[b]Varal flight 71, outskirts of the Imman star system.[/b] Three small ships made their way on a routine patrol through the outer most portion of the solar system. Small asteroids were no match for the maneuverable fighters and from outside, it would almost be as if an artist was drawing dim blue lines that gently danced around as they skirted across the page. This was just another routine patrol, like the one before that, and well.. the one before that. The lead fighter, clearly marked with a dark red triangle on the wings led its pack through the field until finally reaching calmer waters. Ahead was the reason for their journey though. A decent sized blocky white colored ship lay lifeless in the abyss. "This is the Ahman Sul armed forces. We are responding to a distress call. Please respond with your name and situation." The fighters began circling the disabled vessel like vultures around a fresh kill. "This is the Ahman Sul armed forces. We are responding to a distress call. Please respond with your name and situation." A minute went by and no hails received. The fighters weren't running any high end scanners as it would compromise their stealth systems. However, one running passive scans finally broke the three pilots silence. A female voice crackled over the fighters comms "Sir, I've got nothing abnormal on the scope." and after a brief pause, continued, "I'm switching to active scanning, check this thing for any life signs." Seconds later, that fighter slowed down and came within nearly fifty feet of the ships hull and activated a spot light from the nose. The fighter slowed to match the ships speed and turned it to face the hull. Once they had achieved a matching speed, the spotlight began moving around the hull, stopping to view airlocks then moving on. As it ran over the hull, scanners were penetrating the ship to determine the fate of this vessel. After a few minutes, the fighters engines did three bursts, causing it to slowly orbit the ship all the while having the nose pointed at it. The light shined through various windows and along the hull were the ships name and number were located. After running it, there was a sad reality that it was a simple- family owned yacht of some type. Seven people should be on the ship but instead, an empty, frozen interior. The female pilot came back on, "Damn, just saw the problem. Seems a coolant leak caused the port engine to overheat." The fighters orbit finally reached the engine in question and the spotlight had verified the scans. A massive tear along the side of the ship. "I bet those people died nearly instantly. none of the bulkheads closed when the hull tore open." A male voice came over, "Lucky bastards. I remember a year ago when something like this happened, a cruise ship lost power and over half of the people ran out of air. and the ones that didn't need air froze to death." "Command, this is Yathra 435, I've got a derelict. No foul play. Requesting a tow." "Roger that." was a simple reply and within about twenty minutes, a warp signature was detected. A privateer towing service more or less had arrived and began scanning the hull for any potentially hazardous situations before hooking up. As the process began, the lead pilot, a male, began speaking. "Hey, Ulsa, Scan grid 88a. I'll shoot a marker beam." After firing a very faint, harmless blue beam, the other fighter pointed in that direction and activated a very high powered sensor. The female responded after a moment "Mac, I've got something." The third fighter pilot whom made the comment about the ships inhabitants being poor bastards chimed in. "Holy shit. Yeah, we are going to need some backup here." --------------------------- [b]Tumen ( BH-828) Somewhere in space[/b] As the Aradites unknowingly made their way further in to Trader space, other and far more devious forces took notice. The worst kind of company one wanted to deal with, space pirates.. They had some sort of cobbled together ship that resembled a Lorca Warrior-class Destroyer. It was part of the plan. Pirates favored deceptions but there was no reason to take it as a joke. There was always a chance it was purchased or stolen (Rare but not unheard of) and many ships pirates and privateers alike would buy or try to copy were ones with a reputation of being [i]fierce[/i]. The Lorcalike (clever eh?) destroyer started to creep on the lost Septonian ship. No reason to be hasty as it was obvious they weren't detected yet. Its engines were dimmed but still fast enough to gain on their prey. Silence filled the bridge of the ship as only toothy smiles would be seen in the dark.. these people wanted this prize and wanted it bad. Perhaps they had never seen a Septonian vessel worth a damn or just had some collector that reeeally wanted one, really bad. Exotic ships, specifically warships, went for high price on the underworld markets. The ship, upon reaching a safe distance, hit full burn and attempted to overtake the scout. Shields went to full and weapons were locked on every vulnerable spot on the Septonian vessel. These pirates forced a signal through to the ship. "Well hello there! my name is captain Hjanti Du'fan of the [i]blak jak[/i]! I would be pleased if this went as smoothly as possible as to avoid any bloodshed." This Hjanti fellow laughed a bit as he spoke the next lines, "You have a choice! We fire on your life support system and you all die and we take your ship.. OR. " He chuckled again and some laughter could be heard in the background "you get to escape pods and we take your ship but you can live, as long as you can." The pirate ship was imposing compared to the Septonian ship. Weapons were hot.. defenses raised and they were actively trying to block any scans or communications that the Aradites might attempt. "You can do this the easy way... or the hard way. The choice is yours."