Chapter 57

Red lights flashed across the bridge of the independent transport freighter 'Bright Night' as warning claxons deafened its panicked crew.

"The pirate ship has opened fire captain!" The nervous sensor officer shouted.

"Deploy counter measures! And take evasive manoeuvres!" Captain Hus Kim ordered his crew, while grinding his teeth in frustration.

Hus had been a spacer for most of his life. He grew up in a poor neighbourhood on Corellia and as soon as he was able he joined a freighter crew and began learning as much as he could from the other crewmembers.

After twenty years of working on different ships Hus had saved enough credits to buy his own freighter, with the assistance of a loan from the banking clan.

He had purchased the Bright Night ten years ago and after paying off the loan he was now operating a fairly profitable transport business.

Hus and his crew were currently transporting foodstuffs and some medical supplies to Tatooine after being hired by some rich merchant who was hopping to sell products that the locals had in short supply.

Everything had been going well until they had come out of hyperspace in an uninhabited system in Hutt space so that they could let the hyperdrives recharge.

They had only been in the system a few minutes when their sensors started blaring warnings and two pirate corvettes rocketed towards them at their maximum sub-light speeds.

The Bright Night was outfitted with a couple of less than legal modifications to help it fight off pirates but they were outnumbered and the pirate corvettes baring down on them were well equipped and organized.

Hus had ordered his crew to transmit a distress signal as soon as the pirates had appeared but he had little hope of anyone coming to their aid. The republic were unreliable at dealing with pirates at the best of times and expecting them to turn up to help a ship in Hutt space was like expecting to find an undiscovered ocean on Tatooine.

The Hutts ruled Hutt space and they were more likely to be funding the pirates than to be trying to stop them so help from them was also unlikely.

The Bright Night shuddered as an a plasma bolt fired from on of the pirate ships struck it near its main drives.

"Sorry boss, I'm trying to evade them but…" The Bright Night's pilot trailed off mid-sentence.

He didn't need to finish though. They could all see the pirate ships and the seemingly endless stream of blaster bolts filling space around their freighter.

Hus chewed the inside of his mouth as he considered what to do next. He knew they couldn't fight and escape was unlikely so that left only on option, surrender.

He knew the risks that brought as well. Pirate crews weren't known for their mercy so it was highly likely that they would be captured and sold into slavery if they weren't just killed or brutalised for the pirates amusement.

But if he didn't surrender the likelihood of the pirates killing them all became almost a certainty so Hus grimaced before coming to a decision. He was just about to give the order to surrender when his thoughts were interrupted by a shout from his sensor officer.

"Captain! A ship just jumped into the system! Sensors show it to be a … Defender class light corvette?" The sensor officer looked at his screen in confusion.

"You don't see many of them nowadays," the pilot spoke his attention still focused on evading the deadly blaster bolts being fired at them. "Think its more pirates?"

"Unclear, its flying straight towards us though," the sensor officer answered, the worry clear in his voice.

"Can you find out before it gets here?" Hus asked but already knew the answer.

"Sorry captain, all we can do is try hailing them… or wait to see if they try and blow us up." The sensor officer answered.

"Hail them, lets see if they are friendly. Who kno—WHOA!!" Hus exclaimed in surprise as he watched the defender class corvette fire a salvo of concussion missiles into the side of one of the pirate ships.

The missiles struck along the length of the pirate ship and a rippling explosion ripped the ship apart, sending debris in all directions.

The defender class corvette then fired a burst of heavy blaster fire into the drive section of the second pirate ship, leaving it to drift helplessly in space.

"Hey there Bright Night. We just got your distress signal and thought that we would lend a hand. How is everyone doing?" A feminine voice sounded from the bridge's speakers after they received a message from the defender class corvette.

A grin broke out across Hus's face as relief filled laughter filled the bridge. Now that they were safe the adrenaline was rapidly draining out of them.

"We're fine and very appreciative of the assist." Hus sent a grateful response to the defender and collapsed exhausted into his command chair.

Maybe next time they would be better taking a job closer to the galactic core, were space was nicely less piraty.

-

"Well, that was anticlimactic" Opal said looking unimpressed at the disabled pirate ship and the cloud of dust that was its formerly its companion.

"Oooh, breakin out the big words are you?" Shae grinned at Opal who responded by rolling her eyes sarcastically.

"Not everyone can be a barbarian like you" Opal deadpanned causing the others, including Shae, to burst out laughing.

"Well, what did you really expect from pirates?" Renn said after the laughter died down.

"That's true," Opal said spinning slowly in her chair, "I was hoping for some epic space battle though. With like battleships and starfighters, and HUUUGE explosions." She said arms splayed out wide to emphasise how the size of the 'huge' explosions.

"One ship exploded," Seela pointed out helpfully and Opal visibly deflated.

"Yeahhh I guess," Opal mumbled disappointedly.

"Don't worry, maybe this pirate crew works for some like pirate overlord and we can go and have a epic battle with him and his criminal empire." Renn said leaning over to pat the sulking girl on the head to comfort her.

"Oooh, fuuun" Opal said clapping her hands together in mock excitement causing everyone to start laughing again.

-

Zurd coughed into one of his massive, clawed paws as he staggered back to his feet.

"GRRR, Who hit us?!" he growled at the darkened bridge of the sole remaining pirate ship. His feline biology adding to his anger to make his voice sound like a predator preparing to strike.

Zurd was a Farghul, a race of tall catlike humanoids renowned for being fearsome warriors and cunning thieves. He had left his native planet years ago to make his fortune and was now the captain of a pirate ship in service to the pirate overlord of Nar Shaddaa, Krayn.

Though most of the galaxy thought that Nar Shaddaa was ruled by Aga Culpa Zurd and everyone who worked for Krayn knew that Krayn was the true ruler of the crime ridden moon.

"It was that unknown ship. I don't know where it came from but I think it destroyed captain Kigri's ship." One of Zurd's crew answered him before shrinking back to hide when Zurd snarled at him.

"C-captain, main power is offline, and engineering is reporting both the hyperdrive and the sub light drives are destroyed…" A nervous pirate said but went quite after Zurd cursed in anger and brought his fist down on an inactive console.

"FIX THEM THEN!" Zurd screamed in rage and his crew flinched and most stepped back in fear.

"B-but boss, they are completely destroyed its imposs—AAAARGH!" the Weequay pirate who dared to question Zurd's order cried in pain after a vicious swipe od Zurd's claws disfigured his face.

"I DON'T CARE JUST FIXsss THEM!" Zurd's anger made him hiss the 'X' in fix like a snake.

His crew stared in fear as he licked the blood of his claws and tried to ignore the screams of the wounded Weequay. The injured man was crying and clutching his bleeding face, that was now missing an eye and most of his nose.

A mechanical clang resounded throughout the ship making the crew look around nervously, they all knew what that noise meant.

"I SAID NOW! And find out what that sound was!" Zurd yelled and his crew scurried off to follow his orders, more out of fear of remaining in Zurd's presence than for a desire to follow the order.

-

A section of hull plating fell into the corridor of the pirate ship, its edges glowing, and several figures dropped down through the hole it had made.

The figures looked around with their weapons drawn tense and ready to send a blaster bolt into anything that might try and jump out at them but nothing did.

"Guess nobody's home" A HK-50 assassin droid said happily as he looked around.

"Shut up idiot. There are organics onboard, just not here." Another HK-50 droid snarled at the first in annoyance.

"Yeah, but you admitted they aren't here though," the first droid said as though he had seen through the mysteries of the galaxy.

"You-" the second droid started to speak but was suddenly cut off.

"Spark, Crow shut it!" A HK-51 assassin droid annoyed voice came out of the darkness of the dimly lit corridor causing both droids to fall instantly silent.

"Sorry boss" "Yeah, sorry boss" Spark and Crow chorused as they looked around like scolded children.

"Alright we all know the plan," an armoured twelve-year-old said stepping out from behind the droids.

"Spark and Crow you guys head to the engineering section and make sure its offline before sweeping the cargo bay for any enemies.

Alpha and Scythe will accompany me and Shae as we clear the bridge of any hostiles then we will all meet back up to check the rest of the ship.

Earl you stay here and protect our way out in case something goes wrong and we need to make a quick escape." The armoured child, Renn, said anyway to make sure they were all on the same page.

A series of acknowledgements sounded from the group before they separated and began moving out into the depths of the pirate ship.

They had only been separated for one minute when a Zabrak pirate charged straight towards Renn, screaming at the top of his lungs and wielding a vibro-knife in each hand.

Renn's heartrate was barely raised as he calmly raised his blaster pistol and shot the pirate. His blaster bolt burned through the pirate's head and sent the partially decapitated corpse tumbling to the deck.

"Aww, you missed out on a knife fight there." Shae said teasingly as she elbowed Renn in his side.

"I thought it might be too emasculating for him if a kid demolished him in a knife fight," Renn said with a shrug.

"Hehe, you are so considerate," Shae said failing to hide her giggles as she tried to sound serious.

"I try." Renn said smiling as they moved further into the pirate ship.

Alpha and Scythe shared a look and shrugged as they followed the two kids, watching vigilantly for any threats that might be two much for the kids to handle.

Alpha might of agreed to let the young warriors in training have some battle experience but he wasn't taking any chances with their safety. Both he and Scythe were covered in weapons and were watching their surroundings with a sense of hyper alertness in case any threats popped out.