Alen was well aware Erik had his reasons for hating pirates more than most and took great pleasure in meting out punishment to any he came across, but the human couldn't help but think his friend was having a little too much fun as the giant alien laughed maniacally while holding down the trigger on his new minigun as he sprayed the corridor with gunfire. Sure, he'd seen both Vanessa and Erik kill plenty of pirates aboard the Trader's Vigilance, but watching the gunfire rip through unarmored pirates was something else altogether.

Looking at the mangled corpses in the blood-splattered hall, Alen took some comfort in knowing that these pirates had likely harmed plenty of people in the past and would likely have done so in the future given a chance, but the grisly sight still filled him with nausea. When she'd been trying to spook them, not even Sybil had presented such a gruesome scene.

Alen looked at Vanessa, who showed no detectable emotion as usual. "Ummm, does Erik always have so much fun...killing pirates?"

Vanessa shook her head. "No. This seems to be a special confluence of him getting to kill said pirates while also enjoying a new favorite piece of equipment. I haven't seen him this excited since he first got those plasma axes. A lot of pirates died then, too..."

Alen swallowed the bile in his throat at the thought of it. Most likely, the walls wouldn't have been the only thing painted in blood and viscera then. The image of a blood-soaked Erik cleaving through countless pirates would probably give him nightmares for years to come.

As the whine of the chaingun finally slowed and stopped, Erik looked back at them with his usual carefree grin. "This hall is clear! Let's get a move on!"

Alen nodded, and he and Vanessa followed after his friend and nightmare inspiration.

-

Carter cursed silently before asking for clarification. "What kind of ships are we talking about here?"

The girl shook her head. "It's impossible to say other than they're not small. They're likely at least a match for us in a straight fight. We've got less than a minute before they arrive."

Carter cursed again. There was no way to get the people off the pirate ship in time. He hated to cut and run, leaving them behind, but that was probably their best option. "Can we get out of here before they show up?"

Surprisingly, no one fought him on it, but the girl tilted her head. "It would be very close, but there is a good chance they could catch us at our most vulnerable."

Carter sighed. There was a moment as you jumped that all shields went down. A lucky shot at that time can and has ruined more than one ship's day. With six ships all firing at the same time...well, it might ruin his day.

For a moment, Carter thought about blowing up the station in revenge, but even though whoever was on that station was probably responsible for what was happening, they were no longer the immediate threat, and focusing on them would only get him killed. "Alright, sounds like we need to thin the herd a little. I want us to focus fire on the closest ship as they pop into real space. With luck, we can take one out before they get their shields up and running. After that...we'll figure something out. Also, let our guests on the pirate ship know what's happening."

The pirate grinned. "We're in for a right good scrap this time! It's been a while since I last got to go all out!"

Carter wished he shared the pirate's optimism.

-

Alen was so distracted by what he'd just heard that he barely even noticed the viscera as he wiped it off the command console. "Six capital class ships? We need to get back to the Sybil, now!"

The AI he was speaking to didn't sound optimistic. "You don't have time. They'll be here in seconds."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Alen's mind raced. They were dead. There was simply no way out of this mess. Chances are, the Sybil would try to weaken the enemy enough that they could make a getaway, but there was no way the crew of the Trader's Vigilance could get the already heavily damaged pirate ship out of here. Even if they could get the FTL drive up and running, they'd be swatted out of the void the moment they spooled it up. As for fighting...well, even if the Sybil hadn't already beaten the ship into submission before they'd boarded it, it wasn't exactly the kind of ship that could offer much in a fight like this. But what other options did they have? If they couldn't run and couldn't fight, that narrowed their options more than a little...

As the pirate fleet popped into real space, Alen struggled to take the idiotic ideas passing through his mind and turn them into something resembling a half-baked plan.

-

As two of the more distant ships appeared, the Sybil started firing into what looked like empty space, only for a third ship to appear much closer and in the immediate trajectory of the incoming fire, striking the ship several times in the split second before its shields came online. It wasn't enough to take the ship out of the fight completely, but the Sybil continued to pour fire into the ship as it moved sluggishly, indicating it had taken damage to more than one essential system and was struggling to put up any semblance of a fight at this point.

Given another moment or two, the Sybil probably could have taken its shields out, but shortly after that, the fourth and fifth ships appeared, and the first two opened fire, forcing the Sybil to redirect some of its shorter-range systems to take out incoming ordinance while the ship began rotating to mitigate any strain to its shield generators.

The girl was providing a rapid analysis. "Looks like the enemy is taking us seriously. They sent in two battleships, a cruiser, and three destroyers, one of which we've already heavily damaged. Looks like they're adopting a standard formation with the battleships hitting us at range while the destroyers provide interference, with the cruiser playing a more wait-and-see approach, probably hoping to hit us with a heavy missile salvo once our attention is committed elsewhere."

Carter knew a bit about ship combat from his time aboard other ships but was now entirely out of his depth. This wasn't a scenario where a bluff or ambush would get them out of trouble. "Uhhh, recommendations?"

Surprisingly, the girl looked to John, the pirate, who had an uncharacteristically grim expression as he offered his insight. "The battleships and cruiser are the real threats here. The battleships are slow to move and maneuver and are turned to provide an optimal firing angle for full salvos, meaning we could chase them down and get in close where we'd have the advantage, but these destroyers aren't about to let us just run past them without punishing us for trying."

Carter was so thrown off by John's calm, analytical report that he was almost caught off guard when the pirate turned to him with a manic gleam in his eye. "So, I suggest we try something...creative!"

Fearing the answer, Carter had to ask. "Like what?"

This time, it was the vixen who spoke up. "Prepare to ram the nearest destroyer. I'll handle the rest."

Carter wasn't big on the idea of ramming another ship, especially with so many more threats near at hand. "Can we handle ramming into another ship? Won't that cause us as much damage as them?"

The vixen smiled wickedly. "Only if you hit them."

-

Out of time and out of ideas, Alen put a call into the shielded station. He'd never been big on games of chance, but now it was time to see if he could pull off a bluff. What was the name of the ship they were on again? Oh, right. "Refueling station, this is acting captain..." He looked over at the bloody patch on the torso of a body that had been torn to shreds. "Sampson of the Lost Venture. We need immediate docking and emergency repairs. Lower shields so we can approach. You can pull them back up behind us."

The person who answered looked insulted. "You must think I'm an idiot if you think we're going to lower our shields just because you say so! I don't know who you are or..."

Alen cut him off. "Listen, we don't have time for this. After you left us hanging, we lost half our crew fighting off boarders, and now I got a leaking FTL core about to go full burst. The only way to stop it is for a full system shutdown. Seeing as how I don't particularly breathe vacuum all that well, I need someplace to evacuate once that's done, like a handy nearby space station. If you don't lower your shields, I'm gonna park my ship right next to you and make the resulting explosion everyone's problem! Now let us in, or we can all die in the next..." He looked away as if checking a system report. "ten minutes...give or take about five minutes."

The operator looked dubious. "That's a heck of a variance. Will you even have time to shut everything down after docking if you're five minutes short?"

Alen glared at the man as if out of patience. "We can either find out the answer to that question, or we can all die while we argue about it. Your call!"

The operator looked away a moment before returning his attention. "Confirmed acting captain Sampson. Docking bay twelve will be made available for your needs. You may approach at your convenience."

Alen smiled and nodded, his relief not an act. "Thank you. You might wanna have any medics you've got on hand. We got a lot injured over here."

The operator nodded. "Confirmed. We'll have someone waiting for you."