Jose was dumbfounded. He had gone through all the work of breaching a pirate blockade in an effort to cut the head off the snake and they were just gone. There was no logical way they could’ve gotten out of this, yet still, they had, which meant logic held no hand over this corner of the universe. When Jose turned around, he realized that all the pirate ships were gone too, along with their mechs. As if by magic. Then it hit him. There was a planet past this space port. Key word being was, because now, like the space station, it was gone.
“What the fuck just happened?” A voice yelled over the intercom to no answer.
It would take days to clean up and salvage the debris. Some rescue missions were in order, getting pilots out of broken mechs, saving the crews of a doomed ship, that kinda thing. But as they stayed there was still no sign that the pirates had ever even been here. Of course there were scorch marks, and dead Albatross, but not a single remnant of any sort of pirate fortifications. Their superiors were stumped, and though an official explanation had to be given no one really knew what happened. All they did know was that the Dread Pirate was gone, again.
This was not the first time Jose had come within a hair's breadth of killing the so-called pirate king and his first mate. But this was the first time his escape had left him so utterly confused. Sometimes it was clever strategy, or bribing guards to free them, other times it was just plain stupid luck. The Captain had a way about him Jose almost admired, afterall it was their little cat and mouse games that made this corner of the arm a little less boring. It’s not like their escapades really hurt many people either, and the ones who got hurt could usually afford it.
But this was different, or maybe it was the plan all along. Taking an entire planet. How did the pirates hope to escape? How did they escape? Jose feared he would never know the answer to these questions as he was called back to Tetron, the current home of albatross. In reality they had no real home, but at times would settle in systems that needed them for as long as necessary. He had even grown to like this region, the people were nice enough and it was far away from the schemings of distant interstellar powers. That, Jose thought, must have been what the Dread Pirate also enjoyed about the planet he had made his home.
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As he was called into his superior’s office Jose was already dreading the chewing out and paperwork that was coming his way. “You failed to capture this interloper again Mr Lopez. I’m almost starting to think you’re letting him get away” was what he had said the last time. Jose hated being called Mr Lopez.
“Lopez, what happened out there?” His superior, Major Edison asked.
“To be honest? I got no idea.” They were silent for a moment until he added “it just kinda disappeared.”
“How does an entire planet disappear?” The Major was absolutely dumbfounded.
“Beats me.”
The major sighed, knowing neither of them could even conceive of the answer. “The General is gonna be up our asses about this. Do you have any small inkling of an idea to where they could have possibly gone?”
“The sixth dimension.” He joked, with no humor. The major just sighed and dismissed him.
In fairness Jose wasn’t quite sure what the Major expected him to say, it’s not like he knew anything about this kinda thing. It would be better to ask a physicist. Maybe even a theoretical physicist, though he couldn’t imagine that a fake scientist would help. How do you track someone who disappeared off the face of the universe in front of your eyes? It was a question that would keep him up all night.
The next day he was called back into the Major’s office. Edison looked tired, and held the bridge of his nose between two fingers. He didn’t seem to notice Jose.
“Uh, excuse me, Major Edison?” Jose asked as politely as he could muster.
“Jose, the general wants you court martialed for repeated failures bordering on malicious negligence. They’re blaming you for this whole clusterfuck.” his voice was full of apprehension.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me!” he slammed his fists on the major’s desk as if it would change anything. “I’ve been doing my god damn job honestly for five years. Its not like I’ve been taking bribes or letting them go for the thrill of the chase. They wanna court martial me for that?”
“Look, we got ISPN execs breathing down our neck, and the entire regional command of albatross up our ass.”
“Its gonna be a phony fucking court then aint it?”
“Yeah… We’ve got your defense lined up. They’re going to push for exile, your only chance back in is to find the pirates and bring them to us as a bounty hunter.”
So there I was, soon to be exiled from the only thing worth doing with my life, all because some pirates kidnapped a planet. Jose readied himself as he left his superiors office. As a pilot, Jose owned his mech so he wouldn’t lose that. What he would lose was a consistent income, living space and food. A freelancer’s life would not be glamorous, but unlike most lost souls, he had a mission.
Find the Dread Pirate.