STC Tumen ( BH-828)
Deep in Hau territory 
LT. Cmdr.Nikal

Lt Cmdr Nikal let out a quiet sigh as the pirate ship communicated with them, space piracy was completely unknown to the Aradites but the blak jak made their intentions very obvious. He shot a -I’m going to kill you- glance towards the navigation engineer before thinking over his options, looking towards his available weapons and the star chart. Running was out of the question, they would destroy his engines and gun then down before they got away. Giving up was not only treason and blasphemy but out of the question, they wouldn’t survive more then a few days in the escape pods before dying of dehydration, starvation or freezing to death. Fighting was really the only option they had left, which didn’t comfort Lieutenant Commander Nikal at all, the pirate ship out classed them and had the perfect position.
	Lt Cmdr. Nikal had two options for fighting back; deception, which had a chance of initial success and an even small chance of further success and direct conflict which had a slim chance of success overall. The small blackhole class ship had no rear facing weapons except for the 30mm point defense cannons and the missile pods would take at least 15 seconds to arm and fire, all the while looking obviously hostile as the tubs opened. Nickal needed time which he didn’t have nor would he get. “ Engines or life support” he thought as the roll maneuver came to mind, this would buy him the time to arm his missile tubes and get three shots off before becoming vulnerable again. This tactic worried him however, he knew from watching combat videos against the EU that his missiles would be weak against shields, assuming this vessel had them. Given that knowledge, his initial attack would be futile and nothing would stop the pirates from gunning them down. Nickal’s mind then drifted to the 24 Special Operations Marines on board, could they get a charge on the pirates vessel? board it maybe? They may outclass them in space, but once the operators were in pirate vessel they would weave unimaginable havoc on its inhabitants. Could he stall them that long? Nickal would soon find out.

“ Greetings Sir Du’fan, this is Comander Nikal of the Septonian Concordant, may we parley on this matter. I have many valuable oddities aboard that I have pillaged, maybe we can reach an agreement?” he said through his command terminal. There was no need to encrypt the message, he was certain they already know where they were. Nikal had no such valuable oddities aboard his ship, the most he had was a large stock of wine and meat for the crew. After sending the message to the Blak Jak he keyed the intercom for the entire ship, “ Everyone is to go to battle stations and don their gear, prepare for rapid decompression. Fourth special operations group, prepare for combat operations, officers report to the bridge.”