3 years ago he found this ship drifting in Hatikvah's faith and claimed it as his own. It was a badly damaged M1 class Raptor.
It had no air, power or weapons but he used his tractor beam and towed it to a shipyard in the nearby argon sector.
It cost everything he had saved and he even had to sell his mercury just to repair it.
But after 3 years of raiding he now owns the fastest carrier in the galaxy and the latest raid have granted him a huge supply of spaceweed, spacefuel pirateships and weapons.
Stupid pirates keep bailing out everytime their shield drop too low.
Hit them hard enough and they would leave their own mother behind.
The crew have already started consuming the spacefuel and spaceweed but let them have it.
They will stay loyal and ill get more from the ships, weapons and bounty on the captured pirates.
We were heading to home of light to sell everything and take a well deserved vacation in argon prime.
Cyrus woke up from his thought when the comsystem beeped.
- Yes what is it?
- Captain! Ore belt is coming up and im getting a call from one of the oremines.
- Put it through!
The screen shows Keran, a paranid who was raised by argons and has run this oremine since he could walk.
- Captain! I'm so glad to see you!
- Same here my old friend. But i guess your not gonna ask me how my day has been.
- No captain, i got a minor problem and i would like some help.
As always i will pay you for this and repair everything for free.
Keran has always paid me well and we have done business for the last year but he never calls unless its business or favors.
- Well Keran what's the problem?
- Captain.....a xenon force is heading this way from cloudbase south east.
- But i just came from there, i didnt notice any xenon.
- Well they are still coming and i dont think the puny argon police force can hold them back.
Keran never liked argon technology, he always thought it was backwards and should be used as second grade merchandise for pirates and teladi.
- According to argon police they are heading straight for us.
- Alright Keran i'll take care of them, i love killing Xenon.
- I'll contact you after the job is done, Keran out.
That's weird, Keran seemed worried. It's not like him being worried and definetly not about Xenon.
Oh well lets get this done so the vacation can start.
I walk up to the bridge and nod at lieutenant Jones.
A Captain can't get a better lieutenant then him, always loyal and never complains.
"Lieutenant Jones, always loyal always on time!"
That was the first words he spoke when i met him and asked his name.
- Lieutenant!
- Yes sir!
- Open up the comsystem for the entire ship!
- Yes sir!
-Crew! I got some bad news and some good news!
The bad news is that we will delay our vacation plans.
The good news is we get to kill some Xenon scum!
A cheer sounds through the entire ship.
-Man all battlestations and put pilots on standby!
To be honest i was worried too, the crew had only killed stray Xenon M's and a P once. But if Keran was worried then this was no stray Xenon patrol.
- Lieutenant! Place us between the gate and the oremine!
- Yes sir!
A couple of minutes pass in what feeled like hours.
- Captain! Incoming!
- Fire when in range!
A handful of xenon M's just jumped in. A couple of seconds pass and a couple of L's and N's follow.
I decide to keep the fighters in bay and deal with these with flak and guns.
The Xenon charged straight at us and my guns fired all at once.
Mighty cheers went up on the bridge as a couple of ships get blasted.
- Captain! more incoming bandits!
Two Xenon P's came in followed by two more.
- Shoot down the fighters then deal with those P's!
The last fighter went down and the guns turned towards the P's.
Gauss Cannons fired at one of them and crippled it badly, and the concussion guns finished it off.
What a blast! Almost as if it was filled with spacefuel.
Second P gets hammered and goes down in what seemed as a bigger blast. The last two position themself on each side of my ship, big mistake i think to myself.
Now my guns on both sides can fire, the P's go down with ease.
Just as the crew are about to cheer a call comes from Keran.
- Well done captain but i got disturbing news, a Argon frigate, two fighter wings and a destroyer just disappered from cloudbase southwest, Keran out!
- What!
Darnit Keran what is going on!?
You dont loose that many ships, thats a small fleet darnit!
- Incoming! One Xenon K...No make that two!
- Back up towards the oremine, keep out of weapon range!
I needed to think, this was even bigger then i thought but i have never backed down from a fight and never failed a mission.
Sure the K's was damaged probably from fighting the Argon but i can't even destroy one without fighter and bomber support.
I would have to launch all ships but some of them are still rookies.
- Captain?
- Launch all ships, bombers at bandit one with one fighter wing and the rest at bandit two!
It was a mighty sight to behold as all my ships fly towards the enemy.
You could clearly se who the rookies was, they had trouble staying in close formations.
Fighters arrived and kept the K's weapons occupied as the bombers arrived and launched every missile they had.
All missiles hit it's target but NO! Shields only at 15% and fighters don't have the firepower to drop it quickly enough.
The veterans know all the manouvers and evade most fire from the Xenon but the rookies drop like spaceflies.
This is not good, i need more firepower, but the reaper can't take many hits from those Xenon guns.
But what if.....
- Lieutenant full speed and place us between the two bandits!
- Sir?
- Do it!
The crew trust me but this was a dangerous manouver.
If i were them i would also question this, but it's gonna work, It has too.
As i get closer i can see all my pilots fighting for their life as the K's fire some kind of small flak. It's not as effective as my own but it gets the job done.
- Captain arrived at destination!
- Fire on each ship, get its attention and do as much damage as possible.
Then get ready for evasive manouver Beta at my command!
- Affirmative sir!
The Reaper fires all Gauss cannons and guns at the Xenon and they respond by turning their heavy turrets at me.
Glowing balls of destruction hurls towards my ship but im ready.
- Now!
The Reaper fires up its engines and goes in full reverse.
Just barely the shots miss my ship and continue towards the other K.
- Shields down on bandit one!
- Fire at full effect until its gone from this galaxy!
The reaper shakes violently. They are hitting, but not enough.
- Bandit one taken heavy damage and shutting down!
- Direct all ships towards bandit two and let the reaper circle and keep firing!
All those fighters shooting at its shields quickly brought it down and the Reaper finished it off with a well placed shot at its core.
The crew cheers once again but quickly stops when the K suddenly dies in a huge explosion of plasmafire and energy leaving its broken shell.
- Dock all ships and prepare medic team for incoming wounded and casualties. We don't leave our dead behind!
- Yes sir! Incoming call!
- Keran! You son of a.....
- Captain i'm sorry but i did'nt know. Trust me! I'm so sorry about this here's your payment in double and please dock anything you like here and i'll fix it ri.......aw......HUMAN!
- What? Keran are you there?
- The call is coming from the remaining K.
- HUMAN! GIVE US THE DEVICE!
- What device? What are you talking about xenon waste!
- WE WILL HAVE THE DEVICE! yOU CAN'T HIDE IN THIS GALAXY!
- What device are you talking about? I don't have your device!
- Captain the K is breaking apart!
The K starts to break apart and small parts of it suddenly gains speed and heads through the gate.
What device did the xenon talk about and what is going on here?
It almost seemed as if the Xenon....No it can't be.
The Xenon was'nt trying to destroy the oremine, it was trying to destroy my SHIP!
I fell back into my chair and tried to grasp this.
Why? Device....what device?
- Captain! All fighters docked what's your orders?
- Head for Argon prime. we'll do our repairs there and send the crew on their vacation. Keran can pay for the repairs there.
The Reaper fires up its engines and head towards Argon Prime.
to be continued.......?
I'm sorry about the grammar but english is'nt my first language.
I tried my best and hope you like it.
