The Edge Of Space

Chapter 7 - Disaster Strikes!

"Alright you lot, I want this place packed up quicker than you put it down, move to it!" Grem shouted as the crew scrambled to take down the encampment.

Vontaine and Merca were helping to load gear into the mk2 and taking it into the alcrist to speed up the work while Grem was on the control deck prepping the ship for launch.

After an hour, they were ready to take off, the MK2 was stowed away in the docking bay, and everyone was at their stations.

The thrusters of the Alcrist crackled to life as they slowly left the ground. Blue hot plasma left behind pools of water as they ascended.

Once in space, the thrusters on the Alcrist all moved into a forward position, and they took off zooming through the stars. Once they had built up enough speed, the ship launched into hyperspace, 70% faster than the speed of light.

"Thanks for the help guys, this would have taken a lot longer without you," Grem said.

"It's no trouble, we have a life debt to Greylan, so we had to help out," Vontaine said.

Suddenly, the Alcrist was viciously pulled out of hyperspace, the lights turned red, and sirens rang out from the intercom.

"What the fuck happened?!" Grem shouted over the high pitch alarm.

"Pirates have pulled us out of hyperspace sir, they're demanding 1 million units or they're going to board us!" A crew member at the helm shouted.

"Turn off that goddam alarm" Grem shouted, and they did.

*We don't have a million, or time for this bullshit, Greylan's life is fading* He thought.

"What can we do?" He shouted to the helm.

"Our weapon systems are operational but our scans indicate that there are 3 hostile ships, so our probability for success is only 23%," the helmsman said.

"Hmmm" Vontaine pondered.

"What is it?" Grem asked.

"Well, me and merca could take the mk2. It's fully fueled and needs to be tested, I would have liked a more controlled setting but this will have to do" he said.

"You sure? If it doesn't go well we're dead" Merca replied.

"Don't worry, we had time to build the ship this time. I trust our creation!" Vontaine said.

"So your sure then?" Grem asked.

"Yeah, no doubt in my mind" He affirmed.

"Alright then. Here, I'll give you the coordinates of our headquarters, if you survive make sure to get back to me" grem said handing Vontaine a data chip.

"Alright. Merca let's go!" Vontaine said taking the chip and running to the docking bay of the alcrist, merca followed close behind.

"Zen stay with Grem you'll be safe, and behave yourself OK?" He said to which, Zen gave an affirmative nod, walking over to Grem's leg.

They quickly left for the mk2 and once there prepped the engines.

"Engage the shields and prime the plasma cannons, I'm gonna get the engine up and running," he said starting the Ignition chamber. Once the screen of the ship was down the bay doors opened and the mk2 sped out, the engines spooled up and they rocketed out.

"Malketa scan the area, I wanna know where those pirates are," Vontaine said calmly as he sped forward. A *PING* resonated through the ship, and 4 quieter pings rang back identifying the location of the alcrist and the 3 pirate ships.

"Let's get to it," merca said as the ship quickly flew through the stars locating one of the ships.

The pirate ships quickly locked onto the mk2, and hundreds of blasts trailed behind it with no success in hitting it.