RIGEL - MxM, Slash (Sci-Fi)

Chapter 1

Captain Nicholas Preston was the son of the highly regarded Admiral Marie Preston, a heavily decorated veteran who died in Interstellar War 4. What Marie Preston lacked in beauty she made up for in skill, wit, and strength. It was highly anticipated that Nick, inheriting the woman's strong jaw, tall stature, coal black hair, and dark brown eyes, would rise through the ranks quickly and become one of the greatest captains that the Intergalactic Space Patrol would ever see and join his place among those like his mother.

It was not thought that he would be stuck patrolling Quadrant 78, monitoring traffic and trying to bait pirates. "This is ridiculous." He spat, starring the the blank screen in front of him. "There is nothing out here. Cargo ships don't even take this route since Q80 allowed for easier travel. No one would search for victims in a Q with barely any traffic. Why in God's name would they stick us out here?"

His navigator, Dac, rolled her lucid black eyes. Her blue skin contrasted sharply with the gray and black of her navigator's uniform as she turned from the myriad of panels in front of her to look at him. "Because Veltro despises you. He was ready to skin you alive and eat you when the department passed over his son and chose you to be captain of this ship. I only wish he hadn't stuck us out here with you. It makes no sense we should have to suffer because he's jealous of you."

The rest of the crew agreed and Nick rolled his eyes. "Would you honestly rather have Veltra be leading you? Be honest with me." Veltra was a self-centered brat of a Vespion who'd lead a ship into a Black hole rather than take the advice of his crew. In other words, an asshole. The crew shook their heads and Nick took that as a solid agreement that he was much better than Veltra--or honestly, any Vespion.

"How's the bait ship doing, Rio?" He asked one of the only other humans on the ship, the communications officer Rio. A short man with dark skin, Rio was from Earth Four with a knack for interstellar languages but of few words. "Fine. No one is biting." The short man said with a soft, smooth voice. A bait ship had been sent out a few thousand klicks away from them in order to draw pirates to it while they remained cloaked not too far away from it. The ISP wasted no expense on bait ships and loaded it with 50,000 credits and metal from Astre's first moon. It would draw pirates to it like moths to a flame.

"I'm sure we're bound to get something soon. Q65 had a pirate bust. There's bound to be a shift in activity." Othos, the weapons officer said, her black, hair-like tentacles pulled back into a ponytail. Her one eye scanned the teleprompter in front of her, reading about the nature of the bust. As the weapons specialist, she needn't know much about it sans what weapons and techniques were used. Apparently it was a 257-Cannon used to take out the hull of the pirate ship. No pirates were able to be captured, but it was safe to assess all of them died from lack of oxygen and the vacuum effect from said hull breach. "Tragic." She said dryly.

"If we do actually find any pirates, our goal is not to kill them. We need to bring them to Ollus for a proper trial. Killing them isn't the way to do things, nor does it adhere to the ISP's guidelines." Nick replied sternly. Many, across different planets, viewed his hallowed organization with disdain. Killing pirates, many refugees from planets in poverty or planets marked red after IW4--including Earth One--wouldn't help the galactic community's view of them. A single captain was not to play judge and jury on an entire ship of pirates.

"An unidentified vessel is converging on the Bait Ship." Dac replied. Othos grinned, showing her sharp white teeth. "It looks like we'll be doing something after all." She said, sitting back. Nick rolled his eyes and looked to the main pilot, Renor. "Renor. Wait for the unidentified ship to come with 20 klicks. Then converge on them. Make sure they don't attempt to board the ship without us at least within proximity for a counter attack. It's imperative that they do not get away with the bait."