Playing with fire

“Tick-tock, you have two weeks left, this is but a taste of what will happen if you don’t pay!”. A cold voice threatened, the speaker cloaked in shadow and pain erupted from the side of his head.

Galros awoke with a start covered in sweat, panting he ran a hand down the bandage where his left ear used to be. 

“Baby…What’s wrong…” The love of his life Bonny moaned she owned her hazel eyes to look at him, her hair all over the place.

“I had the nightmare again… Our time is almost up, and we are ten million short…” His hands shook in terror.

She sat up out of bed and took his hand and kissed it “Look at me, baby! It will work out like always…We always get our way no matter the odds! We are the fearsome pirate ruler duo whose names are feared across the galaxy!”

“This is the shadow broker babe… The king of shadows of the galaxy. We don’t pay… There will be nowhere we can hide…A quick death would be merciful, but you know what happens to those who don’t pay…Blast Marlo and anyone who looks like him for forcing us into this deal!”

She placed her hands on either side of his face and stared into his eyes, the bed sheets falling away. “You listen here, Galros Flint. You are the smartest and bravest man in the galaxy! You are the King of the Flint pirates! You will get us through this. That diamond will soon be ours!”

Feeling inspired despite the nearly hopeless situation he kissed her deeply but before things could progress they were interrupted by a comma chime. “Boss, sorry to interrupt your sleep, but your gamble has worked! We have the intel on the Ruverious Diamond and it’s good!”

The dwindling hope became a roaring inferno. “I’ll be right there! Summon all of my captains for an urgent meeting!”

Bonny smirked and kissed his lips “What did I tell you!” Hurriedly the pair dressed and walked out to the briefing room, his most senior crew was there and a few slaves to keep their drinks topped up.

“You slave, get me a drink!” Bonny clicked her fingers at one of the slaves, before sitting back in her throne like command chair, placing her boots on the back of another slave. “This better be legit Teranis or I will cut your balls and feed them to you, raw… You know how much we need this diamond!”

The man called Teranis began to sweat nervously “That is for your highnesses to decide I just have been given the intel and you told me to notify you immediately!”

Bonny took out her combat knife and cleaned her fingernails staring at Teranis without blinking.

“Enough fooling around!” Garos snapped anticipation building within him. He could practically taste the diamond it was finally within his grasp he just knew it. “Let us wait for the other captains before we begin, if there are no shows well you all know what to do” The men and women in the room smirked and laughed.

Not long before his captains either arrived on his ship or reported in via a hologram, with not a single absence. “Leave us,” he ordered, and the slaves left his room, leaving only the pirate fleet captains, and himself and Bonny.

“My captains it’s good to see none of you decided to skip this important meeting. But it is disappointing I won’t get to hunt you down and strap you to the hull.” There was some laughter in the room. “Teranis brief us!”

Teranis stepped forward and began his speech, “Yes… The Ruverious Diamond movement has finally been confirmed. From our contact painstakingly placed within Imperial Intelligence Service, we have received intel that the Diamond will be travelling from the Empires capital planet of Solarius to Proxima Centaur where it is to be forged into a necklace for the princess's wedding before turning once more to the capital.

Imperial intelligence has gone all out into making a big show of a heavily guarded escort fleet but this is all a ruse for the real diamond will be travelling in secret across the route here in a single merchant vessel.” He used a pointer to show the route on the Holoscreen.

Galros licked his lips in anticipation, containing his laughter, Teranis stopped to observe him for a moment, in return he gave a nod for Teranis to continue.

With a nod, Teranis returned to his briefing “This information has been checked and verified. I would recommend we sit here in the nearby system of Varana, and we use our indicator to pull the ship out of FTL and jam their comms while we strike it. Pretty standard.

However, the Empire is not led by fools… They will have a support fleet nearby, but we estimate we will have roughly ten minutes before the support fleet turns up, from the moment our mark goes dark!

That makes this a smash-and-grab operation, we won’t stand a chance against a fleet of military ships even with our numbers. We are playing with serious fire here, be on alert and don’t take stupid risks.” Teranis stopped once more to look at him.

“Good work Teranis. Your talents were wasted in the Republic Navy. None of you would believe the amount of credits, favours I’ve had to call in and the number of bodies I’ve had to stack… This diamond is the key to being debt-free and getting that fucking Shadow of our collective asses. After this gig. We will finally be free of them! 

I doubt the empire the empire will take this lying down, so I hope you all have new identities prepared! Our operations will be moving deep within the republic territory to prevent needless problems.

The Empire may be new on the galactic block, but they have been fighting a total war against the Kryposk, kicking their butts, their ships far outstrip those old Republic relics we are used to, so don’t get cocky.

 Not to mention, that they are battle-hardened. So, no bright ideas. We strike from flanks, deal with turrets and send in Arcos’s boarding party.”

He pauses and looks at the boarding party leader, but before he could say anything Bonny pointed her knife at Acros. “Acros, if the diamond so much as gets a single fucking scratch, they will write poems of what I will do to you.

Bonny chimes in, with a deadly smile “Ah, and on an unrelated note, your granddaughter still goes to university on Old Holteron?” Acros gulped and nodded. “Good, then there will be no mistakes on either side!” Bonny smiled sweetly and went back to cleaning her knife. 

Nodding to Bonny he then turned to glare at each one of the captains “Let me make one thing very clear so even you idiots understand. That diamond is ours! It’s our out ticket for that little accidental raid on one of his Brooker's ships. 

If one of you, morons, would have a bright idea, of keeping it for themselves, I will spend my last living breath hunting you down. That idiot would find that the galaxy is very, very, small. And then…Well…I will let Bonny have her ‘fun’. Are we clear on that?

Some of you may be scared to face the empire. Unlike the Republic, they actively hunt us. After this, we will never be able to enter imperial space again. But this is a risk we must take. Now get to your ships and prepare, Teranis will send the coordinates we are to move out immediately!”

It was several universal hours later, but every second felt like an hour, his stomach hurt from anticipation, and his fingers gripped the hands of his chair. “Come on… Come on…” he muttered.

“Your muttering is not going to make it arrive any faster baby, we will make this job a work of art like the others!” Bonny chided him gently, he glared at her but before he complained about her lack of awareness, he was interrupted by Teranis.

“Boss! We have a single ship! Indicating it now” he nodded his approval and the indicator class ship began to pull, the jammers got to work and slowly but surely a ship appeared in the empty space before them. 

“Boss, something is wrong…!” Teranis cried as he spoke, the ship seemed to flicker and what appeared to be a simple merchant ship was replaced by a sleek frontline Tunguska class battlecruiser

Panic erupted on the comms before he could order, “We are being hailed!” Teranis screamed.

With a frustrated sigh he answered and on the viewscreen appeared a young man, with blonde hair and blue eyes dressed in highly advanced combat armour. It felt like he had been punched in the stomach for he recognised the man and pure fear filled him. 

“Holy…That’s Admiral Alexander Grimwald! The Red Wolf himself! Fifth Fleet under his command conquered the entire Andromeda sector! Wasn’t he supposed to be engaged to the emperor’s daughter?”

“Thanks for the commentary fanboy” He snarked to Teranis.

Swallowing his fear he started the conversation, praying to find a solution “So the Prince to be…Came to deal with us personally, I feel honoured! Don’t you have a wedding to plan or a planet to conquer surely a man of your standing has better things to do than hunt pirates.”

“Ah but you see, hunting pirates is important work, you feed on the weak and needy, taking supplies meant for the frontlines, good soldiers have died thanks to piracy.

The emperor does not allow his subjects to be harmed and your reckoning is at hand” He threw a diamond up and down in his hand. “I hear you want this. Well come and take it if you dare!” The comms cut.

“Shit!” Garos screamed in rage, now the diamond was in range he had to have it no matter what! “We must get that diamond!”

“But Boss that`s…a Tunguska Battlecruiser…” 

“Baby I’m a little scared…” Bonny whimpered.

“Now don’t you quit!” He said to reassure Bonny before turning to his crew “I don’t care if it was the emperor himself! He has a single ship and cannot call for aid! I do not care how many casualties we take! We are getting that diamond!” He roared spit flying and pressed the comms “All ships engage!” 

The ships under his command flew forward all firing at the battleship from all angles, but it had no effect. The cruiser responded with its own weapons, a single blast from the main gun destroyed three ships, their shields, and hulls ripped apart as if they were tinfoil, while its turrets and cannons tore apart ship after ship.

The comms erupted with screams before they went silent, and the battlefield was quiet “Boss we lost three ships alone in that single blast… That weapon I’ve never seen anything like that! We must flee!”

“Flee?! I can’t allow that!” Alexander’s voice spoke from their comms, the battleship fired upon his ship, their shields were gone in seconds and explosions rocked the ship. He was thrown from his seat and the emergency lights turned on.

Groaning, he got to his feet “Status report!” He ordered.

“All systems but life support and comms are down! We are dead in space!” Teranis wailed

“That bastard!!” Garos roared. From the comms, more screams of the captains under his command rang out. As his fleet was destroyed one ship at a time. Even those who tried to flee were mercilessly cut down. “Cut the comms… I don’t want to hear this...” 

“We can’t, something is jamming us! We can’t cut the comms!” Tanaris yelled.

 Alexander’s voice came through comms, with the echo of screams from the dying fleet: “I want you to listen, listen well. You feel it? The fear. The helplessness? The despair? Those are what your victims felt. But do not fear. There is no point in fearing the inevitable.” his voice was cold as the vacuum of space.

Doubt and fear began to crush Galros's heart. “No, there must be some way to fight…Find me something! Anything!”

“There’s nothing” Tanaris whimpered, Galros crashed down in his seat and Bonny grabbed his arm. 

“I don't get this… Why… Why do…This? Why not just kill us?!” Bonny snarled to the comms.

“Ah, the Queen skank herself. What you are experiencing is nothing more than justice. An eye for an eye, as they say. And for those who are hearing this and hoping that turning on your leader will grant you mercy…The empire does not accept surrender from pirates or Kryposk. See you soon, `Captain`” Alexander taunted.

“I can’t believe the empire sees us like they do Kryposk! We are humans dammit!” Bonnie snarled.

“All hands prepare to repel boarders…” Galros ordered weakly. 

“Against elite marines?! What do you expect!? Garos shot Tanaris with his blaster before he could finish.

“Anyone else going to question me?!” He yelled challenging the room, not a single person met his eyes. Bonny’s nails dug into his arm, he took her hand and squeezed it. 

Finally, the comms went silent, debris of ships, bodies and cargo, floated in the vast space, and through it cut the Battlecruiser as it approached menacingly before it connected to his ship.

Blaster fire echoed throughout the corridors as his forces made a desperate attempt to fight against the invaders. Had it not been for the fact escape was impossible his remaining forces would have fled; he would have done the same in their shoes “Get ready! We can still win! Fight for your lives! Then we take their ship!” 

“Boss there is only a single invader… But the slaves are revolting; they have already taken over the lower levels of the ship!”

“What a single invader! That cocky fuck! I’ll rip off his head off and piss inside!”

“What should we do about the slaves?” One of his crew asked.

“It’s not your first day on the job, you idiot. Purge the lower decks of oxygen. Stop wasting my time!”

“Boss I’m locked out of life support!” The crew member wailed as the blaster fire got closer.

“Dammit…” he managed to say before the door to the bridge was blasted open. The shockwave from the explosion threw him against the command console, From the smoke blaster bolts, came, fast as thought…and then…silence.

The only two left were himself and Bonny. He attempted to raise his weapon, but it was kicked out of his hand by an armoured boot. A single bolt pierced his leg, and he could hear himself screaming. Bonny fell in a similar fashion “Well well if it isn’t Bonny and Clive!”

Alexander approached with a single rifle in hand and looked perfectly composed. A cold smile on his face. “My name is Galros, you bastard.” He spat at Alexander.

“Hmm? Oh, it's an Old Terra reference, pay it no mind… Not that you old humans of the republic would know it. But tell me now you have experienced what your victims felt, how do you feel?”

“Fuck you!” Bonny screamed and charged him with her knife only to be shot in the knee, causing her to fall face-first to the ground once again.

“Pass I have standards, and I am already engaged,” He said dismissively, Galros attempted to get to his feet only to be kicked in the stomach, bones shattered as he flew backwards gasping for breath before spitting out blood. 

“Please… Mercy…” Galros begged.

Alexander looked down at him coldly “You who show no mercy… Beg for mercy? Thought you were made of sterner stuff.”

Garos opened his mouth trying to find a response. “I demand a trial! We are human! We may be pirates, but we deserve a fair trial!”

Alexander laughed “A trail? That’s fair. As a herald of his majesty, I sentence you. I find you guilty. Sentence. Is Death.” With that, he shot Bonny in the head.

“No!” Garos screamed and ran over to hug Bonny’s body, tears falling, and her lifeless eyes gazed at the ceiling eternally.

Alexander put away the rifle “I wonder how I should kill you? I could ship you off to be medical experiments for the rest of your life…But then I would have to do paperwork… I could get the slaves you once held to rip you apart…Hmm no I have a better idea” taking something from a pouch on his belt “Catch!” Alexander said.

Instinctively he caught it in his hand. His eyes went wide because in his hand was the very diamond he had come to steal. But instead of joy he only felt despair and hatred. “Tell me, pirate, how does it feel to have lost everything but to now have the very object you desired so fervently in your hands? Was it worth it?” Alexander sneered.

Never before had been so insulted, he felt so helpless, so powerless, so alone, like he was nothing more than a puppet on strings “You monster…”

Alexander’s sneer turned into an empty smile as he raised the rifle, he looked dead at the inside of the barrel “Coming from you? If I’m a monster what does that make you?” and everything went black.