Liam and his fellow Rats made their way down the last corridor between them and the ongoing firefight swiftly, being cautious of the downed security forces scattered through the hallways and the smoldering wreck of a defensive turret hanging by wires from the ceiling. The sounds of the battle were getting difficult to hear as the atmosphere was becoming too thin to carry sound, but even so they could feel the explosions of both the onboard pirate’s bombs and the repeated volleys of cannon fire from the Korraine. Around the last corner ahead of them was the entrance corridor to the bridge section, and knowing the tactics the Rats employed Liam slowed the group until they came to a halt and flashed his headlamp at the darkened area of the turn six times. A reply came with a matching six blinks, and from around the corner came the darkened silhouette of one of the Gunners rounding the corner with their heavy rifle aimed at them. No radio signal, no scanner signature, if he had carelessly approached they would have shot him in a heartbeat. From the broad essence of their shoulders and the way their biceps bulged unnaturally Liam guessed that this dark operative was Chance, a former deck hand on a luxury yacht the Rats had robbed a few years back. He gave them the “go ahead” signal before shrinking back into the shadows, his rifle peeking down the hall at a near imperceptible point between a pair of oxygen mask boxes.
The breachers all continued forth to the site of the skirmish where they were greeted with silent nods. Red dots were appearing all across the corridor as the defenders fired millions of watts worth of laser beams at them in the silent void, with piles of rivets and rebar joining them lodged into the wall as well as in piles on the floor. Liam could see across from the deadly doorway that Excalibur had parked him shell beside the seated form of the leader of the Gunners, Glen, who was clutching at his neck where a hole had been made in both his suit and his skin that was now covered by a patch to keep any air from leaking. Pushing the communication toggle switch on the underside of his helmet, Liam connected to the local frequency of the pirates only to have the muffled thumps of gunfire nearby drowned out by angry shouting from the seemingly mute pirates nearby. Such a sudden change in volume was disorienting, but with deft fingers he was able to adjust the volume as well as set his broadcast channel to the command frequency.
Excalibur's cold voice echoed over the line in anticipation of Liam connecting to the network. “Yielding command to the field leader. Situation facing unexpected delay, enemy resistance remains strong. Awaiting orders.”
Liam surveyed what he could of the battle from his position, taking note of the scars burned into the armor plates of the pirates and the bouncing brass casings dancing at his feet. “What's the status of the enemy captain? They realize they're gonna be bags of lead if they don't give up?” He waved his weaponized appendage about, half cycling the gun a few times to flash the bright green cartridge in the chamber.
A dry chuckle came from the AI as it turned the blocky optic lined head to look down at Glen. “Negotiations ended with a large caliber round making a new entrance into Gunner leader Glendale's neck. As of ten minutes prior the enemy command structure was seen firing upon us from behind their barricade with an improvised weapon. I do not suggest attempting a similar strategy of going into their line of sight and broadcasting on an open channel.”
Liam looked to the Gunners that were around him and the Breachers who had begun breaking into the sealed compartments in hallways adjacent to the command section. He knew the bulkhead between the flight deck and the section they were in was much thicker than the flimsy corridor plating they had blown through to counter the ambush earlier, and on most freighters the life support systems negated the need for vents into the room so the entire brain of the ship was in its own ironclad shell apart from the body. A thought crossed his mind, and with a sudden turn he looked for the bubblegum pink helmet of their closest thing to a technician they had on the assault team. “Bon-Bon, I need code monkey skills over here now!”
The grossly visible helmet of the software engineer peered from out of a maintenance duct in the floor with a submachine gun ready. “Who? What? Liam? Hi! What do you need?” A portable data-jack just under the floor casted an eerie green glow over the tech-girl’s suit, her jerky motions and the blinking connection lights making her look like a malfunctioning custodian droid from a cheesy horror movie.
Liam jerked his head to the side towards the hallway with sizzling red scars lining its walls. “I need you to patch me into their PA and shipboard comms, and if they’re trying to set off any scuttling charges keep the signal from going out.”
“Already been jamming them, they tried to blow us all up when we turned the first officer into confetti. Gimme a sec, I’ll getcha in. her, have a data-link!” She tossed a small silver card towards him, one that would allow her computer to interface with his generations old suit and give him control over the enemy radios. She vanished into the floor for almost exactly sixty seconds before reappearing with her thumbs raised. “You’re in! I’ll keep them from locking you out.” With that she ducked back into the hole in the floor, the hatch sliding most of the way closed behind her.
Before pressing the transmit button Liam sent of a cease fire ping to the Rats nearby to prevent them from accidentally hitting whoever picked up on the other end. He changed his channel and listened in for a moment at the angry yet bewildered soldiers on the line, then setting himself in the command frequency broadcast for all of them to hear. “Attention all crew of the PHI Killjoy vessel…” He paused for a moment, realizing that he hadn’t actually seen a name put on the ship registry or one painted on the outside of the ship, but couldn’t just cancel the broadcast now. “...whatever this ship is called. Not that it matters anymore, because it’s our ship now. I’m the de-facto leader of this raiding party, Liam, and I’m calling you to let you know that there’s a one time offer of mercy and maybe even a ride home for you corporate shlumps. Put your captain on the line and we can go over the details, otherwise things are going to get much messier than they already have.”
A moment passed in anxious silence as the private security forces conferred with their leader, then a pop as one voice set themself in the same jurisdiction as Liam. A young man’s voice, one held together with pride and confidence, joined him on the line but was heard by all. “This is Captain Daniel Ford of the PHI Dire Arrow, and we will not be surrendering this vessel. We will hold out until our escort cruisers arrive and destroy you. Do yourself a favor and flee while you can.”
Liam clicked his tongue against his teeth, “See, that’s not going to work. Not only are those cruisers you mentioned not coming, but they don’t even know you’re in danger or where you’re at thanks to our scrambling. Even if they did arrive they’d be too late and not strong enough to back the Korraine into a corner, so your plan is shit either way. Just so you know I don’t have orders to keep any of you alive, and this offer is me being nice to you. You and your crew have the choice-”
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There was a burst of impacts and sparks as small caliber bullets impacted the far wall, along with a stream of insults hurled over the line by one of the other soldiers. “Choice? Fuck you! You sons of bitches came aboard our ship and killed our friends!” We’ll kill every last one of y-” His words were cut off as Teddy darted out from cover and put a bullet into the man’s head, blowing a hole clean through to the other side of his head. The body fell silently to the floor, the only sound being the shaky breathing of the cornered soldiers.
Liam let the weight of the execution set in before he continued. “As you can see, this is not a hollow threat. The Rats have been astoundingly patient with you up until this point and have restrained themselves from simply firing a breaching missile in through the viewport screen, but this patience ends in thirty seconds. Either you all recognize that your lives mean jack shit to us and we’re willing to do you a massive fucking favor, or you all get to taste the vacuum and die like that dumbass. Don’t believe me? Let’s clear that up.”
With another change in challens Liam was patched through to Rime aboard the Lamprey, who answered his hail with a grunt. “Rime, put the message through to the Hounds, have them park those fighters right outside the viewport of this crippled whale.”
In a matter of seconds there came a bright stream of light from beyond the parted doors of the command room as the two fighters of the Korraine came into view, their battle-hardened armor visible in perfect detail and the ominous red glow of their overheated guns outlined menacingly in the pitch black void behind them. Each of the fighters put on a display of power by revealing their heavily modified weapons that were hidden from view under concealed plating, with everything from heavy laser cannons to anti-ship missiles ready to plow through the room where the resisting crew was holed up in. Liam used this moment to tune back into their channel and make his declaration. “Thirty seconds, Captain Ford, before I drop off the line and let the dogs have their fun.
Silence fell over the line, though Liam could hear what they were saying in perfect detail. These officers on the bridge sounded young and inexperienced, and from the way their voices quavered this must be the first time they had faced an enemy that was both stronger and more ruthless than themselves. He listened to them as they argued back and forth with the captain about giving up, about how their fearless leader wouldn’t allow any more deaths to happen on his ship, then with one final dismissal of the man trying to scuttle the ship he ordered both the life support back online and the blast doors to be opened. Through the bullet-marked doors strode the captain of the ship, hands empty and raised high for the pirates to see as he sank to his knees. “We surrender. Please, spare what is left of my crew.”
Liam stepped forth and pointed his gun right at the capitain much to the shock and horror of the rest of the security forces, but put it away once he had done a check to make sure their captain was unarmed. He ushered the captain to his feet with the tip of his bayonet to his back and ordered him to restrain himself, commenting that Captain Ford had made the right choice and would be treated well. With a single ping on his HUD Liam sent the order for the Rats to swarm the now unguarded bridge and capture all of the crew still inside, which happened to be mainly officers wearing minimal protection EVA suits not designed for combat and only four armored guards. A ragged sigh escaped Liam as he realized that he’d done it and taken the bridge, his hand beckoning Excalibur over to him. “Let the captain know we’re done over here.”
There was a moment of pause as the robot silently transmitted and received signals from the pirate ship, then with the same impassive voice told Liam his new directive. “The captain commends you for your success. Head for the main docking ring and prepare for connection procedures. Once all captives are prepared for transit we shall join you.”
With a nod the tired armorer turned and left the bridge, his Breachers following behind him and talking on their squad channel. He tried to tune them out and move quickly to the cargo bay, but for safety’s sake he kept the volume up in case one of them spotted something.
“God Damn!” came from Louie, “Been a long ass time since they put up a fight like that. If it were my outfit on this ship the Rats would have been screwed.”
Sam interjected with a shoulder to the other man’s pauldron. “Eh shuddup, you say that any time we face the corporate troops. Just because you held rank with ‘em doesn’t mean you’re some kinda super-soldier”
Mabel joined in as she came back from checking down a corridor with her light. “That’s because he’s a wannabe, Sam. He’s delusional and thinks one day he’ll magically get back in the service and get selected to have all his meaty bits given an overhaul and go pro.” Her sarcasm made Sam cackle and Louie growl over the mic, though all of them knew she had a smug look on her face.
Liam shook his head to Teddy and got a response of the same, both of them not wanting to be part of the noise behind them. Their group proceeded back down the passageway where the Gunners had wreaked unholy mayhem on the dozens of security forces that appeared to have used the thin metal walls as cover in an attempt to slow them, not knowing that most of the Gunners brought along big guns as part of their namesake. As they went by more corridors the level of destruction decreased until they reached the first intersection where the three groups of Rats had split off from before, the burnt out hallway beside them being the scene of the explosion with the bodies of dead guards they had slain on the far side. Heading even further aft along the ship they came into view of the main shield generator of the freighter, the circular hole of the Lamprey still visible with the copilot of the dropship dragging out the kit used for closing the breach behind them as they detached from their parasitic host.
Eventually the large open space of the cargo hangar floor opened up before them, with cranes and lifts on every side with the Looters operating them in order to crack open the goodie bags this whole mission had been for. Ammo, guns, targeting computers, combat drones and atmospheric aircraft, this ship has been hauling everything that the company catalog featured and more that was considered custom order. The Rats loved new guns, and it was in Liam’s future that some of the shipments would undoubtedly lose a few weapons while aboard the Korraine, and those very same guns would be on his workbench being refitted and custom engineered to match the peculiar tastes of the pirate who snatched it. This didn’t bother him, though he prayed that they would at least ask the captain before helping themselves.
Liam and company rode the main hangar lift down to the main floor and approached a colossal doorway approximately three hundred feet tall and twice that wide, secured with a double bulkhead and its own separate security booth for access to the controls. Liam tried the door and found it to be locked, but bullets sometimes worked better than keys for stubborn doors. Sam took control of the doorway and prepared it for the arrival of the pirate vessel, which from the vibrations caused by large ion engines meant that it was right outside of the thick reinforced bulkhead. A series of angry klaxons cried out as the reinforced barrier between them and the vacuum of space began to slide away, revealing the comparatively barren cargo bay of the Korraine already latched into place.
Forklifts, loaders, ferriers and pirates who didn’t participate in the boarding party began to rush inside picking up everything that wasn’t nailed down and securing the hangar with extra barricades in case some stragglers still wished for a fight. Liam let out a relieved sigh, feeling that he had finally reached the end of the mission he was sent on, until his comms beeped with a message from the captain. She wanted him to report to the armory immediately, and he was to be there on the double. An exasperated groan escaped him as he stepped across the threshold of the two ships, and casting a look back over his shoulder he saw a conga line of prisoners being led down the flights of stairs towards the same passage he was taking, Captain Ford at the front and the now stripped of armor security forces in the rear. He mused that he could mitigate any further ire from the captain if he told her he had managed to negotiate for some possible new recruits, though he doubted his own optimism.
Before going anywhere near the lift that led to the midship layer he dismissed the other Breachers, sending them off to go and assist with cargo or go tend to their injuries and damaged equipment. In truth he didn’t want to share an elevator ride with any of them at the moment and would prefer to have a minute to himself as he walked willingly to his doom. He used his one hand to detach his helmet from the pressure cuff around his neck and placed his helm under his prosthetic arm, rolling his neck to remove a lingering soreness from the blast he was caught in. He took in a deep breath as he reached his stop, readying himself for whatever the captain had ready for him. The hard part of the mission was over, now it was time for the real danger.