Into the Black

The first sign that something was wrong was when we saw the missile launches from less than a lightsecond away. We were in the ‘no man’s land’ between the Fleet Base and Primo, so I guess it wasn’t that surprising that pirates decided they wanted to come out and play. I was surprised by the level of stealth ability on their ship. We really should have picked them up before then.

The missiles were coming too fast for a human to react to it, but Raven wasn’t human, and I’d already given standing orders for her to raise shields when she detected a threat to the ship. Better to look jumpy than to be dead. The missiles took four seconds to reach us. Raven had the shields up in under a second.

Running into the cockpit, I yelled out, “Raven, report!”

Raven materialized next to me as I took the controls. “Captain, two missiles were launched by a stealth ship. Given their aim and the explosive yield, it appears that the goal was to disable, not destroy. If they had hit, our engines and weapons would have been compromised, but crew quarters and the cargo hold may have been left intact.”

I sighed, and hit the ship comm. “Cali, Jaynie, man the guns! Shearah, keep us flying. Sheila and Carissa to the bridge. Shipsuits on, folks!” I didn’t bother listening to their replies, instead just concentrating on the controls and the plot, which Raven was updating. Everything seemed just a bit further away than it had last time, but that was because ‘Riku’ was shorter than ‘Mirikon’, and I hadn’t seen any reason to change while we were still in Alpha Centauri.

As the girls got to their positions, Raven said, “Captain, we’re being hailed. Two ships uncloaking, to port and stern.”

“Either of them the one that took a potshot at us?”

“The one to port, Captain.”

I grinned, and started readying the weapons as I typed out a set of instructions for Raven. “Well, let’s see what this asshole has to say.”

The vid screen came alive with the face of what was clearly a pirate. Long, scraggly beard, a lack of hygiene I could practically smell through the vidscreen, and a generally scruffy appearance. Oh, and he had several weapons clearly on his person. He laughed when he saw nothing but women on the bridge. “Look boys! We caught a bit more than the usual merchant! Now, stand down, girl, and we’ll let you keep your lives. Make you right comfortable, won’t we boys?”

Yeah, that was SO not happening. I hit the command sequence Raven had prepped for me, thrusters firing while engine thrust died momentarily to quickly swing us around. Now facing the ship that had shot at us, I unleashed the particle cannons. The blast ripped their shields apart (didn’t do anything nice to their hull, either), and our gunners quite nicely took out their bridge.

“YOU BITCH! I’LL HAVE YOU STRUNG UP IN THE GALLEY FOR ALL THE BOYS TO USE! YOU’RE DEAD! KILL ‘EM BOYS! BLACK DON WON’T BE DISRESPECTED LIKE THIS!”

Oh, looks like the pirate was on the other ship. And he was this ‘Black Don’ that I needed to kill. Wonderful! I’m always glad when dinner comes to me. Hitting the engines back to full in order to get some maneuvering room, I could hear blaster fire on the shields. “Aww, what’s the matter, White Donna? You get your panties in a bunch because I’m not a helpless merchant like you thought? Don’t like it when people fight back?” Then I cut the transmission, because he was boring.

What I said was true. The Raven was far more heavily armed than any normal freighter. Someone clearly made her to be a smuggler’s ship, a blockade runner. Oh sure, that destroyer probably would have wiped the floor with us if it had been a fair fight, but system patrol craft would have no chance. Same with pirates. If there had been more of them, then maybe it would be different. But with just the two, and one of them out of the fight, the pirates were out of their league.

Basically, this was like a couple of junkyard dogs taking on a wolf. The mangy mutts just didn’t know what they were dealing with. Now, I had a couple decisions to make. Both ships were moving too quickly, and maneuvering too much for me to get another shot with the cannon, so the second kill was going to be missiles or by the guns.

“Raven, how many on board that ship?”

“I am detecting twelve lifesigns on the enemy ship, Captain. There are six others on the first ship, but it remains disabled so far.”

I looked at my readings. Shields were at 75%, and it looked like Black Don’s shields were only slightly better. He had more guns, but our guns were just a bit better, and between our slightly better shields and the fact that their pilot clearly wasn’t used to dogfighting, things were about even. But I noticed a nasty magnetic grappler that was charging up. If they got that on us, then it would be a boarding action, for sure. I wasn’t selling myself short, but shootouts in close quarters could be very unpredictable things.

Best load the dice a bit.

“Raven, can this ship perform a flapjack maneuver?”

“You mean flipping the ship bow to stern? It is possible, but the Raven was not designed for high-stress maneuvering, regardless of the modifications that have been made to her. We may lose inertial dampening.”

“Which would make any acceleration over 4g pretty rough. Gotcha. I see that there’s a nice repair and refit yard in orbit of Primo. I’ll schedule us for some repairs, and some of those upgrades everyone’s wanting.”

I broke contact with Black Don’s ship, and made like I was heading to Primo. Black Don might have friends in the local patrols allowing him to prey on merchants, but a tactical genius he was not. Dumbass followed me on a direct line, clearly trying to line up his grappler. When I flipped the ship, he was in practically spitting distance. He tried to evade, but I’d already fired my cannons again.

Black Don’s shields couldn’t take the strain of the point-blank shot, and crumbled. The bridge and half the upper hull were blown away. We managed to avoid a collision, and it was nice to see that Don, at least, was smart enough to keep maintenance current on his reactors. There was no big explosion, the ship simply lost power, as it was supposed to.

There weren’t any life signs on the ship now, though.

Black Don Ramirez

Pirate leader ‘Black Don’ Ramirez has been making a nuisance of himself in the Alpha Centauri system. Unfortunately, he has friends in the local Navy, so he’s been allowed to run rampant for far too long. Kindly have a ‘discussion’ with ‘Black Don’, and kill the bastard.

You killed Black Don and his entire crew in ship to ship combat!

Difficulty

C

Task

Kill ‘Black Don’ Ramirez, a pirate captain.

Payment

200000 Credits

For defeating two pirate ships in ship-to-ship combat, you gain 11000 XP.

+1000 XP for fighting alongside your Crew in ship-to-ship combat.

+1000 XP for fighting alongside your Corporation members in ship-to-ship combat.

+1000 XP for Piloting the ship in ship-to-ship combat.

+500 XP for fighting alongside your Slaves in ship-to-ship combat.

You are now Level 19.

You have 2 points to distribute.

You have killed a famous pirate! Shipping in Alpha Centauri will be safer for a time.

+100 Fame

You have killed individuals with active bounties on their heads. You have destroyed or captured ships with active bounties on them. Total bounty: 250000 Credits. Bounty will be distributed according to your corporate settings.

That was more like it! I smiled, and set course for Black Don’s ship, since it was closer. When we were within range, I sent Sheila and Carissa over there to inventory what was left of the ship, and see if there was anything worth taking. Salvage rights, and all. They had their suits, so they’d be fine in vacuum for a while.

In the meantime, I moved the Raven up next to the disabled pirate ship, which I found out was called the Murderer’s Slave, a cheery name if I ever heard one, and docked with the single airlock that still was working. Good portions of the ship were exposed to vacuum, and the four living pirates were probably all having a really bad day. Shouldn’t have attacked me, right?

Dressed in full armor, weapons drawn and at the ready, Cali and Jaynie led the way onto the pirate ship. The ship, frankly, stank, like someone had only been doing the bare minimum maintenance on the ventilation systems. That was the kind of lazy attitude that one would expect of pirates, to be honest. Clearly the place hadn’t been cleaned anytime in the last few months. They couldn’t even fix anything, because apparently their engine room was one of the areas open to vacuum.

Three pirates were there, waiting for us. Being on a disabled ship that is leaking air tends to concentrate a few minds on what one can and cannot do. These pirates didn’t have those kinds of minds. They were more like desperate animals, and opened fire, shooting wildly. Unfortunately for them, three shotguns in spread mode firing in a hallway made very short work of the almost unarmored pirates. Too bad, so sad. Or not.

What followed was a lively round of looting the two ships. The ships hadn’t had a score in a while, it seemed, or they had just come from their base, because they were lacking in holds full of goodies to steal. We did find a large store of alcohol in the still intact galleys, and we all grabbed some of the good (or at least not bad) stuff for ‘personal use’.

Weapons and armor were pretty much a lost cause, for the most part. Most of what the pirates had was junk, or worse, and as likely to blow up in their faces as they were to kill the enemy. Even with my newfound covetous nature about weapons, I still had standards, damnit! Still, I found a really cool dagger in the captain’s cabin on the Slave.

Widowmaker

Type

Dagger

Rank

Unique – Scaling

Damage

10 – 30

Damage Type

Piercing/Slashing

This dagger is made of a rare Gycep Blood Crystal. When bonded with a wielder by tasting their blood with an infusion of their Psy, the dagger allows the wielder to channel their Psy through the dagger, causing it to grow in power as they do. Blood Daggers are each unique, and can carry unusual powers. The wielder does not choose what powers the dagger develops, but the way they use the dagger may influence the dagger’s development.

+10 STR, +10 DEX, +10 CHA

Bladeshimmer – 100 PP. This Weapon ignores all armor and defense for 5 seconds.

Scaling – This is a scaling item. Item improves with character level. Gains abilities every 10 character levels.

Soulbound – This item is soulbound to you. It cannot be stolen, traded, or lost while you live. If you die, there is a 10% chance the item will lose its binding may be looted from you.

A beautiful sight to see, to be sure, and I wasted no time bonding it. But I was the Captain, and the only one who really used blades in combat, so it was only natural. The others did agree that the dagger counted as my share of the loot from the ships, so they got to take any loot they wanted from the ships. Sheila got a bunch of rare art pieces from a hidden compartment in the hold, that would probably go for a large amount, while Jaynie found perhaps the most interesting cargo of all, a pair of slaves, bound in the Captain’s quarters.

Marcelle Pichard

Human Female

Level 20

Titles: Healer, Slave, Companion, Masochist

Hesk

Ihm Female

Level 40

Titles: Mechanic, Slave, Stepford, Companion

Let me tell you, letting go of those prizes was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.