Chapter One: The Story Begins

“Oye, Captain. I've done an inspection of the ship. She's an old Nevermore-class frigate. I thought they'd retired and scrapped most of these years ago. I can only wonder how you even came across this.”
“It's of no concern to you. Let's leave it at that.”
Alek thought a moment on this, then proceeded. “Right, well, it seems luck was on your side. It appears the ship was pretty heavily modified from the original variant. If I were to make a guess, I'd say she belonged to a smuggling cartel, given the mining laser replacing the lower turret port, as well as an extended cargo bay. She also has some newer engines. Nothing like the engines used in modern military ships, but better than the Nevermore-class. Perhaps the most interesting though, is her forward crew compartment was replaced by a large mass driver. I must say, you've obtained an interesting ship.”
“That's good and all, but you still haven't answered my question. Can you pilot it?”
“Hmm...If the on board computer still functions properly, and the navigational computers are updated, it shouldn't be difficult. Also, while mentioning expenses, the engine needs an overhaul. And you might want to consider repainting the ship and obtaining a new ship registry. Normally ship registry's can't be changed, but I'm sure you could find someone able to do so in a station like this.”
Isaac looked at the ship sitting at the dock. “Dammit, it's not enough to pay for parking this thing. How much you think this is gonna cost?”
“Well, I'm no mechanic. Maybe 100000 kredits? Little more, little less.”
“Fuck. Wait a minute. Rahn get over here!”
Rahn, doing his own inspection of the ship, stopped and ran over to Isaac. “How can I help you, Captain?”
“Fix the engines.”
“....Okay? I can take a look at them and see what I can do.”
“Good. Now how much will it cost?”
“I can't really say, I suppose if we did the manual labor instead of an engineering team, we could probably cut the cost in half. Don't quote me on this though.”
“Guh, fine. You two get on that. I'm going to hit the bar again. Don't come asking for money, cause I don't have any. The dam Navy seized most of my assets when I stole this dam ship. And the hell if I'm going to access any of my other accounts while they're still looking for me.”
“Right then, I suppose me and Rahn can try and scrap up a enough kredits for the repairs.”
Rahn shouted from inside the ship. “Actually I don't have any kredits either. The scientists took care of most of my needs.”
“.....Right, well, I suppose I'll pay with what I have, and we can improvise for the rest. I hope you know how about engine mechanics, Rahn. I'll try and find someone with a ship registry. Maybe you can look for some scrap metal, Captain. Captain?” Alek looked over at where Isaac had been standing. The doors to the hanger closed. “Seems like I'll be doing that too. Rahn, look for any signs of structural weakness in the hull. When your done with that, find out if this station has a scrapyard.”

Isaac walked down the narrow hallway that connected to the main docking bay inside the trade quarter of The Grey Star. The trade quarter handled all the trade between every alien and every planet that was within the Neutral Zone and beyond. The trade quarter consists of many shops set up by the different aliens selling different kinds of merchandise from armor to food, hotels for short and long stays of business and trade trips between colonies, and to some famous bars and night activities. Also, a section of the Grey Star Police was stationed inside the trade quarter that kept control of the peace between the numerous amounts of aliens.

Walking out of the hallway, Isaac made a beeline straight to Deadman's Bar across from the main terminal of the docking bays. After walking into the bar, he sat at the main bar in front of the bartender. “Scotch on the rocks please.”

“Anything specific you want?”

“Surprise me.”
The bartender looked at him with a confused look, but went on with the request and turned around to make his drink.

“What the heck do you think you're doing?!” a man yelled from a corner of the bar.

“What do you mean? I'm just trying to talk to this young lady here,” said an alien that appeared to be wearing a suit made out of cashmere, an old material used on Earth before the collapse.

“Back off! That's my girlfriend!” A crowd started to gather around the two fighters. The crowd grew enough to the point where Isaac could not see the two. Without hesitation, Isaac stood up and walked over to the crowd. With great speed and finesse, Isaac pickpocketed about 3 people, stealing about 800 kredits. Satisfied with his find, he walked back nonchalantly to his barstool, just in time for his scotch. “Scotch with lime on the rocks, sir.”

“Lime? Is that the best you could come up with as a surprise?”

“But sir...”

“Next time, think more creative. Like, adding margarita mix to make it a scotch margarita. Or something like brandy.”

“But you didn't specify a...”

“Specify a what, that you are too big of a baby to handle things on your own? Come on now, you seem to be like a good chap. I'll let you in on a little secret. If someone like me orders a drink like I said, put in the most expensive thing you can into the drink. That'll give them a surprise.” And after saying that, Isaac gulped down the whole glass of scotch. Throwing him 10 kredits he walked off with a smirk. “Keep it, don't let me catch you in here again making cheap drinks again.”

Isaac strode out of the establishment and stopped to take a quick look around, getting a better bearing of the trade quarter. He knew that this would not be the last time he would see this place. Isaac started walking up the trade quarter towards the shops to look at some merchandise. Stopping from place to place he noticed that most of these prices were jacked up really high, basically too high for a normal person's salary. Buying some armor of a merchant, for a cheap one, costed 1000 kredits, where normally buying it from a retailer would cost around 700 kredits. These merchants were the common thieves and the general public mainly did not know that. Disgusted by the get rich quick schemes that the merchants were doing, he casually walked back towards the main docking bay to check back on his newly found crew.

Rahn stepped out of the ship and approached one of the few public computers available around the dock. The filthy computer monitor flickered and bore many signs of misuse, but it still worked and it was networked to computers on many near systems. He swept through the interplanetary databases for any information on the Nevermore-class ships and the modified ship parts. He found what he needed and got to work on the engine with what he could find on-board. Isaac then returned.

"Please tell me the engine is entirely fixed now.. it would make my day."
"Well..." Rahn partially emerged from the machinery, covered in dust. "The engine works enough to get us around for a while, but until we replace a few parts, it won't be working at full capacity. It would be best to get the parts soon, otherwise we could expect malfunctions to be imminent."
"Malfunctions?"
"Ranging anywhere from unexpected shut downs to an engine fire in most severe scenarios."
"Great... how much do you think this will cost?"
"I made a list of the parts we'll need.." Rahn slided back into the engine and soon handed out a list to Isaac. Isaac snatched the list and took a look, he sighed. "35,000 kredits."
"Approximately, but from what I know of you, you'd probably rather just steal the parts from the ship next to us, seeing as how it should have the same kind of engine as us."
Isaac smiled and let out a short laugh, he then looked down at Rahn who had re-emerged from the engine. Rahn just looked back at him blankly. "I like the sound of that idea, Rahn."

Moments later, Rahn found himself being led to the neighboring ship by Isaac. "I think I saw the owners leave not too long ago."
He forced the first door of the airlock open, and then the next, only to find a very shocked little girl behind it. He glared at the girl, and pulled up his revolver, almost pushing it against her forehead. She gasped and tears started to roll down her cheeks. Isaac rolled his eyes, he re-holstered his revolver and picked the girl up by the neck. "You won't tell a single person about this, not even your mommy or daddy, okay?"
"B-b-but, I'm adopted"
"Yeah yeah, good for you, you keep quiet, alright?"
"Y-yes sir..."
He tossed the girl to the side and turned to Rahn and gestured him to continue. Rahn located the engine room and began to climb in. "Is this the same engine?" Isaac questioned.
"Yes, I'm collecting the parts now."
"Good, make it quick though, who knows when the owners will be getting back.."

Meanwhile, back on board the Traitor's Blade.

“Okay, I'm back with a new registry. The Navy's not going to be able to find this ship once we-.” Alek looked around. “And I'm alone. Figures.” Alek entered the ship and headed to the captains computer console. After prying open the access panel on the left side of the device, he began examining the computer for its registry port. “Let's see. I'll just move this here.... and this can move here....and....aha. Here it is.” Alek turned on the computer interface to prepare for the registry transfer.
“Caution, removing the registry card is an illegal act. Doing so will-” Alek didn't really care about what it had to say. He was an outlaw now. Laws didn't apply anymore. “Finally, be aware that removing the registry card will result in a reboot of the ships computer systems, resulting in a lose of all non-essential data. Proceed at your own discretion.”
It was unlikely the ship would house any relevant data given its age, but out of boredom, Alek went over to the navigational computers and opened the course data history for the Traitor's Blade. The paths taken by the ship crisscrossed across most charted space, and into several sectors suspected of housing pirate warehouses. There was little doubt about the former owner being a smuggler. He knew Isaac had just acquired the ship, but he wondered about where it came from, and how it got there.
Alek returned to the captain's console and removed the registry card. The map on the navigators console disappeared. He drew out the new registry card and inserted it into the slot. The navigators console turned on again, showing a blank map. Alek insured the card was in properly, and returned the panel to its proper location. That solved the issues with the Navy. Now to upload the data into the navigation terminal.
As Alek approached the console, he noticed a faded line across the bottom panel. Upon closer inspection, he noticed it was a mark from being bent. He removed the panel, only to be blasted with stale air. “Dammit, why does every used ship have to have its navigational systems scrapped.” It was common practice for pirates and smugglers, or the owners of any ships who wanted to make a few extra thousand kredits, to scrap parts of the navigational relays, leaving enough to maintain the systems, but not to update them. Alek opened his wrist console and entered the parts to a list of items needed for purchase. Looking into the hole again, he saw the corner of a small object. A book. He reached in and pulled it out. This ship was about the strangest ship he had ever encountered. It was a pocket Bible. It was rare to find books anymore, and though religion was still prevalent throughout humanity and aliens alike, it was rare to find written text, particularly religious,anymore. He opened the book to see its contents. It was hollowed, and inside held several capsules and a scrap of paper. The book was a last resort for an smugglers or pirates facing capture and imprisonment. The pills were cyanide. Alek thought of tossing the book out of the airlock to ensure no one accidentally took these, but decided they might come in useful somehow in the future. He pulled out the sheet of paper and read it. A will of the former navigator of the ship, in the event he should kill himself, so that whoever witnessed it might be able to read his final intentions. This was interesting.
“Alek, I know your in there. Come help me and Rahn with these ship parts, dammit.” So Isaac and Rahn had been getting ship parts. He peered out the cockpit window to see them. Of course. They had stolen them from some other ship.
“I'll be right down, Captain. Hope your planning on making a second trip. The navigational relays have been scrapped. Were gonna need a new one.” Alek quickly pocketed the bible and replaced the navigators panel. “I've gotten the ship re-registered, the guy wanted 5 million kredits for it, but I managed to...persuade him...to lower the fee.”
“How much was it, Alek?”
“Free.”
“Very nice. Now help Rahn get these parts to the engine room. I'm going back for the rest. I'll scrap the navigational relays. You and Rahn take care of the rest. This ship better be amazing for all this work.” Isaac dropped the materials he was holding and walked of grumbling.

As Isaac walked back into the neighboring ship, the little girl approached him again. “What are you doing in here, this is daddy's ship.”
“Listen here, why don't you run off to your parents while you still have legs to walk with.” The little girl's eyes welled up and started crying. “You're mean! I'm telling on you!” She ran off down the ramp towards the main docking bays.
“Fuckin' little kids always get in the way,” Isaac said to himself. Grabbing the list of navigational parts he needed, he worked his way to the bridge. Once at the console, he opened up the maintenance panel and started tearing out the parts that they needed. He found a bag not laying to far from him, which he grabbed, and started stuffing the parts into the bag. He also found some data disks that may also come in handy, maybe giving them to Alek so he could decipher them.
As he made his way back to the entrance where the rest of the engine parts were, something caught his eye. The object was shiny of some sort, but Isaac couldn't make it out. Probably another computer part he thought, but decided to take it anyway. After scrounging around the ship for anything useful, he came up empty and decided to get the rest of the parts and head back to the ship.
“Here's your stupid parts you need,” he said to Alek, “now stop goofin' around and get to work. Rahn! Come get the rest of your parts!”
“Jeez Isaac, don't you think you need to do something useful around here also?” Alek said.
“I don't know, come to think of it, um... NO! I've got the ship, what more do you want from me?”
“Hmm, maybe supplies?”
“GOD! What am I, fuckin' Santa Claus?!” And with that exclamation, Isaac stormed out to find supplies for himself and the crew. He stomped down the ramp in an angry way to blow off some steam. Approaching the main docking bay, he heard the annoying little girl's voice, obviously upset after Isaac's encounter, explaining to somebody about the encounter. Isaac approached the landing above the conversation. It was the little girl talking to, what was most likely her parents.
After their conversation, the parents started up the stairs towards Isaac's landing. Isaac walked nonchalant down the landing the opposite way of the parents. After reaching the landing, the parents bolted up the ramp towards their docking bay, with the little girl slowly running behind them.
Isaac made his way down from the landing into the main docking bay and headed for the trade center. Isaac thought about his next course of action on acquiring the supplies. Obviously he was going to need a bag of some sort, but he left the bag at the ship which made him curse under his breath. He would need to get around security somehow, probably stealing from a storage site or from a back room of some sort.
Isaac made his way out of the docking bays and headed towards the shops. He kept thinking to himself about his plans. He would need to get some first aid supplies, if he could find any of the sort. He would also need to get food for everybody. And last but not least, some ammo for everybody. He didn't know what everybody was using at the time, so he decided he would try to get a wide assortment of some ammo.
Isaac knew that this was going to be his high point of the day.

Rahn gathered the engine parts and began replacing, lacking some tools, he used his robotic hand to re-fasten most pieces holding the parts in place. He replaced the parts at a pretty quick rate, but it was still a very time consuming process. He decided to take a break and take a look outside.

The Grey Star had been his home the past few years since he was brought back to life. He wondered what it might be like on an actual planet with an actual atmosphere. The artificial atmosphere here just holds air and repels any radiation from stars nearby, but it doesn't make weather of any sort. He wondered if in his "past life" he had been on any planets. From what he had read up about rain, it seemed like the most interesting of all--water falling from the sky. Water is almost always used just for drinking on the Grey Star, seeing as how all of it has to be imported.

But soon we'll be leaving this place, he thought. Who knows where we will end up? Perhaps we will head to a planet with lots of rain!

This was Rahn's first time ever experiencing excitement, from what he knew, but it quickly subsided to the sight of the little girl, and some rather upset looking people, who must've been the owners of the ship. He ducked low and was pretty certain they didn't see him, and that they didn't know that this was Isaac's ship. He decided it would probably be best for him to continue fixing the engine at this point, and did just that.

“...put this here, and....done.” Alek replaced the navgation console panel and removed it from the list of need tasks left to do. “That should be about it.” He looked out the cockpit window. “As soon as Isaac returns with-” He suddenly noticed the girl and her family, along with a squad of Imperial Police. One of them looked his way. He quickly fell to the floor. “Rahn, finish up and grab a weapon, we've got company.”

Isaac had finished gathering food and medical supplies from various, largely illegal sources. All that was left was the ammo. He entered the ammunition supplies warehouse for the local garrison. Through fortune, none of the guard was there. While scrounging through various crates, his wrist computer started pinging. “God dammit, I can only imagine what it is now.” He tapped on the screen. “What is it? It better be important.”
“I would consider it so. Two squads of harbor police have shown up with the family we saw on that ship. The little girl identified you on the wanted posters. She led them to the ship. Alek's trying to stall them for as long as he can, but he says its gonna break out in a firefight, so get back quickly.”
“Fuck. Dam that little girl, I knew I should have shot her then. I'm on my way. Keep stalling. I want some part of the action.”
“Alek also says the police have likely informed the garrison base, and soon the stations going to go into lockdown. If that happens before you get back, he's taking the ship without you. He said he'd return to get you if you were still alive afterward, but it would save you much trouble if you can get back fast. I would advise you return quickly.”
“The hell if I'll let that happen. You stay the hell there. I'll be back with a vengeance.”
“Make it quick then.” The image of Rahn disappeared. Shit. Alek grabbed the stash he had and took off for the hanger.
“Can I help you officer?”
“Yes, we have a warrant for the arrest of an Isaac von Klemkov, for destruction of a military installation and the hijacking of a seized vessel. Please step aside.”
“Isaac von what? I'm sorry, but there's no one on board by that name.” They didn't know the identity of the ship, or they would have already initiated the lock down. They were still uncertain, and Alek planned to keep it that way as long as possible. “However, if you feel it will aide in your investigation, I encourage you to search this vessel. You'll find no other person on board save my copilot Rahn.”
“I see, and what do you and your copilot use this ship for.”
“Interstellar trade. We've made several shipments from The Grey Star to various locations in S.H.E. Territory and back. If you want proof, feel free to check the computer. It will confirm everything I've said.”
“Well then, I'll do just that.” Score, the police were going to check the computer. With the newly installed registry card, they would have no idea of the origins of this ship. “Let's see. Well, it seems your right, this ship is just a simple merchant vessel. This registry should be updated though. It doesn't mention the current crew.”
“I apologize for that. We've had a bit of trouble this last trip, as you can no doubt tell by the current state of the ship.”
“Yes, I've noticed. We'll we've scanned the ship. As you say there are no other persons on board. We apologize for this intrusion. All I need to do now is check this vessels engine. Our contact mentioned the suspect stole several components of the contacts vessel earlier. If your engines don't have the parts in question, your free to go.”
“Yes, well, as I mentioned before, we took damage on the flight over. The navigational computer had a malfunction and we ended up in an asteroid field. The engines are in a bad, potentially dangerous, state. I'd advise you wait now, and return later when it's safer. We can proove our innocence then.”
“Don't worry about it, it will only take a moment. The engine room is this way correct?”
“Yes, but I strongly recommend you wait till later...” Alek tapped a few buttons on his wrist while the officer wasn't looking. Rahn prepared for their arrival.
“Please officer, for your own sake you should wait.”
“Out of my way, Pilot, or I'll hold you in confinement for interfering in an investigation.” The officer hit the button to open the door. As it opened, Alek slammed his elbow into the officers neck.
“Rahn, it's time. Grab a weapon.” Alek pulled off the rifle from the officer and grabbed his pistol, throwing it to Rahn. “Use this.”
Rahn threw the weapon back. “I'm not much of one for conflict. I'll leave this to you.”
“Dammit Rahn, take the weapon and get ready to fight.”
“I'd prefer I assist in my own way.” Rahn quickly grabbed an arc welder and disappeared into the engine room. Alek ran to the entrance, waited for two more officers to approach, then opened fire. The two men went down, and Alek retrieved their ammo cartridges. The remaining squad dove behind cover and started firing back at the ship. Alek continued to fire at the group, occasionally hitting an officer, but he was running through ammo quickly, and wouldn't be able to hold them off much longer. Rahn suddenly appeared with his arc welder. “Move aside.” As Alek moved, Rahn stood at the entrance and fired a powerful electric burst at the group. A jolt of electricity shot from trooper to trooper, dropping near ten of them.
“Rahn, that was amazing. With that were sure to win this.”
“Yes, well, about that. It's a single use. The arc welders dead now. Good luck with the rest of them though.”
Alek dropped to a prone position and opened fire again. “Dammit Isaac, you better get here fast.”

Isaac dashed through the crowd trying his best to avoid as many people as he could. Unfortunately, he was panicking to get to the action as fast as he could, which made him drop some of the supplies he was carrying. Making his way into the main station, he ran up the stairs that lead to their section of the dock.
He approached the doorway with caution, knowing from the situation that was happening behind the door would involve him in a firefight. He set down the supplies as careful as he could without damaging some of the merchandise. He grabbed his gun and slowly made his way to the door.
After hearing gunshots echoing from inside, he burst through the door headlong and headed straight for the nearest guard. Catching all of them off guard, he pointed his gun at the other nearby guards that were around him, shooting them all in the head, dropping 3 of them to the ground. The guard that was being charged at, pointed his gun right at Isaac and prepared to fire, only to be tackled to the ground and punched in the face, which caused him to blackout.
“GO GRAB THE FUCKIN' SUPPLIES IN THE HALLWAY, ALEK!!!” screamed Isaac. This caused Alex to jump a little from his prone position, but hearing the urgency of Isaac's voice, he dropped everything and ran for the hallway to grab the supplies.
A bay door opened behind Isaac, that connected other portions of the docking bay together, and out came about 6 more guards with guns ablaze, open firing at everything that moved. “Aah, hell no,” exclaimed Isaac. Isaac took out his one of two grenades that were in his pocket, pulled the pin, and threw as far as he could towards the bay door, giving Isaac enough of a distraction to take cover behind some crates. He paged Rahn, who was still inside the ship.
“RAHN! Get your metal ass out here and help Alex lug all the supplies inside the ship so we can get the hell out of here!”
“But, the engine still needs some work and...”
“GOD DAMMIT RAHN! STOP WITH THE EXCUSES AND HELP ALEX!”
“...*sigh* alright fine.”
Isaac heard his grenade go off along with hearing a couple guards screaming their lungs off. He peeked back over the crates to evaluate the situation. He still saw 4 other guards disoriented from the the concussive blast of the grenade. Isaac aimed for a guard and shot, only to have the gun jam on him. “Son of a bitch,” he cursed as he pulled the trigger several more times, finally firing with poor accuracy, which perked the attentions of the guards back to Isaac. After a couple close calls of bullets whizzing past him, he quickly peeked back over and shot twice more, wounding a guard and killing another.
Alex scrambled into the hallway, finding all of the supplies in disarray. Grabbing as much as he could, he ran back towards the ship, using some of the large crates around the docking bay as cover. He saw Rahn come down the ramp of their ship, “It's all in the hallway Rahn.”
“Yeah yeah I know, I went over this with Isaac already.” Without any neat order, Alek set the supplies down inside the ship and ran back outside towards the hallway. He met Rahn inside the hallway bent down, still gathering the supplies up. “You need some help there Rahn.”
“No, I think I got it,” he stood up and started walking back towards the ship, using Alek's strategy of using the crates. Alek grabbed some more supplies and started running back towards the ship.
“You two want to hurry it up?” yelled Isaac. Just then, a klaxon started blaring, almost ear shattering. “This station is going under lockdown mode. 5 minutes until full lockdown. Everybody please remain calm and head to the nearest building. Thank you,” said a loudspeaker, a woman generated voice that also repeated the same message in various alien languages.
When the three heard that warning, it was as if they were thinking all together:
“Aaah, shit.”

Rahn and Alek brought up the last of the supplies as Isaac backed up into the ship, firing off a few more rounds--dropping two more guards.
"Let's take off and get out of here!" Isaac yelled back.
"I am afraid we cannot, I still need to replace the last part on the engine, the engine will not start until I have finished this." Rahn replied, already heading back to the engine room.
"Dammit Rahn, this better take no time at all, I am turning on the engine with you still in it or not in 2 minutes!"

Just then, one of the guard captains had joined the action outside the ship. "Let's try and take these thugs alive, for questi-" Suddenly two guards in front of him dropped dead from Isaac's revolver. He quickly laid down behind a crate and cried out "KILL THEM ALL, SPARE NO MERCY! Where's the reinforcements I asked for?"

Alek came rushing back to Isaac who was still fending off guards from the entrance of the ship.
"Captain, Rahn said the engine should work now, let's go!" Isaac closed the door to the ship and ran over to the cockpit followed by Alek. Isaac started the ship and it roared to life! He grabbed the controls and started to take off, but the ship wasn't moving, they could all feel the ship trying to take off, but it wasn't moving.
"RAHN, DAMMIT, WHY ISN'T THE ENGINE WORKING?!" Isaac furiously roared, just then Rahn had gotten to the cockpit.
"The engine should be working, but I would suspect the guards have the docks locking all ships in the hangar right now."
"Can you fix this then?"
"Well, I might be able to hack into-" Isaac grabbed Rahn and pushed him to the ship terminal.
"DO IT!"

The loudspeaker came back on:
"One minute until complete hangar lockdown."
Rahn was working away at the terminal, Isaac watched alertly over his shoulder. Alek peered out one of the windows.
"They're sending in a breaching crew! They're going to cut their way in if we don't leave!"
Rahn stopped typing and looked over at Isaac. "Captain, we should be able to take off." Isaac bolted to the controls...

"15 seconds until complete hangar lockdown."

A burst of air filled the room. The breaching crew were flung away as the Traitor's Blade projected from the docking locks. “10 seconds till lockdown.”
“Were free. Gun it Alek!”
“Best buckle your seat belts this could get bumpy-”
The alarm interrupted, “5 seconds.”
“Dammit go!”
Alek flung the throttle forward. The ship raced towards the dock entrance. Halfway through the entrance, blast doors behind the ship began sealing shut. “Shit Alek!”
Alek was focused on his terminal. “Don't worry. Were going to make it.”
“Like hell Alek! Like hell!” A blast door slammed shut one hundred meters behind them. The ship was closing on the exit. Another blast door shut 50 meters away. The ship was almost free.
“Captain, get ready to fire the mass driver!”
“What the hell would we-”
“Do it now!” Isaac rushed at his controls and slammed his fist to the terminal. In a seconds time, the last blast door closed 100 meters in front of them. The mass driver fired. An explosion engulfed the door. The ship flew into the expanding fire.

Fred walked up to John. “Any news on the ship trying leave?”
John watched a monitor as Fred sat down. “Nothing yet. There must be a lot of activity in there. They never care to update us on any situations. We just sit here in this turret platform until our shift is over. They tell us to shoot at something, we shoot.”
“I may be new to this, but I already figured that out at training. This isn't exactly trying to command a battleship. They come out. We push a button. They explode. Simple as that.”
“So... What did you think about last nights game-” The exterior of the docking port entrance the weapons platform was orbiting suddenly burst into flame. “What the fu-” An alarm began ringing. The room lights turned to a pulsing red. Fred's terminal flashed on. A small ship flew through the receeding blast. A face appeared on the screen. “Shoot down that ship, now! Destroy it!” Fred looked to John who had already began working with his terminal. The platforms weapons rotated in the direction of the ship.
“This ships fast. The weapons wont lock for 5 more seconds. Fred, activate the targeting up-link. Transfer our data to the other weapons platforms.”
“Yes sir.”

“Were through, Captain-”
“Yes I noticed! And don't give me orders ever again. I'm the Captain.”
“Of course, Captain.” An alarm flashed at Isaac's terminal.
The computer voice annouced, “This ship has been targeted by several hostiles in the area. Advise immediate evacuation from the region.”
“Rahn, how are the warp engines.”
“Dead.”
“What!?!”
“I'm kidding. That was a joke.”
“What the fuck's wrong with you? Guh. Everyone buckle up, were going to enter warp.” Isaac pushed a few buttons at his terminal. The engines started to roar, louder even than as the ship raced out the exit.
“John, the targets locked. Fire the weapons!”
10 missiles launched from the platform, racing at incredible speeds towards the ship.
“There finished.”

“Warning, enemy missile have been detected, evasive maneuvers are mandatory,” declared the computer terminal.
“For god sakes, SHUTUP!” yelled Isaac, “this god damn power up sequence is taking too long. Rahn, on what side of the ship are our weapons?”
“Only have them on the front of the ship sir,” said Rahn.
“Well that does us shit, doesn't it Rahn? Are there any other evasive maneuvers that we could incorporate Alek?”
“Of course there are more maneuvers,” said Alek, “let me handle that, you handle the warp.”
“You just better get us out of this fuckin' situation.” Isaac turned back to his terminal to coordinate where the missiles were, while Alek profusely mashes keys on his terminal to program his macros for flying the ship. “That better be for the ship and not you playing Hacker's Paradise or something,” Isaac said.
Rahn on the otherhand was racing back and forth between his terminal and the engine to make adjustments. “Is there an estimated time for the warp Rahn?” Isaac's voice said over the intercom.
“Give me a second!” Rahn yelled, as he was adjusting a part of the engine. Rahn rushed over to his terminal and pressed a few keys that pulled up the progress of the power up sequence. “About 1 minute,” Rahn said. Rahn heard both Isaac and Alek mutter, “shit” through the intercom.
“Is there any possible way to make the warp power up faster?” Isaac said.
“I could manually feed...”
“JUST DO IT!”

“Damn, they are still moving fast,” said John at his terminal, “their flight path is not traceable. What have you come up with Fred?”
“Well, depending on where they are heading, it'll just be open space. Even with the slim chance they do make it through the missiles, security will be waiting for them,” said Fred.
“Well, don't make it sound like the missiles will miss. Jeez, what are ya, a pessimist?”
“Get off my back asshole, you are one to talk. Just the other day, you were telling me that our job is going to be as boring as can be, because of where the space station is.”
“I was just trying to make conversation. Didn't have to take everything I say so seriously. God damn. Can you at least calculate the ETA of the missiles in contact with their ship?”
“Possibly, about 30 seconds.”
“We will wait.”

“Lieutenant, we are preparing the weapons,” said the first mate.
“Good, I shall inform the Captain,” said Lieutenant Bankerly. Banakerly turned away from the monitors and headed to the upper level of the bridge. “Captain, we are preparing the weapons, anything else we should be preparing for?”
“Yes, I need you to pull the data up for the 3 occupants of the ship. Check the cameras inside the docking bay at that time. I want to know about each of these occupants so we know what we are going up against.” the Captain said.
“Yes sir, understood.”

“10 seconds until warp drive Isaac,” Rahn said as he frantically fed the warp drive fuel, “at this rate, we should have it in that time.”
“I don't know if we will make it Isaac!” Alek yelled from his terminal, “those missiles are coming up very fast.”
“Just keep a hold of the controls. I will fire up the warp when it comes online,” Isaac said. “5 seconds Isaac.”

“4,” said John, “3.”

“2,” said the Captain.

“1!” yelled Isaac.

"Activate the warp drive!" Isaac yelled. The ship made a humming noise that grew louder and louder until-..

BOOM, a missile had hit the back of the ship, luckily the force field took the brunt of the explosion, but it hit the back of the ship at enough of an angle to rotate it about 15 degrees. The warp drive activated despite this though, and the ship took off.

"That couldn't have been good.." Alek said, regarding the missile that had hit.
"Where are we headed?" Isaac asked.
"I don't know yet, the course did change when that missile hit. I just hope we don't get warped into a star.."
"It's your life if we do, Mr. Navigator."
"But, we'll be dead any-"
"Then I'll bring you down to a whole new level of Hell!" Rahn arrived, with a trail of blood coming from his nose.
"It looks like we didn't take any damage to the hull, just a bit of lost energy to our shields." He stated.
"Good! Any report on-- What the Hell happened to your face?" Isaac exclaimed.
"Well, I was just done slipping out of the engine when we went into warp, and I ended up hitting the wall. My face took most of the impact."
"Uhg, I assume you know everything there is about how to fix that, yes?"
"Actually, I didn't really study much into the medical field."
"Surprising.. Alek, go and patch him up, I'll keep an eye on where we are headed"
"Yes captain." Alek and Rahn headed down to the sleeping quarters where the medical supplies were kept.

Several minutes later the ship began to come out of warp. Isaac glanced down at the terminal, Destination Achieved, it displayed. He looked back up through the window and grinned.