Space Pirates!

     “FTL jump complete, Captain,” Yorpix said, his blue Alien Aisha ears twitching nervously. “We have entered the Gorignak system. Commencing sublight drive and setting course for Gorignak I.”

     Behind him in the Captain’s chair, a yellow Alien Aisha nodded, tapping a few buttons on her chair console to open an internal broadcast channel.

     “This is Captain Morplok,” she announced. “We are now on approach to Gorignak I. Estimated two hours to arrival. Please begin to make preparations for docking with Polaris Station.”

     She turned behind her and gave a small nod to the grey Alien Aisha stood to attention by the door leading to the rest of the ship. He was dressed in a purple and black uniform, the only person on the bridge, and provided a nod in return before marching out of the doors. They closed automatically behind him, with an industrial crack.

     “It’s nice to not have him breathing down our necks at last,” Yorpix sighed in relief. “I swear he’s been staring at the back of my head since we left Neopia orbit.”

     “That’s the price you pay for Imperial cargo,” Morplok replied.

     “If you can even call it cargo,” Yorpix complained. “We’re a low-level cargo-hauling crew, Captain. We ship food and parts, not people. The Supreme Commander has an entire cruiser at his disposal when he needs to leave the Mothership, why does he need to travel with us? And to an out of the way outpost like Polaris Station? Something stinks here, ma’am.”

     “Well it isn’t the money,” Morplok said. “This contract is going to pay our way through most of this year. And no matter how this smells to you, it smells better to me than hauling grubs between here and Kreludor. A couple of hours and this is all out of our ears.”

     A panel next to a red Alien Aisha sitting on Morplok’s left began bleeping.

     “You had to say it,” Yorpix muttered under his breath.

     “Report, Feepaz IV,” Morplok ordered.

     “We’re picking up another ship on an intercept course,” the Aisha replied as she tapped at her console. “Looks like it is on an origin course from one of Gorignak VI’s moons. It isn’t broadcasting a universal identifier signal.”

     “Hail them,” Morplok said.

     “Channel open, ma’am,” Feepaz replied.

     “This is the IHS Charnie,” Morplok announced. “We are a cargo vessel out of Neopia bound for Polaris Station. Please identify yourselves.”

     Silence followed. Morplok looked to Feepaz, who shook her head.

     “Unidentified craft, repeat,” Morplok said. “This is the Imperial Hegemony Ship Charnie, operating out of Neopia. We operate under the banner of the Alien Aisha Hegemony. We are a peaceful cargo vessel. Please identify yourselves.”

     Nothing in response.

     “Scan them,” Morplok instructed.

     “They are using some kind of sensor evasion technology,” Feepaz says. “My instruments are bouncing right off them.”

     “They close enough for a visual? Yorpix, on screen,” Morplok said.

     Yorpix adjusted the viewscreen to show the oncoming ship and magnified it. It looked roughly the same size as the Charnie.

     “That’s a Navibot class ship,” Morplok observed. “They haven’t been in service for years. Looks heavily modified. Raise shields. Prime the cannons. Feepaz, open a channel to Polaris Station.”

     Feepaz nodded.

     “Polaris Station, this is the IHS Charnie,” Morplok said, but Feepaz cut her off.

     “Sorry, Captain, but the channel is static,” Feepaz said, her red brow furrowing. “They must be jamming communications.”

     Several of the crew exchanged worried looks. There was only one reason to jam communications, and it was ill intent.

     “Yorpix, fire starboard cannon off their bow,” Morplok ordered. “Give them a warning shot.”

     The Charnie was a cargo ship. It wasn’t equipped to face battle. They just had to hope whoever it was turned chicken.

     Yorpix fired the shot, a red blast of energy that sailed just past the oncoming ship on the view screen.

     “No reply,” Feepax said. “No, wait. They are charging weapons, Captain!”

     “Yorpix, get us out of here!” Morplok shouted. “Brace for impact!”

     The ship rocked with the impact of cannon fire from the other ship. Panels exploded off the wall, venting smoke into the bridge compartment. Sirens began blaring.

     “Report!” Morplok ordered.

     “Engines are down!” Yorpix said, madly checking his console. “We’re dead in the water. The weapons array is offline!”

     “I’ve lost what few sensors weren’t jammed, Captain,” Feepaz added. “We’re blind, to boot.”

     Morplok slammed her fist down onto her chair arm. She pressed the buttons to make another announcement.

     “This is the Captain speaking,” she barked. “Propulsion systems and weapons are offline. We are unable to contact Polaris Station. The enemy ship is still approaching, prepare to be boarded. Assume hostile intent. I am unlocking the armoury. Report to battle stations.”

     Everyone on board understood the subtext. This was a pirate ship they were dealing with. Morplok tapped a few more buttons to make good on her orders. A metal cabinet at the back of the bridge lit up green, and Feepaz began handing out the ray-guns.

     Elsewhere on the ship, there was a groaning sound as something detached. On the viewscreen, a spherical escape pod drifted off into the void of space.

     “Is that the escape pod?” Morplok demanded. “I didn’t order to abandon ship. Feepaz, who is in that thing?”

     “I don’t know, Captain,” she said, trying futilely to get a reading from her console.

     “The escape pods are right next to the aft cargo bay,” Yorpix pointed out. “Where the Supreme Commander is.”

     “He’s trying to make a run for it?” Morplok asked with a frown. “That’s madness!”

     On the viewscreen, the pirate ship ahead of them sent another volley of laser blasts, and the escape pod exploded in a hail of sparks and debris. The three bridge crew stood in silence staring out into space for a few minutes.

     “He might not have been aboard,” Yorpix ventured.

     The words snapped Morplok out of her trance.

     “It doesn’t matter if he was or he wasn’t,” she said, taking the ray gun from Feepaz. “Our priority right now is securing the ship. Feepaz, the distress flare, then join us.”

     Feepaz nodded, turning back to her console to launch the distress beacon. It was rigged to explode with a halo of radiation that expanded into subspace if targeted. Communications might be jammed, but Polaris Station would be sure to pick that up.

     The three of them made their way further into the ship, passing crew members readying themselves for battle. Mattresses from bunks had been dragged out to form impromptu barricades in the corridors, and emergency bulkheads were being sealed into place over the cargo bays. At least it would take the pirates a while to blast through the doors.

     Morplok led them to the aft cargo bay, where the vacuum of space could be seen through the porthole where the escape pod once was. But before they could enter, there was a gnashing twisting of metal as the pirate ship made contact withe the Charnie.

     “They aren’t using the airlock!” Feepaz gasped.

     “Brace!” Morplok ordered, grabbing hold of a nearby bulkhead.

     A blast rocked through the ship as the pirates created a new hole in the ship to enter. Unfortunately for Morplok, it was right ahead of them. There was the rush of air as the two ships connected and their atmospheric pressures equalised, and then the pirates descended through the ceiling.

     They were robots, Morplok instantly recognised, defunct and discontinued models of Neopets that were once used aboard the Virtupets Space Station. Most were damaged or burned in some capacity, but all were loaded to the teeth with ray guns and laser grappling hooks. They came out firing, forcing the three Aishas to take cover.

     Out of the cargo bay, the Supreme Commander’s bodyguards emerged, firing in retaliation. The smoke filled the corridor quickly, and several of the Imperial soldiers were hit. Morplok managed to drag one back to the relative safety at the end of the corridor that Feepaz and Yorpix were hastily fortifying.

     “The Supreme Commander?” Morplok demanded.

     “We loaded him onto an escape pod under his orders,” the soldier spluttered. “They are here for him, he knew somehow.”

     “You fools!” Morplok scolded him. “It was shot down!”

     The soldier’s eyes went wide with horror, but Morplok was already distracted by what was happening at the end of the corridor. The fighting had come to an end, with more pirates pouring through the hole. But now they were clearing the way for another. A robot Nimmo jumped down with a heavy metallic clang. One of his legs was missing, replaced with a sharp metal spike as a peg leg. One of his arms, too, had disappeared, but that had been replaced with a green holographic hook. He was dressed as a pirate captain on the high seas of Neopia, but his coat and hat were accented with neon highlights.

     “I am Captain Deadbolt!” the Nimmo declared. “I am here for the Supreme Commander! Hand him over, and keep your lives, you scurvy dogs!”

     “Deadbolt!” Yorpix hissed. “The Terror of the Gondite Nebula! They say he gives no quarter!”

     “What are we going to do, Captain?” Feepaz asked. “We don’t have the Supreme Commander to give him!”

     There was no point ordering the ship be abandoned. The escape pods would either be blown up or picked up and their occupants pressganged into Deadbolt’s crew. They had one option left. Morplok tapped some buttons on her arm console, then pulled up her communicator.

     “Crew, prepare for evacuation plan lambda,” she said quietly.

     Yorpix gasped, but both he and Feepaz nodded in response.

     “On my mark,” Morplok added.

     The ship rocked with a sudden impact from the pirate ship. Captain Deadbolt’s communicator buzzed.

     “What it is?” he demanded.

     “Reinforcements from Polaris Station!” the voice came back through it. “They must have picked up the distress beacon we shot down!”

     Deadbolt growled in frustration.

     “Return fire!” he ordered. “We’ll have to be quick. You scurvy swabs, find me the Commander. Blast anyone who gets in your way.

     Morplok saw her chance.

     “Now!” she declared, pressing the final few buttons on her arm panel. “Enact evacuation plan lambda!”

     Behind her, Yorpix and Feepaz engaged their emergency space helmets, that slid out of their spacesuits and sealed tightly. As Morplok did the same with hers, they helped the injured soldier to do the same. From the bowels of the ship, there was a clunking sound as bulkheads opened wide, revealing the innards of the ship to the vacuum of space. The depressurisation was instant. Thankfully, all Alien Aishas had the helmets built into the suits. It wouldn’t do much to the robots - they didn’t need oxygen after all, but many of them were sucked out by the force into the void beyond.

     Captain Deadbolt growled again as another blast rocked his ship above.

     “Retreat, ye swabs!” he shouted. “No bounty is worth this much!”

     The pirates boosted back into their ship, and a moment later it decoupled from the Charmie, blasting off into deep space and away from the Polaris defense force.

     ***

     Commander Gormox IX was the head of Polaris Station. The white Alien Aisha stood at the window watching the repairs on the Charmie as Captain Morplok joined him.

     “I’m glad no one on your crew was harmed, Captain,” he said.

     “I wish the same could be said of the Supreme Commander,” she replied.

     He nodded sadly.

     “A full investigation by the Hegemony will take place,” he told her. “But I imagine it will find your crew acted exactly as they should have. It is a terrible business, but not your fault. I’ve sent word to the mothership. They are locating the Commander’s son as we speak.”

     “What of Captain Deadbolt?” Morplok asked.

     “Escaped, I am afraid,” Gormox said. “Fled to hyperspace as soon as he was able. He’s not ventured into shipping lanes this close to Neopia before. It is troubling. I have sent a request for increased patrols from the VSSSF in the sector. Piracy is only going to increase if this goes unchecked. As for Deadbolt himself, the Hegemony will hunt him across the stars. He will know no rest until he is found and answers for his crimes.”

     He brightened slightly.

     “But that is not your concern, Captain,” he said. “Express my commendation to your crew. For though there may be pirates out here in the vastness of space, as long as there are people of their caliber, we need not fear them half as much.”

     The End.