‘I told the developments to Cire, who was clearly shocked and also very thankful for my quick thinking. She even gave me a big hug to express her feelings. Well, I didn’t expect less. After all, saving someone’s life was a kind of big deal, even if my life also depended on it.’

  ‘We were heading towards the space station. It was still a long way to go.’

  ‘Few minutes ago, me and Cire became aware of a growing otion around us on the bridge... Something was clearly nht. We decided to look for Ayelfita and ask what was currently happening.’

  ‘I soon found her in front of the holo unicator. She seemed to be very troubled at the moment. As roached her, she also realized our sudden arrival. There were no more signs of her previous sarcastic mood. Cire also seemed to sehe unusually temosphere, yet she still decided to ask.’

  “Ayel, could you tell us what is going on? Everyone seems to grow more and more stressed by the seds.”

  “Sigh, well, there is no reason to hide it, for one reason or the other, we are uo unicate with the station... Taking into sideration our memorable enter just a few minutes ago, I am quite sure that they are in the middle of a battle.”

  Seldibo joihe versation, choosing that exaent.

  “Yeah, the only question is, who is the ehat decided to attack us? We are trying to decide what we should do at the moment. If we go back to base, there is a possibility that we enter into a battle that we could not win. Oher hand, the enemy most likely thinks that we perished in that explosion.”

  “Which means…” — tinued Ayelfita. — “that we will have a ce to take them off guard, and maybe we make some credits, and if we even save Hondo, he will surely reward us for our as.”

  “Yes, my dear, you are right, but I think I had to remind you about those supposedly massacred people on that ship. I know that we don’t have any actual evidehat it has happened except the girl’s words for it, but I think we should give her the be of the doubt since she just saved our lives.”

  “Yes, I suppose. That is indeed a goument.”

  “So what now?“ — ‘I asked, growing tired from their tinuous banter.’

  “I guess we should go back, at least into radar distance. If there is something off, we will simply jump away. We should er into a space battle with this ship. There is not even a proper on system on this trashy ship.” — Stated Cire.

  “Than it is decided. tinue back towards the space station.” — Said Ayelfita with finality.

  ‘The nearby pirates nodded, just like Seldibo did. Meanwhile, I still had a bad feeling about this.’

  ‘In the end, I decided to not say anything else. Nothing was certai, and it looked like a solid pn. I didn’t feel any obvious threat, but I just khat something was wrong with this whole situation, and I didn’t like it.’

  ~oOo~

  ‘Half an hour ter, we reached the pce where the pirate space station was located. Of course, we didn’t park o it. We carefully circled around the station in a long distance, searg for any sign of an ongoing battle. Our suspis soon turned into reality. There was a lot of new debris flying around in randomised dires. There was a battle here, a very fast and vicious one of that.’

  ‘I watched as Seldibo’s forehead started to srofusely. There was a terror in the air, as we soon realized that the debris was from the space station we were meant to go back to. It was entirely destroyed... We could only hope that some of the people were able to escape in time.’

  “What could have dohis ihan an hour of time?” — Asked an unknown pirate standing somewhere nearby.

  ‘I personally was too focused on searg the debris for any potential survivor or a clue expining what happened here to care about that question. It was clear to me that someone had pnned for our demise. What I was not certain of was the reason behind it.’

  ‘If I followed my instincts, I would suspect that the culprit was the same assassin that attacked me previously. She most likely called for reinfort, too... Yet if that was the case, then why did she decide to kill me? She seemed to be adamant on capturing me alive before... Maybe she thinks that it’s too risky... But after the life siphon I attached to her body, sidering how much I healed from stealing her life energy, she should be in a weakeate right now... If that is true, then who is the cause of the destru of this pirate base?’

  'Suddenly, there was a fring arm on the trol panels and monitors of the ship.

  “What is it now!?” — Shouted Ayel. Clearly frustrated by the sudden noise.

  “There is a squadron of uified predictively hostile starfighters ing towards our dire.” — Shouted someone in the momentary fusion.

  “Well, it seems that it is time to rescue our own asses. Instead of saving Hondo’s, he must have been able to escape in time, anyway. If not, then it was time for a ge in leadership, I suppose.” — Said Ayelfita.

  “Yes, it is time to go. Seldibo and Cire were nodding furiously, to that proposal.”

  “Ejj, Jedi, why did you not sehese guys before they began their attack?”

  “I don’t know, something is wrong about this situation... I am not sure what, but I sense a disturbance... There is a warning, but clouded, my senses are weakened... from an outside interference.”

  “Well, maybe it is warning you about the starfighters that are gaining on us with every sed. They seem to be adamant on bsting us apart.”

  “No, there is something else, uhe surface of this attack, that I am not able to see. It keeps disappearing every time I try to focus on its presence. I think we should escape as fast as possible.”

  “Well, be my guest. I was just about to do that exact thing. Activate Hyper-drive in three, two, one, now!” — anded Seldibo.

  In respohere was only silence. We waited for a few more seds, but the ship didn’t move.

  “What are you doing, idiots? I said activate hyper-drive, now!”

  “We ’t. It doesn’t work... there are numerous errors. The explosion before, it must have had some level of EMP effects... More than a few of the energy cells are damaged. It is a minor problem, but it takes a long time to repce them... We don’t have enough time...”

  “Then what should we do? We ’t fight them off with this unarmoured transport ship!”

  ‘There was no ao the troubled question of that weequay... I think I saw him before, but I find it hard to differentiate them... I mean, Cire and Hondo are kind of easy, sih of them are wearing one-of-a-kind unique gear. Hondo has his red long coat, while Cire wears a bright blue T-shirt and a red bandana over her head...’

  ‘She also has a single braid in her hair instead of the multiple ohat the other weequays seem to prefer. What I mean to tell you is that she stands out from the crowd... but the others seem to have less uwear. Of course, they are not the same. Everyone here basically wears a different gear, but their faces are not that different from my perspective... I of course asked most of their names... Which I almost immediately fot, but even when I remember it I ’t ect it to any face... Ugh...’

  While I was thinking about questionable fashion choices, Seldibo seemed to take over the versation...

  “I have an idea...” — Seldibo looked over at the enemy ships. — “Each of the three fighter ships are old models and pretty run down... I think that they are meraries. Because of the transport ship we are currently in, I don’t think they know that we are actually pirates.”

  “Yes, but what good would that do for us?” — Questiohe same weequay who asked the other question a few seds ago.

  Seldibo gave him an evil smile.

  “We will let them board the ship, act as if we are simple lost merts, while most of the crew hides in the ventition system. Then, when they least expect it, you e out and give them a big surprise. How about that?”

  ‘There were exactly ten members of the pirate crew here. Seldibo, and Ayelfita will py the part of the rich merts, while I will py the part of their daughter, since we are already dressed up for the act.’

  ‘Cire will be our bodyguard, so she will also remain on the bridge... The others have hastily run away and began to climb down into the unusually rge ventition system. It urposefully made that way to make smuggling easier, so the six other weequays could easily hide in there. Oh, I realized that Jack was also on the ship, but I didn’t see him the whole time... He must have beey occupied with something...’

  ‘A few minutes went by. This much time should have been enough to climb down to the ventition system at least three times. Oh, there it was. Finally, the tral holo unicatnaled for an ining call.’

  ‘As Seldibo activated the el, a trandoshan appeared before us as a hologram.’

  “My name is Seldibo. I am the captain of this meager mert ship. I don’t have much value with me, but I will happily give it to you if you let me and my family go without harm...”

  “Silenceee... stupid prey... you are not in a position to make any demands here. You will follow us to our and ship, or my friends will simply bst you apart. Were you able to prehend my words with your retarded brain tails?”

  “Oh yes, my lord, please have mercy. At least let my family go; my little girl is so young she needs her mother...”

  “Ohhh... We will release them, have no fear, ke-ke-kekeke...”

  The e ended abruptly...

  ‘I couldn’t help but praise Seldibo’s ag skills. They were quite good.’

  “That was a ... I have to say...”

  ‘He smiled at me. Then turhe ship around and began to follow the merary ship. While the other two were positioned behind us, in a way that they could open fire at any moment.’

  “So, what is your pn now? If I am n, we will be outnumbered ba their and ship...”

  “And how do you know that? Those fighter ships are single pilot ships. That means they have, at the minimum, three people plus o their mother-ship. They don’t expect a fight, just a fearful family of lowly merts... That means we will catch them off guard.”

  “Everything depends on the size of their and ship.” — Added Ayelfita.

  “Let’s wait ahen.” — I fihe versation.