With both ships disabled, this fight was mostly over.

  But just because the ships were dead, didn’t mean the pirates were.

  As the Phantom came up on the side of the overridden pirate freighter, I could already see pirates on the hull of the ship, those that had survived the decompression and being yanked out of their ship already returning to try and retake it.

  “Do it.” I whispered to myself as my thumb hesitated over the button. I watched as they turned to me, and some even had weapons on them, minor lasers flashed over the Phantoms shield, doing so little it might as well be a joke.

  I pushed the button. The laser battery had already locked onto the pirates.

  Naval scale weapons, even just the smaller lasers that I fired did terrible things to people.

  I looked away, unable to really watch as the lasers lashed out using the Crabbits calculations to strike the men.

  Soon the only thing left was already cooling craters in the ship's hull.

  “Hammond I’ll connect with the port airlock.” I told him, and as soon as the words left me he was gone, rushing off the bridge.

  With a few shifts on the controls, I maneuvered the ship into place and then we locked with the pirate freighter.

  I sat there for a while, should I get up? Should I go help? I wavered. I really wanted to just sit here and cry for a while, but instead I rose up and moved.

  Hammond was crew, I wouldn’t let him go alone, and more importantly… I needed this. This was part of being a ship captain. If I was going to hunt pirates, I needed to do this.

  “Oh! Oh! Is it our turn! It’s our turn right? Right?” The sudden appearance of a small squad of Crabbit floating up onto the bridge before I reached the ladder distracted me, and I took a moment to recognize which ones I was looking at.

  “I don’t think you’re really ready, girls.” I muttered remembering the last experiment with them.

  “Pleeeease! We want to help! We can help! Pleeeease!” One of them begged at me, tugging lighty on my sleeve, and I sighed and let out a chuckle.

  Of course they had no issue with the killing we had just done. They were innocent. Just happy to help. To do their job.

  “Alright, come on, let’s catch up with Hammond.” I called and turned to the ladder hurrying down. I raced across the ship to the airlocks and caught Hammond at the door. He had stalled for a moment, as he worked on a personal forcefield device around his neck.

  It looked cheap, and I did actually recognize it. While mine was built into my suits, and was a solid model that could save me from sudden decompression at any time, his was an old military issue. The short lived devices would last a few hours at best.

  Actual battery tech.

  That was rare. Batteries were something I’d almost never seen.

  I’d definitely have to get him an upgrade, even an Iris Drive hooked up to a jacket or something would be more reliable.

  Once he was done, he looked at me. “My main target is going to be the Bounty. I need to find and secure her. I’ll clear as I go. Just stay behind me, and keep my back clear. It could take a while to find her.”

  “Wait. We know where she is.” I told him and he blinked in surprise. I looked to the Crabbits who cheered at getting to help, and the data beeped on his Tab. He looked at it for a moment checking his path and then he turned, hitting the switch for the door.

  His large laser rifle led the way into the decompressed ship. Stalking his prey. He looked menacing, and I was sure that his bounty, the woman that had actually reached out to the Phantom before the battle, would not be escaping from him.

  I drew my blaster, and the Crabbits took places around my shoulders as I moved towards the airlock. Hammond was already farther ahead, rifle checking corners.

  I felt my hands go clammy in my gloves even with my Crabbits around me for some protection. I squeezed the blaster for luck and slowly followed, making it two steps into the ship before the light of a laser shocked me to back up and hide for a second.

  Then I realized that it hadn’t been an enemy firing.

  Hammond had fired.

  I swallowed back the bile. I’d already killed way more people than he has today. Move forward. I had a job to do.

  I stepped forward and the Crabbits floated around me as I carefully moved into the ship.

  Should I just stay on the Phantom and let Hammond handle this? Yes, yes I really should, but if Hammond got hurt and I was too scared to help? I couldn’t live with that.

  I moved around the corner and Hammond was down the curving hallway through the ship. I slowly stalked to catch up even as I saw another flash of light.

  I made it a way down catching up and saw the first casualty through an open door. I looked away and reached over to hit the door controls.

  I didn’t really want to see that.

  My steps were silent eerily so thanks to the lack of air, but I had gravity thanks to the Crabbits, and Hammond leading the way.

  Which is why I was shocked when the Crabbits suddenly called out to me.

  *Ah! Captain! Bad buy! Bad guy!*

  I turned, there was a closed door that Hammond had already passed, but the Crabbits were close enough for their sensors. I hesitated, gun pointed at the door, but nothing happened. They just confirmed there was someone through there.

  I tilted my wrist even as I kept the pistol pointed to hit the Tab sewn into my sleeve.

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  *Hammond. We have someone here.* I called out to him through comms as I kept my eye focused on the door.

  *I know. That’s the bridge, doors locked. Looking through the rest of the ship first.* his gravelly voice came in through the comm, but…

  *Set up here. Let’s do it.* I told my girls and they cheered as suddenly they shifted positions and came together.

  These were the four Crabbits that I’d been working on making a shield out of.

  I winced as the shield emitter activated for a second. I was worried it was going to explode again, but without atmosphere there was less disruption and it actually held.

  For now. I had no doubt that if it took a hit from anything serious it’d pop just like it did while testing it.

  So I hunkered down, staring at the door. Then suddenly I felt it. The entire ship suddenly shifted.

  *Ah! They took control! I’m sorry!* I heard the message and knew what it was. Atmospheric controls had re-activated, the pirates on the bridge had retaken the ship from the Crabbit that had infiltrated, that was bad enough but-

  I looked up as the bridge's door opened, revealing a person.

  He looked at me, and I looked at him. Only the blue light from the shield between us.

  My pistol was already aiming, and yet. I couldn’t pull the trigger. His eyes widened, and he didn’t hesitate. A gun was pulled out and brought up and yet…

  I couldn’t move. My finger wouldn’t pull the trigger. It just wouldn’t move no matter how much I seemed to want to scream to pull it.

  And then his pistol raised up. The big dangerous looking blaster glowed as it engaged, and then he fired.

  It slammed into the shield, ballooning into an energy release as he jumped out of the way expecting a shot in return.

  I jumped out of the way as well not to fire, but because the shield emitters!

  A moment later there was an explosion washing over me. The shield emitter had failed. I realized in my head, but it was a primal feeling that got me scrambling back onto my feet as I started dashing until I was around the corner just enough before another discharge came down and slammed into the wall right past me.

  I slipped and scrambled before raising my blaster back towards the bridge, and firing, the cracking energy slammed into Klint metal and shrieked, and I just fired twice more at nothing just in the private hope that he wouldn’t follow.

  I stood there pressed against the inner wall staring at the winding corridor and hoping that he wouldn’t.

  Please don’t come.

  Don’t follow me.

  It’s not worth it. You don’t want to die.

  So just stay away.

  I hunkered down staring and slowly slowly I realized that… He wasn’t following. I shuddered, and realized I was panicking and not thinking.

  *Captain. You alright?* Hammond’s gruff voice came over the line and I managed to keep myself from jerking at the sudden noise.

  *I’m okay. Managed to dodge everything.*

  *Good, I got him. Your uh… Drones are destroyed though.*

  I instantly got back to my feet and charged back around the corner to take in what had happened. The explosion of the shield failing as it was struck had scattered the Crabbit all across the hallway.

  Hammond standing at the door to the bridge his gun pointed in, but it was obvious the guy that shot at me was dead at his feet.

  I did my best not to look at the corpse and instead focused on my Crabbit.

  Which weren’t nearly as damaged as they were pretending.

  *Noooo!*

  *I’m dying!* They cried out but…

  *You all can float, you don’t even like walking.* I reminded them a bit done considering how much adrenaline was flowing through my veins. They shifted to look at me, and then started rising from the floor. One of them even picked up her detached leg and carried it with her.

  *Fix?*

  *Yes I’ll fix all of you, C’mon now, we have a job to finish. Any other life signs you can register?* I asked, and there was some difficulty. Most of their sensor antennae were damaged, but we finally got confirmation. There were a few still alive.

  *I’ll hunt them down… Need to get to Sinclair, but we have to clear the ship first.*

  *Wait.* I demanded, and then changed the comm line my hands shaking a bit making it hard to hit the Tab. *I want another dozen of you girls to come over and start doing a full check. I don’t want anyone hiding out. Send us updates if you find any pirates.* I called out, relaxing at what I should have done from the start.

  Hammond took in my words and then just nodded accepting the idea.

  I glanced at the broken Crabbits that were hamming up their injuries and at least a small smile broke across my lips. They were cute when they were faking for attention. I bent down still ignoring the body and started gathering parts to slip into my pockets.

  Hammond stalked off, to handle his job while I finished gathering the parts and carefully moved over the body into the bridge.

  *Lock the door down for me.* I asked, and the Crabbits went to work on that as I headed to the control consoles.

  *Hello hello!* The voice of the Crabbit network infiltrating the ship greeted me as I sat down.

  *Everything back under your control?*

  *Yes yes! Bad man is dead! Target Sinclair is very distressed but is locked down in the comms room.* It informed me, and I nodded as I took that in.

  *Tell Hammond that she’s safe and secure for now. We’ll capture her after everything else is clear.*

  *Yes yes!*

  Then I flopped into the pirate's chair and sighed.

  I… Didn’t like getting shot at.

  —--

  I watched through the sensors as Hammond made his way through the ship. The Crabbits backing him up now, meant I felt less bad about abandoning him to clearing the ship.

  I just… Yeah I was done. I wasn’t ready for combat, leaping into it had… It was stupid.

  I finished plugging a crabbits leg back in and had her give it a test. It spun around and curled a few times confirming it was fixed.

  “Yay! Fixed!”

  “See told you, you weren’t dying… Thanks for protecting me.” I told her and she looked up at me with her screen shifted into a big happy smile.

  “Final pirate life sign cleared!” The Crabbit in the ship's systems informed me and I nodded.

  “Let’s go meet our bounty target then. Get the ship aired up as well.” I said, and stepped back into the hallway that as I moved was already being filled with oxygen.

  Purposefully ignoring the dead body and the blood that had splattered on the ground when the Gravity panels turned back on.

  I caught up with Hammond as he was about to hit the room, and the moment he saw me, he had a look cross his bearded face that told me he didn’t want me here, yet it vanished in a moment.

  “Captain.”

  “Hammond, let’s secure your bounty.” I told him, and he sort of looked away from me as he looked at the locked door.

  He walked over and slammed a fist into it a few times to my surprise.

  “Not worried she’ll try to shoot you?” I asked, and he just jerked his head in a no.

  I could feel the door unlocking through the plating below my feet as it rumbled, and then slid open.

  The woman on the other side…

  Shit she was kinda cool looking. For a Pirate I mean, so not cool at all but lame… Totally lame.

  She was totally punk rock. Red hair, slightly tattered clothes but in a cool way, a look on her face of faux confidence. But before I could say anything, she opened her mouth and her jaw dropped for a second and then she said something that I definitely wasn’t expecting.

  “Grandpa?”

  “Sinclair.” Hammond rumbled as he pushed into the room, she flinched but was too slow, and he pulled the woman into a bone crushing hug.

  She was normal sized, and Hammond very much wasn’t. He dwarfed her and she had no way to resist his bear hug.

  Wait.

  What?

  I looked on as the two reunited, and I just had to wonder what was going on. Hammond had said a Bounty… If he was trying to rescue family, he should have told me.

  Huh. So his granddaughter was captured by pirates and her big tough space marine grandpa had come to rescue her?

  That was kinda sweet.

  Finally Hammond pulled away and Sinclair? Looked up at him, the shock finally starting to melt from her face.

  “You’re here to rescue me? I wasn’t… I wasn’t expecting you.”

  “You called for help.”

  “To the bounty office, not you!” She hissed and then stopped looking away. “Thanks. I guess that means I don’t have to worry about being handed over to the Securitate then?” She asked, sounding a little hopeful, but then Hammond sort of turned a bit to look at me.

  Hmm?

  I blinked as I looked between the two faces. Was there something on my face? Did something happen? Why are you looking at me?

  “Captain?”

  “Yes?” I asked honestly, confused, and Hammond seemed a bit irritated at my incomprehension.

  Well excuse you! Why don’t you actually say something!?

  “There is still a bounty on Sinclair… I didn’t come here to collect it.” Hammond finally said, turning to face me and standing firm. “I know it’s a grave risk to harbor a fugitive, but she’s my granddaughter. I won’t turn her over to the Securitate. If you can take us to a rogue harbor, we can get off and you can go on your way, or if that’s too much, if you could leave us one of the ships with enough to make repairs.”

  I blinked at him as my realization of this entire situation just shifted.

  Hammond wasn’t working as a bounty hunter, he was just here to rescue his granddaughter that had a bounty… I knew what happened to people that had bounties.

  They were hunted, and protecting them was pretty bad. You could end up getting a lot of attention for doing so, and… She did have a bounty. Was that how he knew she needed help?

  Jeez this was actually complicated.

  “I’m not really a big fan of pirates.” I offered, trying to work my own head through the situation when Sinclair spoke up.

  “Neither am I. You think they’re bad, try living with them.” She grumbled darkly, and I took that in. She went still as she seemed to realize she snarked a bit before clearing her throat. “So… You’re the captain of that warship?”

  “The Phantom Star. I’m Kat, Well Katherine. Just call me Kat.” I offered and there was a bit of a perking up in her body.

  “Sin.” She responded back, as I looked her over there. She looked… A little rough if you looked close. Her eyes were bloodshot, and she had bags under them. Her hair was a mess… Did this freighter even have a real shower?

  Ew. I’m very glad my forcefield is still active, I couldn’t imagine the smell.

  Her clothes were rough and filled with holes. They might look purposeful, but they were definitely well worn.

  She had on an emergency jacket that didn’t match her clothes at all. The jacket was designed to power a forcefield and such. It was crap. The sort of garbage that ran on batteries and dreams.

  “Captain… I know it’s a big ask. I should have brought it up earlier. But just a flight out of here would… Be appreciated.” Hammond finally said and I looked back at him.

  He looked stressed. Well, so was I.

  “Listen… Forget this for now. I want to secure these wrecks and loot what I can… She’s… Your family, and your bounty I guess. So bring her on board, we have extra bunks. We’ll… Figure it out.”

  Hammond nodded looking to Sinclair who met his face and then looked away. “Sure… Can I get my stuff?”

  I hesitated and just shrugged. I turned on my heel and walked away.

  I’d got into a space battle. Been shot at, been looking at dead bodies, and now had my arms full of damaged Crabbit…

  There was only one thing I wanted and that was to get someplace safe.

  “Can you go out and grab up the remains of the other ship… Unless it’s drifted too far?” I asked the Crabbit in my arms. She tapped at her screen with one of her hands before shaking her head.

  “Too far.”

  “Uuuu.” I whined because that meant I’d have to chase after it in this sludge.

  !