"It has been five hours, Captain, and still No sign of any hostile threats."The Prince Nebula shined a beautiful shade of purple, pink, and blue, from the light of the newly formed star. It was one of the Captain's favorite views in the galaxy, but there was no time for that. Raymond Chase, the Captain of the Monroe and leader of the Marauders was too busy scanning the area. The crew has been under constant ambushes and firefights for three days. Ray's intense green eyes were focused on the radar systems, and the cosmos. The physical body of the ship's AI, Tango, stood right behind the Captain, watching him with pale blue eyes and an expressionless white carbon fiber face.
"Why stop following us now...?" Ray muttered quietly, leaning back with a sigh.
This has been the longest period they've had of peace since their mission began.They were tasked with retrieving classified Committee cargo from a race of nomadic space pirates known as the Ulnar. They reminded Ray of giant naked mole rats, except their teeth contained the galaxy's deadliest poison, with no known cure. That should have been their first red flag. Finding their giant fleet was easy. Finding and flying towards the right ship with the right cargo was made easy by their pilot. Getting out with the cargo, and a few extra boxes for spending was more difficult. The pirates were relentless, and have been following the Monroe across the galaxy ever since. The Marauders have been one step ahead so far, but their luck seemed to be running out... Until now.
"Captain, none of your crew has had a time to sleep in quite some time. I can keep defenses on standby, while everyone rests." The monotone voice did speak some sense. Tango has been saving Ray's life for over three years now, and although many were skeptical about fully functioning AI, Ray trusted Tango with his life. The Captain didn't speak for some time, scratching his chin, and staring at the magnificent purple dust outside. He pressed a button on the cockpit's console, and cleared his throat.
"Alright, everyone. Tango has offered to keep watch while we all try to get some rest for now. No arguing, this is an order. If we don't die in an ambush, I'll let you know when they attack again."--------------
Ray stumbled into his quarters, which was dimly lit by the small lamp on Ray's large wooden desk. debriefing tablets, old maps, and charts, and a computer interface littered the desk. Odd trinkets and artifacts littered the walls, shelves, and corners of the room, as well as his large bed in the corner. His most prized possession, though, was his antique vinyl record player. He had one exactly like that back home, before his step dad sold everything he owned and moved out...
Ray took off his belt with a sigh, tossing it and his revolver gently on the desk, before sitting on the edge of his bed. Raymond had been through a lot over the years, he knew he could handle anything these space rats could throw at him... He was more concerned about his crew. Some were criminals like himself, but others were foolish enough to actually volunteer to be on his team. The ones too good to be killed by a bunch of space pirates. He promised himself no one would die under his leadership again... Not like Neera 4.
His left hand started to shake slightly, his eyes grew heavier, and before he could get up to put on some music, he fell onto the bed, fell asleep immediately.
---------------
"ALERT ALERT, ENEMY SPACECRAFTS DETECTED."
Raymond shot up with a jolt, snorting loudly, looking around in a daze.
"I'm up, I'm... Ah, shit."Raymond Chase..." A disgusting voice echoed through the ship's comms. Ray rolled his eyes and cursed slightly as he stood up.
"You brought this upon yourself. You have no idea what you have stolen, and now you all must pay for your mistakes. There is no escape.""Tango, get this space rat out of our comm link--" A large explosion caused the whole ship to shake, sending Ray off his feet, hitting his old record player.
"Captain, there is a breach in the loading bay. They are boarding the Monroe.""Of course there is..." Raymond tapped his ear, grabbing his belt, and weapons before walking out of his room, as he did the old record player's arm slowly fell onto the record,
playing loudly."Rise and shine, people, we got uninvited guests on my ship. Aamara, Max, meet me in the cargo hold. Yasaliah, I need you to get us in position to shoot these assholes. Sam, group up with Tony and get your asses on the turret controls--"Ray didn't expect to see them so quickly, but the black armored, rat-looking creatures crawled their way into the hallway, screeching at him as they charged. Raymond held his rifle in front of him as he was backed to the wall. He right hooked it in the face, pushed it away and fired shots at his head. He spun to dodge a leap from another, taking out his revolver, and firing another bullet. He picked up his pace, racing to get to the docking bay to see if his loadmaster has made it.
"Come on, you ugly freaks!" Anderson, the loadmaster, yelled, firing off his shot gun. Raymond had made it into the large room just in time to see the show. He charged towards Anderson, firing shots off at the hideous looking rat pirates. He ducked a punch, and uppercutted one of the pirates with the butt of his rifle, spun, and shot another that attempted to bite Ray.
"Captain! Nice of you to show up!"
"Oh, I didn't want you to get all the fun, Anderson!" The Captain replied, kicking a pirate in the face as he climbed onto the cargo box. The loading bay wall was destroyed, leaving a small opening for the Ulnar ship to release it's crew onto theirs. Luckily it was a small shuttle, there wasn't too many of them. The Marauders were experienced. They weren't going to be taken down by such a small force.
"Brace for impact, another shuttle incoming." Tango warned, but it was too late. The collision rocked the ship again, sending the two men flying off the box, and into a crowd of Ulnar. Ray cursed with the landing, managing to kick a couple before getting back on his feet to run. He felt Anderson behind him, panting until he heard a scream. Ray's eyes went wide with fear as he saw one of the Ulnar sinking it's teeth into Anderson's leg before being shot, and a number of curses.
Raymond stopped and ran back towards his friend. He had known Anderson for quite some time, even before his years as a Marauder. Ray managed to kill the last of the Ulnar for now, rushing towards Anderson, and propping his head up. "Hey, Cap... I might need to put in my two week's notice."
"Shut up, Anderson." The captain muttered quietly, tearing Anderson's pant leg to see how bad it was. The skin around the bite was already turning green, his face was pale, his eyes bloodshot and runny. Raymond tapped his ear comm again.
"Rae--Doctor, Anderson's been bitten. I'm bringing him up, and I hope to god you made some breakthrough in your Ulnar antidote... Everyone else, get these bastards off the Monroe and shoot their fleet to pieces." Raymond's voice seemed a bit cold, slightly different than his normal tone, but his eyes showed fear, and his left hand shook uncontrollably.
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