A chance rescue

Back on the Uragiri, Lyssandra threw her head back, savoring the moment. "You know, I can't recall the last time any man dared wound my flesh. I'm going to make you my special project, Gerald Dyson."

"That doesn't sound like a good thing," Gerald quipped.

She leaned forward, twirling her long segmented ponytail in her fingers. "Tell me, Captain Dyson. Do you know what happens to a human when they are exposed to concentrated aether?"

"Now, how would I know that?"

Lyssandra chuckled. "You will soon. The first thing that happens..."

Unnoticed by the rest of the bridge crew, the sergeant in the first starboard gunnery pit, was silently fighting an unseen force that was overtaking his mind. His eyes bulged in fear, his hands clutched the sides of his head. He tried to scream, but his lungs and throat wouldn't obey him. Struggling against his own muscles, he looked on in terror as his hands reached out, unbidden, and gripped the controls. As he trembled, the cannon slowly tracked, until it was pointing directly at the nearest corsair vessel. Sweat rolled down his face as he watched himself ramp the gun up to its maximum setting.

One by one, the gunnery crews came under Cha'Rolette's control.

"...and that is just the first five minutes," Lyssandra finished her gruesome tale.

Gerald swallowed hard. "That was surprisingly effective. I'm truly intimidated."

The Uragiri kicked back as all twelve of her naval grade particle cannons fired in unison at the corsair directly ahead. For just a moment, the pirate ship buckled, then snapped in half, molten metal and atmosphere spewing out into the void. The aether drive ignited, and the ship exploded in a catastrophic fireball, consuming it and the ship next to it.

"What the brekk was that?!" Lyssandra yelled, fighting to stay on her feet.

* * *

"Backups engaged!" Zurra yelled out, proud of herself.

"Go! Go! Go! Go!" Ilrica yelled.

Jets ignited and the stricken Kalia Greir swam away from the boarding tubes just as the Uragiri fired a second volley into another corsair ship, gutting it from stem to stern.

The corsairs were stunned, unsure of what to do as they watched as another of their own ships exploded into an expanding sphere of fire and debris. Their hesitation to fire on one of their own cost them dearly. As the Kalia Greir became little more than a silvery speck in the distance, the Uragiri fired again, raking across the deck of a fourth corsair and reducing her command section to slag.

Now outraged at the apparent treachery, the remaining corsairs opened fire. The Uragiri was throttled from all sides, her layers of armor panels stripped away by relentless and outraged pirates.

* * *

Completely spent, Cha'Rolette collapsed backwards. Gerald ran up and caught her in his arms. "You're incredible," he praised as he looked at her, unable to believe what she had just accomplished.

She cracked an eye open weakly. "You only just now noticed?"

"Hey! I helped too," Zurra yelled from the pilot's chair. "Praise me too."

* * *

The last of the Uragiri's guns went silent as Lyssandra stood over the dead body of its gunnery sergeant, resheathing her bloody sword. "Get on their tail," she barked. "Tell Captain Yhuvot if he fires at me again I'll have his head, and bring the frakkin gellar field back up!"

It only took a few minutes for the remaining pirate ships to cease their squabbling and chase off after the Kalia Greir. With their aether drives intact, they were on top of her almost instantly.

* * *

Everyone on the bridge was thrown against their restraints as the Kalia Greir was slammed from behind. Warning lights and klaxons went off. Schematics appeared, showing the section of the hull that had been torn away.

"Darn, I'd hoped their little civil war might have lasted longer," Ilrica said as she shuffled the remaining armor plates. They slid like living scales along the exterior of the ship, gathering around the remaining thrusters to protect them.

"No disruption mode this time, they're out for blood," said Cha'Rolette.

Another hit rang out. Trahzi yelped in fear, covering her ears and closing her eyes like a frightened child.

One corsair came up on their port side, a second on their starboard. Their armored turrets swiveled, the barrels pointed directly at the bridge.

A mighty volley sang out, and white-hot particle beams tore into the pirate ships, destroying them.

"Where did that come from?" Gerald asked.

Zurra smiled and pointed ahead. "Look."

An Alliance attack squadron sped right past them. A dozen destroyers backed up by three cruisers. Already they were sending volleys of missiles and lances into the remaining pirate ships.

* * *

"Impossible! How could the Alliance have gotten here so quickly?" Lyssandra asked as the corsair ship ahead of her exploded. Enraged, she reached for her saber, ready to call out a full charge.

"General," Erusal cautioned, grabbing her hand. "Most of our armor is already gone. We can beat them another day."

Lyssandra's golden eyes burned brightly, her face trembling as she struggled with her temper. "Come about, get us out of here!" she ordered, slowly releasing her grip on her saber. "As soon as we're clear of the dampening field, signal the other guilds; we're moving the gathering to a new location."

Lyssandra ground her teeth as she watched the remaining corsairs shot down by the Alliance craft while hers escaped. Long after they had disappeared into the blackness of space, she stared at the spot where they had been.

She chuckled at herself and closed her eyes. "I am sorry, my beloved Hee'hidzin, even after all this time I still have not managed to rid myself of pride. I forgot that I am not doing this for myself, I am doing it for us."

She opened her fierce eyes. "Gerald Dyson, I will make you beg for death before the end.

* * *

As Alliance tugboats cradled the Kalia Greir into a repair bay on the lead cruiser, Ilrica finally allowed herself to slump into a chair. "Whoo! This vacation is way more exciting than I had planned."

Gerald moved over to help Trahzi where she still lay sobbing, but she disappeared in a flash of flame.

Ilrica slugged Gerald in the shoulder. "Never a dull moment around you, is there?"

Gerald laughed and rubbed his arm. "I guess not."

Zurra slid up alongside Gerald, leaning in expectantly. "Hmmm? Hmmm?"

"Oh fine." Gerald relented and patted her on the head. "You did real good back there, Zuri."

It was adorable how happy that made her. She wiggled from head to toe as if she were made of jelly.

Still weak, Cha'Rolette propped herself up one elbow.

"You did okay yourself, Ssykes," Ilrica praised, linking her fingers behind her head.

"Same to you," she said suspiciously. "Without any backup at all, you sliced through a black-market grade attack barrier. That was way too technically savvy for a Bertulf. Where did you learn to do that?"

Ilrica yawned. "Oh, just something I saw in a movie once."

Cha'Rolette narrowed her eyes, her ta'atu glowed faintly.

"What are you doing, Ssykes?" Ilrica asked without opening her eyes.

"Just as I thought. You've got telepathic blocks built into your crystronics," said Cha'Rolette.

"Do I?"

Yes, best ones I've ever seen, too. Must have cost a fortune.

"Good thing, huh?" she tapped her own forehead. "Can't have you rooting around in here, make me think I'm a mushroom or something. You might try and keep Dyson all to yourself."

Zurra took the shape of a cat and hissed at her. "Hey! I thought you weren't interested in Dyson."

"I changed my mind."

As Ilrica got up and walked off the bridge, Cha'Rolette and Zurra looked at each other worriedly.

"Great, we have another rival," Zurra moaned as the door slid closed.

Cha'Rolette tapped her chin in thought. "That is not what I am worried about."

"It's not?"

"Of course not, it's perfectly obvious that I'm going to win in the end. No, what bothers me is what she was able to do back there."

"I don't understand. What is the big deal?" Gerald asked.

"Bertulf have a pathological distrust of machines. They don't use money, they barely wear clothes. The rest of the time she's a vlair-head, but in battle she's as calm and collected as a grizzled veteran," replied Cha'Rolette.

Cha'Rolette looked back over her shoulder. "Just who are you really, Ilrica Faolan?"