Sam Nichols sat in the pilots chair if OSI-CorporateHQ, his yacht. His main pilot was off helping the engineer check out a nasty power fluctuation in the main power core. His escort pilot Pax was out flying a slow circuit about his stalled ship. With the main power core down they had thrusters only for maneuvering and their shields we offline. Thankfully their gun batteries were fully charged. Scanners were at half power as well as lighting. This was not turning out to be a good day.
Pax, hows it look out there? Sam asked
Nothing within 18k Nichols-San Reported Pax
OK good, keep an eye out, Being dead in space is not my idea of fun. At least we are off the beaten path.
Hai Nichols-San. Not many come to this corner of Sigma-17
Sam sat back in the chair and huffed out a breath. Flicking on the inner ship intercom he called out to the engine room.
Any progress yet?
No sir, we are still trying to lock it down. Diagnostics are showing some odd readings
OK keep me informed
Damn! exclaimed Samuel. Sitting back in his chair he checked the status of the guns for the 5th time in the last 10 minutes. He did not like sitting still like this.
Nichols-San, I have contact just at rage, going to investigate.
Roger, Pax. Be careful.
Hai
Sam watched Paxs ship move out of his sensor range and waited. After about 20 minutes he opened up his communicator.
Whats going on Pax?
Just getting into visual range now Nichols-San. Seems to be a disabled Falcata bomber. Not responding to hails. Shields are down and can see some scorning on the hull. Unsure if the pilot is alive. Pulling up along side Nichols-San.
Sam looked out the forward window toward Pax had flown. He stared hard trying to force his eyes to see the many kilometers through space.
Nichols-San, something is wrong, this Paxs transmission was cut short and Sam saw an explosion in the distance
PAX! Report! shouted Sam but the comm unit stayed silent
Engine room we have problems up here. I think Pax just got caught in a trap, we need power up here and now! shouted Sam over the intercom. A minute passed and there was no response. Sams heart sank.
Engine room report! Sam tried again. Damn it! Sam moved over to the bridge controls and locked down the bridge. Next he started transferring all ship functions to the bridge and locking out the other terminals. He was not going to go down easy. Sam headed over to his office and went to his personal safe.
Punching in his code he opened the safe and reached in for the laser pistol. Next he sat down at his desk and recorded a message to Doris his secretary. Incase this went bad he had contingencies. About 10 minutes had passed with all he did and he hit send. Pulling a holster from a desk drawer, he strapped it on and placed the pistol in the holster. Moving back onto the bridge he checked the ships internal sensors. The sensors in the engine room were down as well as the main hall down in that area. He searched the rest of the ship, there were folks in the crew quarters and the mess hall, where they were supposed to be.
A warning beep caught his attention on the scanner. Six blips were just entering their shortened sensor range. One returned a signal as large as his Yacht. The other five were fighter size. Sam pulled up fire control and charged the targeting system. Locking on the largest of the approaching ships. Looking out the window he waited for them to come into visual range. Soon he saw a few small whitish dots, that slowly resolved themselves into individual ships. They broke into a formation and surrounded the disable yacht.
The gunboat moved to the front of Sams ship and stationed so its windows were visible to him. His scanners told him he was looking at an Outcast gunship, two Falcatas, and three Sabers. His local comm. Channel beeped at him.
Hitting the button he said Yes, what seems to be going on here? Looking over he could see a the figure in the bridge window of the gunboat put a microphone to his mouth.
Ah, Mr. Nichols, so glad to see your being reasonable. Now if you do as we tell you, your crew will survive this and you may even also. Replied the other ship
Sam looked at the communicator in disbelief. The intercom beeped at him and he opened the channel.
Sir, this is Robby, we have an problem down here, someone just shot three crew members and we are barricaded in the mess hall. So far they can not get in but we are trapped.
I understand, sit tight and if you get a chance make it to the escape pods. We are currently surrounded by what looks to be a band of Outcasts, one with a gunboat. Ill see what I can do. Leave this channel open. Said Sam
Yes sir we will
Who was on the ship that was helping them Thought Sam
Robby did you see who it was that shot them?
Yes we did sir. It was Jackson and that new deck hand.
Sam opened the local channel up again So what is all this about, I did not know the Outcasts had a beef with me.
Outcasts, well not exactly. While we are Outcasts, we are independent pirates by trade. We have been paid to send you a message, by who is for you to figure out. You have made some very unpleasant folks very unhappy. Now let me tell you how this will play out. We are going to dock with your ship. My friends out here are going to make sure you do not try to do anything. Once we dock, we are going to come aboard and have a chat with you.
A chat huh, why do I doubt I will be doing any talking. Also you said if I cooperated you would let my crew alone, Your boys here aboard have already shot 3 of them.
Unfortunate part of all this. They tried to stop our agents and paid the price. Now prepare to be boarded.
Sam watched as the gunboat moved along side of his yacht. He could only assume they were lining up to his docking hatch. He checked the internal sensors and saw there was one person by the mess and one was heading for the docking airlock.
Robby, one of them has walked away to the airlock. I only see one outside the galley. A loud thump announced an anchor cable hitting his ship. Dang, they have the ships tied together, this is getting worse. We are going to be boarded.
Sir what is all this about? Robby asked
I am unsure, apparently I made someone very angry.
Sam saw the airlock seal the inner door then cycle the outer door open. Soon he had eight new folks in his airlock. The door closed and then the system pushed air into the chamber and equalized the pressure. Sam let loose a curse and then looked over is controls, trying to think of how they could get out of this situation. He accessed the external cameras and looked around the yacht. He saw the gunboat sitting next to them and the five other ships arrayed about. One of the Sabers was sitting right next to a Falcata on the left side. He had another Falcata at his rear and the other two Sabers were at four Oclock and two Oclock, although slightly below the plane.
He glanced at the sensors and watched as all the intruders were meeting up by the mess hall.
Robby you might have some problems. All the folks that boarded us are outside the mess hall
Aye sir we can hear them
Sit tight, they said if we behaved they would let the rest of you live.
I hope your right sir.
Sam eyed the scanner again. Slowly he traversed the left side turrets to lock onto the Saber. He linked those three guns together and flipped the cover up on the fire control system.
Sir, the door, they are opening it! Said Robby
Alright just comply with them.
Sam could hear voices in the back ground and some intelligible shouting.
OK, OKwe are surrendering, There is no need Robbys voice was cut off by blaster fire and screams came through intercom.
Sam hit the ship wide intercom channel and shouted Let them out of this alive, you bastards, see how you like this! Sam slammed his hand down on the fire control button.
First his ships shield buster fired, its bolt hitting the Saber dead on. The energies of the gun and shield fought and the shield dropped. Next his hull breacher and his Cerberus cannon fired. The hull breacher hit first and tore into the ships cockpit killing the pilot. The Cerberus bolt hit next detonating the ships core. The explosion was an order of magnitude above that of the cannon. The Falcata sitting next to it had barley had time to attempt to move before it was engulfed in the destruction. Its shields tried to hold out but were quickly overcome by the escaping explosion by the other ships power core. Another explosion tore space as the Falcata detonated. The remaining ships hit thrusters and ran their engines to full power pulling back from the yacht.
Mr. Nichols, all you have done is caused yourself more pain. Said the pirate
Sam killed the intercom and started to traverse the guns to lock onto the gunboat. Hitting the intercom he replied.
Well as I see it you lied to me. Killing my crew needlessly when I was going to cooperate, was not part of the deal. Now you have lost two ships, and I am now locked onto your nice little sitting duck of a gunboat here.
Mr. Nichols, if you fire on that gunboat we will all be destroyed, you do not want that do you?
Listen you idiot! Youre going to kill me anyhow, why should I make it easy for you? If I can take you down with me, why not? Seems fair to me.
Sam heard some talking he could not distinguish and the Pirate came back on.
Mr. Nichols, first off your guns can not penetrate my ships shields. It can escape long before you become an issue. Secondly if you fire on my ship things will go much worse for you. Now we have some business to settle, and as you can see from your sensors, that we will be with you in a moment. Now be a good boy and open the bridge door. If we have to ferret you out I will be very unpleased.
Sam looked at the internal sensors and saw they were in the hall leading to the bridge. Cursing he checked the scanners only to find the gunboat had dropped its attachment line and was charging its cruise engines. Sam moved the targeting computer onto the gunboats engines and fired a full burst from 3 of his guns into the gunboat.
The gunboats shields crackled as energy danced over them but held. Sam waited for the guns to cycle and fired again. The gunboats shields glowed a deep cherry red and the Cerberus bolt continued on through to the right engine. He could see form his gun camera the engine was scrapped. Unfortunately it was not a part of the cruise engine system and the ship accelerated away before his guns could cycle a second time.
Damn! Sam exclaimed.
Leaning over the computer console he started typing in commands.
Mr. Nichols, I see we are going to be doing this the hard way. Well thats more pain for you. They told me you would be difficult and trying.
Suck it up buddy, I am not done yet! Sam replied
Sam finished working on the console and then went into his bridge office. A portion of his desk has risen revealing a hidden control panel. With determination he typed out more pass codes and set the ship for self destruct. The system started charging the detonators that would breach the containment of the core, causing it to overload and destroy the ship. He could hear them firing something at the bridge door attempting to get in.
Checking the status of the self destruct mechanism, he saw that several of the nodes were not working and the system was not going to be able work.
It must have been compromised when they took the power core offline. Sam mumbled.
The sounds outside the bridge increase as they continued cutting through the door. Sam opened a storage panel on the wall and removed a portable fusion generator. It was a backup system for use on the bridge in case of severe power failure. He took it out onto the bridge and set it next to the bridge window. Turning it on, he cranked it to maximum output. Then glancing at the door, he removed its casing, exposing the magnetic containment system. Taking out his blaster he stood next to it and waited.
The door started throwing sparks and molten metal dripped down onto the floor as it gave way. A line hole appeared that turned into a line as they worked their way around the outside of the door. Soon the line was three quarters of the way around then only a small portion was holding it in place. That portion glowed red, then orange and finally white and the metal parted dropping the door onto the bridge floor. Smoke filled the air for a second and five people stepped onto the bridge.
Sam waited for them all to enter and then smiled at them. The face of the pirate in the lead, took on a confused look and then he watched as Sam raised the blaster and fired into the magnetic containment system of the fusion generator.
I win Said Sam
Plasma easily as hot as the surface of a star erupted from generator and splattered over the window. Melting the window in less than a second, pieces of it exploded outward. The air from the ship leapt out into space causing a vortex as the pressure tried to equalize. Already weakened by the plasma the rest of the window cracked and shattered. Sam and the pirates were jetted out into space, their bodies rupturing, then freezing solid.
As the vortex of air continued to expel from the yacht more debris flew out the window as the airflow pushed the corpses further from the ship. After a few minutes the flow stopped as the last of the air was expelled. The remaining pirate vessels came back to investigate. Scans revealed the carnage and they quietly tractored in the remains of their comrades. The ships then took up a stance away from the yacht and opened fire. The yacht was reduced to pieces within a few minutes and the pirates, job done, engaged cruise engine and left for home.