Villainous Pirates!

“They call themselves ‘ship jumpers’ and, with a hodgepodge of dangerous, modified technology-“

Click.

“Ship jumping is theft, plain and simple. What they’re doing is spitting on the efforts of-“

Click.

“Everything changes, cargo and all, effectively transforming one ship into another…”

The captain makes a noise of disgust, shouts: “Off!”
The holographic display unit powers down, sending the clean-cut image of the news reader spiralling away into nothingness.
He gets up, throws away his rubber ball and stubs his cigarette on the grey metal wall of the cargo hold.

“Jonesy – are you getting anything on the sensors yet?” The captain yells, climbing the stairs towards the cockpit.

“Nothing yet, James.” Jonesy replies.

“Figures.” James scoffs, taking his place behind one of the consoles.
“Nobody ever comes when they say they will. Is it really too much to expect a buyer with even one tiny scrap of professionalism in this part of the galaxy?”

“In our line of work, it’s probably too much to expect a professional buyer full stop, let alone this far away from the colonies,” Medea states.
“I’ll be happy enough if this guy doesn’t try to blow us up like the last one.”

“I don’t know why people always seem to think this gig is so easy,” The captain muses.
“My guess is if they spent even one day out here they’d run home crying with their tails between their legs!”

Everyone laughs.

“James, a ship appeared just behind us. Scanning it now… “Jonesy starts.
He nods,
“Good. It’s the trader. Want me to open a channel?”

“Yes. Put it on the main viewer.”

A large view screen dominates the front of the cockpit – a standard feature of all modern spacecraft. An image of the area directly in front of the ship is replaced with the visage of a bulbous brown creature with two small black eyes and five mouths filled with razor sharp teeth. It grins manically.

“I trust, by the appearance of your ship, that you have acquired the goods we spoke of?” The creature drawls.

“Yes, Nacraska- everything’s here. I trust that you are aware of our product protection systems?”
James replies, referring to a small black-hole generator he’d acquired recently as a failsafe against buyer theft.

“James, I am offended that you hold me in such low esteem” Says Nacraska, feigning offence.

“Merely a precaution. One can never be too cautious in this part of the galaxy.”

“Very true, captain.” The alien responds

“If it’s any consolation,” James adds “I do not deal with those I do not trust.”

Nacraska laughs.
“You’re a wise man, Mendellson. I look forward to many profitable dealings with you in the future.”

“Likewise, Nacraska. Shall we get down to business?”

“Certainly.” The creature smiles,
“I have made provisions for you to transport my order into cargo bays two through six. Please do so, now.”

The captain nods.

“The transfer is complete, “ He states,
“Please place my payment in the cargo hold.”

“It is done. I leave you now and-“

“Wait!” James yells, holding up his hand. Then, aside to Jonesy:
“Check it, Jonesy.”

Jonesy nods and disappears into the cargo area.

“If you attempt to leave before I have checked your payment I will engage my black hole generator; destroying both our ships. I apologise for the delay but –“

“Experience has taught you to be cautious. I understand, captain.”

Nacraska smiles.

Jonesy appears from the cargo hold and gestures towards James: thumbs up.

Nacraska appears uncomfortable.

“Is everything to your satisfaction, Captain?” Nacraska enquires, cautiously.

“Yes.”
James smiles.
“Everything is in order. It was a pleasure doing business with you, Nacraska.

The creature bows then disappears.

James turns to face his crew.

“So, any ideas for our next target?” He asks.

“Our best bet is probably…”

Jonesy presses a couple of buttons on his command console.

“Rigelus Three. There’s generally not too much pirate activity around that area and the police tend to be pretty easy to elude. Plus, it’s really close by – I wouldn’t want to travel too far in a tub like this one. We’re pretty much screwed if we get into any sort of trouble. Whoever had this ship before really didn’t know how to look after it. We’re practically falling apart just sitting here in open space.”

“What’s the profit potential?” James asks.

“Fairly low… But there’s a lot of tourist activity in that system and those commuter transport ships are extremely fast. That’s mainly what I’m looking at: If we can get our hands on one of those, we should be able to hit a more profitable system with ease. Also, we should get a reasonable stock of consumer goods for our trouble. There’s a market for that stuff everywhere, and it’s pretty easy cargo to dispose of. I think it’s our best shot, captain.”

“I agree. Plot a course to Rigelus Three.”

“Hyperspace in three, two, one…”

The stars on the view screen smash together into a thin, white line…

Soon, the crew has arrived at Rigelus Three.

A blue green planet surrounded by a cloud of ships transporting passengers and goods fills the view screen.
“Alright,” Says the captain with a smirk.
“Let’s wrangle us a star ship! Jonesy, as soon as we’ve arrived in orbit around Rigelus Three, I want you to scan for appropriate vessels.”

“I think we got here just in time, captain. My sensors are picking up a passenger ship leaving the planet now. I think it’s a freelance vessel…”

“What class?”

“Prometheus. Heavily modified.”

“Seems like it’s our lucky day.” James remarks with a chuckle.

“Medea - Have you got a lock on the vessel?”

“Already way ahead of you, Jamie. Transformation in three, two, one…”

“Oh, man. I hate this part.” Jonesy mutters, covering his eyes.

For exactly half a second, James, Jonesy and Medea; along with their cash, are falling through the air as the ship around them disappears from existence.
A half second after that, they are sitting in the cockpit of a copy of the Prometheus.
“Oh, thank fuck for that.” Jonesy sighs, rubbing his face.

The other Prometheus opens fire.

“You never have gotten used to that, have you, Jonesy?” Medea smirks.

“I honestly have no idea how you guys do it. It’s terrifying.” Jonesy replies incredulously.

“It’s no riskier than your basic matter transfer.” Medea says with a shrug.

“Well, I’m not too fond of those either!”

The ship is rocked by a small explosion – an antimatter torpedo from the other Prometheus colliding with their energy shield.

“Could we discuss this later?” James says with a grimace.
“Right now, I need to pilot the ship.”

“Oh, shit, James!”

“What?”

“There’s a huge fleet of police ships orbiting the planet.”

“Oh fuck me. Are you serious?”

“Yes! I’m serious!”

“They’re requesting a communication channel.”

“Ignore it!”

The other Prometheus is caught by a stasis beam, preventing its movement. It ceases its attack.

“They’re overriding our systems.”

“Fuck, fuck!” James bashes his command console as his ship is ensnared by the stasis beam.

“We’re stuck.” Jonesy concedes.

“Damn it.”

The image on the view screen changes to show a dour-looking member of the interstellar police force.

“Renegade vessel – your ship has been impounded under section A-351…” the officer drones.

“Oh, shit, can’t you turn it off?”

“There’s nothing I can do.” Jonesy replies sadly.
James sighs.

“...any resistance to our boarding party will be met with lethal force.” The officer continues.

James turns away from his console and looks fondly over his crew.

“It’s been great working with you guys. Thanks for all the good times.”

”You’ve been a fine captain.” Medea says.

“ We’ve had a pretty good run,” Jonesy remarks.
“Sure beats staying planet-side.”

“Especially on our world…” James agrees, sadly.

A group of armoured police officers appear on the ship and arrest its’ crew, reading them their rights…

But the crew have no regrets.

Eight years ago they were living in squalor in a dirty industrial planet at the very edge of the human empire. On richer worlds, human life could be extended almost indefinitely – in forgotten places like this one, however, the average life expectancy is around twenty five years old. Death would come swiftly from a combination of sickness, malnutrition and narcotic abuse: the general mood of the world was one of hopelessness and despair.

Hoping to avoid an early demise, the trio stowed away on a cargo freighter bound for the central colonies. The ship was attacked by space pirates who found the group and took a shining to them: educating them in their ways.
For a while, this worked out quite well for the group. They had plenty of food and got to see a fair chunk of the galaxy.

But the violent life of the space pirate soon upset the young humans and they began to yearn for a less bloody way of life.

It was then they discovered ship jumping.

Now, you have to understand that there is no way these travellers could of gotten more ‘conventional’ work anywhere else in the galaxy. Without the right papers, they would simply be sent back to their home world, and there was no place to get said papers on their planet of origin. They were damned by their place of birth.

Ship jumping represented their best chance at a reasonable quality of life.

It was lucrative, relatively safe and, most importantly, nobody had to die to get it to work.

It was perfect.

After acquiring a ship with the prerequisite technology and performing the necessary adjustments, they escaped the pirate fleet and started a new life amongst the stars…

Their appeal for leniency in the court room was a total failure. Ship jumping was headline news in every facet of the galactic media, and the government wanted to show that it would not be tolerated.

They are stripped of their ship and all of their belongings and sent back to their home planet to serve a hundred-year sentence for piracy.

They survive only two years in confinement.

One week after their trial, the judge is travelling between two star systems for a holiday. Her ship is attacked by space pirates, who steal everything on board and then destroy it: killing all of the passengers.
Due to a complete lack of evidence, the pirates are never found; as is typical for a crime of this nature.

The case is soon forgotten.