Title: Redemption
It was quiet on the lone asteroid base that was just a tiny speck in the vast asteroid belt. The silence was interrupted by the loud hissing of oxygen. Than the deafening sound of depressurization alarms. It appeared as if the cold steel airlock doors had been breached.
“Mary, you're with me. We will secure the main floor. The rest of you clear the station, kill everyone!”
They started clearing the station, prepping it to be pillaged by the salvage team. These pirates were ruthless, executing any opposition in cold blood. Many minutes passed before the station was captured. By now the walls were soaked with a thick layer of deep crimson colored blood. You could smell the iron from the blood in the rooms where depressurization had not occured.
“Station capture!” the pirates shouted.
The treasures pillaged during this raid could keep the crew stocked for weeks. For the next few weeks the pirates harassed anyone who entered their space.
“Captain! We have disabled their drive.”
“Prepare boarding parties.”
“Aye aye capin!”
Captain Gre’s hardened pirate crew prepared to board the little merchant vessel and claim it as their next big plunder. For many years the pirates had owned the region of space outside of Saturn's orbit. This ship was not your average merchant ship. It was commanded by Cpt. Alex, a good looking veteran of many earth wars who traveled space to get away from the destruction that was caused by the wars.
Alex was antsy as he had not participated in combat in many years. The last thing he could consider a fight was shooting down an asteroid that was headed towards the ship.
“What is the status of our ship?” He shouted over the ear piercing scream of the warning sirens and the robotic humming of the navigation computers.
“Primary drive is offline, navigation thrusters are still functioning but they are preparing to board”
“Evasive maneuvers to counter their grapples. If that doesn't work we may just have to do it the hard way. That means I want you Nicolson preparing weapons for a defense.”
“Yes sir!” The crew said in unison.
As soon as the orders were given the ship jilted trying to escape but it was no luck. The pirates had already mag-locked to the ship. The sound of creaking metal echoed from the hull of the ship. Cpt. Gre’s crew had started forcing open the doors. Ear ringing shots rippled through the air as Alex and his crew fired the stairs towards the cargo haul. Less than a second later the pirates returned fire, striking Cpt. Alex in the right shoulder blade.
“What do we do Cpt? They are too prepared,” First mate Anderson questioned.
“We could try burning them out. If we target the fuel containers and the fuse box we may have a chance of igniting the haul.” Said Bee.
The rest of the crew nodded in agreement as Anderson pulled Alex towards cover. Bee was the youngest member of the crew, but was the lead engineer of the team so this play was up to her. She creeped forward towards the fuel containers and fired 6 shots at it. Highly explosive rocket fuel started leaking on the floor. The air now had a toxic musty scent to it but the task was not over. She fired the remaining bullets in her firearm into the electrical junction that was positioned on the wall. Sparks began to fly and the lights flickered as backup batteries took over. The cloud of gas was illuminated by the red emergency lights, then in the blink of an eye, woosh. The hull went up in a ball of fire.
The ball of fire was unexpected to Gre’s pirate band knocking them back towards the airlock. Mary had taken point on the raid so she had to jump behind a polished steel container. This put a wall of flames in between her and the rest of the pirates.
“Mary is on the other side. If we try to go to her we will suffer much death.” A pirate shouted as they retreated into their airlock.
“We can’t leave her. We don't leave anyone behind.”
“We don't even know if she is alive. Mary was in the middle of that fireball. You can't jeopardize our ship and the crew for her. We loved him just as much as you.”
“God dammit” Gre yelled as he tried to fight the flames and make it towards Mary.
It was no use. She was gone. The pirates accepted the loss of a beloved member and detached from the merchant ship. At this point they were ready to destroy the merchant vessel out of rage. They had acquired the taste of blood.
The hissing of fire dying could be heard as the fire suppression systems kicked in and the fire dwindled.
“What do we do with the girl who ended up on the ship?” Bee asked.
“Lock her up on the bridge.”
“Yes Captain!” she yelled.
Bee escorted the prisoner towards the bridge.
“What's your name?” she questioned.
“Mary” the prisoner muttered. “They abandoned me, what a bunch of a holes.”
“Captain, I don't think they backed off!”
The pirate ship was coming back towards Alex and his crew. Firing a barrage of bullets towards them. Alex still had a torpedo and enough ammo to take out a frigate so he was not worried.
“Fire the torpedo!” he ordered.
“Let me blast those backstabbing rats.” Mary interrupted.
A target lock had been acquired on the pirates and the torpedo was ready.
“Let her
do it,” Alex hesitantly replied.
Bee handed Mary the control pad. “Fire” was in bold. Almost instantly the sound of a torpedo could be heard and could be seen barreling towards the pirates.
Boom. Direct hit. The enemy ship was sent into a roll heading into the vastness of space. As soon as Mary realized the captain of the ship had been shot she rushed over ripping off part of her shirt to stabilize the still bleeding capitan.
Maybe she could make a valuable crew member? Alex thought to himself as she applied the bandage to his shoulder.