Alarms were blaring all throughout the Lamprey’s passenger bay, yet not a single indication of warning came from the cockpit sensor systems. Their pilot, the husky woman under the alias of Rime, had a twisted sense of what constitutes danger and deserves to appear on her displays as a warning. This was not the first time she had seen a swarm of anti-ship missiles heading towards her, and a quick glance at the calculated trajectory told her that even if all twenty of those were singling out the troop transport she was in charge of delivering today she would still be able to make it out of there. She scoffed over the open channel, accepting the wave of death inbound as a challenge of her skills as a pilot. “Wonderful, they know how to show us a good time!”

Her passengers knew that this behavior of hers was a result of her time as a racer in a deathtrap of a sport built around navigating asteroid fields that had been agitated with numerous high explosives. The fact that she elected to ignore was that the cabin of the Lamprey was the sturdies component aside from the engines, so even if one of the bombs did hit her there would be a high likelihood that she and her copilot would survive, but very few of the boarding team. Regardless, she made an effort to dodge the projectiles with grace and skill while her co-pilot frantically armed the countermeasures and point-defense platforms to clear the way. One bomb did explode within range of the hardened shell of the dropship, though the passengers were fortunate that the reckless pilot had angled forward to evade another explosive and had inadvertently escaped the blast radius in doing so.

More blasts rocked the inside of the passenger bay, violently rattling the secured space pirates in their harnesses. The machine in their midst did not shake or shudder as the hull groaned under the strain of the sharp turns being performed in order to survive. Some were praying to their gods, others clutched at their weapons fearfully, and a select few remained stoic as the ship they rode rattled onwards. As far as boarding missions went this was a noisy one, but it was also not the worst they had seen. Liam knew of the worst, as he had been there a decade ago on his first raid when the hull was sheared in half. This day would not end the same way, he was certain of it.

Ahead of them loomed the behemoth freighter, from which poured dozens more missiles from shielded pods and manually operated emergency panels. Most ships could regain their footing after losing power after a minute or so, which meant that the window of time before the defense lasers flared to life was quickly drawing short as the Lamprey made her final approach through the hail of shrapnel. To either side of the parasitic breaching vessel were the twin fighters that the Korraine had sent alongside them, each firing plasma rounds into the immobilized beast in order to prepare the way for the bomber hanging back with the mother ship. Sixty seconds had passed and yet the vessel remained immobilized, a side effect of being hit with repeated blasts from electromagnetic pulses from the pulse bomb lodged in the belly of the freighter. A pirate invention, but once that bought them the few precious seconds necessary to close the gap between them before the shields came back online.

The conical nose of the Lamprey began to activate the internal piercing devices that would enable the pirates to forge a door of their own into the inside of their foe. Plasma saws, arc cutters, circular saws forged of a metal that required quantum computers to properly synthesize: everything and anything the Rats could slap together to cut their way inside of any hull. A sinister violet glow enveloped the front of the boarding craft as it diverted all power to the engines and cutters, and with a bone-shaking crash it rammed into the underside of the cargo hauler. A clean insertion, one that would disorient and injure any security in the shield generator chamber and create jagged chunks of metal cover for the pirates.

Liam could now see inside of the enemy shield chamber through the external camera as the nose began to open up with eight distinct jaw points. A sleek white room, a single tower in the center that shone with blue energy, and a catwalk circling the entire chamber. The few engineers that were operating the generator had been tossed to the ground, and the three armed guards present were now toppled over their deployable cover panels that now lay on the floor uselessly. These were the perfect conditions for boarding, and Liam intended to capitalize on it. He roared over the comms on a narrow proximity range so that only the other breachers would hear him. “Latched and ready, pop the can and let them die!”

Flash charges mounted to the external hatch of the breaching unit went off, blinding the crew of the freighter as eight pirates climbed on ladders into the artificial gravity field of their ship. The closest engineers were quickly captured or shot with stun rounds while Liam and Teddy stormed the disheveled fortifications of the security team. Demands that they drop their weapons were made over open lines, and the threat of death was made explicitly clear if they didn’t comply immediately. One officer tried in vain to raise his rifle level with Liam’s helmet, only for Teddy’s carbine to ring out once as a hole opened in the neck of the guard. He fell to the deck choking on his own blood while the two living guards tossed their guns aside and dropped to the ground.

While the security forces were being subdued, Louie and his partner Rocky sprinted towards the main entrance of the shield room in order to secure the door. A hacking device was placed over the control mechanism of the door, and in a few moments the wiring connecting that door to the rest of the ship was compromised and put under the control of the Lamprey’s computers. The door parted just slightly, enough for the barrel of a gun to fit through, and shots rang out as approaching guards were driven back under fire. Two other pirates made their way to the control room, and upon entering the room open fired with heavy machine guns into the systems.

As soon as the crackling blue energy vanished from the enormous coil, a call over the pirate communicators told the rest of the party to board. Four by four the vagabonds made their way up the ladders, and once all of them were there they were followed by the tread-borne machine body of Excalibur pulling itself up on its arms alone. Some pirates made their way over to the doors in order to help secure that passage while the rest gathered beside the pile of prone hostages bound to the railing circling the shield generator. Liam approached them with a confiscated laser rifle in hand and tossed it to their accompanying energy weapons expert Franz to be looked over for specifics.

Liam's hand reached under the edge of his helmet and switched his broadcast to only the AI’s frequency. “Calibur, you tell the captain we got the shield down?”

The cold, impassive tone of the machine’s voice thrummed in his helmet. “Right as we breached. The captain already knew that you would die before letting her down, so I took the liberty of telling her ahead of time. Her orders have already been patched into your disgusting system.”

The warbot rolled over to the side so as to not block the leader of this mission from his men. Rolling his eyes at the frustratingly logical robot, Liam used his helmet controls to navigate to an outdated messenger system in his helmet and opened the text message from the captain. Her instructions were completely open ended, with the only real objective being the complete seizure of the bridge and disabling of the jump drive. To him it was very much like her to do that, as she for some unknown reason trusted in his tactical decisions.

Only Excalibur could hear him curse under his breath at the message, but the whole team got to hear his improvised commands as he switched to their shared frequency. “Alright Rats, we got orders from the boss and I don’t want to hear one pip from any of you about what’s going to happen now. Techies, I need you lot to get your grubby mitts up to the jump drive and shut it down quiet like, no explosions or cascade sequences if you can avoid it. Looters and cutters, set the main cargo pods to disengage if this boat tries to run. Hunters, skinners, I want every deck devoid of life by the time I get back. Breachers, breakers and gunners, on me, we’re all going for a stroll to the bridge! We clear, Rats?”

Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

A chorus of agreeing cheers echoed around the crowd as guns were readied and boots hammered along the way to the door. Liam drew close to Franz and keyed his headset specifically. “Alright Franz, what’re we dealing with?”

The opaque visor painted over with shark teeth looked to Liam suddenly while loose components of the laser rifle scattered to the deck in surprise. “Ah, yes! These are the standard LX-53 Vanguards. They’ve been tuned to their highest focus and output intensity ahead of time, so it is likely that we will be seeing the atmosphere vented along our path in order for the lasers to reach the criticality impact threshold. I advise that we send shielded troops forward in order to negate their defenses.”

Liam shook his head, then sent a broadcast to the whole party as he jogged to meet up with the breachers. “Alright Rats, looks like today’s going to be a light show. Laser weapons, set to cook us fast and dry. I would say for shield buggers to go up front and take the pounding, but we don’t have any of those modules left. Stay sharp and don’t get fried, and we’ll all be home for dinner when this is over.”

Another pulse of chatter over the line was heard just as the body of one of the pirates flopped back onto the deck. They had just peeked their head around the doorway when a hole suddenly appeared in their helmet. Liam could see thin wisps of smoke rising up from the entry wound as the body spasmed on the floor. In response to one of their own being silently removed from this world, a particularly emotional pirate slipped through the gap in the door and sprinted down the hall towards the attackers.

Every leader of the breaching team knew that there were deaths no matter the mission. That was just how life was as a Rat: you live, you die, whoever is on your will gets your cut. Still, it was hard to watch rookies who didn’t know any better get their brains melted into carbonized coal in their own heads. Liam commed one of the burlier gunners, a man named Chess, and barked an order into his helmet. “Chess, deploy barrier and let them eat lead.”

The big man smiled under his helmet and hoisted his heavy machine gun with glee, the smile on his face almost visible even through the armored mouth guard and respirator of his heavy combat gear. The blocky 50. caliber weapon in his hands clicked and shook as a large piece of collapsible metal extended outwards, creating a tower shield over the gunner to hide behind. Another pirate controlled the hacking device and forced the door open wider to accommodate the muscular combatant as he stomped into the hallway. Almost instantly glowing red splotches appeared on his shield, only for his reply to be the thunderous roar of the weapon firing with enough force to blow fist sized chunks of wall panels and security guard armor away as the four officers were ripped to gory shreds.

Liam stepped out into the hall after the gunfire had stopped, and to his disgust he found the hallway torn asunder and painted red, with the body of the now dead pirate that had left before Chess lying with a smoking hole in their chest. Two dead now, and likely more soon to be lost. The grimy gray and red hallways would only play to the advantage of the defenders and their matching gear, as the multi-colored pirate armor stood out quite obviously from the scenery. He didn’t have time to stop and mourn for the foolish kid, he had more important things to do. Teddy quickly was at his shoulder with his rifle raised, the two working together to lead the boarders to the intersection where they would split the party.

Explosions rocked the hull, the lights flickered, and shouting could be heard over open communication lines. Liam had experienced this all before, and was no stranger to the uncertainty of a raid. These kinds of conditions were the perfect cover for ambushes. A concealed defense turret could drop from the ceiling, a side door could open up to a mounted gun platform, a battalion of armed soldiers could come around the corner: he’d seen it all before on ships just like this one, so by now he was used to this. The pirate pushed on ahead until they came to a three way intersection from which they could split up.

Liam directed his voice to the AI in the crowd. “Cal, which way to our goals?”

The machine flatly replied. “Left for the bridge, and right for the cargo hold. Straight ahead will most likely allow the technical specialists an easier route to access the jump drive. I suggest splitting your forces here.”

Liam nodded in confirmation to the treaded frame. “You all heard him. Techs go that way, looters down there, and the rest of us are going to have a chat with their captain. Come on, put those legs to work.”

The raiding party split their members at that intersection, with five going to the rear, seven going for the jump drive, and the remaining eighteen moving for the bridge. Liam led the largest group on a brisk jog forwards until Teddy planted a hand on his shoulder and stopped him before he came up to an intersection. One glance back to the young marine told him everything he needed to know via hand signs. “Bombs. 40 meters. Soldiers. 200 meters. Ambush.”

A shared visual feed connected to the helmet of every member of the squad going towards the bridge, from which they could see through the multichannel visuals his augmented systems could see. Dozens of explosive charges lined the corridor ahead, and much farther down were thermal signatures peeking just around a bend in the hallway. Liam quickly ran the numbers, but Excalibur beat him to the punch with his proclamation. “Chances of success are low. I suggest avoiding this passage altogether.”

With a hand wave Liam summoned the demolitions expert Reginald, who appeared to be enormous compared to everyone else only because his suit was specifically made to be blast resistant to an extreme degree. Reginald didn't need to be ordered to do what he was born for,, and was already picking his target by the time he reached the front of the line. The master ordinance surveyor lumbered forwards until he reached the first explosive hidden under a maintenance hatch, and in a few short moments had the detonator removed without setting off the anti tampering failsafe within. He quietly jogged back over to the one armed leader and showed him what he had removed. “Radio controlled explosives, sir. Jamming frequency 713 to 739 will do for these bombs, but I do believe that they might have also included a proximity trigger at the far end. Permission to investigate?”

Liam nodded, allowing the heavily armored gentleman to trudge back into the minefield. A quick glance to the clock in the corner of his hud reminded Liam that time was not on their side. A new plan was needed, one that would guarantee that at least some of the pirates made it to the bridge. He turned to the AI and made an urgent request. “Cal, I need two alternate routes to the bridge from this intersection. Avoid weapon bays if possible because of the bombing runs, minimal EVA walks for the same reason, and keep away from any segments that have been laser burned already. Send the breakers on one route and the gunners on the other. Breachers, we're taking the direct route through the party poppers.”

The breakers went down the left hallway while the gunners darted down a set of stairs to the right, leaving only the six breachers, Excalibur, and the bomb diffuser at work. A loud snap came from whatever device Reginald was working on, but shortly after he turned around with the sparking heart of a detonator device. Liam motioned for him to catch up to the breakers, and once his proximity indicator went dark the breachers moved forward slowly. Each footstep was possibly their last, and every breacher was painfully aware that a shot to one of the bombs around them could set the whole chain off. Moving slowly and patiently was their best chance of getting through unscathed.

From the end of the hallway came a worrying blue glow cycling its way towards red along the light spectrum. None of the pirates needed to be told to start running for the nearest door or hatch, none needed a callout to be alerted to what lay ahead, and none could forget the payload that was right under their feet. Six pirates dove into doors on either side of the hall as the laser cannon at the end of the hallway reached its maximum output, the metal panel under its beam turning to liquid in a fraction of a second before the explosives went off. The expanding wave of energy caught Liam mid leap, flinging him to the far side of the storage room he was now within. A red light flickered to life, indicating that he had a pressure leak. He swore as he thought about how his life would have been better if he hadn’t been a moron.