“Fire the Graser!”, ordered Captain Blackjack Thorn. The rear warp ring of the freighter, Unknown Mass, burst into corona arcs of white light, degrading through yellow to orange. Capacitor banks blew in a blue-green glow as they discharged.

  Dimitri Zamov brought Blackjack’s ship, the Green Lady, alongside the Unknown Mass as the boarding party got ready to cross. Blackjack, his second in command, Campo Tupua, and six marines exited the airlock and crossed over to the hull outside the engineering section in the rear of the ship.

  Once they reached there, Campo anchored the little robot they called the “can opener” and started it out cutting through the plate so they could board the ship. Blackjack activated a local gravity generator to keep the air sealed and plate in place while it was cut. This gave them another element of surprise.

  Barrington May was manning the weapons station and taking potshots at the command area in the front of the Unknown Mass with a low-power laser. He was just making small holes to keep the crew occupied while Blackjack and Campo worked their magic.

  After fifteen minutes, Campo yelled, “The hull’s cut. Let’s blow the plate out!”, as he turned off the local gravfield generator.

  The group entered the hole in pairs with blasters ready. Campo moved to the control panel to disable the ship’s gravity once Blackjack located the cargo of refined thallium cuprate needed for faster than light warp drives. The cargo would be worth more than 100 megacredits, which would be a tidy sum for the crew.

  “Dimitri, it’s container 12. Campo, drop the gravity,” ordered Blackjack.

  The containers were carried in a ring around the central spine of the Unknown Mass. Container 12 was facing the Green Lady on the last of the four rings, nearest the rear. Dimitri was already maneuvering the loader robots towards the container to move it into the Green Lady’s cargo ring.

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  When the ship went into null g, the boarding crew exited through the hole. Three marines were jetting backward, covering their retreat, when a spacesuited figure entered the engineering bay. One of the marines let a blaster bolt off to scare them back.

  “We got a curious George,” yelled Finn Galloway as he let the bolt go.

  “Keep them occupied, we’re almost home,” responded Campo.

  A second crew entered the bay and shot at the retreating pirates. Finn and the two others fired bolts in response, scattering the two crew members.

  The boarding crew entered the Green Lady’s well bay as the cargo container was being locked on. “Dimitri, get us out of here and ready to spin. We’ll check the payday,” sent Blackjack on the comlink.

  They unsuited their armor and climbed up to the cargo bay level to open up the container that was attached to the loading port.

  “Activate the power feed and let’s check the inventory,” said Blackjack to Campo.

  Campo moved over to the comp screen on the side of the cargo doors and touched it to power up the container systems and pulled up the inventory. He then sent it off to Sophie, shaking his head at the name Dimitri gave the AI comp. He decided to check the environmentals and noticed the container still held an atmosphere and livable temperature even if it was low. “We got a problem here, Blackjack.”

  Blackjack looked at the telltales and told the six marines with him to go get armed again.

  The marines hurried back with their weapons and deployed in a semicircle to cover the cargo doors. Once set, Campo hit the release to open the door, preparing for an assault. Instead, they found a bundle wrapped up in a space blanket.

  “What the hell?!” exclaimed Blackjack.

  Campo walked over and lifted the blanket. “We got a bigger problem. It’s a kid!”