Chapter 18: Higher Stakes

Chapter 18: Higher Stakes

Location: Estriduros Republic; Ugwald System; Solano

Now that I'm part of the pirate crew, they of course lead me back to my cabin and have me packing some clothes. Yay for that. Then they raid the rest of my stuff and share it with each other. Next, I find myself in an airlock with a small backpack filled with my stuff. A shuttle brings me over to the pirate ship which I've learned is called Razina. I see the crew of the Solano sitting in one of the corners of the hangar bay. They are still bound and two pirates stand near them with their guns ready.

But this is not where I’m led to. The pirate guiding me brings me straight to the bridge where Orin is chatting and laughing with the scarred Captain. I only hear parts of the conversation, but the intention is clear: Orin’s going to be the Captain of the Solano once they have renovated her, whatever that means. Much worse, I’m one of two Space Mages in the pirate crew! Meaning there is a 50% chance that I’m going to work under that asshole. Oh no…

I avert my gaze and take in the bridge. It looks pretty much like a normal starship bridge, maybe a bit old. Like most civilian ships, there is a big see-through window in the front. I can see small drones carrying big cables made out of tristanium over to the Solano. Are we towing her to our destination?

Indeed we are. An hour later everything is ready and the pirates have me standing next to the resident Space Mage pirate. Unfortunately, they took Captain Amal’s lockdown codes from my collar and are making full use of them. The collar literally doesn’t allow me to move from my current position. The pirate Captain, whose name I still don’t know turns the Razina around and we head for the wormhole. A few moments later we enter and I wonder where we are going to go.

That question is answered an hour later when we arrive at the refill station. The Captain dispatches a shuttle filled with the crew, then we are on a hard burn toward one of the barren planets in the system. After we’ve rounded that planet, I catch sight of a whole space station.

Holy cow, they simply built a station in a system the republic doesn’t care about because of low resources. But there is no way the refill station doesn’t know about this. Holy shit, those bastards are part of the pirates or at least taking bribes from them! That realization hits me right in the gut. They take notice of every ship flying through here and then they just go out and catch them in the neighboring systems. Or they do it like with us and implant a mole. Crazy… There is no way the republic is that blind. Do they simply not care?

Anyways, after we’ve docked they transfer me over to the station, where I get a small cabin and three meals a day. “You are part of us now, meaning we care for you.” Yeah, keep talking… I know that I only get what’s left over, but I do not complain… It could be worse.

Two months later I am called to the hangar bay. I wonder what this is about. There are lots of people waiting, including the pirate Captain – I still don’t know his name – and Orin the bastard. Wait, this is a starship crew. Are they finished with the Solano? Indeed they are. The Captain holds a short speech, then we are off with shuttles toward the retrofitted ship.

It looks… let’s say different. The cargo compartment is much smaller and the front section got a bit bigger. They filled out the empty parts of the cargo section with big armor plates so that the Solano now looks more or less like a normal ship. If you look closely, you can still see the big spine at the top, but they disguised it as well as they could. I can also see a few railguns in the front and point defense lasers all around the ship. I guess, they militarized the ship as well as they could.

We arrive at the ship and I notice a big difference. It has a hangar bay now. The shuttle sets down and we disembark. Then everyone gets a cabin. I do have a new roommate, a pirate woman named Samara. We greet each other more or less friendly, then I’m summoned to the bridge. Captain Orin Rostov asked for me… Just my luck. Unfortunately, I can’t do anything but follow his order so I find myself next to him on the bridge of the retrofitted Solano. He’s sitting in Amal’s chair like It belonged to him all along. With a big scowl on my face, I turn to him. “What do you want?”

He just laughs. “Chill, Red.” Yeah, the name stuck after the other Captain used it… “We’re going to test our new ship. There’s a freighter in system currently. We are going to follow it and then we’re going to test our new guns.” He smirks at me. “You are needed for the jump and before you get any ideas, you are going to stay right here where I can see you.

Fortunately for the pirates and unfortunately for me and the freighter people, the first test of the retrofitted Solano is a full success. We completely surprise them after a jump and raid all their freight containers without issues. At least the freighter is still intact and the crew alive.

After that successful raid the idiot Orin gets bolder and bolder. We raid more and more freighters and even a small station in the following three months. Then Orin has the dumbest idea ever. All my protests just end up in a slap on my cheek and a fist to the stomach, so I lay there on the ground while the crew is cheering at the Captain for his superb idea: We are going to fly to the frontlines to raid a military supply freighter. What could go wrong…?

Location: Estriduros Republic; Olovis System; retrofitted Solano

We jump into the system and travel toward another wormhole inside the system. There are 6 different wormholes spread out at the edges. Two lead over to the Dakarti Federation, we just jumped through the third and are currently traveling toward the fourth. The fifth and the sixth are right next to each other and I think they both lead to the same system. It’s a high-traffic route and I think one of them even is an enhanced one.

The first red flag comes up when the pirate from sensors calls out that there are ten Star Force ships next to the double wormhole, but Orin just waves his hand and says they are about to leave the system for repairs and just waiting in a queue.

Okay, that’s a plausible reason and even I believe him because the scanners show them just waiting there at the wormhole. A few minutes later we are lucky as there appears a freighter next to the wormhole we are heading toward. Orin doesn’t even hail them, he just orders the crew to fire at the freighter’s engines. The railgun slugs hit the unshielded freighter with full power and the exhaust flames start to flicker.

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Then everything goes wrong! A big ass military ship appears right before us together with an incoming transmission. The female Star Force Captain grins at the camera and demands our surrender. What else can we do… We are completely outgunned and there is a high possibility of an A&D Mage on the military ship. Everyone knows it and I mentally prepare myself for being taken prisoner.

Well, I thought everyone knew it, then I hear that idiot Orin start to laugh. “Hahaha, these dumb military people think they can surprise us. Don’t they know who I am? Weapons, give them hell!”

The pirate at the tactical console turns around confused. “Uh Captain, that’s a modern military starship, they will blow us to pieces.” Orin pulls out a gun and points it at the poor pirate.

“Nonsense, I checked our shields myself, now fire, before I have to come over.”

The other man recoils and does as said. The Solano’s railguns start firing high-velocity projectiles toward the military ship but there are no signs of strained shields or impacts. My blood runs cold. They DO have an A&D Mage. “We have to run,” I call out desperately. “They have an A&D Mage aboard!”

Orin turns the gun in my direction. “Shut the fuck up, Red!” What the hell is wrong with him? He must see that this is suicide, right? I hope the others realize that we have to do something.

At this moment the military ship retaliates. Lasers and railguns fire away and our Captain-approved shields are down in less than ten seconds. Then the big shock. “They fired a missile and our point defense is gone!” Fuck, we’re re going to die!

I look at Orin. That idiot, now he realizes it. Panic enters his gaze and he puts his gun away. “Fuck! Turn the ship around we have to leave.” He turns back to me, desperation in his eyes. “Can you jump us out Red? The wormhole is close.”

Can I? I don’t think so… There was not enough rest. I open my mouth to speak but before I can start, I hear S-57’s voice in my ear.

“A small ship just entered the sector. Scanner data shows an 80% match with a F-35E passenger liner. That ship class has no internal gravity. Previous data predicts ship inside personal teleportation range.” Oh my god! S-57 you son of a gun. Haha, that’s it. I have a way out. Well, 80% of a way, but that’s still better than guaranteed death to the missile.

I grin at Orin. “Get us closer to the wormhole, I should be able to do it. But prepare our escape pods just in case.” I’m not that heartless and let them all die without warning. I’m not a pirate after all. He nods and gives the order.

Is he dumb? How can I jump without magic? I clear my throat and he looks back at me. “What?”

I manage to suppress an eye-roll. “I do need my magic to jump.”

“Oh right, here you go Red.”

As soon as I feel my magic activate I mumble to S-57 that he should calculate the jump. He should be intelligent enough to catch my intention of jumping to the passenger liner. A shudder goes through the Solano then we lose power. A pirate calls out. “The spine broke, we are going to die!”

“Calculation finished, coordinates locked in, you are ready to jump,” S-57 tells me at the same time. That was close! I feel the coordinates settling in. Thank you, S-57!

Orin shouts that everyone should run to the escape pods then turns back to me. I’m already channeling my power in my personal teleportation spell. Any moment now… Done. Orin reaches for the physical remote to deactivate my magic but I just smirk and flip him off, then I vanish in a purple flash.

I’ll never forget that look of shock on his face haha. This is my first long-distance jump and time is weirdly stretched. My Space Sense shows its value again and I can somehow perceive my surroundings. While I feel that I’m moving insanely fast, almost instantly, I can still see important details. For example that my jump takes me to a ship right between the other military ships. Oh shit!

It also shows me that the small passenger liner sure has internal gravity. It was all for nothing… I can’t use my powers when there’s gravity present. Shitty Novice rank. Why am I so weak? I’m going to die! S-57 you idiot! This is not a passenger liner, it’s something else. Damn those 80%. My Space Sense flickers out for a moment and the next thing I know is that I’m standing on the ground again.

I’m alive?

I hear warning klaxons and look around. I’m inside a ship? There is gravity… How is this possible? A man is sitting on the floor. We stare at each other. His dark eyes are filled with tears and his jaw drops down. “Are you with them?” He asks me and before I can catch the meaning of his question he continues. “No, you can’t be… no uniform. You might just have saved everything!” Hope enters his eyes and he gets up.

“Come, we don’t have much time. You’re a Space Mage, right.” He walks over to a console and grabs something that looks just like Simon’s big and fancy AI chip. That moment gives me time to think and response. “Yeah, I am. Who are you? What’s happening?” I ask him, my voice full of confusion.

He turns around and walks toward the door leading out of the bridge. “Follow me, I tell you on the way.” He leaves and I can just follow as another impact shakes the ship. We walk side by side down the hallway, I have no clue where he wants to go.

“I fled a black-ops research station with this AI here. Her name’s Maja. She’s fully sapient and the republic planned for her to kill a Mage and take over their body.”

I stare at him wide-eyed. They tried to do what now? Holy shit this is dark. I could have been such a Mage if this plan was a success. He notices my expression. “Trust me it’s true, I was one of the lead programmers but we all decided to save our daughter before there was a takeover function.

“My colleagues destroyed all the research and I, with the small piloting knowledge I have, was tasked with taking Maja away. So I stole the visiting General’s ship and fled, while my colleagues bought me time.

“As of now Maja luckily is just a normal AI, well as normal as sapient AIs are.” He lets out a dark laugh.

“As you see, not everything went according to plan and that’s why we meet here. I’m sure you have quite the story to tell but there isn’t enough time.” He smiles. “You can tell Maja later. Oh, and I’m Sean by the way. Nice to meet you and thank you. I was really desperate.”

I take his hand. “Sara, uh nice to meet you too. What now?” I’m a little too confused and shocked to talk more so I happily listen to him. Meanwhile, we arrive in a small hangar bay. There is a small yacht standing inside. It looks quite luxurious.

“Now I give Maja to you. As a Space Mage, you can escape through the second wormhole, the unenhanced one. I’m going to buy you some time. Please take good care of her. She’s still young.” There is raw emotion in his voice and I just can’t do anything else besides accepting his plea.

“Alright Sean, I can do that. I dunno if I’m rested enough, but I can try.”

Relief floods Sean’s face. “Thank you! A chance for Maja is all I can ask. Now go and leave, the Admiral’s ultimatum is almost over and Star Force is Very trigger-happy.” Hah, don’t I know that. I walk over to the yacht and enter. After powering her up I connect S-57 to the ship’s systems. There is no time to familiarize myself with a new AI, even if she is more powerful.

The yacht leaves the floor and begins to hover. Sean sees this as a sign and slaps a button. The hangar bay doors open and I hit the gas. The yacht shoots out into space and I head right for the unenhanced wormhole. Luckily the military didn’t guard it as much and I can slip through between two ships before they realize what happened. Probably because Sean is no Space Mage and can’t use that wormhole. Lucky me. Anyway just a few seconds more.

Right when I enter the wormhole there is a massive explosion behind me. Holy shit, did he just self-destruct? Poor Sean, but that’s for later. My magic surges and my yacht leaves through the wormhole. My Space Sense goes haywire. Time seems to be standing still. A piece of debris is heading straight for the outer metal ring of the wormhole entry.

Oh no… Time resumes in slow motion. I’m fully inside the wormhole, then the debris hits the ring. Everything shakes and shudders, then darkness.