Interlude

Chairman Tch’ceck watched as the two large blips left the system, their fleet of smaller blips had robbed him of everything. The mining equipment, the alloy, even the chemicals used in refining the ore. Whatever they left behind wouldn’t be enough to keep this operation running.

He was ruined, he staked everything on this. His inherited fortune wasted, years spent scouting out this backwater sector wasted, years spent gnashing his beak at the galactic banking union and building up a network of investors wasted. All of it was gone, all gone because of one single pirate ship. A ship he never even got a good look at.

His hand drifted to the pistol he kept at his side, a gift from his mother, for if things ever got bad. He knew the woman didn’t mean for him to use it in self-defense.

No! He wasn’t through yet. He could sell the base and get some of the investors’ money back. He could go back and work for the intergalactic bank again, who cared if he would never be promoted out of his entry level position. He would suck up to every Zxx’thi banker in that place and maybe earn a position as a favored yes man, or an errand bird. He would sing whatever tune they wanted until he had enough favor with them to be useful to mother again.

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The thought galled him though, he left for a backwater sector like Femeri to escape her claws. If it had been up to her, he wouldn’t have gotten a credit of father’s money. Maybe his various siblings could help?

His life wasn’t over, not yet.

“Sir!” the Icutoo tech called, and Tch’ceck’s anger flared up again

“What” he clicked slowly for the idiot.

“A new warp signature just appeared on the radar; I don’t think it’s a lane runner though. I think it’s more pirates”

Tch’ceck leaned over the console with his long stick like legs and glared at the screen, what else could they want?

The ship entered the system, uncloaked, shields down, weapons cold. It slipped past the hole in the defense grid made by Gray Death and approached the base. Unlike the Gray Death this ship didn’t use any visual cloaking at all, so Tch’ceck could watch as two long narrow breaching ramps extended and pierced the outer hull of the base.

It didn’t take Tch’ceck long to realize that firstly this was a different group of pirates. Gaw had said the Gray Death’s captain was smart and cautious. He had seen firsthand why Gaw almost sounded like he feared them. Those pirates had kept their cloak up the whole time, they could have easily dropped it and annihilated everyone on base to cover their tracks. These pirates didn’t even bother. That meant there would be no witnesses.

But what valuables did he have left?

People, he had people still on base. Nearly three thousand miners, refiners, and clerks. There were at least fifty in this room alone. These pirates were slavers unlike the Gray Death.

He slid the latch off the pistol holster and slid the gun free. He aimed it at the distracted Icutoo tech’s head and pulled the trigger. He watched with satisfaction as the idiot dropped dead. Then he placed it against his own temple and pulled the trigger. Nothing.

“Of course not, why make a last resort with two charges” he grumbled as the long necked Egh’ahd pirates burst through the door.