The eerie hum of distant machinery filled the air as Munda and his pirate crew cautiously traversed the dimly lit corridors of the captured mining ship. Their prisoner Ubel, on the other hand just silently and obediently walked with them as they all made their way to the cargo bay.

Although the boy was restrained physically, they forgot that his mind was not. His brain whirled with thoughts and calculations as it stormed for plans and schemes. He was so deeply engrossed in his thoughts that he barely noticed the pirate beside him until she smacked him on the head with the butt of her rifle.

“Get going!” She urged him to pick up the pace causing to Ubel stumble forward.

The teen however just stretched his neck and went back to his thoughts before being jolted back to the present again with another kick which caused him to almost fall to the floor but was able to use the wall as a support. He quickened his pace, his mind racing with the possibilities in the cargo bay.

“I wonder how many people are on your fleet?” His curiosity was more obvious instead of the expected fear. “How many ships do you have?”

“Shut up.” She hit him again, irritated that he didn’t take her seriously.

“Damn, you don’t spare a thought for those younger than you huh, who are you by the way?” He asked again which most probably ticked her off this time.

“I told you to shut up!” She struck him harder than before until he fell to the floor.

Those who were following behind them, all stopped walking after seeing their prisoner suddenly fall. The woman who struck him started kicking him a couple of times. Seeing that Munda was engrossed in talking with the breaker, probably discussing something, someone else raised his voice to stop her.

“Enough! Make him stand, we don’t have much time.” their acting second in command, Faldo ordered which was followed by his entire crew. “You can kick him however you like after we get the access codes later.”

His crew started helping the boy stand but then Ubel started talking.

“You all… should know by now.” he laughed as he stood and closed his eyes. “And all of you should have started making questions…. But it seems that only one of you saw something fishy in all of this.” Ubel opened his eyes which were now glowing in bright gold. All of them were confused, except Munda and Luswa who just realized the danger of the situation.

“Huh? What’cha talking boy?”

But Luswa however, was alone to realize something was even more wrong and yelled what he found out in pure panic.

“STOP HIM! HE’S BREAKING INTO THE SYSTEM!” Luswa yelled as he pointed and started to aim his rifle at Ubel.

But before he and others could shoot the boy, the ship was rocked aside, sending Ubel and the pirates stumbling to the floor. Panic and confusion rippled through the corridors as the crew scrambled to regain their footing.

Munda's voice crackled over the intercom, his tone tense and urgent.

“What the fuck is happening out there?! Did one of you retards shot-”

“It isn’t us boss! A torpedo just struck the ship you’re in! It came from nowhere! Wait… B-boss! Multiple ships detected!”

“Who and how many?!” he yelled his frustration and worry, thinking that a UGTR patrol force had detected them.

“No recorded ship IDs!”

“Who the fuck? Find it!” he yelled as he tried to stand up again but failed the ship was rocked again, causing him to fall back to the floor.

“No recorded affiliations! B-boss! We are being attacked by unmarked ships boss! Other ships just sent their report- we detected…”

“What?! SPEAK!” he impatiently demanded.

“I-it’s o-our drones boss! They are attacking us!” they revealed. “The drones that we sent to create a perimeter and scout! T-they are shooting us!”

“WHAT?!!” Munda rushed to the ship window and saw the swarm of drones that he deployed earlier to prepare for any ambush scenario.

He scanned one of them with his ocular implant and attempted to enter their system but instead, he was met with a large message of error in his vision.

--Unauthorized access. Primus Privilege Lost--

He clicked his tongue as he realized that he had lost his privilege as the main owner of these drones. They had no Identification Data as part of their measures against being tracked by authorities so it was the only way for him to take back control. This only confirmed their situation.

“Boss! More and more of our drones are activating in the other ships! Even the droids are at-” The communication was cut off and replaced with a deafening static. Munda knew it was a jamming measure.

Was this a planned ambush where this unsuspecting miner was bait for them?

He immediately turned his gaze towards their prisoner who was still restrained and saw his grinning face, ear to ear. And he saw the golden eyes, still beaming with a smile. This reaction caused Munda to start sweating. He then passed the current situation to the crew that he was with.

"We're under attack!" he shouted. He already assumed that they were caught in a trap. “Head back to the pods!”

“What about the prisoner boss?!” one of the female crew who was tasked with guarding Ubel asked.

“Don’t let him out of yo-”

But before he could finish his statement again, his crew was suddenly gunned down by unknown shooters from both ends of the corridors. The clear silence in his view from before was now shattered by the warnings of detected blasts of energy.

"Ambush! We are under attack! Take cover!" Munda's voice echoed through the cramped corridors as a volley of fire erupted from all sides. Alerting up his still-unaware crew.

They all quickly moved out of harm’s way as some of them used the protruding pillars and crates on the corridor as cover.

"Damn it! We walked right into their trap!" one of the crew members cursed.

Munda's eyes narrowed as he assessed the situation, his mind racing with tactical calculations.

Before they could even begin to process what was happening, both ends of the corridor were filled with gunfire. He turned to the shooters and shot his rifle as a response. With expert precision, his crew also followed and unleashed their skills in close-quarter combat by shooting down each of their targets in a quick manner with headshots.

However, much to their surprise instead of falling to each well-placed shot, they slowly realized that their targets never even fell. Instead, their opponents just took the shots literally, head-on, and continued on their advance.

It was then they found out something.

Their attackers were not human, but swarms of humanoid droids in black metal armor with rifles in their arms.

And these droids were their own droids.

“B-boss what the fuck? They are our droids! Why are they shooting us?!” One of them asked in panic as he took cover at a corner. They were the same droids they brought during the boarding of this vessel.

Squads of combat droids descended upon them from all sides, their red optics gleaming with hostile intent., but they were outnumbered, and the tide of battle was swiftly turning against them.

“I fucking don’t know!” he answered. “Just shoot them down!”

“Someone hacked and took control of the entire drones and droids!” Luswa yelled as he exchanged volleys of energy and kinetic blasts with the robotic units that surrounded them on both sides. “He must be related to this!”

“Who?”

“The boy! He must be involved with this sabotage on our droids-wait,” Luswa realized that they were missing something, or more accurately, someone in their formation. “…the boy! Where the fuck is he?!”

He couldn’t find a good reply from the rest of the crew as they all focused on how to survive the onslaught first.

But no matter how much they tried; the caliber of their weapons was not made against droids who could endure such kinetic damage. If they encountered any droids from the resisting crew of their plundered ships, they would pit their own droids to disable the enemy’s inorganic soldiers.

So, they were never actually prepared for a scenario where they would be fighting droids, much less their own.

"Stay calm! We've faced worse odds before. Focus fire on their weak points and keep moving!" Munda tried to instill some sort of fire in their resolve while under fire.

“Yes, boss!” His crew simultaneously replied and with practiced precision, they returned fire, their rifle bolts finding their mark amidst the chaos. The droids however suddenly quickened their advance, closing in to their cornered positions.

As the crew fought tooth and nail to hold their ground, Munda leaped into action. His movements blurred in speed and agility as he engaged the droids in close-quarters combat. At the helm of his augmented body, he dived into the middle of the inorganic mob with a flurry of punches and kicks, Munda dispatched all of the mechanical adversaries that came on his way with ruthless efficiency, each strike landing with deadly precision and leaving a trail of destruction.

With a flick of his wrist, Munda activated his energy blade on his left hand, its crimson glow casting an ominous hue over their constrained battlefield. He lunged forward again, meeting the next wave of droids that were dropping from the vents of the ship. Facing them head-on with a flurry of precise strikes and agile maneuvers, he thinned out the numbers on the corridor that led to the cargo bay.

"Keep 'em busy!" he shouted, his blade slicing through metal and circuitry with lethal precision.

Meanwhile, his crew sprang into action, their years of combat experience shining through as they unleashed a barrage of gunfire and explosives against their inorganic opponents. Even if they couldn’t take them out with their low-caliber kinetic shots, they still could slow down the advance of the droids by putting them off balance or forcing them to divide themselves. With each well-placed shot and expertly thrown grenade, they held the droids at bay, buying precious moments as they covered their captain’s rampage. Though wounded and outnumbered, they refused to yield, their resolve unbroken for every inch of ground.

“Fall back! Retreat to make an extraction! Head back to our boarding pods!” Munda shouted above the din of blaster fire, his voice steady despite the intensity of the firefight. "Form a defensive perimeter and cover each other's retreat!"

"Keep pushing! We can't let them pin us down!" Luswa’s voice rang with resolve amidst the chaos. He was already at his limit, almost spent in disabling every droid he could see with his Breaker capabilities, sending electrical instability in their inorganic bodies.

With Munda leading the charge, the crew fought their way through the sea of droids, their determination unwavering even as their numbers dwindled. Blaster bolts whizzed past their heads as they carved a path through the enemy ranks, their skill and experience shining through in every move.

Though battered and bruised, they remained hopeful of the possibility to emerge from this ambush as the victorious.

But the droids were relentless, their numbers seemingly endless. They started to regret bringing this large number of droids with them.

These droids were armed to the teeth and programmed for ruthless efficiency against those who resisted them during their raids or boarding procedures. And now they were at the receiving end instead, their energy guns aimed at them. The glowing red eyes that were previously fixed on their enemies, were now tracking them as if they were prey of these inorganic killers.

As Munda and his crew fought valiantly, the tide of battle began to turn against them. One by one, their small numbers were being thinned out. Others were shot down, and just fell to the ground, lifelessly. Others were too injured to continue and fainted due to blood loss or too much pain.

They were forced to retreat to a corner which trapped them again. In the end, with their backs against the wall and their ammunition running low, Munda and his crew had to stop their attempt as they realized that the corridor that would lead them back to their boarding pods was still full of droids.

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His augmented body and energy blade were already out of juice yet the droids just kept coming in. Only now did he realize, how many droids they had in their fleet. As the droids closed in from all sides, overwhelming them with sheer numbers, Munda had to make a split-second decision again.

"Cover me!" he shouted, her shots finding their mark with lethal efficiency.

With another flick of his right wrist, Munda drew his second energy blade. Its blue glow cast an eerie light. He charged headfirst into the fray, parrying blaster bolts with expert precision as he cut through the ranks of droids that were immune to rifle rounds.

In his crew, a sharpshooter, aimed with her blaster rifle, picking off droids with deadly accuracy from a distance and slowing them down in responding to Munda’s attacks. Then another agile scout, darted between cover, his vibroblade slicing through droids with lightning-fast strikes. Their combat prowess and combat skills were truly put to the test.

"Keep moving, mates!"

They used every trick in the book – from feints and distractions to coordinated flanking maneuvers – to outmaneuver their mechanical foes.

But despite their skill and experience, the odds were still stacked against them. The droids relentlessly advance pushing the pirates back with each passing moment.

"We can't hold them off forever, boss!" cried one of the crewmates, his voice strained with urgency.

Munda gritted his teeth, his eyes scanning the battlefield for an escape route. But then he was reminded by another crew of something they forgot.

“Boss!”

“What?!” he angrily asked, not wanting to be interrupted by anyone at this moment.

“We lost the prisoner!” his crew revealed.

“What the-you idiots!” Munda yelled in anger. He scrolled his eyes to find the woman to whom he had given the task of guarding the boy. He found her, but not among the living anymore as she was on the other side of the floor, shot by droids multiple times that her body was full of holes. He angrily turned to his crew and demanded. “Find him!”

The droids however wouldn’t let them get that luxury as their metallic forms moved with deadly precision as they incapacitated the crew one by one. Munda already used up two of his energy blades but was unable to contain his rage, so he decided to reveal his last cybernetic upgrade.

“Fuck this!” He screamed as he aimed his arm against the incoming droids. Then his arm started to transform into an energy cannon and blasted a condensed shell of plasma. It struck true and decimated three droids, instantly melting through their thick armor that previously stopped their bullets effortlessly. Then he breathed heavily and roared in all his might, announcing his title. "You think you can stand against me? I am Munda! The Iron Ogre! You're nothing but a bunch of tin cans to me!"

However, his realist crew instantly slapped him with a cold reality.

“Boss, they’re droids. They don’t think of anything.” Luswa killed his roaring attempt to brag his title.

“Shut up! I know that! Just let me relieve myself!” he clamped back, trying to make himself feel better by yelling about his achievements to his robotic opponents.

However, it seemed that their situation didn’t improve despite his attempts to motivate his crew or demoralize the flood of lethal machines.

“Shit! Shit! I should’ve bought energy weapons instead!” Munda realized too late. Although he found out the weakness of the droids to energy-based range weapons and melee weapons, his cybernetic arm could only shoot once before recharging for another shot.

“Good!” Munda exclaimed. “Here’s the… what in the fuck...”

But then they noticed a very peculiar change in the behavior of the droids. Their organic opponents started to take cover and Munda realized that they were now acting as if they were covering each other with some sort of order in their actions and assault. Some were even using the disabled bodies of other droids as shields as they formed lines behind each other and slowly advanced while suppressing fire.

“That boy is probably commanding them!” Luswa quickly realized the reason for such strange and previously unseen movement of the droids. “They were not programmed with such movement! Find and kill him if you see him!”

“Hurry!” Munda then unleashed another energy blast from his weaponized arm, destroying more droids in its wake. His cybernetic implants glowed with a malevolent light.

But before Munda could utter another word and before they could get into a safe distance away from the droids that were still chasing them, a sudden surge of energy rippled through the air, causing their feet to falter and their bodies to stumble. One by one, they dropped to the ground like marionettes whose strings had been cut, their systems overridden by an unknown force.

They were now helpless against the incoming droids. Munda and his crew looked on in horror as their pursuers came over and looked down on their paralyzed bodies, their guns were locked and aimed at the immobilized pirates.

But mysteriously, their inorganic adversaries, suddenly didn’t shoot and they also stopped shooting. Silence soon reigned on the bloodied corridors with only groans of pain and the dying could be heard. Then a loud clapping sound echoed across the passage.

“Impressive.” The unknown voice said with an obvious sneering tone.

Munda's eyes widened in astonishment as he realized what was happening. It was the boy, Ubel, whose eyes were glowing with a brilliant golden light.

"Okay, the test is finished. Let’s mopped up everything now. Treat those who survived… while those who didn’t… well we can’t do anything about them anymore so just store them in a freezer or something." The boy declared as if, it was all just a scripted play.

Responding to the boy’s commands, the droids started moving in unison, surrounding Munda and his dwindling band of followers then started treating those who were injured and bleeding from being shot and during the fight. Munda and his crew tried to move but still, their bodies refused to obey.

Then Ubel stood over him and smiled triumphantly. Munda Ek're realized that they all had been manipulated. He and his crew had been lured into a false sense of security by Ubel, only to be ambushed and overwhelmed by an army of humanoid droids that previously were part of the boarding teams.

“Send them all to the cargo bay.” the boy commanded.

Then droids who then started rounding up his disabled crews and dragged them towards the cargo bay. Munda Ek're's heart sank as he watched his crew being carried or pulled like some sort of sack of meat.

“So… did you lie or did you do all of this?” Munda opened his mouth after realizing that he could still speak.

"I told you the truth," Ubel said casually. "I am alone. And to be honest, I am both impressed and disappointed. Impressed at the number of drones and droids under your control. I expected that pirates and outlaws hated working with them. And most of all, very impressed at your skills in close-quarter combat. But all of it was overshadowed by my disappointment. You didn’t even put any anti-hacking measures… your… fucking… droids! What in the actual fuck? Did you just find all of them from a scrapyard and pray to some machine god for them to work or something?"

Then in his last will of resistance, Munda opened up his com to his other ships and attempted to send a command to scuttle the mining ship they were in.

“Send so-”

But before Munda could even complete his sentence, he felt a sudden jamming of his communication to his ships.

“Please stop resisting.” Ubel looked down at Munda with his still-glowing golden eyes. Then he commanded one of the droids. “Pick him up.”

The inorganic servant of Ubel followed and lifted Munda from the bloodied floor. Enough for him to see what’s happening outside of the window beside him.

“As you can see, your ships were preoccupied at the moment.” he signaled one of his droids to kneel on the ground.

Munda realized that his ships were still fighting the countless drone ships that were formerly part of their fleet’s strength. For unknown reasons, this boy was able to completely take control of the droids and drones.

As Ubel calmly seated himself upon one of the droids, Munda Ek're could do little but seethe with anger and frustration. They had been played for fools. His gut told him of danger yet for the first time, he knowingly ignored its warnings. All he could do was watch helplessly as his fleet tried to resist the coming onslaught of the drone ships.

As the seventeen combat-modified ships surged forward to engage the drone ships, their massive bulk belied the agility and ferocity with which they moved. However, this was a situation where size didn’t help improve their situation. And on their flagship Godright, their status was not different from the other ships on the fleet.

"Weapons locked, fire at will!" shouted the acting commander over the comm, initiating their counterattack.

He took over the situation after losing communication with their commander, Munda, and the other commanders on the mining ship. As such, the other ship captains also had no choice but to cooperate with Creed.

The freighters unleashed a torrent of firepower, their cannons booming as energy blasts streaked through space toward the swarm of drone ships. But as the first salvos of fire erupted from their cannons, it became clear that their weaponry was ill-suited for the nimble and elusive drone targets. Despite the sheer volume of fire, the drones danced and weaved between the shots with uncanny precision, evading destruction with ease.

"Creed! We're not hitting anything!" yelled one of the crewmates in frustration, his hands flying over the controls as he desperately tried to re-calibrate their targeting systems.

"We can't get a lock on them! They're too fast!" yelled one of the captains on the fleet, frustration evident in his voice.

The acting captain gritted his teeth, his eyes narrowing as he surveyed the battle and sent intricate orders. With a grim determination for survival, the freighters adjusted their aim, concentrating their firepower at the center of the swarm. Blasts erupted from their cannons, converging on their target with pinpoint accuracy.

But even as their shots found their mark, the drone ships retaliated with deadly efficiency. Ballistic shells lanced out from their weapons, slicing through the freighters' shields and hulls with ruthless precision. Explosions blossomed in the void as the freighters were shot by the drones. The crews on all ships were now fighting bravely to the last. But against the relentless onslaught of the drone ships, their efforts were in vain.

"We can't keep this up!" shouted the other captain, his voice was strained over the comm with desperation as his ship shuddered under the barrage of enemy fire. Then each of the ships was attacked by droids who were now attempting a coup also. The resistance fell one by one, under the endless mechanized onslaught.

Despite their best efforts, they found themselves outmaneuvered at every turn.

Then Ubel let out his impressed sigh.

Then several minutes later, the guns of Munda’s entire fleet were silenced. And his pirate ships just floated quietly in dark space and Munda quickly knew what was happening on his ships. He could safely assume that the droids inside all of his ships also mutinied and took over the ships at the end.

"So, who are you, for real this time?" Munda Ek're asked, his voice laced with sarcasm. "A UGTR agent sent to hunt us? No… you’re a Vestal in Luna. You would never have any capability of hacking this large number of droids without their support and upgrade. Especially when the upgrade is undetectable… was it a new technology?"

Instead, Ubel was shocked for a second then laughed loudly at his statement. Then he replied.

“I am no one at the moment. But don’t worry, you can be proud that you have become a stepping stone for my first day in regaining my former name.”

But before Munda Ek're could press Ubel for more answers, both of them received alerts from their own ships, the mining ship sensors, and the pirate flagship respectively. And it all said one thing, their sensors have detected several red blips of unknown ships.

Then Munda’s sensors suddenly registered the ship IDs of the incoming ships and they were all identified as UGTR. But Ubel on the other hand, seemed to have a different view about the incoming ships.

“Unidentified ship IDs detected… well this is even more interesting. It seems someone wanted to spoil my little fun here.” Ubel grinned.

This line caused Munda to get confused, causing him to frown.

“Unidentified? What do you mean? They are clearly UGTR ships!” Munda stated after he was able to scan one of the first ships that entered his detection range.

Ubel looked at Munda in a joking surprised look and shrugged, as if he was unaffected by the revelation that Terran ships were coming.

“Ehhh really? You have to forgive my sensors. You see, it still hasn’t registered the IDs of UGTR and Alliance ships.”

This only confused Munda even more. This contradicted his belief that Ubel was a Vestal. Then he remembered that the mining ship was also unidentified and was pretty new and he started to make another assumption that maybe Ubel used a freshly built ship that still hadn’t updated its ship identification records. He asked again to confirm his thoughts.

“What do you mean? Are you implying that the incoming Terran fleet is not on your side?” Munda asked.

“Nope!” Ubel immediately answered.

“Then what the fuck are you? Are you from the Alliance?!”

“No sir!” Ubel playfully replied again.

Then something drew Munda’s attention to the open space beyond the windowpane of the mining ship.

One moment, the void was empty, and the next, it was teeming with the imposing presence of Terran Navy vessels. The sudden appearance of the Union of Great Terran Republic ships sent through the region of space.

He watched as the sleek and formidable ships materialized out of thin air, their FTL drives leaving behind streaks of light that illuminated the darkness of space. Dozens of Unions of Great Terran Republic ships arrived from their FTL travel. And they were clearly not civilian ships but the actual Terran Navy. It was a sight to behold, but also a terrifying one, as he realized the gravity of the situation they were in.

The Union of Great Terran Republic was known for its military might, and seeing their ships up close only served to underscore that reputation. The vessels were a testament to Terran's engineering and firepower, each one bristling with advanced weaponry and defenses. And as pirates that frequently raid Terran-controlled and allied systems, Munda knew that like any outlaw.

Munda's heart pounded in his chest as he took in the sight of the Terran Navy fleet. He knew that they were outmatched and outgunned. But even worse, his entire fleet was paralyzed.

Fourteen frigates and twelve destroyers, displayed their mighty firepower as they deployed. A single destroyer could easily wipe out Munda’s entire fleet. As such this was an overkill force to send… or to recover the Vestal boy.

Munda's eyes narrowed as he watched the Union of Great Terran Republic ships converging on their position. The sight of the formidable fleet sent a shiver down his spine, and he knew that they were in serious trouble.

But before he could even begin to formulate a plan of escape, a voice crackled over the ship's intercom, cutting through the tense silence like a knife.

"This is Captain Vebenson of the UGTR Navy," the voice announced, its tone cold and authoritative. "Surrender now, pirates."

But Munda knew that the UGTR Navy was not known for showing mercy to pirates, especially those who had conducted raids in Sol. Munda could only think that what they were after, was Ubel.

Munda clenched his jaw, his mind racing as he weighed their options. Surrendering was out of the question, but fighting against the might of the UGTR Navy would be suicide. Suddenly, an idea flashed through his mind, a desperate gamble born out of necessity.

"They're here for you… right?" he muttered grimly to the boy, his voice laced with tension. "We need to get out of here, now. I know you want to escape from them. And my fleet could help you with that."

Munda wanted to make a deal with the Vestal boy, on the worst-case scenario where the boy accepts but the Terran navy catches up to him, he could perhaps use Ubel as a bargaining chip.

The boy however just laughed and spoke.

“What in the world are you talking about? Are you mistaking me for someone else?”

“What? Aren’t you a Vestal?!” Munda became confused.

“Vestal? What the fuck is that?”

“Aren’t you a fucking Vestal?!” Munda asked again, demanding an answer from Ubel who just kept laughing.

“Of course not. I don’t even know what a Vestal is.”

This was a bombshell that Munda could only respond with wide-open eyes and mouth in shock as he was told that he mistook Ubel for a Vestal. Then he turned from shock to anger.

“W-why! Why the fuck are you saying you are not a Vestal?!! You have golden eyes! I know your black hair was dyed to hide your real identity!” the pirate commander couldn’t accept that he made a grave mistake that had just cost him a career and his life.

Ubel just grinned at him and shook his head, as if he had given up in trying to persuade the man from his delusions.

“Anyways, we still have intruders,” Ubel said. “I don’t want to reveal my hand this early, but welp… let’s just go with the flow and taste the consequences later.”

The boy then looked at the incoming ships and grinned again. With eyes full of anticipation.

“This would be the best baptism of fire for her.”