Captain Alexander was doing his best to keep a calm demeanor for the crew, but despite his outward expression, his mind was racing a mile a minute. The problem was that it was just running in circles.

Looking over at comms, he decided to ask for an update. "Any response?"

The comms officer shook his head. "We're too far out, and there are no core patrols in the vicinity. The soonest we'll likely see reinforcement is in an hour or two."

That was a story captains had been repeating more and more often. The core system suddenly seemed plagued by an inability to protect the outer systems. There was a lot of discussion about why that was, but it didn't matter right now because they wouldn't last nearly that long. The pirates chasing them down would be in effective target range in minutes, not hours. Even now, they were taking the occasional potshot, but it was easy enough to side-slip the projectiles at this distance, so it was probably just out of boredom. Unfortunately, they didn't seem so bored as to give up the chase. His options seemed to be twofold. He could try to fight back and probably get everyone killed, or he could surrender and hope they'd be lenient.

However, the problem with that idea was that the pirates hadn't issued any demands or made any offer of leniency. They'd just popped out of the fueling depot and started chasing.

His crew seemed to be looking at Alexander from the corner of their eyes as if hoping he'd think of something to get them out of this mess, but knowing he was probably just as lost as they were. He was just about to issue the order to turn and fight, hoping desperately to make enough of a pest of themselves so as not to be worth the trouble, but then the comms officer spoke up again. "Sir, we've got incoming ahead. It's big, whatever it is."

Thinking fast, Alexander realized it couldn't be a core patrol. It was probably more pirates. If that was the case, they were dead, pure and simple. However, there was a slim chance it was something else, and on the off chance it would get him and his crew out of this situation alive, he made his call. "Change heading to intercept the new arrival. As soon as they pop into real space, I want them between us and the pirates chasing us!"

It was a gamble, but it was the only play he had. It was time to put everything on black and pray.

As the ship changed course, all eyes were on the countdown for the new arrival. As the seconds ticked down, Alexander felt strangely at peace. There was a certain freedom in knowing that you no longer had a choice, regardless of how potentially horrible the end result might be. At the last moment, the pirate ship peeled off, though the question remained, was it because they were scared, or was it because they'd already won?

When the ship finally appeared in real space, it was massive, dwarfing Alexander and the pirate's combined vessels. It looked like a twisted mashup of several vessels combined into some sort of flying nightmare.

The comm's officer turned to the captain. "Sir, they're requesting communications."

Captain Alexander nodded. "Put them through."

A moment later, a rugged man who looked like he needed a good bath and a clean shave popped up on Alexander's screen and immediately started speaking. "Captain Carter of the Sybil calling. We got your distress call and figured we'd come to stick our nose into your business and see if we could be of any help. Mind if we put the smackdown on some pirates for you?"

The name Sybil seemed familiar, but Captain Alexander wasn't about to question his benefactor, particularly when that benefactor could probably easily swat his ship aside like a mild inconvenience. "By all means, Captain Carter. Your assistance is most appreciated."

Captain Carter nodded. "Well then, tuck in behind us and watch us get to work. This shouldn't take too long!"

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-

Carter watched as the distance between them and the pirates began to narrow. The Sybil took a bit to get moving, but once she did, she was about as fast as anything he'd seen. Running down the pirates shouldn't be too big of an issue. Though he was a bit concerned with their heading. "What's that station they're running toward? Could it be hiding an ambush?"

The girl gave the appearance of reading off a data pad. "It's a local refueling station used for older model ships with less efficient FTL drives. They're fairly common at the edges of controlled space. That's probably the whole reason the cargo vessel was out here, to begin with."

Carter frowned. "Hail the station. If they don't respond, warn them we will open fire."

For once, the pirate didn't seem too interested in a scrap. "Well, this is hardly a good use of our time. I was expecting at least a frigate or maybe a small fleet."

Carter shook his head. "Why? Why do you do that to us?"

John looked back at Carter with confusion. "Do what?"

Resisting the urge to say something more harsh, Carter just sighed. "Just wait. You'll see."

-

Cole did not like what he was seeing. "Uh, boss? They're saying they'll open fire if we don't respond. What should I do?"

The boss, a new guy in charge, shook his head. "What else? Respond. You don't have to scare 'em off or anything. Just delay them a little. Maybe try and draw them in while you're at it."

What the hell was wrong with the new boss? How was Cole supposed to do any of that? He'd always been good at making things up as he went along, but talking a behemoth like that down would take more than luck. He tried not to think about how sweaty his hands were as he opened a channel to respond. "Uh, Sybil, this is refueling station..." crap, he didn't even know the name of this stupid place! Time to make something up, "eight-one-nine-two. Responding to your hails...uh...how can we...help?" Shit! That was terrible. They'd probably just shoot them down on principle at this point!

However, rather than die in a fiery explosion, Cole was relieved when a voice responded. A female voice, surprisingly sultry sounding despite the otherwise benign conversation. "Refueling station eight-one-nine-two, this is the Sybil. Your station designation doesn't match what's in our data files. Please explain."

Crap! Shit! Crap! What the hell does he say now? "Uhhh, yeah, we're under new management, and they've issued a new designation. Evidently, not all regional information banks have been fully updated. Some pencil pusher at the home office probably forgot to stamp a form somewhere, holding up the process. You know how it is!" God let them know how it is!

After a moment, the voice responded. "Affirmative station eight-one-nine-two. We are pursuing a pirate vessel that appears to have been recently docked at your station. What information do you have on them?"

Damn that idiot! Why'd he have to go and chase after that small-time merchant? Easy money, his ass! "Uh, not much, I'm afraid. They paid, and we fueled them up. That's about it. Out here, we don't look too closely at someone's records so long as their money is good."

A moment later, the response came through. "Very well. As the pirate vessel is approaching your location, some of our ordinance may come close to your station. I recommend you keep your shields up to avoid any accidental strikes."

Reaching up to wipe the sweat he just noticed on his brow, Cole nodded as he spoke. "Confirmed Sybil... Happy...uh...hunting."

Turning to the new boss, Cole asked the most intelligent question he could think of. "What now?"

The new guy smiled and shrugged. "What else? Raise shields. The cavalry is on the way."

Cole figured better them than us and started to reach for the controls but hesitated. "The what is on its way...Boss?"

The new boss chuckled. "Never mind. Just put those shields up."

-

The vixen gave Carter a look. "They're definitely pirates. Don't worry about friendly fire hitting them."

Carter couldn't help but be surprised by how professional she'd been on the call just now, but let that pass in favor of his other questions. "How do you know they're pirates? And if they are, why'd you ask them to put up their shields?"

The vixen rolled her eyes. "I know because I can smell their stench from here. As for why I asked them to put up their shields, this will prevent them from working in conjunction with the pirate vessel to stall us longer. I figured it was better to take them apart piecemeal."

Carter couldn't fault her logic and turned to the girl. "Put me through to Alen and the assault team."

The girl nodded, indicating the connection was live. Carter cleared his throat before speaking. "Carter to Alen. You boys ready for some fun down there?"

Alen's reply came back sounding only a little shaken. "Uh, yeah. I think we're ready."

Then, before he could end his end of the transmission, Carter could make out the loud booming voice of Erik in the background. "It's time to kill us some pirates!"