Pirates Pt. 2

It didn't take long for the captain of the frigate to get sick of Jacks' constant manoeuvring and evading. Instead of trying to stay above the breach with the boarding capsule, the ship fell back a little and then opened fire on Jack's engines. As with the hull before, the Lasers proved to be vastly more impactful than the machineguns of the other ship.

Jack needed all his piloting skills, to prevent the engines from being damaged too badly. Then, after another salvo hit the rear of his ship, he turned to of and the rest of them down, to feign engine damage while pulling the ship into a constant spin.

The other captain was vigilant, so he fired a few more times, before closing in again to retrieve the boarding capsule in an effort to send more men over.

Jack simply watched while the frigate got into position and opened the door to its hangars. It was tempting to make a move now, but as he knew there was only room for one capsule in the frigate's hangar and to retrieve that, the frigate had to come close and hook it on a crane from the back of the hangar.

The crane extended from the hangar and slowly close in on the other ship. When it was about halfway to its target, Jack restarted the engines, spun the ship around and ejected the escape pod, Mordred had prepared for him.

The Pod crossed the distance between both ships in a matter of seconds and with the crane extended, the frigate had no way to close the hangar doors fast enough to prevent the pod from entering.

Jack applauded the other captain's effort to turn the ship, but it was too late. The pod disappeared into the hangar and one moment later a massive explosion ripped through the ship. Jack didn't stay to wait for the fate of the vessel, he used the emergency burn to build some distance, before going back to normal speeds, still changing course at random intervals to prevent more torpedo attacks.

He kept manual steering the ship for the next ten hours, while constantly scanning for more ships. Maya called him after two hours to tell him the last intruder was found and neutralised and offered to give a full battle report, but he told her to wait until he made sure they had escaped.

When he finally let go of the controls, the felt more drained than ever before in his life. A wave of exhaustion washed over him. He told the AI to activate the auto-pilot and turn off the music. Then he fell asleep on the spot, sitting in the chair like he was.

The buzzing to the communicator woke him up. His head hurt, almost like a migraine and his whole body was stiff from laying in the chair. He stretched carefully until he heard a satisfying crackle. Then he answered the call.

"Yes, Captain speaking."

"Hey, this is Maya. I just finished my shift in the Med Bay."

Her voice was low and sounded tired but also worried.

"I, ... I wanted to ask If I can come over."

Jack's first instinct was to deny her, but after thinking about it for a second, he allowed it.

"I'm still in the Cockpit."

After she hung up, Jack stretched once more and took over the ship's controls from the AI. He was used to sleeping in that chair for days and sometimes weeks from his gaming sessions.

There was a faint knock on the door and when he told the AI to open it, Maya came in swiftly.

Jack didn't look at her. He kept steering the ship, his gaze fixed to the vast Void in front of them. He could hear Maya's steps as she slowly came over to him.

"Hey,..."

She paused for a moment, as if unsure what to say.

"How, ... May I inspect your Medical Log?"

He hesitated for a moment expecting a different question.

"Sure, no need to ask really, you are our only medical Stuff."

She stood right next to him when she took the data from his wrist computer, still Jack could not look at her. The situation from the hallway threatened to surface if he saw her disappointed again, so he kept looking outside.

It took her a few minutes to analyze the data and she sounded somewhat relieved when she told him he was fine.

"You mind if I stay a little longer?"

Again his first instinct was to be left alone, but then another memory came to the front of his mind. The crying girl from the day the had left Mykena.

"No, it's fine, stay as long as you want."

She gave him a short hug, which surprised him but also didn't feel bad at all. Then she walked to the back of the room and sat down with her back against the wall. After a few moments, he could hear faint snoring coming from behind.

Jack muted the controls and switched over to the auto-pilot, before turning his chair around. The sleeping girl looked peaceful, he could see her exhaustion, but there was also the hint of a smile on her face.

Somehow, watching her sleep calmed Jack down a lot. The thought of having to talk about what had happened today made him anxious. After enjoying the peace she brought to his mind for some more time, the got up to get a blanket from his cabin.

He just wanted to give it to her and get back on his chair, but somehow he felt the urge to sit down next to her. When he did, she didn't wake up, but still leaned over to him. Her head rested on his shoulder and once again Jack was surprised, that her touch didn't bother him. It was not that he couldn't have people touch him he was just not a very touchy person under normal circumstances and got annoyed with people daily.

While thinking about this and that he slipped into sleep as well.