Captain Parrott: Space Buccaneer

Part 1: Parrott's Court

Kip lounged on the old captain's stool while all around his trisected form Commander Naux battled heroically with the forces of boredom. He'd seen this holo before, but the ship's library was pretty limited and if your goal was to reach a zen state of near unconsciousness you couldn't beat The Adventures of Commander Naux where episode after episode the empire's greatest hero fought predictable battles against the encroaching Velkek. The long-running series served both the government's desire for propaganda and the public's desire to watch robots explode in spectacular fashion. It didn't hurt that Naux was played by Yogra Trax, one of the most sought after actresses in the holo business, and her lieutenants were a rotating cast of male models who died frequently and heroically.

Beyond the glowing holo ring the bridge of the Tacktavor was empty. Lights blinked silently on unoccupied consoles. It had been centuries since AI pilots made bridges like this obsolete but protocol on the retrofitted freighter dictated that one crew member be present on the bridge at all times and it was Kip's turn to sit among the ancient command stations and pretend to be important. A Velkek cruiser shattered beneath a hail of rail fire and Kip attempted to still his mind and allow time to drift by unnoticed.

Suddenly the holo ring vanished and the world was filled with flashing lights and blaring sirens. "We are under attack" announced Tak, ship's AI, in its usual cheery tone. Kip whirled in confusion as he returned to full consciousness amid the chaos. If they were really under attack it wasn't anything like it was in the holos. The ship didn't shake or shudder and the consoles weren't exploding in showers of sparks. Apart from the flashing lights and sirens there were no signs of trouble. One of the tactical consoles was blinking something though.

"What's going on?" he queried once his mind started to clear.

"Railguns one and two have been disabled by targeted laser burns from an unknown source. Based on the precision a military vessel seems likely." Well that didn't sound good. The two railguns were the only weapons the ship had. But how could anyone have even found them? A ship drifting across the vast nothingness of the void might as well be invisible if you didn't know it's precise route. And even then a good captain introduced variations in the path that made tracking nearly impossible.

At that moment Captain Hech came whirling onto the bridge followed closely by his officers, Lichra and Rux, whose flushed complexion suggested that the alarm had interrupted something. Kip waved a tendril in greeting and vacated the stool so the captain could access the holo rig. He didn't bother giving an update as the captain would have been in conversation with the AI the whole way here.

"Do we have a location yet?" The captain queried the AI.

"Picking up an engine bloom in front of us at -12 and 17 degrees. It appears to be accelerating to match our speed." Kip wished the AI would stop using that cheery tone.

"Could we just accelerate past them?" Lichra asked.

"Not likely," replied the captain. "Whoever they are they know what they're doing. Either they know they can match us or they plan to melt our engines as we go by. Don't worry, no one in their right mind raids an oxygen freighter. Tak, hold course and when that ship gets in range send them a broadcast warning them we're carrying oxygen and we'll blow the tanks if they attempt to board."

"Yes captain" replied the AI.

The next few minutes were consumed by a tense silence as the attacking vessel came slowly into view. It was an old Whipshar military craft. Old by Whipshar standards anyway. The empire would kill for ships at that tech level. Like most military vessels it was deep black in color but for some reason the owner had painted what appeared to be the skull and bones of some bisect creature in white on the sides. The AI had been pelting it with messages for a while now but the ship remained silent as the gap closed between them. On their own ship, the crew kept pinging the bridge looking for updates but the captain just told them to sit tight. Kip was glad he was on duty when the alarm went off. No one was talking to him but at least he knew what was happening.