. I was just about to write you off, but apparently you can show growth."


    Hendricks put his hands behind his head. "Hey, I''m one of the best star pilots this side of the galaxy. Don''t underestimate me or else you''re going to lose."


    Blackbird smirked at Hendricks retort. "Please if your piloting was half as good as you think it is we''d have been off Sortis much sooner. In fact, if you were so good Harpy and I probably wouldn''t have needed to even take the mech out."


    Owl interrupted to prevent everyone from bickering. They were on a tight schedule and couldn¡¯t afford to waste time. ¡°Alright enough guys. We''ve got to stay on schedule. We have a rendezvous in under an hour to pass off the package. Let''s get to the cockpit, and hit the road."


    Hendricks saluted Owl in a vaguely embellished tone. ¡°Aye aye Captain.¡±


    The crew all went to the cockpit and took their usual seats. Scarecrow, real name Hendricks, as the pilot took the front left seat while Owl, real name Starforged, took the seat next to him on the opposite side. Blackbird, real name Rodriguez took the seat behind Hendricks, and Harpy, real name Morgan, took the seat behind Owl who was the ship¡¯s captain.


    As the ship powered up to take off, Rebecca decided it was almost time for her to make her grand entrance. She had been listening to com chatter between AGI members and also chatter from Tranquil Blue, so she knew they were in for a surprise. Her grand plan was to rescue them from the unknown enemy that was awaiting them on their way to their rendezvous to drop off the package they had stolen from AGI HQ, but before she could take a step out of the closet the android activated.


    ***


    Upon booting up ANDI, or the Advanced Networked Defense Intelligence, saw Rebecca creeping toward the door of the maintenance closet they were both in. ANDI grabbed her before she could get away.


    ¡°Hey, put me down.¡± Rebecca started kicking and screaming as ANDI threw her over its shoulder and took her upstairs toward the cockpit.


    ANDI tightened his grip on Rebecca and spoke in a synthetic voice. ¡°Trespassers will be taken to the captain for questioning. Please do not resist.¡±


    ¡°No way I¡¯m letting you do that.¡± Rebecca reached for the console around her forearm in an attempt to hack the android, but it dropped her on the ground at the top of the stairs once it realized what Rebecca was doing. It then grabbed her by the arms, and dragged her the rest of the way. ¡°Hey, wait, no. Get your hands off of me you bucket of bolts.¡±


    Beyond the stairs was a small room that had a total of four doors. There was the one that led to the cargo area that she and ANDI had just came from, the one across from that led to the cockpit, the one on the left was clearly labeled airlock, and the one on the right was labeled latrine.


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    Another thing that would have stood out in this room to anybody who was familiar with this model of cargo ship was the ladder right in the middle of the room leading up to a gun turret. This was not standard issue for this type of craft.


    ¡°What have I gotten myself into?¡± Rebecca asked herself as she continued kicking and screaming, hoping the Android would let her go.


    The rest of the crew could hear Rebecca screaming, and upon opening the door witnessed ANDI dragging a young girl by her arms across the floor.


    Hendricks jumped out of this seat in an intentionally overdramatic fashion. ¡°Wow, ANDI. You got a girlfriend we didn¡¯t know about?¡±


    ANDI drugged her all the way into the cockpit, lifted her in the air by the arms and sat her down in the back seat on the right side, then cuffed her hands behind the chair. ¡°Captain I found an intruder in the maintenance closet. Shall I eliminate the prisoner right here, or throw her out of the airlock?"


    Rebecca saw the entire crew staring at her instinctively gulped. She started to doubt her original judgment of this crew after hearing what their android wanted to do with her. "This might have been a lot more then I bargained for.¡±


    Rebecca was about to speak up when Hendricks suddenly interrupted her. "Oh, great a stowaway, and a kid too! You just had to find her right in the middle of an operation too didn''t you ANDI?"


    "Helmsman Hendricks. I was following my directive as an Advanced Networked Defense Intelligence android and apprehending any unauthorized passengers as ordered by the captain¡¯s mandate.¡±


    Seeing that ANDI was about to go on a long rant regarding protocol Captain Starforged interrupted him. "ANDI ignore him. He''s just giving you a hard time."


    "Yes sir. Proceeding to ignore Pilot Hendricks until ordered by Captain Starforged that I am allowed to pay attention to him again."


    "Hey, what did you just say rust bucket?", Hendricks said, irritated with how snarky the android seemed. "Hey, I''m talking to you? ANDI! ANDI!¡±


    Complying with the orders of its captain ANDI continued to completely ignore everything that Hendricks was saying to him.


    Captain Starforged stood up and leaned against his chair as he stared down at Rebecca. ¡°Enough of that. What are you doing here kid?"


    Rebecca attempted to stand up, but the moment she tried ANDI placed it hand on her shoulder and shoved her back into the seat.


    Rebecca glared at ANDI. "Can you call off the android please?"


    "Answer the question!" Captain Starforged crossed his arms and continued glaring at Rebecca.


    Rebecca was embarrassed by this whole situation. She had planned to wow them with her skills and heroism. Now she was just a common stowaway. ¡°My name is Rebecca Powers, and I''m here to warn you about an ambush your about to walk into.¡±


    Morgan¡¯s icy gaze met Rebecca¡¯s frightened expression. Morgan could tell this girl was in experience. She was petite, lacked muscle, and likely didn¡¯t know how to fight. Rebecca¡¯s clothing also looked like a uniform for some kind of prep school, so Morgan assumed she was some sheltered rich kid. "You''re pretty young kid. What are you doing on a space station by yourself? Don''t you have any parents?"


    "I''m 18. And besides even if I weren''t it wouldn''t matter. My parents don''t care what happens to me so I''m better off without them."


    "So, you''re a runaway then? But why would you bother warning us about an ambush?"


    "Because I want to join your crew." She mumbled under her breath, too quietly for them to hear.


    Captain Starforged was standing closest to her and was the only one who noticed she had said something. "What was that?"


    "Because I want to join your crew!" Rebecca clos her eyes and turned her head so she didn''t have to look at any of them.


    "So, what? You planned on coming in here to tell us we are being setup, and you thought we''d be so impressed that we''d just welcome you into the crew with no questions asked? Is that right?¡±


    Rebecca winced after realizing how ridiculous her plan seemed in retrospect now that she was in this awkward situation. However, in a desperate attempt to save herself, Rebecca tried to give them more details of her plan in an attempt to impress them. "Yes. But I could be really useful to you. I''m really good with computers, and I was even able to hack into and eavesdrop on the AGI communication channel. That''s how I knew about you guys, and I did the same with that Tranquil Blue guy. It''s because of me he agreed to disable the tracker for you guys, and it was I who told him to encourage you guys to land in docking bay 74 so I could sneak in your ship. Pretty clever Huh?"


    The crew wasn¡¯t impressed, and Rodriguez pointed out the one flaw with Rebecca¡¯s plan. ¡°So, if you''re the reason that Tranquil Blue is working with us, and he is the one who set us up, then doesn''t that mean it''s your fault that we''re going to be ambushed?"


    Rebecca was even more embarrassed by how badly her plan had turned out. ¡°I guess¡­¡±


    Captain Starforged hated to admit it, but he already knew Tranquil Blue was going to betray them. "Actually, we probably can''t blame her for the ambush. We all pretty much knew Tranquil Blue was up to something, and he would have done this with or without this girl¡¯s intervention.¡±


    They all nodded in agreement showing none of them, not even the captain, trusted Tranquil Blue in the first place, and were already prepared for what was coming next.


    After a brief moment of silence Rodriguez began to speak again. ¡°So, what should we do with her Captain? Throw her out the airlock like ANDI suggested?"


    To his amusement, Rebecca was freaked out by Rodriguez¡¯s statement, and began squirming in her seat in a futile attempt to break out of the hand cuffs and make a break for it.


    "No, we''re not throwing you out of the airlock¡± Captain Starforged then went back to his seat, but he turned the chair around to continue talking to Rebecca. "But we are on a tight schedule, so we won''t be able to take her back until after we make our delivery. You''ll just have to come with us kid."


    Right then Rebecca stopped squirming, and her face began to light up. Captain Starforged could tell she was starting to think she had convinced them, so he corrected that misconception. ¡°But if you cause any trouble, I''ll consider the airlock. You are a full-fledged adult after all.¡±


    Unbeknownst to Rebecca, Captain Starforged was bluffing. It was mostly an act to keep her in line. If anything, he didn''t want her getting hurt, and just hoped she''d behave long enough for them to finish the job so they could take her back.


    "We''ll even if we wanted to take her back, we can''t now." Hendricks had serious expression on his face for the first time since the mission started. "We have AGI Magnum¡¯s approaching us on the right.¡±


    Captain Starforged looked out of the window and saw half a dozen AGI fighters inbound. He and the rest of the crew all turned toward Rebecca, wondering if this was part of her plan.


    Rebecca saw them all staring at her and knew what they were all thinking. ¡°What? This isn¡¯t my fault.¡±

 Viva Las Vegas

    Dozens of blue and yellow fighter class ships approached the Appalachia from the planet Sortis that had the initials AGI in yellow letters painted on the side.


    Upon seeing this, Rodriguez rushed out of his seat, and into the next room. He climbed up the latter right in the middle of the room, and sat back into a chair. He was sitting inside a glass dome that had controls and triggers for the turret that was located at the top of the ship, and he rotated it around to fire at the incoming fighters.


    ¡°Hendricks, what the exact estimate?¡± Captain Starforged was strangely calm under the current circumstances, and Rebecca didn¡¯t notice a hint of panic among the rest of the crew.


    Hendricks looked at a screen in the cockpit and counted the number of pings he was receiving from the external sensors. ¡°At least three dozen Captain. We¡¯ll need some time before we can jump, but I should be able to outmaneuver them long enough to survive.¡±


    ¡°Good, Hendricks. You¡¯ll get a chance to show your worth. Evasive maneuvers.¡± Captain Starforged said.


    Hendricks responded by giving him the finger. ¡°Up yours Captain.¡±


    Captain Starforged then pushed a button on the center console of the ship¡¯s controls, and what looked like a record player popped out. ¡°ANDI, hand me record number 47 please.¡±


    ¡°Very well, sir.¡± ANDI went to the back of the room by the door, and opened a cabinet that was built into the wall. ANDI pulled out an old record and handed it to Captain Starforged who placed it on the record player.


    As the record started spinning Captain Starforged walked by Rebecca. ¡°We¡¯ll finish this conversation later.¡±


    Captain Starforged walked out into the center room, causing Rebecca to raise an eyebrow. ¡°What is he doing?¡±


    Morgan covered her face with her hand and turned away from the captain. ¡°Even I find this embarrassing.¡±


    Suddenly, Rebecca could hear a song playing over the ship¡¯s intercom system, and Captain Starforged began dancing to Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley. Captain Starforged was singing and dancing to the song in the middle of a space battle between the Appalachia and dozens of fighters.


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    Pew, pew! Lasers were firing off from several directions, yet Captain Starforged didn¡¯t seem to care. ¡°What is he doing?¡±


    Morgan did even turn her head, but Hendricks responded instead. ¡°Can¡¯t you tell kid; he¡¯s dancing like Elvis Presley.¡±


    ¡°Like who? Is he supposed to be someone famous?¡±


    ¡°Oh, come on kid, he¡¯s the King of Rock!¡± Captain Starforged said in the middle of singing. ¡°Only Hendricks and Rodriguez can do anything, so the rest of us oughta live it up.¡±


    ¡°Did I walk onto a ship of crackpots without realizing it?¡±


    Morgan refused to look up at her captain. Watching him do this was embarrassing, but it didn¡¯t surprise her. Captain Starforged was one of those people who always thought he was being funny, even when he wasn¡¯t. ¡°He does this all the time."


    Hendricks continued flying the ship with grace and skill. He expertly avoided enemy fire while still paying attention to what the others were doing. He found himself laughing while seeing Morgan in a rare state of embarrassment. "Yeah, and it''s the only thing that can get a reaction out of the Ice Queen here."


    "If we weren''t so close in age it''d be like watching your dad dance like back when he was in high school. He thinks he''s cool, but everyone just laughing at how ridiculous it is, and then they laugh at you because he¡¯s your dad."


    "You hear that, Morgan says you dance like an old man Cap!" Hendricks words fell on deaf ears. "He''s in his own world right now."


    Morgan continued to cringe. "I''ve been tortured before, but this is much worse than getting your nails pulled out." Morgan groaned and curled up in a ball in her chair.


    While all of this was going on, Rodriguez was manning the turret, and counting the number of ships he destroyed.


    He fired several shots while counting them off. ¡°Seven¡­ eight¡­ nine¡­ How long do we got Hendricks?¡±


    Hendricks looked at another monitor before replying to Rodruguez. ¡°Probably about 30 second. Just enough time for the Captain to finish his number.¡±


    Rodriguez laughed at Hendricks joke, and then shouted at Rebecca and Morgan. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you¡¯ll get used to the Captain¡¯s eccentricities!¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m regretting sneaking aboard this ship.¡± Rebecca then slumped down in her chair, wondering if they would even make it out alive.


    Right as the song ended, Captain Starforged rushed back into the cockpit. ¡°Wahoo, I am having the time of my life! Hendricks get us out of here!¡±


    ¡°Roger that Captain!¡± Hendricks pushed the lever to activated the warp drive and the Appalachia jumped to the next system.


    Ones they were out of harm¡¯s way, Morgan got up from her seat and breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°Finally, the torment is over.¡±

 Rebeccas Fate

    Once the jump drive was ready the Appalachia immediately jumped to the next system. Hendricks turned the record player, and ANDI returned the record to the place he had taken it from. Both Rodriguez and Captain Starforged returned to their seats in the cockpit.


    "Well, that was¡­ interesting," Rebecca said not really sure how to react.


    "You get used to it.¡± Morgan crossed her arms and tried to forget the sight of her captain dancing like an idiot in front of an outsider.


    Captain Starforged brushed Rebecca and Morgan¡¯s comments aside and turned in his seat toward Hendricks. "What''s our location?"


    Hendricks pressed a button on the control console, and a panel above the one that contained the record player automatically popped out. It had what looked like a light blue marble in the center which projected a star map of the Milky Way, and zoomed in on their current location.


    Hendricks swiped his finger across the virtual projection, causing a virtual dossier of the current star system to appear. "Slavic System. There are no habitable worlds or orbital space stations registered. The perfect place for pirates to attack don''t you think captain?"


    Captain Starforged had a maniacal grin on his face. "It is indeed helmsman.¡±


    Rebecca was unsure exactly what was going on, but she got the impression that they already knew that Tranquil Blue was sending pirates after them. It also seemed like that was exactly what the crew wanted. "Who are you people?"


    "We''re the Starforged Detective Agency." Captain Starforged shrugged his shoulders as if she should have known that already. "You seemed to already know a lot about us, so I figured you''d know that much already. Even if you didn''t, didn''t you see it on the side of the ship?"


    Before she could respond Morgan spoke up. "There''s no way she could have. You put it on the worst place. Nobody''s going to see that right below one of the engine vents. You should have put it near the cockpit where everyone looks."


    "Well, I don''t want to display it too prominently. We do a lot of shadier jobs, so I don''t want everyone knowing we¡¯re PI¡¯s."


    Morgan rolled her eyes. "Then why put it on the ship in the first place if you don''t want people seeing it."


    It was weird to listen to her argue because she never sounded angry, nor did she raise her voice. However, if you paid attention you could identify the subtle difference in her voice when she''s irritated. It sounds more like she was mocking you, then like she''s actually angry.


    "It''s a pride thing." Captain Starforged then sighed because he realized that he lost this battle. After a few moments of silence, he began to speak again. "Well enough of that. While we still have the time to decide we should discuss what to do with the girl."


    Hendricks was the first to speak up. "Space her.¡±


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    This was followed by everyone else one after the other saying the exact same thing.


    Rebecca squirmed frantically hoping by some miracle the handcuffs would come loose. They had all just said they were going to toss her into the void of space, and it wasn¡¯t hard for her to believe that these people would. However, all of a sudden the rest of the human crew members all started dying of laughter.


    "Man did you see the look on her face?" Captain Starforged removed his fedora while continuing to laugh hysterically.


    Even Morgan, who seemed pretty cold and emotionless all the time cracked a smile, and chuckled a bit.


    "I don''t get it. What''s so funny?" Rebecca had a sheepish look on her face. She was starting to thin¡± this crew got a kick out of threatening people.


    Rodriguez recollected himself and explained everything to Rebecca. "You''ll have to forgive our dark sense of humor kid. You need to be able to crack those kinds of jokes. A dark sense of humor goes a long way when you see as much crap as we do."


    Hendricks wiped the tears out of his eyes for laughing so hard. "Yeah you really can''t take things too seriously when you staving off death every day.¡±


    "Uh I regret this decision. Maybe I should have stayed in my shuttle." Rebecca was completely done with all the craziness she''s had to tolerate after only being onboard for a few minutes. She couldn¡¯t believe that these people were just laughing at her distress. What kind of monsters were they?


    Morgan put her hand on Rebecca''s shoulder. She could see how distressed Rebecca was, but Morgan wasn¡¯t going to rebuke her colleagues. Morgan had a military background and cruel jokes like this were the norm. ¡°It¡¯s another one of those things you just get used to kid."


    Rebecca just frowned at all of them. After the emotional roller coaster, she just went through she wasn''t able to think of any witty comebacks.


    Captain Starforged changed the expression on his face from humorous to one that was both soft and warm. "So anyways what''s your name kid?¡±


    It was strange for Rebecca to see such a sudden change. Just a moment ago she was a little terrified of him and everyone else on the ship, but right then when she saw the captain¡¯s warm smile, she felt like she could let her guard down.


    Everyone else was giving off a similar warmth after they had calmed down, except for Morgan whose face just seemed stuck at neutral, or indifference.


    "Like I said before, my name¡¯s Rebecca, Rebecca Powers. And I came here because I wanted to join your crew. My life back on Sortis was pretty boring, so I decided I wanted a little more adventure.¡± Rebecca became a lot more boisterous while she started naming off her skills. Some of the Appalachia¡¯s crew, like the captain, might have been weird, but Rebecca got the impression that this crew might be fun to travel with. "I''m an extremely talented hacker; a certified genius in fact. And I have plenty of connections that you guys would be able to use if you let me join your crew. I promise you won''t regret it."


    Captain Starforged was impressed by her resume, if it was in fact true, but he was concerned that she might be more of a hindrance if they just had to protect her all the time. "What about your combat skill?"


    Rebecca awkwardly laughed a little since she didn''t have any combat ability that she knew about. Despite the fact that she was an infamous information broker she actually never met any of her contacts in person, and all the info she gathered was from computer systems. If she needed info that couldn''t be found using this method, she''d usually lean on one of her connections to do it for her. Essentially, Rebecca had never been placed in a position where she''d need to fight.


    "Actually, I''ve never even been in a fight before.¡± Rebecca wasn¡¯t going to hide her incompetence as a fighter, because she wholeheartedly expected they''d put her through some kind of test to see her skills. Rebecca would just end up making a bigger fool of herself then she had already done.


    Captain Starforged¡¯s reply was laced with sarcasm and a lack of enthusiasm. "Oh, great. ANDI, throw her out the airlock.¡±


    ¡°Eek.¡± Rebecca squealed as ANDI picked her up.


    Captain Starforged shook his head. ¡°ANDI, I was joking. Put her down.¡±

 The Captains Choice

    After hearing everything Rebecca had to say Captain Starforged was sure he didn''t want to bring this random girl into his crew. Although he did think she would fit in pretty well with his eccentric crew he was concerned that she wouldn''t be able to take care of herself in a fight when things got rough. He had already lost one talented hacker recently due to their lack of combat skills, and he wasn''t about to let himself lose another, especially one that could still have a bright future.


    "ANDI, I want you to stay here and watch the girl.¡± Captain Starforged then motioned to the rest of the crew to follow him out into the next room.


    The crew left Rebecca alone with ANDI, and convened out in the common area in front of their living quarters. There weren''t any chairs, or anything to fill up the empty space so most of them just stood or leaned against a wall.


    Captain Starforged was dead set against allowing Rebecca to join them, but he wanted to hear his crew¡¯s thoughts on the matter. "So let me hear it. What do you guys think?"


    Hendricks scratched his cheek as he thought about it. "The girl has confidence in herself that''s for sure. And I believe her when she said she''s a talented hacker. How else could she have gotten on to this ship, and knew about the setup by Tranquil Blue. I mean come on; she''d be a great asset."


    "Oh, please Hendricks.¡± Morgan rolling her eyes in exacerbation. "You''d welcome anyone to this crew if they had a pair of tits."


    "Hey, I''ll admit she''s cute, but that''s not it. She has skills that we need, and she sought us out. That doesn''t happen often. I think she could be invaluable."


    Morgan could tell Hendricks was serious and she conceded to his point. "You''re right she could be useful, but she could also be a hindrance. She doesn''t have any combat skills, and if she''s in danger it''ll be up to us to protect her. We can''t afford to have any non-combatants on this ship."


    "I''m a non-combat. All I do is fly the ship."


    "Yeah, but that''s different.¡± Captain Starforged could see both Hendricks and Morgan¡¯s points, but Hendricks wasn¡¯t an ordinary non-combatant. ¡°You were trained by the military, so you know how to defend yourself, and we keep you sharp with plenty of training exercises."


    "Maybe, but you guys can train her, just like we did with Mikey." Hendricks then caught himself, realizing that he had just mentioned the crewmate they had recently lost.


    Rodriguez bit his lip at the mention of Mikey¡¯s name. "You forget that Mikey was a special case. He was created in a lab, and had enhanced strength. Even without any combat training he was a force to be reckoned with."


    Captain Starforged agreed with Rodriguez¡¯s point. "And if we had waited until he had some more training before bringing him out into the field with us he probably would have survived."


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    "We''ll have her train with us on the ship, and then bring her on missions when you feel like she''s ready.¡± Hendricks then stepped into the center of the common room with his hands spread out. ¡°Come on guys this is too good of an opportunity to pass up."


    The rest of them just stood there still thinking it over, unable to get over their reluctance to take her onboard.


    Hendricks could understand their reluctance, but his intuition was telling him that they should let Rebecca join the team. "Listen guy. I miss Mikey the Rat too. He was a good guy, or rat man, but we''ve got to move on. Missions just aren''t as effective without a computer expert, and one just fell into our laps who is really enthusiastic about joining us."


    Captain Starforged mulled it over in his head for a few seconds, and then sighed. "Okay Hendricks you win. I''ll let her join the crew if she proves she can handle herself. When we finish this mission, we''ll go back to Sortis, and see what she''s got. But for now, she stays on the ship in those handcuffs, understood."


    Everyone nodded and the crew returned to the cockpit.


    ***


    Meanwhile, everyone in the crew, minus ANDI, had left Rebecca handcuffed to one of the seats in the cockpit, and while she was waiting for them to return several thoughts were racing through her head.


    "I killed it! Obviously, they''d want me. I''m incredibly talented, I''m a genius, good at thinking on my feet, and pretty good looking to if I do say so myself." While thinking this she couldn''t stop grinning, and noticed that the android was just standing there staring at her without making any moves.


    "You know the way you just like stand there is kinda creepy.¡± Rebecca leaned forward to get a closer look at the android. "You should really learn to smile or something, so you look more human."


    ANDI replied, "I am the Advanced Networked Defense Intelligence. I am programmed to provide combat analysis support, and participate in combat operations. Nowhere in my programming does it say I need to look more human."


    "Maybe not, but it''ll help you look less creepy."


    "Will "looking less creepy" help me perform my duties at a more optimal level?"


    "It will when you''re working with organics. If your teammates are scared of you, how are they supposed to trust you? Besides, weren''t you trying to emulate the captain earlier when he was dancing?"


    "Acknowledged, I tried emulating the captain because I thought the crew might think it was funny. Studies have shown that laughter can help humans de-stress, and trust leads to better team cohesion which ultimately leads to better communications and results in team environments."


    "See, so try smiling why don''t you."


    ANDI attempted to move its lips to form a smile, but was unsuccessful due to the fact that it didn''t have any joints that would allow it to make a smile. "Error, apparently this unit is incapable of smiling."


    "Maybe you can try talking more like a human, then people will begin to feel like they can relate to you more."


    "I will consider this", ANDI said. "Can you teach me how to talk like humans?"


    "Yeah sure." Just as Rebecca said that she saw a flash outside the window of the cockpit. She wasn''t able to get a very good look at what caused it, since she was cuffed to the back seat, but she knew it had to be a ship.


    Her theory was confirmed after a few seconds past, and a ship came into view. Based on the ship¡¯s size, and semi-rectangular shape of its hull, it was one of humanities light cruisers created by humanities inter-galactic government, known as the Earth Galactic Federation (EGF). However, the black and crimson color-scheme suggested that it wasn''t under EG) control. Rather, the color-scheme suggested it belonged to a faction that would spell trouble for the crew of the Appalachia.


    Rebecca gulped when she saw the ship, because she knew that it belonged to a fleet of infamous space pirates. ¡°Aw crap. You¡¯ve got to be kidding me. What¡¯s the Crimson Tide doing here?¡±

 Boarding Party

    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.

 Attempted Escape

    After waiting around for about a minute Hendricks received orders from the captain to close the doors leading to the enemy ship. Hendricks sealed off the entrance before returning to the cockpit for a brief second to speak to Rebecca. ¡°The rest of the crew is gone. Not sure what to do now.¡±


    Rebecca batted her eyes at Hendricks. ¡°Can you get me out of these?¡±


    Hendricks chuckled at Rebecca¡¯s attempt to be flirty. ¡°Sorry kid. You¡¯re a little young for me, and the robot won¡¯t let you out of its sight either.¡±


    ¡°You¡¯re a member of this crew. Can¡¯t you order it to release me?¡±


    "Note, Helmsman Hendricks does not have the authority to override the captain¡¯s orders." ANDI said. "Continuing previous stated orders until connection with the captain can be re-established."


    Hendricks shrugged his shoulders after trying to order ANDI to release Rebecca. "Sorry kid. I can''t override the robot."


    Rebecca groaned and slouched in her seat. ¡°This sucks.¡±


    The two of them sat there in silence until Henricks stood up from the pilot¡¯s chair.


    "Well, I''m hungry, so I''m going to get something from the common area. Holler if pirates break into the ship." Hendricks then left to go off to the living quarters, leaving Rebecca alone with ANDI.


    Rebecca pulled out a small lockpick she kept under her right sleeve to use for these kinds of situations, and started working on the lock to her handcuffs. She started talking to ANDI to drown out any noise the lock pick might make. "That guy¡¯s just a big idiot, isn''t he?"


    "Actually, I have determined that Helmsman Hendricks is actually very intelligent. Based on his testing scores from the galactic flight academy his IQ is above average for someone in his profession, which typically had a higher IQ average. In fact, I have found that his lack of performance has to do with laziness set on by a lack of motivation due to depression caused by a lack of sexual gratification."


    Rebecca wasn¡¯t quite able to believe what she just heard. "A lack of what now? Are you sure he isn¡¯t just lonely?"


    ¡°Plausible.¡± ANDI paused for a moment while it was processing information. "Intruder Rebecca, maybe you''d be willing to let Hendricks tap you to fulfill his."


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    "Whoa let me stop you right there ANDI. I know what you''re thinking, and the answer is no!"


    "Acknowledged. Forgive me. I sensed high levels of excitement, and thought that you might be interested in Helmsman Hendricks.¡±


    Rebecca''s mouth grew wide with both surprise and shock at what he just said. "I¡¯m not interested in the pilot. This is the most interesting thing that''s ever happened to me. I don''t get off on being in dangerous situations, or being handcuffed to a chair. I just think that getting raided by pirates might be interesting."


    "So, you think that getting raided by pirates is fun?"


    "Well, kinda. It''s an adventure, but not the same kind of adventure that you seem to think Hendricks is looking for."


    "I think I understand. Your excitement is not due to arousal, but excitement because of your exposure to new and interesting experiences."


    "Yes that''s correct ANDI." Rebecca smiled awkwardly trying to hide her discomfort. ¡°Like I said, Hendricks just needs a girlfriend.¡±


    ¡°Isn¡¯t the only reason humans date because they wish to procreate?¡±


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s enough of that topic.¡± Rebecca had been working on the lock during the entire conversation. Thankfully, the handcuffs they were using weren''t anything special, so they''d be pretty easy to break out of. The technology for handcuffs hadn''t changed since the 20th century until recently, and the new cuffs which were essentially photon bindings that restricted any kind of hand or wrist motion, were all issued either to government entities, or developed by corporations for their use only.


    The lockpick Rebecca was using was something she acquired on the black market. It had a sensor that was connected to the implant in her head that translated alien languages and allowed her to connect to the galactic extranet from almost anywhere in the galaxy. This sensor would send a signal to this implant beeping whenever she got closer to releasing the mechanism to unlock the handcuffs.


    A few moments after finishing her conversation with ANDI she managed to unlock her cuffs and ran out of the cockpit.


    ANDI pursued her into the next room, and attempted to restrain her as she rushed to the panel that unlocked the weapons stored in the walls. It managed to catch up to her just before she got to the panel, and grabbed both of her wrists and restrained her.


    When Rebecca grunted from the pain ANDI immediately released its grip. "This unit is not permitted to harm the prisoner. Determining best course of action to apprehend prisoners without causing any physical harm."


    Rebecca went for the panel again as ANDI stood there trying to figure out how to apprehend her. Rebecca had a perfect memory, and is able to remember everything she sees our hears with almost perfect accuracy. She memorized the sounds that each number on a keypad made when Captain Starforged pressed it, and determined the code for the key panel this way.


    Rebecca entered the code, and the same shelves holding several different weapons flipped open on the wall. She wasn''t experienced with guns, so she decided to pick up a pair of black gloves that were used for hand-to-hand combat.


    After putting on the gloves, Rebecca ran for the door and escaped onto the UFS Baron.

 Chaos

    As ANDI saw Rebecca running towards the door he began to follow her out of the room. "Halt, I am not authorized to use force, so all I can say is halt! If you refuse to comply I will continue to say halt!"


    Once Rebecca stepped foot onto the enemy ship, she took the right path with the intent of heading toward an area that she thought wouldn''t be as heavily guarded. Having seen the dead bodies down the left corridor she assumed the rest of the crew had gone down that corridor, and the enemy wouldn''t be expecting anyone to go in the opposite direction.


    ANDI stood at the edge of the airlock to the Appalachia, which was still connected to the UFS Baron, and tried to determine what his next move should be.


    "Error. I have been commanded to protect the prisoner, but I have also been commanded to keep her on the ship. Operation failure. Prisoner has escaped. This unit is incapable of both protecting prisoners and preventing prisoners from leaving the ship at this moment. Awaiting orders for next assignment. Will wait in standby mode, and protect the Appalachia from intruders until further instructions have been received from a ranking officer."


    At that moment Hendricks, who was eating popcorn, entered the cockpit and noticed that Rebecca was gone. Hendricks found ANDI standing in the air lock. "Hey ANDI, what''s going on? What happened to the kid?"


    ANDI noticed that Hendricks was their asking him questions, but didn''t respond due to the captain telling him to ignore Hendricks earlier.


    "ANDI? Is something wrong buddy." Hendricks waved his hand in front of ANDI''s face, but didn''t get any response.


    ***


    The rest of the crew had just reached the common area/living quarters of the UFS Baron, and were figuring out what their next move should be when Hendricks suddenly contacted Captain Starforged on the com.


    "Owl this is Scarecrow. Do you copy."


    "I hear you Scarecrow. You have an update for me?" Captain Starforged asked expecting Scarecrow was just calling to let him know there was another patrol heading in their direction.


    "Well, the girl escaped, and ANDI is broken. He isn''t replying to anything I say, and the girl somehow got out of her handcuffs, and I think she''s on the pirate ship."


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    Captain Starforged wiped his hand on his face, and felt tense from all of the chaos that was going on around him. Before he responded to Hendricks, he had Rodriguez and Morgan start setting up a barricade in the common area while he walked into the next room.


    The room he had come from looked like a mess hall. There were doors on each side of the room that were located directly across from one another, and were lined up with the center of the room.


    The room Captain Starforged stepped into was the kitchen. Just like the rest of the ships neither this room, nor the dining area it was connected to were very well lit, and had an island countertop in the middle.


    Captain Starforged made his way around the island and found a kelafi pirate passed on the floor while holding a bottle of alcohol. ¡°Got drunk and passed out. Real shame it has to end this way for you.¡±


    He shot the unconscious pirate in the stomach and checked the kitchen for anybody who might be potentially hiding. Once he was done, Captain Starforged responded to Hendricks. He recalled how he had told ANDI to ignore Hendricks earlier, so the first thing he did was tell ANDI he could listen to him again.


    "Oh, and both of you." Captain Starforged said before cutting off the communications. "Make sure you guys¡¯ lockdown the ship. We can''t worry about the girl right now. We''re in a tight spot, so we''ll check on her once we get ourselves out of this mess."


    "Copy that boss,¡± Hendricks replied. "I''ll close and lock the doors, and let you know if any patrols start heading your direction.¡±


    As Hendricks said that a group of a dozen Kelafi pirates passed by the airlock leading into the Appalachia and went down the corridor that Captain Starforged and the others went down. One of them noticed that the door to the Appalachia was open, and called over a few of the others in the group to head in that direction.


    About half a dozen kelafi pirates charged Hendricks and ANDI, so ANDI sprang into action. ANDI had a laser implanted into its right arm, so when it saw enemies approaching that arm transformed into what looked like a single thin barrel and opened fire on them.


    Pew! It took out two of them before the group scattered and took cover on each side of the door on the UFS Baron''s side of the hall connecting the two ships. One tried to go back into the corridor so he could get an angle on ANDI, but ANDI shot the pirate while they attempted to change positions.


    While ANDI was busy holding them off Hendricks closed the Appalachia''s airlock door. Afterwards he contacted Captain Starforged to inform him that he had at least half a dozen pirates heading his direction.


    ¡°Blackbird, Harpy we¡¯ve got company coming our way.¡± Captain Starforged was about to return to the mess hall when he suddenly heard coughing coming from the kelafi pirate that he had shot earlier.


    The kelafi slowly lifting his head, and open his eye while trying to catch his breathe.


    Seeing that he was still alive, Captain Starforged pointed his gun at the pirate, and saw an opportunity to get some information before they got swarmed by enemies. ¡°The faster you start talking, the sooner your suffering ends.¡±

 Interrogation

    The kelafi pirate who Captain Starforged thought he had taken out was barely hanging on to life. He was slowly coming back to consciousness when Captain Starforged noticed, and pointed his gun at it expecting it to make a move.


    He opened his eyes and looked at Captain Starforged. The kelafi pirate felt a stinging pain in his stomach where he had been shot. After hearing Captain Starforged¡¯s threat, he spoke to him telepathically. "Human, I''m not long for this world. Do you intend to finish the job?"


    "I want some information." Captain Starforged slowly approached the pirate while pointing his gun at the pirate¡¯s head. ¡°You contacted others didn''t you?"


    The voice in pirate¡¯s head was slow as if thinking itself was a strenuous task for him. "Yes. We are the 12th division of the Crimson Tide under the command of Captain Raging Crimson. Even if you manage to escape today, our fleets will hunt you down to the ends of the galaxy."


    Captain Starforged was familiar with the Crimson Tide. They were a large fleet of pirates under a single banner. However, they didn''t have a single central leader; they were more like a group of allied crews who agreed to work together in order to ward off the wraith of the military. Most mercenaries wouldn''t take jobs to take on any single ship under the Crimson Tide banner because they feared the rest of the fleet would target them. The arrival of the Crimson Tide certainly complicated things, but Captain Starforged knew that retaliating here wouldn¡¯t paint a target on his back, since it was one of their ships who attacked first. Furthermore, if the crew could get ahold of AGI, they would take out this ship, thus the ire of the Crimson Tide would fall on the AGI itself.


    "Tell me where the signal jammer is located. And also, how many of you there are?" Captain Starforged had his finger hovering over the trigger.


    It might have seemed like a threat, but the pirate was in immense pain from the laser wound in his stomach. Death seemed like a mercy to him at this point, yet the pirate wouldn¡¯t give in so easily.


    The pirate snarled at the captain. "Where do you think?¡± There are over a hundred of us on this ship. You have no chance of getting out of here."


    "I think you''ll be surprised."


    "Are you going to shoot me now, or just leave me here to die?"


    "I can''t have you get up and trying something. We''re already in a tough enough situation." Once Captain Starforged shot the pirate through the head was done interrogating him and returned to Rodriguez and Morgan.


    Morgan walked into the kitchen just in time to see the tail end of the interrogation. "How merciful."


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    "Don''t know what you''re talking about. I don¡¯t have a shred of mercy for the enemy."


    Morgan and Rodriguez had been working with Captain Starforged for a few years now, so they knew how he operated. He certainly didn''t like leaving loose ends, but he also wasn''t the person who enjoyed leaving people to suffer. Finishing them off instead of letting them slowly die was the only mercy Captain Starforged could offer someone.


    The trio continued to move around the tables and chairs in an attempt to make a barricade. Unfortunately, they wouldn''t make very good cover, but they could slow down the enemy. They set a couple up right in front of each door and scattered the chairs around the room. They hunkered down inside the kitchen, cutting off the entrance to the room using multiple tables, and they used the walls and the island as cover as they waited for the siege to begin.


    ***


    While Captain Starforged, Rodriguez, and Morgan set up the barricade, Rebecca explored the back half of the ship. She was searching for a terminal she could use to hack into the ship¡¯s internal systems. Rebecca ducked behind corners, and slipped into other rooms to avoid being seen by any patrols. There weren''t very many of them, but she knew if she was seen, then there was no way she could win in a firefight. Even with a gun, she would be no match for one of these pirates. She felt a lot more comfortable using her fists, and that''s why she chose gloves over the various guns that were on the Appalachia.


    After a few minutes of wandering and hiding, Rebecca came across a couple of people who looked like they were working on a panel in one of the hallways. One of them was obviously a kelafi pirate. The pirates each wore a red overcoat over a black shirt and pants with a laser rifle slung over their shoulders and a pistol on their hips. The pirate that Rebecca saw was no exception.


    The other person working on the panel was an ophthalian, or fish person, wearing a red jumpsuit. The ophthalian was unarmed and wore a collar around its neck that Rebecca had seen before on the black market. It was an explosive collar often used by Crimson Tide pirates to keep slaves in line that also doubled as a shock collar.


    Rebecca clicked her tongue. She hated the idea of anyone being forced into slavery. She then looked around to see if there were any other patrols on their way, but didn''t see or hear anything. Rebecca then decided to sneak up behind the pirate to attempt to knock it out, so she slowly crept around the corner.


    There were only a few feet between her and the pirate, and it''s back was turned toward her to look on the panel which was on the opposite wall that Rebecca was creeping along. Once she got within a couple of feet of the pirate, Rebecca rushed toward it, and struck it in the head with her fist.


    Rebecca could feel bone breaking under her fist, and her punch felt a lot stronger than she had expected. She also felt some kind of force or shock come from the gloves that was likely the cause of the extra force behind her punch.


    As the pirate fell down, she proceeded to get behind the Ophthalian and cover his mouth before he noticed to prevent him from screaming.


    Rebecca whispered in his ear in an attempt to calm him down. "Shhh, my name¡¯s Rebecca. I''m one of the intruders, but I''m not going to hurt you. If you answer my questions I''ll be able to get you out of here. Do we have a deal?"


    He nodded and once Rebecca removed her hands from his mouth he relaxed and introduced himself. "My name is Bar-moon, and I would be more than happy to assist you. ¡°He stated while standing up and bowing to her while placing his right hand on his chest.

 Calling For Help

    Bar-moon stood just over 6 feet with a head that looked sort of like the head of a white bass except his scales were sky blue. Like others of his race Bar-moon had webbed hands, and he had a single fin going down his back. He also had brown eyes with large iris''s that took up most of the visible part of the eye. Despite the fact that those of his race looked like fish, they didn''t need water to survive, and could actually breathe both air and water.


    The Ophthalian race is a constitutional monarchy, so they tended to be very formal when speaking to strangers and would bow as a greeting. In this particular case, Bar-moon owed Rebecca his life, so he bowed to the point where his torso and legs were making a 90-degree angle. "What exactly is it you need me to do my lady?"


    Rebecca stood confidently wither hands on her hips. "My lady. I like the sound of that! Okay, the first thing I need you to do is tell me what this panel does."


    "This panel is essentially just a transformer that helps distribute and regulate power to this section of the ship. This one in particular regulates the power going toward the engine room." Bar-moon pointed toward the other end of the hall opposite of where Rebecca came from, and continued to fill her in on what was going on with the panel. " Apparently this panel blew a fuse, and this caused a power surge which is why the lights aren¡¯t functioning properly. We''ve been attempting to fix it, but we''ve had to switch to emergency lighting to compensate."


    Rebecca didn¡¯t know much about electrical systems, but she hoped she could use it to send out a signal. "Would I be able to access any major systems from this panel?"


    "No unfortunately not. The computer in this panel only connects to the power system and nothing else. If you want to access any other systems, you''ll have to go to the bridge, or directly to the source of the system you want to access.


    "There are a few places where you could theoretically send out an S.O.S if you had the ability to hack into it. I could show you where to find one of these panels", Bar-moon bowed again the same way he did before.


    "Alright that should work, but first let me remove this collar." Rebecca hooked in the console she had around her left arm using a wire, and was able to easily disable the collar.


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    Bar-moon¡¯s jaw dropped when he saw how quickly Rebecca was able to hack his collar. "That was impressive. Those aren''t easy to hack into from what I understand. You must be very talented."


    "I know. Thank you." Rebecca then picked up the rifle and pistol the dead pirate had on him and gave them to Bar-moon. "Do you know how to use either of these?"


    "I have some experience with rifles, so I''d be happy to have your back if we get into any trouble."


    "Thank you. Now show me where to go."


    Rebecca and Bar-moon went off down the hall past the engineering room, and proceeded through various corridors until they reached a maintenance closet on the opposite side of the ship. Bar-moon opened the door to the closet with a key, and rummaged around for a fire extinguisher. He then used the fire extinguisher to break open a false wall in the closet. There was a panel located behind it with several different buttons on it that were difficult to make sense of. ¡°You should be able to hack into a few major systems from here.¡±


    Rebecca hardwired her computer into the panel and hacked into the system. She quickly sent out a message on an emergency channel that could be heard by any ships in an adjacent system.


    "Hello this is." Rebecca paused for a moment not wanting to give out her name, but she was also unable to think of a name to use. "I''m a member of the crew of the Appalachia and the Starforged Detective Agency. We are currently engaged in combat with a group of pirates called¡­"


    Before she continued, Rebecca looked at Bar-moon expecting him to know the name of the pirate crew. He told her they were on the UFS Baron a ship controlled by Captain Raging Crimson of the 12th division of the Crimson Tide.


    Rebecca past this information along in the message, and included coordinates of the ship. She also sent it out on the AGI frequency she had hacked into when she was listening in on the conversation between the crew of the Appalachia and their AGI contact in hopes they''d be able to send help directly.


    Rebecca was relieved that a distress call had finally been sent out. "Okay well now that that is all taken care of do you know of any ways we can make things easier on the rest of my team? They''re in a pretty tight position."


    "I can think of one way since we''re near the engine room, but it''ll be dangerous," Bar-moon explained wanting to make sure she was prepared. "And there could be casualties."


    Rebecca was determined to help out the crew of the Appalachia even though she hadn''t had the best experience with them so far. "Well, if we don''t do anything my team could be dead before any help even arrives, so let''s go."


    After that Bar-moon proceeded to lead Rebecca back toward the engine room where they would presumably be able to cause some trouble for the pirates.

 Pirate Siege

    Hendricks and ANDI stood in the hallway connecting the two ships while waiting for Captain Starforged to respond to Hendricks. Hendricks had gotten bored waiting and began throwing popcorn in ANDI¡¯s mouth hoping it would react. After several attempts that ended with popcorn hitting ANDI''s face, Hendricks finally made it into its mouth, but ANDI didn''t respond.


    Captain Starforged contacted them a couple of minutes later and told them to forget going after Rebecca and lock down the ship. ANDI, who had now been ordered to listen to Hendricks again, assisted locking the place down, but after a couple of minutes more pirates arrived trying to break into the ship. From what they could tell one of them was attempting to hotwire the panel to open the door, but wasn''t having much luck.


    While the pirates where busy Hendricks picked up a random rifle from the shelves, and returned to the airlock door to discuss with ANDI how they should take care of these pirates. "We could take one of the grenades and toss them out there, then just reseal the door, and keep doing that every time one of those patrols comes by."


    "Negative,¡± ANDI said. ¡°We only have three remaining, and these grenades are not easy to acquire according to the captain. We need to be conservative with them."


    "We can''t really win in a straight up fire fight. They''ll overwhelm us next time a patrol comes by."


    ANDI conceded to Hendricks¡¯s point and the two of them tried thinking of other ways they could deal with the pirates.


    "We could just detach the Appalachia from the Baron, then they wouldn''t be a problem", Hendricks said, wondering why he hadn''t thought of such as simple solution earlier.


    "Then they will start focusing all of their attention on the captain and the rest of the crew." ANDI pointed out. "Their survival depends on us staying here and splitting the pirates¡¯ forces until they can deactivate the jammer."


    Hendricks could see ANDI¡¯s point, so he took a moment to think before an idea suddenly struck his mind. "Wait ANDI we can use Charlotte."


    "How will Crewman Morgan''s mech help us?" ANDI asked curious about what he had in mind.


    "It''s simple, we can use the mech to blow a hole in the enemy ship and it''ll suck all those pirates out into space. Then the crew on the bridge will be forced to reseal them with the blast doors to prevent the rest of their buddies from flying out into space."


    "The plan is crude, but it should be effective in resolving our current predicament." ANDI agreed with the plan, so he stayed behind to defend the ship while Hendricks ran to the cargo bay.


    Upon arrival, Hendricks entered the mech¡¯s (a.k.a Charlotte¡¯s) cockpit and opened the cargo bay doors on the roof.


    Hendricks flew Charlotte to a wall on the UFS Baron near the Appalachia¡¯s airlock, and pulled out the rifle on the Charlotte''s back.


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    Meanwhile, inside the UFS Baron the group of pirates trying to break into the Appalachia couldn''t hear the laser fire since the Charlotte was out in a void, but they could hear a banging sound on the ship¡¯s hull. The sound repeated several times, until suddenly- Bang! A hole was blown into the ship, and a strong suction force swept the pirates trying to break into the Appalachia into the empty void of space. The last thing they saw was the Charlotte before their bodies instantly exploded from the lack of gravity.


    A few moments later another group of kelafi pirates who were presumably on their way toward the captains group got sucked out of the ship as well before the blast doors sealed the hole.


    Hendricks tried to do the same thing again with another airlock, but once he got through, it appeared that they had already sealed that one too.


    "We''ll ANDI, I think they caught on to what we were doing and sealed all of the airlocks." Hendricks said over the com. " I''m returning to the Appalachia. We''ll have to come up with something else if they try getting into the ship again."


    ***


    Meanwhile Captain Starforged, Rodriguez, and Morgan we busy trying to hold off a swarm kelafi pirates. There were several blast doors between this section of the ship and where the Appalachia was parked, so they were unaffected by the giant hole Hendricks blew into the side of the UFS Baron.


    Ahg! Captain Starforged bellowed after almost being hit by a laser. All the chairs and tables thrown about made it difficult for the kelafi pirates to move around in the mess hall, but Captain Starforged and his crew were still backed into a corner.


    An enemy tried crawling under the table they had placed in front of the door, but once it got up from under, it was gunned down by Morgan. A couple of them tried shoving both of the tables in front of the door, but Captain Starforged and Rodriguez took them out before they got very far with it.


    One of the pirates attempted to lift the tables using their psionic powers and toss them toward the Appalachia''s crew. The tables didn''t get very far, and that kelafi pirate was left wide open, providing Rodriguez with the perfect opportunity to take it out.


    Rodriguez triumphantly pumped his fist as he took cover behind a cabinet to avoid incoming laser fire. ¡°Yes. That¡¯s three down for me. How are you two doing?¡±


    Morgan rolled her eyes. ¡°Are you two really counting to see who can kill the most?¡±


    ¡°Everything¡¯s a competition.¡± Captain Starforged then shot two overeager kelafi pirates who tried rushing them. ¡°That makes five for me, Rodriguez.¡±


    Another group of half a dozen pirates tried entering the kitchen through another door, but were obstructed by more tables and chairs and were shot down. However, the kelafi pirates used their psionic powers to remove the obstructions from the other side as well, leaving Captain Starforged and his crew with nothing to prevent more pirates from entering the room.


    The pirates swarmed the room, and eventually there were enough firing at once that the crew of the Appalachia couldn''t even stick their heads out to fire back.


    Captain Starforged pulled the other grenade out of his coat, and rolled it toward the enemy. It made it a quarter of the way across the room, and stopped once it bumped into one of the chairs that had been randomly tossed.


    Captain Starforged rolled his eyes and shot near the grenade a couple of times hoping the force of the blasts would get it to move a couple feet toward the center. After a couple of shots, the grenade was just close enough, and he detonated it with his wristwatch, taking out all but one of the dozen pirates who were in the room at the time.


    The last one was taken out by Morgan since she was able to get a shot off now that there weren¡¯t dozens of lasers firing in her direction.


    The trio was silent as they stared at the empty room before them, until Captain Starforged said. ¡°Rodriguez, that makes sixteen.¡±

 Sabotage

    Rebecca and Bar-moon planned on infiltrating the engine room in hopes of causing more chaos to buy them time before help arrived. It was a heavily guarded facility, but it was the only facility they could get to without running into more pirate patrols.


    So far they didn''t really have a long-term plan, and we''re just doing things on the fly while trying to avoid getting themselves cornered. Rebecca and Bar-moon returned to the panel that Bar-moon was working on early and used it to cut off the power to the lights in the engine room. They then destroyed the panel and doubled back toward the maintenance closet to hide while a patrol passed them by before they proceeded down the corridor to another panel.


    Bar-moon had detailed knowledge of many of the ships systems since he was one of the brightest engineers the pirates kept on their crew, so sabotaging the ships systems would be easy as long as they didn''t get caught.


    Bar-moon led Rebecca to another panel that was connected to the door controls in that section of the ship, so Rebecca was able to close all of the blast doors. This separated and trapped various different patrols which gave Bar-moon and Rebecca more room to work with. She implanted a back door she could use in the system so she could access it remotely while they were on the run, and continued to follow Bar-moon to sabotage more systems.


    Now that they had control over the blast doors, they circled back to the engine room, and initiated their plan. Rebecca waited in the maintenance closet while Bar-moon offered to draw them out.


    Bar-moon crept up to the engine room door and opened it without drawing too much attention. Thankfully, all of the lights were off in the engine room, and most of the pirates were in close proximity to one another.


    Pew, pew! Bar-moon shot one of the guards twice before storming off back toward the maintenance closet.


    Four guards pursued him, but Bar-moon hid in the maintenance closet with Rebecca before any of them could find him. However, the four guards came by it and two of them continued on while two others decided to check the closet itself.


    A few moments after the other two guards ran off, Rebecca sealed a set of blast doors behind them to cut them off, but she still had to find a way to deal with the two guards standing right outside the maintenance closet. She and Bar-moon didn''t have any other choice besides taking out the guards themselves, so Rebecca charged out of the door at one of the guards. Rebecca punched him, while Bar-moon just barely shot the other one in time before he could react.


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    With those two guards down, Rebecca grabbed one of the pistols from the two guards they had just taken out, and returned with Bar-moon to the entrance to the engine room to see how many guards remained. From what Bar-moon recalled, there were usually about eight guards on duty at any given time in the engine room with around a dozen enslaved engineers, including himself.


    When they approached the door to the engineering room, they saw that it was still wide open, and there were about five separate beams from flashlights moving about the room. One of them was pointed down toward the floor leading up to the door, and there was a single guard walking along the catwalk that led to the entrance.


    The room was pretty large being anywhere from five times the size of the cargo bay of the Appalachia with a couple of massive engines standing about ten feet apart from one another with the two of them taking up half of the room. The entrance led to a series of catwalks that were suspended about twenty feet over the floor of the engineering room, and there were two stairs on the far end of each side of the catwalk that each descended in a u shape.


    Rebecca and Bar-moon spotted a couple guards walking up the stairs, and the one who was patrolling the catwalks turned to face them. Seeing a good opportunity to strike, Rebecca attempted to shoot all three of them, but he only hit the guard who was initially patrolling the catwalk.


    As for Bar-moon he was able to take out one of the others, but the last one took cover on the stairwell placing the two groups in a standoff.


    Rebecca was about to rush in when Bar moon stopped her. "Stay back. If you charge out there, he''ll have no problem gunning you down before you even get to him."


    Another guard ran up the opposite set of stairs, and Bar-moon almost shot him. The pirate retreated back down the stairwell. That same guard came back up the stairs, but this time he had one of the engineers in a headlock in front of him.


    "Is he using that guy as a shield?" Rebecca asked surprised by the cruelty these pirates were showing.


    "Yes, that''s Ti-bar." Bar-moon stated with a sad look in his eyes. "Poor kid."


    The Ophthalian the pirate was holding looked pretty young. In fact, he was probably around Rebecca''s age. His head looked like that of a salmon except his scales were green and had blue eyes, and he had a collar around his neck.


    Bar-moon wasn¡¯t able to get a good angle on the pirate holding Ti-bar, but the other pirate hiding on the opposite stairwell started getting bold. The pirate came up the stairs to the catwalk, but Rebecca had a good angle and shot them a couple of times.


    The pirate holding Ti-bar continued approaching until they got about five feet from the door. The pirate continued shooting through the door in Rebecca and Bar-moon¡¯s direction leaving them without any chance of popping their heads out to return fire.


    Suddenly the pirate stopped firing, and Rebecca and Bar-moon both heard a body hitting the catwalk.

 Scarecrow Enters the Fray

    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."


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    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.¡±

 Raging Crimson

    Raging Crimson was the captain of the recommissioned UFS Baron which was renamed the CTS Baron, which stood for Crimson Tide Ship Baron. He had won command of his ship and crew by defeating the last captain in a dual to the death, as is the custom among ship captains in the Crimson Tide. If you killed your captain you could take command, and if you win a dual against another captain you could take their ship and put your own subordinate in charge.


    The Crimson Tide was an alliance, but they were pirates first and foremost, meaning they''d have no problem turning against each other to gain more power. The whole idea was good in theory, but not in practice. It did have its advantages though like the infamy that came with being a member of the fleet, and they had a neutral zone where fights were forbidden between the different groups. All of this made it worthwhile to stay with the Crimson Tide.


    Raging Crimson had spent ten years working under his predecessor, but three years ago he rallied enough support among his fellow crewmen and challenged his captain to a dual for command. Although all kelafi were capable of using psionic powers very few developed them enough to be considered true threats with them. Raging Crimson was one of the few who had become a powerful psionic and that''s how he was able to easily defeat his captain and take command of the CTS Baron.


    Throughout the entire assault up until now Raging Crimson stood on the bridge maintaining contact with the different patrols on the Baron, but now that chaos had spread to multiple sections of the ship, he decided it was time to take matters into his own hands.


    ¡°All of you, follow me,¡± Raging Crimson said as he passed by a patrol.


    His first goal was to deal with the three intruders trapped in the common area, then go to the engine room to re-establish order. The Appalachia was last on his agenda because he believed that either his boarding team would break into it, or the turrets would destroy it if they tried to escape.


    He walked into the hall that paralleled the common area and saw several of his subordinates just waiting around. Some of them were wounded, but the rest were just waiting for there to be room. There wasn''t a lot of cover in the mess hall, so they were afraid to all go in there and get torn apart by random laser fire.


    Raging Crimson established a psychic link with all of his subordinates and began chewing them at. ¡°There are over a dozen of you here, and another dozen on the other side, but you can manage to smoke out three lossy merc''s! Those of you who are just waiting out here, go to the turrets!¡±


    About half a dozen of them ran off down the hall, and Raging Crimson joined the fight in the common area. "I''ll kill these intruders myself."


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    Raging Crimson put up a psionic force field that surrounded him up to five feet on all sides as he walked into the common area. The force field looked like a thin gray distortion of air that surrounded his body, and the crew of the Appalachia began to worry once Raging crimson entered the fight.


    He was a red kelafi with black eyes, and wore a long black coat, black trousers, red shirt, and a trifold hat that screamed pirate captain. He also had a large black revolver with a wooden grip, and a photon saber on his hip.


    ¡°You remind me of Earth roaches. Troublesome, ugly, and annoying. But you will be crushed beneath my book just like any other bug.¡± Raging Crimson used his psionic powers to toss the chairs and tables that were scattered around the room with just a few waves of his hands.


    A couple of pirates tried to rush in, but were gunned down by Morgan.


    Raging Crimson tossed their bodies aside with his psionic powers. "Don''t charge in, you fools. I''ll capture the captain, then you can sweep up the other two."


    This whole time Captain Starforged and Rodriguez tried to shoot at Raging Crimson, but his psionic field took every shot without any issues. Raging Crimson held out his hand and pushed Rodriguez back against the wall with his psionics. He then held out his other hand and pulled Captain Starforged toward him, and choked him using psionic powers.


    Captain Starforged struggled and managed to grab Raging Crimson¡¯s head and pressed into his eyes.


    Ahg! Raging Crimson grunted and used his psionic powers to toss Captain Starforged back into the kitchen, knocking the wind out of him.


    Morgan and Rodriguez tried shooting several times, but they still couldn''t penetrate his psionic force field.


    Seeing Captain Starforged was vulnerable, another pirate tried getting close to shoot him. However, Captain Starforged got up in time, pulled a snub nose revolver out of his coat pocket, and shot the pirate. Captain Starforged shook his hand because of the pain from the guns recoil while rolling over behind the wall to get into cover.


    Captain Starforged noticed that Raging Crimson recovered and fired a couple more times. ¡°Blackbird, Harpy take cover.¡±


    Rodriguez and Morgan followed his suggestion. They were trying to stay out of his direct line of sight with the hopes of luring him in. They knew that if they got within five feet of him they be on the other side of his psionic field, and would easily be able to take him out.


    Raging Crimson didn¡¯t fall for their ploy, and telepathically communicated with one of his subordinates. ¡°Shoot them on my signal.¡±


    Raging Crimson then threw them into the kitchen faster than Captain Starforged and the Rodr8guez could react. The pirate floated in the air toward Morgan and managed to shoot Rodriguez in the shoulder. However, Morgan killed them before they could shoot again.


    Raging Crimson yelled in fury. ¡°Fine, we¡¯ll just wait them out. They¡¯ll get more tired, and more desperate. We¡¯ll be able to capitalize on their mistakes to finish them off.¡±


    After only a few moments of waiting, a voice familiar to the crew of the Appalachia spoke over the UFS Baron¡¯s intercoms. "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."

 AGI Arrives

    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.

 Quips and Payments

    Hendricks started up the Appalachia and pulled it around the Baron toward the Gomorrah allowing the rest of the crew to catch their first glimpse of the new colossal sized ship that AGI had just pressed into service. As they flew by they saw several AGI shuttles that looked like flying blue and yellow rectangular boxes with two small fins on the bottom docking with the Baron, presumably filled with AGI soldiers.


    They received permission to dock with the Gomorrah, and rather than allowing them to board the Gomorrah, Captain Lich agreed to meet the crew of the Appalachia in the airlocks connecting the two ships.


    Several guards who were covered head to toe in blue armor with yellow stripes carrying assault rifles stood by to ensure that none of them got onto the ship, and after a few minutes, Captain Lich arrived. He was a human male of average height with short black hair, brown eyes, peach fuzz, and pasty white skin. He wore blue pants with a yellow stripe down the sides, and a blue button-up coat with yellow buttons and stripes on the sleeves along with yellow trimmings.


    He carried an aura of power and authority as he walked, and kept his shoulders perfectly square with his chest puffed out. Aside from the frown on his face when he approached Captain Starforged, everything else about Captain Lich made him look like the poster boy for how a good soldier should appear.


    "Well Captain that was some good work." Captain Lich may have spoken in a professional manner, but the look in his eyes said he was mocking Captain Starforged. ¡°I didn''t expect your signal to come on an open frequency from within the ship itself, but what''s done is done."


    "There were some complications." Captain Starforged said. "Apparently they were still able to jam us despite the upgraded communications system AGI generously provided us with, but one of our own managed to send out a signal using one of their channels nonetheless."


    It was easy to tell that the two of them were mocking each other, and Rebecca got the feeling that they had issues. It was something she decided to ask about it later. ¡°You¡¯re welcome.¡±


    Captain Lich smirked, hoping to get underneath Captain Starforged''s skin. "This is why I initially wanted to use agents from within AGI itself. We wouldn''t have had this problem, because we could have setup a quantum communicator if it were one of our ships."


    Captain Starforged shook his head. "If it were one of your ships, they would have been suspicious, and you probably wouldn''t have been able to draw them out. And besides, if any of you AGIB''s got caught up in the situation we did, you''d of chocked from all the pressure. This is a lot harder than guarding brothels all day."


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    Rebecca could see Captain Lich start to cringe when Captain Starforged referred to him as an AGIB, but wasn''t sure what that meant. "What in the cosmos does AGIB mean?"


    Captain Starforged¡¯s grin grew wider. "I''ll give you a hint kid. The AGI should be self-explanatory, but as for the rest¡­ B stands for broadrunners. It¡¯s Sortis slang for corporate thugs who get hired at brothels for easy access to the ladies."


    Rebecca covered her mouth with her hand to try to hide her laughter, but to no avail.


    Captain Starforged lightly chuckled. "I figured it was an appropriate insult for a force of AGI lapdogs who spend more time in brothels then guarding actual shipments.¡±


    "The only reason we work the brothels is because it pays well, and it¡¯s easy money." Captain Lich retorted.


    When Captain Starforged heard him say this, he raised an eyebrow and snickered at him. "The way you said that makes your men sound like a bunch of working girls, Captain."


    Seeing the look on Captain Starforged''s face Captain Lich realized how what he had said sounded and hung his head for a moment. "Well, I guess you got me there Starforged. Well, I''ve already sent you the payment for the job, and the finder¡¯s fee for the cargo and slaves we recovered from their ship."


    "It''s been a pleasure working with you", Captain Starforged held his hand out to shake hands with the captain.


    Captain Lich reluctantly shook his hand. "Anytime."


    The crew of the Appalachia closed the airlock door behind them as they returned to the cockpit of the Appalachia, and as they walked away Captain Lich thought to himself "Stupid mercs."


    ***


    The crew of the Appalachia sat down in the cockpit and filled Rebecca and Bar-moon in on their mission. They explained how they were hired by AGI to steal a fake package and present it to Tranquil Blue who they suspected was involved in the theft of cargo from AGI transports, and how they intentionally let Tranquil Blue stab them in the back while they planted a bug in his shop to catch him in the act.


    They initially planned to immediately contact AGI once the pirates arrived, but the stronger jamming equipment of the UFS Baron threw everything off.


    There was a look of embarrassment and defeat on Rebecca¡¯s face. "So, what you¡¯re telling me is that my plan to warn you guys about the impending ambush was pointless."


    "Essentially yes", Captain Starforged said. "But you have proven to be a capable enough fighter, and useful crew mate, so if you want the job, you can come with us."


    Rebecca couldn''t help but smile when she heard this. She began to think of everything that happened to her since she snuck aboard this ship and knew she''d be in for a crazy ride if she joined this eccentric captain¡¯s crew. However, she was bored with her old life, and was looking forward to adventure. Rebecca then saluted Captain Starforged as a joke. "Well then, I''m coming aboard Captain."


    Captain Starforged gave Rebecca a warm smile. "Welcome aboard kid."

 New Crew Member

    "So now what do we do?" Rebecca asked eager to start her new life traveling around the galaxy.


    Captain Starforged leaned back in his seat. "Well first we have to return to Sortis and help AGI apprehend Tranquil Blue. It''s more of a formality then anything. We just have to sign a statement, and hand over the bud to them. I bet you also have something you''d like to pick up back in the station too."


    Rebecca remembered her computer back in the old shuttle in docking bay 74 on the space station orbiting Sortis. It would require a lot of power, more than this ship could probably produce, but it was worth taking with her, even if she couldn¡¯t find an immediate power source.. ¡°Is there a place I could setup some computer equipment, and something I can use to power a quantum computer?"


    "We''ll see what we can scrounge from Tranquil Blue''s place, but as for the place to setup I''ll take you to where Mikey the Rat used to work." Captain Starforged then led Rebecca down to the living quarters and to a nook under the stairs opposite the maintenance closet that she found ANDI charging in.


    The nook already had a desk, chair, and a computer setup that wasn''t nearly as advanced as the one Rebecca had. However, it was still big enough for everything Rebecca had, and was actually a little more spacious than the shuttle she used.


    She took a seat and powered up the computer. It had most of the bells and whistles she would need to do her work, but it lacked the processing power of her setup. "This will do for now."


    ***


    A few minutes later the Appalachia jumped back into orbit around Sortis, and headed toward docking bay 74 of the orbital space station.


    When the crew saw the sight of the large desert planet in front of them, it felt like a large load was lifted off their shoulders. They had gotten more than they had bargained for with this mission, and they could finally relax a little.


    The crew noticed that an AGI shuttle was also docked in the same hanger as them, and an AGI security team was already going to apprehend Tranquil Blue. Captain Starforged had Morgan cone along with him to help apprehend Tranquil Blue while the others helped Rebecca move her things onto the Appalachia.


    Rebecca already had most of her stuff packed up beside her computer, so it was pretty easy to move everything. She basically just threw it all in the nook under the stairs, and laid out a cot to sleep on. Rebecca was used to sleeping like this since she spent several nights slaving away on her computer. She was always too tired to return to the small one room apartment she had on the station, so she just fell asleep in the shuttle.


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    Around the same time they finished loading all of Rebecca stuff onto the Appalachia, Captain Starforged and Morgan returned with the AGI security team who had Tranquil Blue in photon handcuffs that were supposed to be impossible to get out of.


    "What will AGI do with him?" Rebecca asked, curious about their procedures for dealing with prisoners.


    Captain Starforged seemed uninterested, but he replied to Rebecca¡¯s comment, nonetheless. "They can cut him up, fry him, and dip him in a lemon-basil sauce for all I care. I just hope we never see him again."


    Rebecca grinned. "Harsh. But this is the first time you were actually funny."


    Captain Starforged just ignored her and returned to the Appalachia with the rest of his crew, which included Rebecca.


    Bar-moon had stayed to help Rebecca move her things, but he had to return to his home. He also told Rebecca how to contact him if she ever needed his assistance. He waved goodbye to her and the rest of the crew after thanking all of them for saving him, and proceeded to exit the docking bay to find another ship heading toward his home world.


    They all returned to the cockpit, but before Rebecca stepped onto the ship, she took one last look at the old shuttle she used to spend days in that was still tucked away to the side of the hanger.


    There wasn''t any point bringing it along with her. It would take up too much room, and was pretty old anyways. Still, it felt like she was leaving her home, so she felt a little nostalgic. After a few moments, she stepped into the platform with the rest of the crew, and the all proceeded through the cargo bay, up the stairs, and into the cockpit.


    Everyone else took the same seats that they had taken before, and Rebecca sat down in the same seat she had been handcuffed to earlier.


    When they all sat down Captain Starforged turned his chair around to look at Rebecca and began speaking. "Well, I guess I should officially introduce the crew to you, newbie, so listen up. The android next to you is the crews analysis/combat android, ANDI. He listens to me above everyone else unless I tell him otherwise, so just keep that in mind. The woman in front of you is Carla Morgan a.k.a Harpy who, officially speaking, is our mech pilot, but she''s also a talented sniper. Across from her is Carlos Rodriguez a.k.a Blackbird who¡¯s also a hired gun. This guy next to me is our good-for-nothing pilot Jimmy Hendricks. Like the song artist, but spelled different. And finally, I''m Captain Jack Starforged, or Detective Jack Starforged in some circles. I''m the captain of this crew, and sole owner and private investigator of Starforged Detective Agency. Welcome to the crew."


    Rebecca couldn¡¯t help but smile as she sat there listening to her captain introduce her new crewmates to her. She was finally going to leave Sortis and begin what would hopefully be a long, and fun, journey across the galaxy.


    Rebecca didn''t know it at the time, but she was in for one wild ride full of a lot more experiences both pleasant and painful. She was on a journey across the galaxy, and the destination was nowhere and anywhere at the same time. They''d go wherever they wanted, or wherever the next job took them, and Captain Jack Starforged would be there almost every step of the way.


    It felt like the entire galaxy was her playground, and Rebecca wanted to unlock all of its mysteries as she explored every inch of it. ¡°This is going to be great.¡±

 Departure

    Rebecca was eager to find out where her first official adventure as a member of the crew would take her. "So, where to next, Captain?"


    Captain Starforged shrugged his shoulders. "Don''t know, but we do have a few errands to run in the Bartel System. I''m just glad we''re leaving this planet behind. The whole thing is one big sex joke."


    Rebecca was confused by his last comment. "What do you mean?"


    "I mean come on, Sortis, really?" Captain Starforged said but Rebecca didn''t seem to get it. "Never mind. Just look it up in the Latin dictionary." Captain Starforged turned his chair around to face the front of the ship. "Everything on this planet was named by an absolute pervert."


    "I still don''t get it." Rebecca whispered into Morgan''s ear now giving up on trying to understand the captain¡¯s meaning.


    "You''ll never be able to look at this planet the same way again." Morgan¡¯s face was flush as she quietly whispered the meaning of each word into Rebecca''s ear.


    After hearing everything Morgan had said, Rebecca began laughing uncontrollably, and the rest of the crew, besides ANDI began to laugh a little as well.


    Hendricks went into a full belly laugh. "Sounds like she got it, Captain."


    "Yeah, now let''s put this place in our rear-view mirror Hendricks." Captain Starforged said..


    Hendricks started up the Appalachia and flew out of the docking bay toward the warp gate in orbit around the planet.


    As they flew by Sortis, Rebecca took one last look at the desert planet, and saw all three rings orbiting around it. She couldn''t help but laugh at the ridiculousness behind the name of the planet itself, but still felt a little attached to the place. She did hope that she''d get to come back here again. "Maybe it will be for a job."


    As they entered the warp gate, space became distorted around them, and the Appalachia¡¯s speed increased to faster than light. Just like in the movies, everything outside of the ship looked like a white current moving in the opposite direction, then suddenly they saw a big empty expanse before them with several stars in the distance.


    Hendricks pulled up the holo-map to confirm their location. "We''ve now entered the Bartel System. We''re still a few hours from our destination, so we''ll probably have to spend a night in the asteroid belt before we get there."


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    "You got it.¡± Captain Starforged replied. ¡°Why don''t we all get something to eat while the ships on autopilot. I¡¯m starving after all that drama."


    Everyone agreed and piled out of the cockpit toward the living quarters. This was the first time Rebecca really had taken the time to look at the place. It looked like there were four rooms each with a single door, and there were two on each side. The rooms had been built into this section of the ship, but they didn''t match the ship¡¯s architecture.


    The room on the far right as they walked down the stairs was the kitchen, and everyone sat around a table that seated six, even ANDI who, even though he couldn''t eat, decided to hang out with the rest of the crew.


    The room wasn''t anything special and had all the basic necessities along the right wall, including a couple refrigerators, stoves/ovens, dishwasher, sink, and counter space while the other wall just had cabinets and a few extra chairs.


    Rodriguez cooked them a feast with chicken, salad, mashed potatoes, and various other foods they had to eat before it expired. The whole crew had a good time chatting and eating while the ship flew on autopilot toward their next destination.


    After a couple of hours, Rodriguez and Morgan decided to head to bed while the others hung out in the cockpit for a bit.


    After an hour or so they started to approach an asteroid belt, and Hendricks found a large asteroid with a crater they could land the Appalachia in that would give them some cover while they slept.


    "So where exactly are we headed to anyways?" Rebecca asked.


    ¡°There isn''t much in the Bartel System aside from the gas mines on Slovic 5, but there is also a remote orbital habitat controlled by the Bartel Family where you can get a lot of black-market goods." Hendricks explained.


    "Aren''t the Bartel''s a mafia family? Why would a supposed detective agency be operating in their territory?"


    "They¡¯re a reluctant ally for both parties", Captain Starforged said with a disgruntled tone. "Besides, there''s a talented mechanic there that''s working on some stuff for me, and they can retrofit the Appalachia with a few things. They''re the ones who built our living quarters."


    Rebecca got the impression that they probably had a lot of allies like the Bartel''s and AGI who they considered reluctant allies. Who was she to judge thought. Rebecca was a hacker and an information broker. Her entire livelihood was built around hacking into private servers to steal classified information. "Okay I guess that makes sense."


    Hendricks yawned as he got up to walk toward the door. "Alright Captain I''m going to head to bed alright."


    "You got it", Captain Starforged then sat in the pilot¡¯s seat and put his feet up on the dashboard. He then turned his head to look at Rebecca. "You should probably head to bed too kid. I''m taking first watch for the night, and don''t feel like you need to keep me company."


    Rebecca suddenly noticed how tired her body felt. She had gone through a lot, and wasn''t used to doing much physical activity. She yawned and stretched her arms before making her way out, but she stopped for a moment, turned around, and looked at Captain Starforged for a brief moment. "Okay Captain, and thanks for agreeing to take me on."


    "No problem kid. But don''t think it''s going to be easy. You''re going to start combat training tomorrow. You survived this fight, but you might not always be so lucky."


    "Okay." Rebecca lethargically turned around, and started walking to the living quarters.

 Debriefing

    Once the door closed behind Rebecca, Captain Starforged took his feet off the dash, and pulled out the drawer that had the holo-projector they used for long range communications on the ship. The only other person left in the cockpit was ANDI who was in the middle of a system diagnostic. Captain Starforged was essentially alone, since ANDI wouldn''t be able to hear anything until it was done.


    After syncing the holo-projector to his wristwatch, Captain Starforged pulled up a hologram of a picture of a woman with short curly hair smiling with her hand running through her hair. This was a pretty common nighttime ritual for him. Even though he knew she couldn¡¯t hear him, it somehow still gave him comfort.


    "Hey Charlotte, I had a pretty busy day today. We took down a pirate crew, and helped AGI arrest a mole who was backstabbing people by placing trackers on them so those pirates could ambush them in deep space."


    Captain Starforged teared up a little and sat there for a few moments before wiping them away.


    "I took on a new crew member, too. She a crazy kid that''ll probably lead me to my death one of these days, but she''s a lot like you. Overly confident, rash, intelligent, and probably a real spitfire. I was reluctant to let her join at first, but she proved herself today. We''d have been dead if not for her, so I''ll give her a chance."


    He continued to sit there for a while looking at the hologram without saying anything.


    "I really shouldn''t be doing this. I know I say this every night, but if I keep talking to you like this I''ll never get over it. Who knows, maybe looking out for this kid will be good for me? Oh well. Good night Charlotte, and rest easy."


    ***


    Even though she had said she was going to bed, Rebecca was curious to see if her eccentric captain did anything weird when nobody was looking. Given his strange dancing, she figured it would be something hilarious, but she was surprised to find him talking to someone named Charlotte. From what she could tell by the sound of his tears and the conversation, Charlotte was someone he had lost.


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    Rebecca felt sorry for the captain, and a little bit guilty for eavesdropping on his private conversation. Charlotte obviously was someone precious to him, but Rebecca wasn''t sure why. Given the captain¡¯s age, Charlotte could have been his wife, or even a daughter, but Rebecca wasn''t sure.


    After hearing him finish up his conversation, Rebecca walked down to her cot in the nook underneath the stairs and just fell right into it. She had never felt more exhausted before. All she could think about was everything she had seen that day. Pirates keeping slaves, corporations hiring outsiders to take them down, shopkeepers setting up people to get raided. All of these were things Rebecca knew happened, but she had never experienced them before in person.


    Rebecca felt both scared and excited, but she quickly drifted off into sleep after a few seconds of lying there. The rest of the Appalachia was almost dead silent for the rest of the night. With the exception of one android who took everything he heard literally.


    ANDI apparently had woken up towards the end of the captain¡¯s conversation, but couldn''t hear what he had said. "Captain were you speaking to me?"


    Captain Starforged almost jumped out of his seat, but he quickly calmed down. "No, ANDI. I was just talking to myself. You can just ignore me ANDI."


    "Very well captain. As you command.¡±


    After a brief moment, Captain Starforged just realized what he had said to ANDI. "Oh crap!"


    Captain Starforged quickly ran over to ANDI and opened up a panel in the back of its head. He plugged in his wristwatch, and rebooted ANDI while erasing its memory of the last words he had said to it. If Captain Starforged didn''t due this, then he would have to wait until someone of higher authority told ANDI it could listen to him again.


    ¡°That was close.¡± Captain Starforged went back to the panel that hid the shelf that held all of his records, and grabbed one. He pulled out the record player in the center console, and removed the cord that linked it to the ship¡¯s intercom system so it could only be heard in the cockpit. Captain Starforged placed the record on the record player, and it started playing Blue Moon by Frank Sinatra while the captain sang along.


    Captain Starforged sang along until the song was over. Eventually his exhaustion would catch up to him, and the Appalachia would remain silent for the rest of the night.