Espi woke up in the docking bay of Amayamo. The last thing he remembered was his disabled Gladiator entering the cruiser. He looked around as his Gladiator was surrounded by twelve robotic soldiers. Each held a weird looking rifle as they refused to move a muscle and kept their weapons sights on him. He took off his targeting interface, showing the scar on his eye. His hand, still a bit stiff from trying to control his ship, held his sidearm in his holster. A voice boomed from the loud speakers: "Remain calm and slowly exit the ship now, you are not worth the wait so please move and you won't be harmed."
He took a deep breath, calmed down and strapped off from his pilot seat, ready to head for the ship exterior. He kept his holster open, but knew that a wrong move might be fatal. He exited the ship through a small opening after it's decompression. Stood next to his ship, took out his sidearm and handed it to one of the robots surrounding him. The robots took the sidearm and lowered their weapons. They gestured in the direction of a door and Espi was escorted inside. As if that wasn't a big surprise what was inside was even more of a surprise. Plants and trees were everywhere as if they were the very walls of the ship. The furniture was top-grade fit for a king and that was just the couches and chairs sitting around the edges next to the plants. He was moved off into lower parts of the ship, each level just as fancy as the next. Three levels later they reached a level were the term "dump" was an understatement. The walls were breeding fungus of all kinds, and the floor was joining in on the act. Rows of cell doors were lining the walkway and silence was obvious as nothing made a sound, even their steps were quiet. The group stopped in front of one of the cell doors and they opened it. Robotic Guard #1 looked at him with a grim expression, "We apologize for the lack luster holding sir, we will make it up to you....one day..." The robot pushed Espi in the cell and they left.
He looked around to see his cell. 'Interesting' place. All that was there was his bars, and a metal floor. All of a sudden, the uniform was a bit tight - he took the upper part down, now his chest naked. He touched his scars, and waited till he cools down a bit. He just stood there, observing his surroundings for a few minutes, thinking.
"I guess you would like to talk to me.", he said, turning his face to the left. He knew someone was there. A man who appeared to be in his early twenties emerged from the shadows. "Hmm...you can say that.." he murmured. The man walked past him and held onto the bars of the cell. He looked behind at Espi, "Do you feel trapped?"
"Is that important at this point?", the Corsair asked, coming closer to his 'host'. "Introductions would be more appropriate, I believe." He took two steps back, straightened up, looked the man in the eyes, and introduced himself. "Espingarda, Buccaneer of The Black Sails." He stretched his hand towards the man in the shadows, offering a handshake. The man stood there for a second, thinking what to expect. "Do you think you should be afraid of me at this point, senor?", Espi slowly moved his eyes up and down the bars surrounding him, and looking the man back in the face.
"You did not answer my question, if I didn't trust you I wouldn't have my back towards you now would I? Accept fate I say..." The man kept his back towards Espi but turned his head forward and looked upwards as if daydreaming.
"Well it's not like I am in a hurry... Am I, senor?" The Corsair stepped back into the darker section of the cell and waited. "Hmm...I asked you if you felt trapped...I can get you out of this if you want..." The man rested his head on the bars. Espi stepped out of the shadows fast, almost jumping towards the bars. He hit them fairly hard right next to the head of his host. The man didn't move a muscle. He turned after a moment of silence, supporting his back against the bars.
"I'm used to such places. I guess you saw the scars. Well Corsairs don't do such things to men like me. The Hessians, however...", he put his uniform back on. "I always feel trapped, when I am not in one of my ships, if that answers your question, but I doubt you will be willing to let me back in my Gladiator."
"Observant and wise...well not really.." The man pulled the bars apart and walked through them. "Come with me hmm?"
Espi raised his eyebrows, looked at the deformed bars, and tried moving them right after he moved through them. Nothing. "No offense, senor, but you don't look like someone that works out.", he measured the man again with his eyes. "What ... are you?" The man looked Espi dead in the eye. "What I am is Derilos....Derilos Granar...I won't hurt you...much...please this way." Derilos gestured down the hall. The Corsair slowly started to move down the hall, in silence, expecting - that thing - to start talking. They both moved down the hall silently, in darkness, and appeared in front of a metal wall. "So, where are we headed?" Derilos kept quiets at first, but then he smiled casually, "Just wait till we get there." Coming to a dead end, Derilos stepped forward and was scanned quickly. Then a segment of the wall next to him moved and then opened to reveal an elevator. Derilos stood next to the door, "After you..."
Espi entered, turned around, and waited for the thing to enter. "Have you always been like this, senor?" Derilos entered the elevator and pressed a floor button. "Always been like what?" he asked questioningly. "You know - Bending metal bars and all that." Derilos leaned back against the doors of the elevator. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You corsairs...you are weak? Or strong? It is like asking a cruiser captain if he has the firepower to damage a station...Can't you bend metal bars?". Espi was amused. As if bending metal bars that should prevent people from escaping their cell is something that happens on a daily basis. "You bent the bars to an extent that I could actually exit the cell, senor. One would expect that those ... shouldn't be bent." Espi then seemed to be thinking for short while, and finally asked: "Who made you, senor? You are not human, I am certain of that ... What are you?"
Espi entered, turned around, and waited for the thing to enter. "Have you always been like this, senor?" Derilos entered the elevator and pressed a floor button. "Always been like what?" he asked questioningly. "You know - Bending metal bars and all that." Derilos leaned back against the doors of the elevator. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "You corsairs...you are weak? Or strong? It is like asking a cruiser captain if he has the firepower to damage a station...Can't you bend metal bars?". Espi was amused. As if bending metal bars that should prevent people from escaping their cell is something that happens on a daily basis. "You bent the bars to an extent that I could actually exit the cell, senor. One would expect that those ... shouldn't be bent." Espi then seemed to be thinking for short while, and finally asked: "Who made you, senor? You are not human, I am certain of that ... What are you?"
The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. Derilos quickly grabbed Espi and threw him to the ground and using his arm, Derilos was able to stop himself from falling. "I can assure you that I am human and nothing about me suggests not being human. Those bars were strong but how do you know you weren't able to o that, assumptions like that will definitely get you into the wrong situation." Derilos remained still through this quick talk his body facing away from Espi and his arm straight in an angle good enough to keep him from falling. Derilos flipped over now facing Espi and did a one arm frontal flip over him. "Don't underestimate yourself, the human body is capable of many things..."
"Si." Espi replied, while getting back on his feet. "Please this way." Derilos calmly stated. On this floor was a huge garden, plenty of vegetables and plants abounded and the roof was clear so you could look up into the next level but strangely there was stars and small planets on the next level of the ship so it was probably a projection screen. In the middle was a stone table set with only two chair both of which had what looked like very comfortable white with red lined pillows. The only way to get to it was to cross the bridge connecting the middle with the outer parts of this level as a water way divide them. Derilos walked over the bridge and waited for Espi to cross as well.
The Corsair crossed over the bridge, and looked around himself, astounded by the various tones of green surrounding him. "Some greenhouse you have here. I've never been in a place like this. I'm sure you know of Crete and how 'fertile' it's soil is. Well, this is the first time I see so many trees in one place. I see them in Zoner biodomes, but only from space. They never let me in, ever since that thing at Freeport Nine." Derilos gestured for Espi to take a seat and he took one himself. Derilos sighed and gazed around, "I must say even I am impressed by this garden, do you know why I have it?". Slowly sitting down, Espi was still observing the garden, while still focusing on the fact that he might be able to talk his way out of this before his sailors arrive to punch holes through the hull, endangering everyone on the ship including himself, and who knows what other allies or even other Corsair hermanos.
"So why all this?", the Corsair asked. Derilos leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "Why...what?" Espi leaned his back against the chair. "Well, some people say that everything happens for a reason. That's not exactly the way I work, but let's assume for now that it is like that... What is the reason for me being here, then? Or are you just running around Corsair space, disabling ships of bypassers?" Derilos took a few seconds to consider his answer, "Well, why not? I mean sure everything has a reason but..is that reason something you really want to know? It could change some things..." A robot came into the garden carrying some menu's. HE approached silently making sure his footsteps weren't heard. "Can I get you two gentlemen something?" it asked. Derilos took one of the menu's from the thing. Derilos responded quickly as if he'd been waiting for this moment. "Sure I'll have hmm...a hot choco? That will make my day thank you. Do you want anything?"
Espi looked at his host in amusement, turned towards the robot and replied with a slight grin: "Could you perhaps get my ship refueled in the docking bay and show me the way to her? No need to rearm it at all, I can manage.", turning his sight towards Derilos slowly, getting ready for all kinds of possible and previously thought impossible reactions. Instead Derilos simply wished away the robot and calmy stated. "Your escape is already planned, don't worry aslong as the solider robots don't find you, you have a clear escape. But...your not to escape yet...your ship has already been refueled and your systems check out ok. If you want anything else just let me know. As for what you do right now, you are to wait, I'll have to contact your freinds and let them know how much fun you are having. Until that happens you don't go anywhere. As for food, if you want any we have it just ask no need ot rush off in a hurry now is there?"
"No need to do that, senor. My men already know where I am, and are coming for me as we speak. If it was a ransom you wished for, let me tell you this - We have people to feed, lives depend on us. Lives of our daughters, sons and our elder. We work hard to get what we can for them, and now you think we will simply give something to you?" he paused for a moment "What I am experiencing right now, is surely an interesting situation for every man to be in, but I have no choice. If I am to die here, I will know that my sailors continue with their work. One of them will take my place, and the Black Sails will work as they did up until now. The Corsairs will get their supplies as they did, only the people delivering them will change. I do not wish to live forever, I never did. Most Corsairs are born with 'death' written on their forehead and I have outlived many of my amigos already, even if I am far from being old. The Black Sails will not give you a dime for my life. If they do, many others die, and I wish not to have their blood on my hands."
Derilos considered everything Espi had to say and finally decided on a reply, "Who said you were to die? We know how things work in the corsairs, you kill one and another sprouts. What we are aiming for is to simply distract you. If you think for a second we are here to kill you then you are sadly mistaken. The only things that can kill you is your brothers once they find me, IF they find me. The ransom? A fluke we don't expect to be paid. In fact we have a death sign on our head as well. I'd suggest you think on that hmm? We are both in the same boat. Do you see the plan now corsair? Do you really?" Derilos kept the rest to himself and stared up at the projection screen overhead.
"I don't. That's exactly what concerns me." asking himself where could this whole thing possibly lead and who is pulling the strings, the Corsair stood up and looked around the garden again. "We could use this technology. Where did you get it from?" Derilos kept staring at the stars while he replied to Espi, "We all have our part Corsair, keep to yours and you'll have plenty of time to find out for yourself, that is, if you keep to your part. I have." Derilos took some time to finish, "I have..my own part to play...you should follow yours or the plan is ruined and you will die."
Espi thought it would drive him mad. This thing was toying with him. So far it said almost nothing to him, and it was lying. "Heck - this bastard thinks he's human! It's delusional. I need to get out of here", he thought to himself. He turned around, now facing the thing, and asked calmly: "A plan? What do you mean? Some sort of strange word for destiny? There is no such thing. If there were, I would have been long dead, somewhere in space, with none of my friends knowing where I am. What is this 'plan' of yours then?" "The Plan is for us to be noticed. I am to die and you are to live. Once SHE arrives." Derilos took some more time before he answered again. "SHE is what you should worry about corsair.. trust me I'm nothing to her. If you see her corsair, don't touch her, don't look at her, don't think about her. That's your best bet." A robot came in with a cup of hot chocolate. It left and Derilos left the cup sitting there steaming. "Play by this plan and follow it and soon...This will be yours.." Derilos didn't waver from looking at the stars overhead, being somewhat captivated by them.
Espi took out a piece of paper, fold it in half, took Derilos' cup and pured a bit of his drink over the paper. He returned the cup to the thing, and waited for a few seconds, then he unfolded the paper and showed it to the thing: "Who is she? And what do you see when you look at this papersheet?" Derilos looked at the paper with the enthusiasm of a snail. "I see a stain and you will find out who SHE is later."
"Well how am I to find out anything about HER," but he somehow knew that SHE would most likely be another IT anyway,"if I can't even look at her? For something that sees a simple stain in the image, you are quite messed up, aren't you?" Derilos remained fixated on the stars above. "Those who question the answers and reasoning of others don't know themselves and assume things they don't understand."
The Corsair instinctively reached for his holster, only to realize he handed his gun over at his ship. The only thing keeping him from making a suicidal attempt to strangle a robot sitting on the other side of the table was the smell of actual atmosphere in the room. He could scent the tree bark and the leaves, he could inhale it and calm down, even if the odor of his now sweaty uniform was ruining the moment a bit. Then he considered the weight of the table could cause the thing some problems, if he could somehow throw it over and crush its legs, but he managed to keep his boiling corsair blood under control. He might just have get some information about this greenhouse since he was here. "You should check out actual stars.", he said when he looked up at the shimmering dots of light on the ceiling - "Even if the projection is quite good, there is only one real thing, you know. Eating synth paste all your life and then having a nice meal of luxury food and wine for the monarchs in Bretonia is something different. It teaches you something. It teaches you that oxygen in tanks smells different than this one. That not even the nebulae of Eta are as green as these leaves you have here. Tell me about your greenhouse. How did you get one?" Derilos picked up the cup and smelt the hot chocolate enthusiastically. "We built this greenhouse, cored out this war machine and in a few months made a multi-level greenhouse out of it, of course this limits our war capabilities but as you can already guess, this explains why we are so elusive. The engines and power core of this vessel remains the same as well as the weapon hardpoint and ammo storage and docking area. But we also added another level to this ship believe it or not which is just below this one. Such a nice vessel is it not?"
"Si. A magnificent one indeed. The trees and plants add a lot to the atmosphere. You don't have logs of your progress on the construction works of the greenhouse, do you?" Derilos yawned a bit covering his mouth politely, "Yes we do, once this plan is done you will have access to it no problem, then again you are going with the plan right?"
"Okay there goes the plan bit again. Just try to remain calm and you could actually bring home a detailed plan for biodome construction. No more famine, no more thirst, nothing of that. A place in halls of fame, centuries after your death. STAY - CALM - ESPI!", he thought to himself, even if he knew not much was needed before he actually jumped into the airlock, finally getting rid of this malfunction's stare, it's voice, it's choice to not accept what it is in reality. Was it worth it? Could Espi even keep his temper long enough? Well - It's worth a shot.
"It would be a lot easier to do things in accordance with a plan, if I knew what it was." Derilos dipped his finger in the hot chocolate and swirled his finger around. "Just be yourself and don't leave till we tell you, it's as simple as that, should you try to interfere with anything then you will mess with the plan, if you don't trust me that's fine but it's your life you are messing with not mine. I know what my end is like, it's not a pretty one if you ask me.." Espi was utterly confused at this point, but didn't let Derilos know. Something was terribly wrong with this thing. It thought it's human, it was afraid of some other sort of thing, and it knew how should it ... 'die' ? Was this sme sort of a faulty program, or a bad dream? Never before did he see such AI behavior. "What exactly do you mean by that?" Derilos laughed to himself. "For a corsair you ask more questions then you shoot!" Derilos laughed some more before calming himself. "You know corsair, your a good friend, here, have my hot Choco." Derilos moved the cup toward Espi. "It's one of many gifts.." The Corsair took the cup, and smelled the brown substance. It's scent was bitter, but somehow compelling. "Well ... You took my gun, remember? It is kind of special to me, so I must request you return it to me soon, if possible. I don't care if you take all the ammunition out of it. The bullets are not that I'm interested in. It's the gun itself. We have a history together, you see." He took a sip from the cup, put it back on the table, and slowly pushed towards his host. "I'm also very interested in the ship and it's origin. I can be a man of great curiosity, you know. Especially when you have a biodome this big."
Derilos snapped his fingers and waited a few seconds, a solider made his way to the middle of the garden and rested Espi's gun on the table. The solider stood off to the side and waited for further commands. Derilos stretched a bit and stood up, "There is your gun, pick it up and shoot me here." Using his finger, Derilos pointed directly at his head. "Shoot me here, and then fight your way to your plane which is down that doorway." Derilos pointed behind Espi with his other hand, keeping his other hand pointed at his head. "And take the fifth door on the right. You'll have a slightly hard time but I'm sure you can make it. That is option one, option two is to leave your gun where it is, and follow the plan and I won't say if you'll meet your weapon again, so option one will always be an open door. Your choice corsair. Let's see what you decide.."
"No." Espi thought to himself. "That would be too easy, to just shoot my way out of here now. Besides - there are the biodome construction plans to obtain. Where do they keep them? Archives? But where are those? A lone Corsair on a ship full of robot soldiers, with less than one mag in my gun, if with some ammunition at all." He looked at his gun to check if the magazine was in it, looked at the thing sitting against him. "The gun is special to me, I told you that, and I'm not leaving this station without it..." He paused for a second or two, looked behind him and continued "... and what you propose sounds pretty much like a plan to me." With incredible speed, Espi grabbed his decorated sidearm from the table and aimed it at Derilos' head. "Go on shoot!" Derilos exclaimed. "You are meant to have this station, but a word of warning the plans here are low scale so terraforming or any biodomes in Crete will be...scarce so it won't have a huge impact on what you all face anyway. There is only 12 solider on this station. Your gun, if used correctly will be able to stop anyone in your way as the rest of the robots are unarmed." Walking up close till the gun was touching his head, Derilos removed his finger from his forehead. "Option one...start?"
And there they were - two emotionless faces, a gun, silence. A chance to get to Etna now, or to stay and take blueprints for mountains of nourishment back home later. Espi lowered the gun a bit and stepped back. "Is it your wish to die? Now? Here?" Derilos smiled slowly. "Don't change the subject so quickly corsair, either use the gun or leave it, there is no middle option." And the same moment, the gun fired twice. The thing that wanted to take Espi's sidearm permanently away from him fell to the ground, and shortly after it the robot that brought the gun did. Derilos gripped his shoulder red blood spreading on his clothes. "Heh...This is painful you know that right? It seems you have made your decision corsair I'd suggest you continue or else..." Espi shot the thing in both it's knees. "Or what? I know it doesn't hurt you, but it might be hard to move with those pierced." He looked at the substance flowing out of Derilos' body, "Is that blood? Sure doesn't seem like blood to me..." He pulled a small hidden blade from his gun, cut his index finger, and came closer to the immobilized thing. "This is blood, my good man. You have treated me well, that is why I did what I did - To show you what you are not." His blood started dripping right next to the small pool under Derilos. The color was significantly different. Derilos groaned in what seemed to be pain. "Corsair, your making it really hard on me. Is this..what I get for good hospitality? You consider me something else then you shoot me for it? W-what are you?"
"I am a man that had seen many strong and vital human specimens, but none moved as silently as you did. NONE bent metal bars as you did. If what you are experiencing was pain, and you were human, you would have been unconscious by now. Look at how much of that liquid has already flown out of your body, yet you are not even pale. No, my dear Derilos - The question stands, but it is the wrong person you are asking. What are YOU?" Espi raised his cut index finger one more time to show Derilos true blood. Derilos laughed then clutched his shoulder again. "Y-you missed something corsair. Do you k-know what that is?"
"Do tell me." Espi said, and came one step closer. "I-I use to be...a part of The Consortium. when I was forced to join they gave me this Bio enhanced arm." Derilos raised his right arm. "Nano-bots run through it and enable me to bend bars for example. A brain control chip lies in my head and is currently disabled. Also I lost blood like this before during the surgeries. Last n-note is the fact the Bio arm is directly connected to my blood stream hence the different color. I have a ghastly history but a history none the less which is why you are so confused corsair. I am, in fact, human." Espi hid the blade back in the gun, looked at the boy in front of him, and aimed his gun once more. "In that case, I'm sorry... I am, but nobody locks me up and gets away with it. Not any more... Consider this a coup de gr?ce." He pulled the trigger and the gun fired for Derilos' head. The Corsair turned around and ran to the fifth door to the right.
Espi opened the door to find three soliders on the other side. They had their backs to him but when the door opened they turned around and started raising their weapons. Two of the guards were blue while the middle one was red, and he spoke first: "No one escapes, drop your weapon corsair." With no time for thinking, Espi instinctively shot one of the robots in the 'head' while jumping to kick another one to the ground. During the leap, another of the robots recieved two shots in the rib section and shooting the one he kicked to the ground was child play. He took one of their rifles, just to make sure he doesn't run out of ammo and holstered his gun. He kept the holster open just in case. "Told you... The real thing is the real thing.", and grinned lightly.
Alarms sounded as Espi ran for his ship which was conveniently placed in the middle of the loading dock. He looked around from behind a corner. He saw a few utility androids - none of them armed. "Wonderful. This should be like taking candy from a huge AI cruiser. Now just to figure out how to open to bay's airlock and not get sucked into open space." A few more ships were in the bay with his gladiator. He crawled behind the cargo boxes all around the bay, and got inside one of them. "Now ... Where do I set the undocking autopilot on this?" Unonveniently, there was no 'UNDOCK' button blinking in his face, and so he had to search the cockpit for a few minutes. A few guards entered the docking bay as he was looking.
"Spread out and find him, where are the medical droids?" one of the guards asked. "On their way." replied another. The green robot took one path while the other two blue ones took their own. Medical robots arrived quicker then usual but they started to repair the downed soldiers at the door, it wouldn't be long before they were operational again. Up on the bridge the alarms were the first thing to grab Faust's attention. Quickly taking a look over the situation, he realized the corsair wouldn't be able to go far. He turned on the ship wide comms and spoke calmly, "Lock down the control room the corsair cannot escape if he cannot open the doors." Quickly getting bored Faust diverted his attention from the breakout to the bag of virtual chips he could be trying to eat.
"MIERDA!" Espi shouted and hit the ship's console. The ship's bot announced the weapon systems are online. He looked at the console and with a satisfied, proud face he grabbed the targeting mechanism. "Okay boys. Time for some pew pew..." And grinned a bit harder. As the ships guns started turning, the guards started to hide behind anything they could find. "Come out, come out, wherever you are...", said the Corsair, as the gun barrels started spinning. He then started shooting everything that moved, or didn't, really. A symphony of gunfire and metallic sounds started echoing through the docking bay, and it lasted until all the guards were lying on the ground, not moving. He then got another idea. As he got out of the ship and started to sprint for his gladiator, guards from the platform above started shooting in his direction. With not much cover left, he just ran as fast as he could. He took his gun from the holster and started shooting in their general direction, not looking where his shots were going, but trying not to trip and fall. That would have been bad.
Derilos sat up as the medical bot finished repairing his arms and legs, it insisted on fixing the hole in his forehead but Derilos pushed it away, he had to stop that corsair and he doubted the solider robots were capable. His opponent was smart and had to be stopped. Grabbing his coat his flipped on his hood and took off. Within seconds he was on the scene, his hood prevented him from noticing everything but he got the general scope of it all. The corsair was wreaking havoc and it would only be a matter of time before he escaped. Crouching next to some of the soldiers hiding, it seems as one of the medical robots were down which meant only nine were left now. Surprisingly one of the green soldiers was on the scene, something Derilos didn't expect. "Give me a status update." The green robot looked at him and was confused at first. "Ah, he got into one of our fighters and started shooting at us. We had to take cover." Derilos shook his head in disappointment. "You should have chosen option one corsair." He peeked out and watched the corsair run for his ship. He sat still and waited for his chance.
Espi quickly opened his ship's entry door as he was hiding from the fire behind it. It had a few scratches from his previous endeavors, but he was a bit disappointed that it was getting directly shot at with no shields. He jumped in and activated the lock down sequence and powered up the basic systems - shields, guns, engines. He strapped in and put his targeting interface on his head. the Gladiator started to hover and turned towards the bay's airlock.
Seeing there was not many options left, Derilos jumped out of his cover as the gladiator started turning towards the bay doors. 'The idiot thinks he can fly away so easy?' Using all the power he could muster into his legs, he jumped. Way to high, going over the ship. As he started to fall, he decided to try to make the best of it and brought out his right arm. A long, thin blade directly connected to his arm came out and with some effort, Derilos used all the energy he could, to pierce the cockpit. The shields naturally repelled him but there was a flaw as the windshield cracked slightly. Just what he wanted. Derilos fell to the floor with a sickening thud.
"BASTARDO!" Espi observed the crack in his cockpit. He aimed his guns at Derilos' body on the ground in front of him. "Try to survive this, you freak!" Derilos looked into a barrel of Tizona del Cid gun with a petrified expression. "Well is this the final thing you want to see? Repair this, let me go in my ship and you will live to watch your simulated stars on your ceiling. What say you?" ,said Espi calmly into the intercom. Derilos smiled slowly, his energy consumed so he was stuck there on the floor. He looked dead into the eyes of Espi. "See? I told you, I know how I die...it isn't a pretty one..."
"Killing the same person twice in one hour is the last thing I would ever thought of doing. You have an option here. I am not going to ask you another time. What will it be?" Derilos laid back trying to recover his energy. "Do you know...the muffin man?" Espi shaked his head in confusion. "well, she is married to the muffin man Espi...do you know what that means? It means I'm but a pawn if that makes sense to you. Kill me and nothing changes but you damage your ship and guarantee your escape to be trivial. If I do as you ask, then the plan would fall apart, if you followed the plan, you would have reached stage two with no problems and nothing missing...now all of this...chaos you have created. It's only a matter of time my boy, kill me if you wish, but she still comes.."
"Your call, robot." the Corsair replied and just as he was about to fire his guns into Derilos' motionless body, the station's intercoms started signaling a fighter wing and one battleship class contact in the cruiser proximity. "Excellent! The timing couldn't have been better.", Espi said and a smile could be seen on his face as he fired his ship gun into Derilos. The electro-magnetic pulse effectively caused Derilos' body to become a magnet and practically glued him to the metal floor of the hangar bay. Immediately after that he put on his pilot mask and fired a mini razor into the airlock door. As the razor landed and turned the airlock into a gaping hole, he activated reverse thrust and dropped a few screamers to be sucked into the airlock and deal with the shields. The screamers immediately hit the ships shields, creating a hole in them. Espi watched all the debris being sucked out of the docking bay for a few seconds. Several explosions shook the ship's hull. The Black Sails flagship and her fighter wing escort was here.
"Now or never, Espi. Hopefully they will notice you." He turned on the gladiator's emergency beacon, activated a timer on the forward thrusters and prepared for some time spent in the emergency pod. As he sealed the pod's door manually the ship rushed forward into space, leaving the cruiser behind. Luckily, his amigos already disposed of the shields with their Supernovas and he didn't hit them. "Looks like you guys will be saving me again, eh?", he laughed.
Back on Amayamo,thinks were getting tight. With the Black Sails coming out of no where and one of the docking bay doors exploded. Not a good day if you were to ask him. To make things worst the Black sails has already begun bombarding the ship, time was a factor. "Send out all the fighter patrols we can and let's get out of here!" he exclaimed. "Once all the fighters are out ditch them, we cannot afford to lose this ship yet!" One by one, fighter squads were deployed and engaged the sails while maintenece and medical robots ran ramapant trying to clean up the mess. If that wasn't bad enough some o the light mortar shells fell off their storage and miraculously exploded which shoot more and got them to explode as well. As time moved on the shells stopped their explosions and a huge black mess remained for clean up duty. "You've got to be kidding me. Give me a status update on those fighters." One of the robots on the bridge opened up his console and looked through the stats. "Sir, we are showing the sails have engaged our fighters, we are losing handedly." Faust simply shook his head. "Let's get out of here, to Omicron theta again we will drop the prisoner off there. Also someone get me in contact with Derilos once he is back to normal."
While sailors and treasure hunters kept Amayamo and it's fighter wings busy, The Black Sails deployed emergency teams to the cargo bay to take care of the Buccaneer's gladiator as soon as it would be safely inside. The decompression caused a lot of oxygen to simply leak out through the crack in the cockpit windshield and by the time was nearing the flagship, Espi was already blacking out. The last thing he saw was The Black Sails flagship heading to him and opening her cargo bay, getting ready for tractoring.
Derilos came back online, he was unable to move his arms and legs. He should have been dead, but apparently the best thing corsairs know how to do is run and attack when they need to. Something Derilos had been trying to avoid, guess that's what happens when you trust your enemy. Medical bots made quick work of repairs but his internal power core was damaged, something that was needed to finish part one of the plan. "Faust." Derilos' voice was rasp and silent and most of the robots had to bend down in order to hear him. "Tell Faust, to begin part two." Was the last thing they were able to hear as Derilos fell unconscious.
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