So yeah, I finally managed to get a story up! The first one in quite some time obviously. Sorry to keep all my adoring fans waiting, but you know how it is. Anyhoo, this is my sci-fi Space Pirate Epic! I hope you enjoy it. Its rather long, so you'd better get some supplies and a cushion. I hope you enjoy, another part of this story is in the works, but don't expect it too soon, this one took long enough to write! ************************************************************************************************ Plunder the Galaxy The Impenetrable was the pride of the Royal Navy. It was the new flagship, and deserved the title. It sat majestically on the launch ramp, gleaming in the sun. It was half a mile in length, its armoured plating gleamed silver and black. Large gun turrets adorned its deck, and its tall masts rose high into the sky. It was a full 20 stories tall, adorned with the Royal Navy's emblem. All of its gun-ports were open revealing the state of the art cannons, gleaming within. Its sweeping prow was adorned with a beautifully carved figurehead, made from expertly sculpted platinum. The crowd surrounding it was cheering with all its might. It was truly a glorious day for the British Empire. The crowd slowly became quiet as a man took the podium. The short stocky badger cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone. His name was Lord Byron, and he was the Admiral of the Fleet. "This is a great day for the British Empire!" He announced "Today we see the launch of the pride of the Royal Navy!" The crowd cheered. "So without further ado, I now christen this ship...The Im..." Just then, the speakers crackled and fizzed, sending a high pitched screeching noise over the crowd. "Sorry about this ladies and gentlemen." A voice said from over the speaker. "But we are taking this ship, and we christen her, the Onslaught." There was a crash of a champagne bottle being broken against the side of the ship, and the vessel began sliding towards the water. The crowd looked up in awe as the massive ship rolled into the water with barely a splash, and began making its way to the mouth of the harbour. The admiral was talking frantically to his aides, and then the alarm from the fort sounded. People in the crowd had begun shouting, and confusion was breaking out. "This ship is now under the command of Captain William Jaspers. Thank you very kindly for supplying us with such a fine ship, we really do appreciate it." The voice said again. "But these Navy flags are horrible...how about something a little more aesthetically pleasing?" The sails slowly unfurled, and instead of white, they were black. Black with a white motif. It was a snake's skull over a crossed cutlass and pistol. A flag with the same motif unfurled from the mainmast, and a figure appeared at the ornate stern of the ship. He seemed to be a tall green snake anthropoid, wearing a long black leather frock coat. He was holding a radio transmitter in one hand, and a cutlass in the other. "There's no point in trying to stop us now, we spent all month preparing to commandeer this fine ship. You'll find that your other vessels have had their rudders and weapons disabled. So If I can draw your attention to me..." the figure vanished in a jet of blue light, only to reappear moments later on the deck of the grand vessel, which was turning in the harbour. The guns mounted on its deck were moving, and the barrels of the cannons moved into the firing position on the gun decks. "You'll see my fine crew are bringing the guns to bear on your pitiful town. Once again I say thanks for the ship, now rot in hell! All decks! Open fire!" The crowd screamed and began to flee. But it was too late. The massive cannons on the ship opened fire. Searing jets of unstable plasma arced through the air and collided with buildings in the town. The plasma charges exploded moments later, sending showers of molten death in all directions. A second salvo from the ships mighty guns shattered houses along the water front. Flames began to rise from the city as the detonated plasma charges set fire to homes and businesses. Alarms were ringing all over the city and troops were being scrambled from the fort overlooking the town from its cliff top perch. The forts huge guns were being manoeuvred into position to sink the new and beautiful ship. But at the last second, the figure on the ship pressed a button on a control panel, and massive explosions ripped through the forts armoury, destroying its generator room and disabling the cannons. Captain Jaspers stood on the deck of his new ship and surveyed the burning city. "I think that's about enough." He said, idly adjusting on of the silk cuffs of his shirt. He was tall and slender, one of the few snake anthropoids with legs. He had light green scales, with darker patterns running from the top of his head down to the tip of his long tail. He wore black leather trousers, a white silk shirt, and a variety of leather belts over a dark blue cummerbund. His right arm was missing, replaced instead by a cold metallic bionic arm. His left hand was also missing, replaced by a clawed robotic prosthetic. Over all this he wore a leather baldric, with his cutlass hanging from it. He never wore a hat; he liked people to be able to see his face. He walked to the bridge, and ducked inside. He headed down a short corridor, and emerged into the lush surroundings of the bridge. It was decked out almost entirely in English oak, with hi tech control panels blinking on almost every surface. A large tactical map was set in the middle of the oval room; its holographic display was showing where the cannon fire was being directed. "All hands!" He shouted, bringing his men to attention "We're on our way...Take us up!" "AYE!" came the reply Outside, the cannons stopped firing, and retracted into the ship, the portholes closing. Two panels on the keel of the ship slid back, and two large engines slid out. They ignited, instantly vaporising the water in the harbour, holding the ship suspended into the air. Then, slowly at first, then faster and faster, the ship began to rise. In no time at all it was entering the earth's stratosphere. New and powerful engines quickly blasted it out of orbit. "Sir! We got the navy after us!" "Ah-hah! Let them come! We'll show them what their own ship can do!" "Uh, cap'n...it's the whole navy...the entire fleet..." Jaspers looked at the tactical map which was now displaying ships. Lots and lots of ships. "Get us the fuck out of here." He growled The engines glowed, and the ship simply blinked out of existence. ° Two weeks later, Admiral Byron was shown into the briefing room at the Naval headquarters in Plymouth. The other naval chiefs were already there, and stood when he entered. "As you were." He said, seating himself at the head of the table. "As you know..." he said "...two weeks ago the Impenetrable was stolen by the pirate, Captain William Jaspers. A holographic screen in the middle of the table glowed into life, displaying a picture of an evilly grinning snake. There was a very large number beneath his name. "Since his theft of the Impenetrable, his bounty has been raised to three hundred and fifty million Galactic Dollars. That's roughly one hundred and seventy five million pounds. This is the highest bounty on a single man since Captain Morgan nearly a hundred and fifty years ago." "My gods...How has this man not been caught yet?" Vice Admiral Jonathan Davis exclaimed "He must have every bounty hunter in the galaxy after him!" "That's just the problem." Byron said "This man's bounty is so high; no ordinary bounty hunter wants to go after him. Most of our marines are terrified at the thought of going against him and his crew. He has a reputation for being the most ruthless man in the galaxy." "What about the so called ‘pirate lords'?" said Admiral Rebecca Smith, a rather slim collie, with shiny black fur. "Nobody has heard of them for months. Our agents are reporting rumours that Jaspers has killed the remaining pirate lords. What's more disturbing, are reports that this man is ushering in what he calls the ‘Golden age of Piracy'." "I think he might be succeeding." Said Rear Admiral Thomas Stevenson, an imposing brown bear. "The rise in piracy, and pirate related activity has risen sharply in the last month. The First Sea Lord is ordering a galaxy wide manhunt for Jaspers." "I'm not surprised." Rebecca said "Someone like that can't be allowed to run around and bring disorder to the empire." "Certainly not." Byron agreed "The last known location of Jaspers and the Impenetrable was a few light-years north of the border with the Solaxian Anarchy." "Pfah! That bunch of reptiles would never let marines across their borders." Said Commodore Lucius, a rather ordinary looking human, with short blond hair and a scar across one cheek. "Indeed. Because of this, we can assume Jaspers is either taking refuge in the Solaxian sector, or at the very least beyond the reaches of the empire." "So as far as he's concerned he's safe?" Thomas asked "I doubt it. This bounty was given to him by the Galactic Command. The problem is, he could be hiding out in any number of places we simply cannot go." Byron replied "I can." Rebecca said. "I'll take my ship and crew and disguise it as a merchant vessel." "That's too dangerous. If you get discovered..." "I know exactly what'll happen. We'll just have to go without colours or uniforms." Byron sighed. Although it was sudden, this plan did make a certain amount of sense. He also knew that once Rebecca had decided to go, she would. "Okay." He said "Here's how this is going to work. Admiral Smith will head to the Solaxian anarchy and search for information on Jaspers. Your task is to gather information on his whereabouts, and if possible, find out where he makes port. I will have the fleet on standby. Once you have located him, you are absolutely not to engage. You will wait for the rest of the fleet to arrive. The Impenetrable is the most advanced ship in the galaxy; there is no way one of our current war ships would ever be able to take it on alone. Once you have found him, and he suspects something, he will probably destroy you on the spot. So if he does come at you, run." "Understood." Rebecca replied "The rest of you will return to your ships and continue with your duties. But you will all be on full alert at all times. You don't know when the call to move will come through. I will kepp you all updated on any changes that might occur. Dismissed." The Onslaught drifted silently down to the surface of a distant planet in the Solaxian Anarchy. The huge ship slowly descended from the sky, and came to a rest on the dark surface of the water. The engines shut off and the ship dropped several meters until the water supported its weight. The sails unfurled and the ship began to move forwards. It approached a hidden dock in a well protected cove of a small island. It slowly stopped in the middle of the shallow cove, and there was a splash as the anchor was dropped. There was a smaller splash, and several dark shapes moved across the water. There was a glint of metal in the moonlight from the lead boat, which hovered just above the surface. The boats came to a halt on the beach, and the figures inside them jumped out. A light was turned on some way up the beach, illuminating a small figure moving across the sand. "Captain Jaspers?" it said when it arrived at the group "Aye. Ye know who it is. Now get on with it, my plans don't leave time for procrastination." "Fine. But if I get caught helping you..." "What're they gonna do to ye? This is an Anarchy! The only functioning one in the galaxy, I might add." "Fine. We'll get started right away." The smaller figure fumbled with the lantern, and the light went blue. The whole island was suddenly lit up with flood lights. Large cranes slowly unfolded from the small forest that surrounded the beach. There was a loud grinding sound and the rocky cliff that overlooked the cove slowly opened to reveal a massive workshop. A fleet of construction droids moved out across the water towards the still gleaming ship, and began to dismantle it. "Are you sure you want to be doing this?" The small gecko asked Jaspers. "Oh yes. The ship as it is is far to obvious. I want all the technology, weapons and armour stripped, and rebuilt into a smaller, faster frame." "I understand that part, but how do you make it stronger and more powerful than it already is?" "You'll see." Jaspers said with a grin, flexing his cybernetic arm. "You'll see." A few days later, a much smaller ship was floating in the harbour. It was only three hundred meters long, and ten stories tall. The top three of those stories were being fitted with powerful, stationary Starcannons. Long elegant, very powerful energy lances. They fired a beam of highly charged blue light that was capable of slicing even the most heavily armoured frigate in two. They were especially dangerous, because they were normally mounted on orbital defence platforms. The ship now had forty of them. The huge plasma cannons had be stripped down and turned into much smaller miniguns which were mounted along the deck on the ship. The hull of the ship had been fitted with several layers of the Onslaughts armour, and fashioned into an elegant blade shape. Powerful new engines were being fitted to the rear of the ship, while more instruments of destruction were fitted. The sails had been made smaller, and were now able to fold down into the deck to allow high speed space flights. The whole thing now looked sleek and dangerous, especially with the newly designed chameleon armour and cloaking device. "Say cap'n...how much is this new ship costin' us?" Jaspers first mate, a muscular Hyena, asked. The two of them were watching the construction of their new vessel from a guest lodge on the other side of the cove from the worksite. The tall snake looked at the canine. He only wore a pair of baggy pants and boots, with a green sash holding them up. He wore a black bandana with a white snake's skull on it, like the rest of Jaspers crew. "Nothing, except information. You see, the ship formerly known as the Impenetrable was the top of the range, one of a kind. To any ship builder, getting a chance to take it apart and see how it works is a dream come true." "But what if the Royal Navy find this place and interrogate your friend?" "Given that he's not my friend...I guess we'll just have to use the Earth Splitter cannon being installed now, to nuke this place from orbit." The hyena grinned at this, and cracked his knuckles. "Oh yes, Aneas...this place will burn once we have done with it. As will the rest of the galaxy..." Jaspers said with a manic glint in his eye. A few days later, the newly refurbished Onslaught was leaving the planets orbit. Its sails slowly folded back into the deck, and its cloaking device activated. Down on the surface of the planet, a bubbling crater was all that was left of the dock. The Onslaught would eventually come to revolutionise space combat. Currently, the only times the huge ships could fight was while on the oceans of planets. They were just to big to engage in combat without crashing into each other. They also could not fight while descending to a planet, the risk involved in re entry was too great. So, battles in space were normally fought with the aid of small, very fast fighters. They lacked the firepower of the larger vessels, but could be deployed in great numbers, where they would swarm a target. The Onslaught was different. It could fight anywhere, at anytime. It only had the sails for sailing on the water when it needed to be stealthy. There was nothing on the deck aside from the miniguns; everything was below the armour, so things could be done during deep space flight. Obviously it had an atmospheric shield so the deck could be used without environ-suits. It was the very first fully enclosed spaceship. It was also armed to the teeth, and about to make a statement to the galaxy. It emerged from warp space in British Empire territory, and it wasn't long before a large naval ship had closed in and opened hailing frequencies. The captain was standing on deck, watching this odd looking ship. It reminded him of a sleek and dangerous looking. It was small compared to the vast naval ship, but what was most disconcerting, was the lack of sails, and atmospheric shield. Obviously the crew would go below decks when the ship jumped to warp space, but normally they would have emerged by now. The captain walked across the deck and up to the wheel house. He ducked inside, and the commander turned from the view screen. "Still no response." He said "We've scanned the ship and we're getting nothing. Its like its completely dead." "I see..." the captain said "Helmsman, take us to a quarter mile and hold us there." "Yes sir." The large ship slowly began to move closer to the apparently abandoned ship. They were now close enough to clearly see the guns on the deck. "Why would such a small ship like that need so many deck guns?" the commander asked, as the captain left the wheel house to stand on deck. When they were this close, there was no need for a view screen. The two officers gazed at the ship. "It's incredible! I've never seen anything like it!" the commander said. The captain, a middle aged fox, frowned. Something didn't seem right. He reached down to his belt and drew his pistol from its holster. He took aim at the odd ship and squeezed the trigger. A small jet of green light zipped from the barrel, passing harmlessly through the atmospheric shield. It travelled through space and eventually hit the side of the ship. Its hull seemed to ripple from the point of impact. The Commander's eyes widened. "Chameleon armour!" he shouted "All hands! Battle stations!" The captain cried, but it was too late. The ripple seemed to spread all over the ship, to reveal the ship underneath. This ship had its sails up, displaying black sails with a snakes skull and crossed cutlass and pistol. "Its Jaspers..." the commander breathed as alarms went off around them. Suddenly Jaspers ship began to move. Soon it was running parallel to the naval vessel. The captained stared as the gun ports in the side slowly opened. "Surely not..." he started, but was cut off as the first beam of blue light slammed into the ship. The whole deck lurched as the gravity giros shook from the impact. Three more beams of light struck the ship and warning alarms started sounding. "We're losing shielding on deck twelve..." "Minor hull breech ion deck thirty!" "...loss of gravitics on rec deck!" "He's using Starcannons! He's using orbital weaponry in space!" The commander cried. As more beams of light smashed into the side of the ship. "Launch all fighters!" the captain ordered. In all his long years serving in the Royal Navy, he'd never seen a ship that could do this before. "How can he fire those weapons?! We're in space! Is he mad?!" "He...he modified his ship..." the captain said "He can fight in space...He can fight in space! Commander! Send a message to fleet command! Tell them we have engaged Jaspers, and that he is using new kinds of..." he was cut of as a beam of blue light smashed through the deck in front of them. Shards of metal flew everywhere, killing crewmen left and right. "We've lost shields!" "What the hell is he doing?!" The captain hauled himself upright, bits of metal falling off his back. The commander lay dead; a piece of shrapnel had smashed his skull. He looked towards the Onslaught, and saw it drawing closer. Suddenly, the naval ship shuddered with three strong impacts. He saw long grapple lines going to Jaspers' ship. "A...all...all hands!" he shouted "Prepare to repel boarders!" Some of the surviving deck crew looked at him confused; nobody boarded another ship in space! It was far too dangerous. It soon became apparent why the pirates were doing it. There were wearing tactical environ-suits. Armoured environ-suits designed for all terrain and space combat. There were several "whoosh" noises as fighters were finally launched. They shot out from the naval ship and circled round, coming at the Onslaughts unprotected side. At least, it seemed unprotected until blue light burst from the other side of the ship and cut down two of the fighters. The captain was preoccupied however. He could see the pirates now...manning the miniguns. He didn't even have time to shout a warning before the blazing plasma shells began strafing the deck. The hot rounds tore through the naval personnel and ripped up the deck. There were more explosions outside the ship as fighters were shot down one by one. Soon the deck was cleared, and the armoured pirates began pouring onto the crippled naval vessel. Naval Marines were now emerging on deck, only to be hacked down by the ruthless pirates. Fire billowed from holes in the ships hull, until it escaped the atmospheric shield, where it extinguished in the vacuum of space. The captain tried to get back to his feet, but fell down again. A plasma round had smashed through his leg, severing his Achilles tendon. He began crawling towards the lifeboat bay, when he felt the blade of a cutlass slide through his shoulder. The pain was intense, and made him scream. "Aww...is the little captain suffering?" said a somewhat cynical voice. The blade was removed, and the captain rolled over to see a tall green snake in a black frock coat standing over him. He was holding a cutlass in his right hand, which glinted in the light of the fires on deck. "Y...you..." "Yes me...Now what do you say you deliver a little message for me, hmmm?" A few hours later, three huge warships dropped out of warp. One of them had Admiral Byron on board. He stood on deck and stared at the remains of the ship that Jaspers had attacked. He could see the wrecked remains of fighters spinning slowly in space, bodies floated just inside the atmospheric shield, held there by the badly damaged gravity giros. Byron couldn't believe how much damage was done to the ship. Holes had been blasted into its armour, removing large chunks of the decks inside. The main deck was chewed up and riddled with holes. Blood was splattered across it, with shards of metal floating in the low gravity. "Admiral! There's someone still alive on the ship!" Soon, the fox captain was lying in the sickbay. He was missing a leg and his right eye. He had major stab wounds to his shoulder, and all his ribs were broken. "Ad...miral..." he gasped when Byron entered. "What happened to you? What could have done this?" "Jas...pers. Came out of...nowhere...new ship...can fight in space...doesn't need fighters anymore..." "What?! You mean he doesn't have the Impenetrable anymore?" "No...he...converted...it...told me...to tell you..." "He wants me to know what he's capable of..." Byron snarled "Did he say anything else?" "Yes...he said...‘you shall...be the...first...let the golden...age...of piracy...begin!'..." The captain fainted. "Damn..." Byron said. ° Three months later. Admiral Byron was sitting in his quarters of the new flagship, the Unstoppable. It hade been constructed in record time after the theft of the Impenetrable, and was quite possibly even larger. They had tried to install weaponry that could be used in space, but for some reason it seemed physically impossible. Every simulation and test resulted in the ship spinning out of control every time one of the guns was fired in space. Even with stabilising thrusters the guns would still cause the ship to go off course, if fired in space. That was why the Unstoppable had been outfitted with the new, state of the art fighters from the RASF (Royal Air and Space Force). Byron was looking at the most recent reports from all over the empire. Piracy had risen by sixty percent in the past three months. More and more people were taking to the skies to pursue a life that seemed to have been romanticised by book authors and the media. Unfortunately, the ones taking to the skies for a glorious future, turned up in morgues all across the galaxy. Usually as a result of their first contact with real pirates. Byron sighed. It was becoming harder and harder to recruit people to the Navy when they all sought a more "glamorous" career. What most of these people didn't realise is that the real pirates were not flamboyant drunks or romantics. They were stone cold killers. People that would kill their brothers and rape their sisters if it meant treasure. The real pirates were the people that killed without flinching, and were led by some of the most lethal men in the galaxy. But even the real pirates had to contend with other pirates, and the bigger your crew and the more advanced your ship was, the further you'd go. Byron stood up and walked over to his cabins window, the reports still clasped in his paw. The distant stars moved slowly past as the huge ship patrolled the border between the British Empire and the Solaxian Anarchy. All Naval ships had been recalled to defend the empires borders from the threat of piracy. But Piracy inside the empire was also a problem. The Navy was stretched to just cover the Empire, let alone the rest of the galaxy. Millions in funding were being poured into research and building new ships and fighters. Byron feared it would not be enough. Every time they built a new ship, an older model was captured by pirates and sold. It was becoming hard to keep up. Byron was about to sit down again when the commlink beeped. "Byron here." He said "Admiral! We've just received a distress call from a frigate on route from the Krrl'tik Republic. They are under attack by pirates." "Set a course for their location, Full speed." Byron said, before leaving his cabin and heading up to the bridge. When he arrived they had just dropped out of warp space. On the View screen was a large frigate. It had perfectly circular holes in its hull. Holes that went all the way through it. It was also split in half. By what appeared to be a very powerful weapon. "It had to be Jaspers." The captain of the Unstoppable said. "Indeed." Byron said "Only he has the weapons capable of doing this." The Captain, who had not realised the Admiral had arrived, jumped to his feet and saluted. "Admiral on deck!" he barked (almost literally, as he was a canid Anthropomorph). "As you were." Byron said "Have you scanned the area for survivors?" He asked "Yessir! We located eight life signs in the aft section of the ship. They seem to be hiding in one of the escape pods." "Why did they not jettison it?" Byron asked "Possibly from fear that the pirates are still around." "Can you reach them on comm?" "We've already tried. Either the comm. System is broken, or they're maintaining radio silence." "Sensible. Send a team over there to extract the survivors, but keep shields up and weapons ready. It could be a trap." "Yes Sir." A few moments later, the eight survivors were on board the Unstoppable, and being escorted to the sick bay. They were all bruised and scratched, and obviously shaken by the ordeal. It seemed they were just passengers on board the transport ship when the pirates had attacked. A little while later, Byron entered the sick bay to talk to the survivors. He noticed one of them was wearing the remains of the battle armour worn by the British Army's Infantry. The soldier looked up and saw Byron. He tried to salute, but Byron raised his hand. "No need for that soldier. State your name, rank and division." "Francis Drake, Captain, 34th division. We were assigned to help protect the frigate in case of pirate attack." "So what happened?" Byron asked "We were attacked by Pirates. We did not expect it to be the Onslaught though. It came out of nowhere and sliced the frigate in two with a single shot." "A single shot?!" Byron exclaimed "What kind of weapon can do that?" "None that we have in the Imperial armoury. He came in from above, and fired something at us. It was definitely a beam weapon. We barely had time to react before we were boarded by the pirates. They killed anybody they found. My platoon fought back but we where quickly overrun. I managed to round up a few survivors and we hid in the escape pod. They seemed to be going for the smash and grab approach, seeing as they didn't scan the ship." "Very good Captain. You should take some time to recover now. I'll send word back to the M.O.D." "Thank you sir." Byron returned to the bridge, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Something the matter, sir?" the captain asked. "Yes...We know Jaspers ship is more than a match for an Imperial battle cruiser, let alone a weaponless frigate. Why did he come in so hard and so fast? He didn't need to." "Maybe he wanted to leave survivors?" "No. That's not his style. He must be up to something; I just don't know what..." "Orders sir?" "Return to the original patrol route. He could still be in the area. Remain on high alert until further notice." "Yessir." Meanwhile, floating undetected above the wreckage of the frigate, was the Onslaught. Jaspers stood on the bridge observing the Unstoppable. "It seems the Navy already has a new flagship. Just the same as the last. Oh well." "Shall we attack sir?" Aneas asked "No. We would win, but not without heavy losses. I'd rather wait until the new shield system is finished before taking on the Navy's flagship. Don't worry though, we will soon." "Yes sir. So what's our next target?" "We shall be heading for the planet Ixyix on the outer edges of the British empire." "The frontier world?" "Yes indeedy. Our target is the garrison on the planet. We'll be using it to gather weapons and ammunition. It's too isolated for the empire to scramble a decent response, what with it being the only habitable planet in that solar system." "But given the recent rise in piracy, won't the empire have tightened security around the rim worlds?" "Hell yes! But that's the beauty of it. The more people they have there, the more people we kill, the bigger the blow to the empire!" "Aye sir!" Aneas said, his eyes lighting up. "Gears! To the Planet Ixyix!" "By your command." Said the cool, sophisticated voice of the ships A.I. "Activating the Blink drive in three, two, one..." There was a small pop, and the Onslaught blinked out of existence. A few seconds later, it appeared just beyond orbit of the Jungle world of Ixyix. "Sir. Sensors indicate a large fleet of warships on the planets main ocean. They have formed a blockade around the island where the garrison's main fortress is located." Gears said. "Any orbital defences?" "Yes. Three orbital defence platforms. However, they were installed with the first attempts of colonisation. They are in bad repair, and I could disable them from here." "Excellent! Disable those nuisances and take us down to the planet, maintaining cloak." "Understood." "Alright men! To your stations!" Jaspers shouted. The Ship silently entered the planets atmosphere, and descended towards the glittering surface of the ocean. It was the early hours of the morning, so it was still quite dark. The ship landed with barely a splash, masts rising from the deck. The sails unfurled with a "fwoomph" noise. There was a dense fog shrouding the island, making it impossible to see what was coming. One of the large ships was patrolling around the island, trying to keep out of the creeping fog. As it passed a marker buoy, one of the lookouts saw something peculiar a little way out. It looked like a small heat haze. The lookout frowned and raised binoculars. The quietly bleeping display wasn't registering anything, but the guard was sure he could see something. He lowered the binoculars and adjusted the setting. He raised them again but could still see nothing. He shrugged and turned away from the rail. As he did so, a beam of red light arced out of the fog and smashed the ship in two. The force of the beam blasted away the fog around the ships, and as the scout ship exploded, the rest of the fog was blown away. The Onslaught sailed into view. At the top of its tall masts flew the black and white flag of Captain Jaspers. At the front of the ship, a laser cannon was mounted on a rail that ran around the whole of the ship. It was currently facing forwards, with Jaspers at the controls. The Imperial war ships were raising anchor, and alarm bells were ringing. "Gears! Jam all emergency signals leaving the planet, and continue broadcasting reports as if nothing was amiss!" "Yes sir." Jaspers jumped down from the laser cannon platform and onto the deck. "Alright! Gunners to your stations! They'll only be able to come at us two at a time, so I want the Starcannons manned at all times! I want the AA guns manned in case of fighters, and the engineers to keep the shield generator up and running!" As he barked orders, his crew scurried on well trod paths, designed to keep out of the way of the other crew members. As ruthless as they were, Jaspers made sure his crew was well drilled and disciplined. "I want the sails lowered so they keep out of the way of the AA gunners. Get that laser cannon turned round and pointing to the rear, I don't want to be taken by surprise!" The laser cannon began to move along its railing towards the back of the ship, as the sails folded up and the masts sank into the deck. The deck was now completely clear of rigging and sails, making it a wide open space bristling with guns. Jaspers new the disadvantages of having a sail up while fighting ship to ship, so having out of the way went his ship had less vulnerable targets, and allowed him to bring more firepower to bear. Men raced to their positions on the miniguns, a large door slid open in the deck. Two large missile pods rose from the deck, Aneas scrambled into the gunners chair, and adjusted the targeting array. The missiles this array fired were particularly nasty. From one pod, standard issue high explosive missiles were fired. Each one was about three feet long, and packed enough wallop to blow a sizeable hole in a battleship's armour plating. The other missile pod fired a different kind of missile. These were also about three feet long, but housed around three hundred flechettes, all capable of piercing the toughest body armour. The thing about these flechettes, however, is that they exploded on impact. "Aneas!" Jaspers called to his second "You can fire when ready!" "I'm always ready, boss!" The hyena called back, and pressed the launch button. There was a loud whoosh as the missile pods launched their deadly payloads. The missiles arced through the air towards the imperial ships, which were closing in rapidly. The missiles went straight for the lead ship impacting against its shielding. The missiles detonated with powerfully concussive explosions. The ship shook, and the shield faltered. Three missiles punched holes in the shield and impacted on the deck of the ship, smashing through several decks below before detonating. The stricken ship seemed to bulge in the middle for a few seconds before exploding with enough force to knock the ships either side of it into the ships next to them. The pirates cheered, now itching to fight. Their first mate had drawn first blood, now it was their turn. "Aneas! Use the flechettes on fighters! The rest of you ready on the guns! Gears?! Full steam ahead!!" The ship picked up speed as its motors churned up the water behind it. This was a new device as well. Jaspers' ship did not need solar sails to run. His used motors. The Imperial ships were also manoeuvring. They had formed a circle around the pirate ship, guns pointing inwards. "I see..." Jaspers said with a grin as the last imperial ship pulled into place. "Gears! Set us in a slow spin, not to fast though, I don't want to get sick now!" "Yes sir." The pirate vessel slowly began to turn, spinning in a slow circle. "All guns! Fire at will after the first volley!" The imperial ships did not take long to respond. All seven ships fired simultaneously, searing balls of plasma shot across the water leaving trails of steam in their wake. The plasma rounds impacted on the Onslaughts shielding with little effect. "You'll have to try harder than that! All guns! OPEN FIRE!!!" Searing lances of blue energy blasted from both sides of the Onslaught, pounding on the imperial ships shields. Due to the rotation of the Onslaught, the Starcannons actually raked the imperial ships, allowing the beams to hit a much wider area. The nine ships were now exchanging a constant rate of fire, the Onslaught remaining virtually unharmed, while it pounded the imperial ships with powerful shots. Just then, there was a high pitched whining sound, and dark dots appeared over the island. "Fighters!" Aneas shouted, and fired his missiles. Trails of purple plasma fire erupted from the ships AA guns following the launch of the missiles. The fighters drew closer and flew straight into a wall of high explosive flechette rounds and crackling plasma shells. Fighters were small and light, with no shielding and no heavy armour. These fighters were no different, and were reduced to smouldering metal in an instant. There was a loud bang, and a buzzing noise as the shields of one of the imperial ships went down. It exploded in a hail of Starcannon fire, sending shockwaves across the surface of the water. "Gears! Get us closer so we can board these fuckers!" Jaspers ordered, and the ship began to move. It quickly drew along side one of the imperial ships, causing the others to cease fire and close in. "Now the fun really begins!" Jaspers hissed, and drew his cutlass. He flicked a switch on its hilt, and the blade began to vibrate rapidly. It quickly sped up until it looked like it wasn't moving at all. The only evidence of its vibrating nature was the soft hum it produced. Vibro-blades were extremely rare and valuable. Only five were ever made, before the creator died and took the secret of their creation with him. They vibrated at such high frequencies, it was said they could cut through almost anything. Jaspers had put this to the test on numerous occasions, and had not been found wanting. As soon as the two ships collided, he was airborne. Leaping over to the imperial ship, he landed on the deck in front of a group of marines. "NO QUARTER!!!" he screamed, and charged. His blade sliced through tactical body armour like butter. Blood sprayed across the deck as his men fell upon the marines with incredible savagery. Jaspers had gathered the most bloodthirsty men from across the galaxy to serve under him. Each member of his crew had a large bounty on their head, and they deserved every penny of it. The marines were completely overwhelmed as they were almost literally torn apart. Blood splashed the deck of the ship as the marines and crew were massacred. The other imperial ship approaching from the other side suffered the same fate. A second boarding party led by Aneas swarmed aboard and began tearing everything apart. The marines training was nothing compared to the savagery and the cold skill of the pirates, and with only two ships able to approach at a time, it was a massacre. Shots from pulse rifles and pistols tore up the decks of the imperial ships as the pirates and the marines exchanged fire. Jaspers was in the thick of the fighting, hacking about him with amazing skill and accuracy. He grabbed a marine with his cybernetic arm and crushed his skull, cutting through the rifle, body armour and ribcage of another marine with his Vibro-blade. The pirates remaining on the ship raked the decks with minigun fire, and bombarded the ships unable to approach with missiles. Flechettes rained down like a deadly black curtain, piercing through the shields of the other ships, tearing apart the crew. On board the ships where the fighting was taking place, the decks were slick with blood and entrails. The pirates were wearing modified body armour that seemed to be resistant to all but heavy weapons fire. From the shore of the island, all that could be seen were flashes of light, explosions, and a deadly black rain. "How can one ship take on seven, and still not lose?!" one of the marines on the forts battlements said. All of the marines in the base were watching the carnage unfold on the ocean, and all of them were afraid. They all jumped when one of the imperial ships began splitting down the middle, slowly sinking into the sea. The constant barrage of small explosives had taken its toll on the ships infrastructure, causing it to break apart and sink. The two ships either side of the Onslaught suddenly exploded as well, blue beams of light ripping through their hulls. Then the onslaught began to move forwards, fire swirling around its shield as the other imperial ships, one by one, were destroyed by the powerful cannons. "No way...no fucking way!" One of the marines whispered. "We've just got a positive ID on that vessel!" another marine shouted, running onto the battlements "It's the Onslaught!" "Hey! What's it doing?" All eyes then turned back to the Onslaught. It was slowly rising out of the water into the sky. It began moving forwards again, just as the Forts massive guns opened fire. Unfortunately they were only designed to fight waterborne enemies, not airborne ones. Soon the Onslaught was directly over the fort; its shields holding against the small missile the marines were desperately firing at it. There was a whirring noise from the Onslaught, and a large hatch in the hull of the ship slid open. Something that looked like three hooked claws slowly extended, with a fourth spire in the middle. A loud buzzing noise suddenly came from the odd looking array, and the three claws began to glow. There was a whirring sound and the tip of the central spire opened, revealing a spinning crystal matrix. The three outer claws moved inwards and touched against the crystal matrix. There was a sudden silence as all the air was sucked up towards the weapon. A scorching beam of yellow light shot down from the array, hitting the center of the fort. The blast of air caused by the descent of the beam flattened trees on the island, the force of the explosion ripping them from the ground moments later. A great plume of fire rose form the fort as the powerful beam sliced through its immensely thick armour. The beam sliced right down into the reinforced basement levels of the fort, stripping away layers of the earth. Around a hundred meter radius of the impact point of the beam, the ground simply vaporised, leaving a perfectly circular hole. There was a loud clunk, and the beam slowly powered down, leaving the surviving marines to scramble for cover. There was a whirring sound and several beams of red light descended slowly from the ship. Jaspers was the first to enter a beam. He floated slowly down to earth. He stepped out of the beam and looked around. He reached down to his belt and drew his elegant, ornate pistol. He pointed it at a practically levelled wall and pulled the trigger. A bolt of blue light shot from the barrel and blew a hole in the wall. There was a yelp and a marine dived out from behind it, only to be hit twice in the chest and once in the head. The shots impacted within half a second of each other, and the marine's body rolled when it hit the floor. "Good shooting sir." Aneas said, stepping up behind his captain. "Hmph. These men are nothing." Jaspers snorted "Tell the men to take what they can carry. Equipment, weapons, supplies and any treasure they can find. Tell Sapper and Techie to meet me on the fourth basement level." "Yes sir." Once Aneas had left, Jaspers walked to the edge of the new hole. It had cut right down to the third level. There was no chance of survivors above that, the energy given off by the Earth Splitter cannon vaporised inorganic matter within a hundred meter radius, but it vaporised organic matter within a five hundred meter radius. Jaspers smirked, and jumped inside the hole. He dropped down the shaft, his coat billowing out behind him. He landed on the floor of a corridor on the third level, splitting the floor as he did so. There was a barely audible whirr as he stood up and cricked his neck. "Right, then." He said, and flexed his cybernetic arm. He walked down the corridor humming to himself, before pausing at a corner. He grinned, and punched his robotic arm through the corner of the wall, and grabbed the marine that was hiding around it. He yanked the poor fox through the wall and brought him face to face. "The Physics and Technologies department." He said pleasantly "Where is it?" "I ain't telling you shit!" The fox yelped "Shame...Oh well. If that show it's gonna be..." There was a sizzling noise, and the fox looked down. The underside of Jaspers' cybernetic hand was glowing orange. The fox screamed as the orange glow spread across his fur and filled his eyes. There was a flash, and then all that was left was a pile of ash. "I see you finally used my Disintegrator attachment." Said a cackly voice The snake turned to see a short, old weasel in a lab coat with a pair of goggles perched on top of his head. "Ahh...Techie. Yes, it is rather useful. My thanks." "Eh heh heh heh...don't mention it. You let me do what I love to do without interference from the empire!" "Yes yes, you always do thank me profusely for that. Did Sapper come down with you?" "Roight ‘ere boss." Said a large Monitor lizard, dropping through the hole. "Excellent! We're headed for this places R&D department. I wanted you two with me due to your somewhat impressive expertise in the field." Jaspers said, turning around "I believe its this way." The three made their way down the corridor which was lit with emergency lighting. The Earth Splitter had missed the backup generator, so there was still plenty of power. "So what we going for down ‘ere boss?" Sapper asked, hefting his modified grenade launcher. "Well, you are here to blow up doors and tiresome things like that that may get in our way. Plus you are the ships ballistics expert, so some of the new weapons in development may be of interest to you. As for Techie, well, it's an imperial Research and Development facility, what more reason do you need?" "Absolutely none!" Cackled Techie, rubbing his hands together. They came to a halt in front of an elevator door. Jaspers pressed a button, and the doors slid open. The three of them stepped inside, and Sapper pressed the button for the fourth floor. The elevator clicked, and began to whirr. A few seconds later there was a dull thud, and the doors pinged open. There was a short corridor, with another door at one end. Jaspers walked towards it, and paused. His left eye seemed to glow purple for a few seconds, and then he smiled. "There are four marines waiting to ambush us behind this door." He said, placing his robotic hand against it. "Sapper...?" "Yeah?" "Did you bring any of those marvellous acid based demolitions charges?" "I always carry some wi' me sir, seein' as how you like ‘em so much." "That I do; wonderful invention as I have said before. Do you suppose you could blow this door open and melt the fuckers on the other side?" "Oi reckon I could just about manage that." Sapper said with a grin. He walked up to the door and reached down to his belt, opening a large pouch. He took out a cylindrical tube and attached it to the door. He then opened the back of the tube and slotted a vial of viscous yellow liquid into the space inside. He then closed the lid with a click and walked back to where the other two were standing. "What sort of acid do you use?" Techie asked "Sand Demon gastric acid." The big lizard replied "Ahh, That's the one that is liquid under pressure, but expands to a highly corrosive gas, yes?" "Yeah, fuckin' nasty shit. The fucker I got it from nearly got me wi' it." Sapper said, pressing a button on a control panel on his wrist. There was a loud boom as the explosive charge detonated, sending a large titanium rod into the door, ripping it out of the wall. The door flew a couple of meters before crashing onto the floor. There was a sizzling noise from the canister, as the smashed vial melted the charges casing. The casing quickly gave way, and the corrosive gas expanded with a nearly explosive force. The screams quickly died away. "Fantastic! Such an astounding way of getting rid of ambushers! Your highly creative ways of murdering people with explosives never ceases to amaze me." Jaspers said, clapping his hands and walking forwards. "Well, ya did hire me ‘cause of my explosives and disregard for life in general." "Indeed." Jaspers said with a grin, sticking his head through the door. The acid had cleared, and all that was left was four puddles of yellowish slime, and highly corroded walls. "I suspect the research facility is this way." Jaspers said, stepping over a puddle, and heading over to a pyrex door, which seemed to lead to a decontamination chamber. "Well, Techie? Should we decontaminate ourselves before going in?" "I'm a physicist and a chemist; I don't give a damn about microorganisms!" The weasel said "Well okay then! Lets go in! Oh wait, I seem to have lost my keycard. Such a shame, It was a lovely door." Jaspers flexed his arms, and rammed his hands into the wall either side of the door. He heaved, and the metal around the door began to buckle and groan. There was a horrible screeching sound and the door parted company with the wall. Jaspers tossed it lightly over his shoulder and stepped into the decontamination chamber, punching his way through the door on the other side. "Even though he has a cybernetic arm, he still managed to rip a door out of its metal housing with his ordinary arm!" Techie whispered to Sapper "Well, oi guess that's why ‘es our cap'n." the lizard replied, following Jaspers. They emerged into a large room, with work benches filling the room. It was oddly silent. "Hmm...I suppose there will be scientists and guards around somewhere. If you find any marines, kill them. Find any scientists, get as much information out of them, then kill them." "Yes, sir." Sapper said with a grin, and loped off in search of high explosives. "Reckon you'll be alright by yourself?" Jaspers said to Techie "I didn't know you cared." Techie said with a sneer "I don't. I just don't want to have to find another man like you. Not all scientists are as warped and twisted as you." "You say such wonderful things." Techie said, rolling his eyes. "Fuck off." Jaspers said rather nonchalantly, before wondering over to a door and opening it. Techie sighed and looked around the room they were in. It was just a standard research room, all the good stuff was behind locked doors. Jaspers wondered down a hallway until he came to a room with the sign "Advanced Robotics" on the door. He cricked his neck, and kicked the door in. He stepped over the severely dented metal and entered a oddly small room. He grinned when he looked at all the super advanced robotic hardware. "Time fore some upgrades!" he said, rubbing his hands together. He went over to a computer terminal and began selecting the highest quality components on the list. It was all nano technology. This stuff was so advanced, the Empire had actually called it "alien technology" and had it banned for three hundred years. Jaspers finished making his selections, and began undressing himself. Once he had finished, the extent of his repaired injuries was apparent. Both his legs were cybernetic. His right arm up to the right hand side of his chest was bionic, his left hand and most of his forearm were bionic. He reached up to the left hand side of his head, and peeled back the synthetic scales. The entire left hand side of his head was bionic, as was much of his spine and rib cage. He reached round and pulled off the synthetic scales the surrounded the first foot of his tail, revealing solid metal underneath. Jaspers was essentially a, to use an ancient phrase, a cyborg. He stepped, naked, into a chamber and sealed the door. The computer bleeped, and the process of replacing his robotic limbs, spine and ribcage began. A few minutes later, the computer bleeped again, and the chamber door opened with a hiss. Jaspers staggered out and dropped to his knees. "Heh...fuck...ow..." he gasped. He got to his feet and looked at his right arm. It looked like an armour plated arm, with angular green lines running down it where his veins and arteries would have been. The same went with his left arm and the tip of his tail. His spine (running all the way to the tip of his tail) felt a little odd, far stronger than it had been. His legs also bore the same close fitting armour plated design. He saurian feet were equipped with very sharp talons. He flexed his toes and easily gouged four deep grooves in the floor. He smiled and walked over to a metal table and looked at his reflection in it. His chest bore the same angular green lines, mapping out where his veins and arteries would have been. The same went for his head, and the tip of his tail. His new eye glowed purple (a personal preference), and the venous and arterial "maps" glowed green. He studied his new arm, and then flexed it. The armour plating vanished, leaving his arm looking like an ordinary, muscular arm. Only it wasn't green and scaled, it was a dark, silvery blackish grey. He did the same with his legs and left arm. "Intriguing..." He said, studying his new appendages. He went over to his clothes and picked them up, quickly dressing himself. He walked over to the computer terminal again, and placed his hand against it. There was a soft glow and a computerised voice said "Network access granted. Level one security clearance. What can I do for you today?" "I want all the files on every single compatible weapon and defence system in the Imperial database downloaded right now. Then purge it from the imperial database permanently." "Understood." Jaspers eye suddenly glowed a brilliant blue and his body went rigid. The computer terminal sizzled and popped. There was a loud pop, and the computer terminal melted. Jaspers snatched his hand away and staggered back, hand over his eye. "Ow! Fuck!!" He took his hand away and blinked several times. It was the first time he'd felt pain in his eye for a very long time. "Pain receptors in hi-tech robotics?!" He said aloud "You gotta be shitting me!" He reached up to the cybernetic side of his head and hit it a couple of times. There was a small beep, and all sense of pain faded. "Better." Jaspers said with a grin. He paused, and peered at his reflection in a computer console. All his teeth were shiny and metal; but more importantly, shiny, metal, and fanged. "Heh heh...Awesome." A few minutes later he emerged from the lab and walked back into the workshop, Sapper and Techie were rummaging through piles of machinery. "Find anything interesting?" Jaspers said. "Hell yeah." Sapper said "I got some blueprints for prototype weaponry, enhanced shields and thrusters, and a whole lotta' ordinance hardware!" "I found some rather interesting designs for chemical weapons, and hyper space compression units." Techie chimed in. "You mean those things that contain their own pocket universe?" Jaspers asked "Yeeesss...I believe I can modify them to transport weapons, equipment and treasure...even the entire ship and crew if I tweak it enough." "Excellent! I found something quite interesting." Jaspers said, tossing a datastick to Techie. "On that stick are the secrets of Nanotechnology." Techie's eyes lit up, and an evil grin spread across his face. "I can think of an excellent use for this..." He said. "Good. I myself have already benefited." Jaspers said, pushing his right hand sleeve up to reveal his new arm. "Now that's a noice piece o' hardware, boss." Sapper said "Isn't it just?" Jaspers said with a grin. There was a barely audible whirr, then a click, and the arm clad itself in armour. "It even has a weapons mode. I can transform it into any type of manual infantry weapon I so desire, and with the entire Imperial weapons database downloaded into my shiny new cranium..." Jaspers hand warped and twisted, metal plates shifted and realigned , and then mounted on his forearm was a portable Arc Missile launcher. The single most powerful Infantry Artillery weapon in the Imperium. It was capable of levelling a whole city block in a single shot. The long white missile glinted menacingly on Jaspers forearm as he studied it. "I think I'm going to have a lot of fun with my new toys." He said with a smile "Let's get out of here. The others will have finished stripping this place bare by now." They soon emerged into the sunlight streaming into the hole, the sounds of men shouting instructions floated down to greet them. Jaspers crouched down, and leapt into the air. The force of his jump was so great it dented and cracked the metal structure beneath him. He rocketed through the air and came arcing over the edge of the hole. He sailed through the air and began to descend. His crew was watching him with impressed expressions. They quickly realised that they didn't want to be in the way when he landed though, and scattered. Jaspers hit the ground with such force several people fell over. He also raised a huge cloud of dust from the ruins. When it cleared, it could be seen that he was crouched, one hand supporting him, the other hand (the one with the powerful missile still attached) outstretched for balance. He stood up and grinned, the sunlight glinting off his teeth. His crew cheered. They always enjoyed a good display of power, which their captain seemed to have in spades. "Aneas! Get your spotty arse over here." He shouted as the crew went back to work. The hyena trotted up to his captain, and studied his arm. "You always show off after an upgrade." He said "I like to make sure the men know who their captain is." Jaspers replied "So what did you find up here?" "Plenty of weapons and ammunition, plus more missiles to restock with. We've already loaded the food supplies, and a healthy stock of alcohol. We also found a huge vault, but we haven't been able to get it open yet. We brought it too the surface to get Hacker to have a look at it, but the lock isn't electric." Aneas continued as he led the way through piles of boxes and red cargo beams. They arrived at a large metal box, roughly the size of a Portacabin. It had been ripped out of its place in the underground part of the base by the ships powerful grapple hooks. It had a large metal door at one end, with a large wheel at one end, and a large combination lock next to it. There was a skinny, scruffy looking fox sitting on the ground in front of it, scratching his head. He wore brown dungarees and wore a yellow scarf round his neck. He had a pair of high tech looking goggles on his head, and a belt covered in various electronic devices. "What's the matter, Hacker? Can't break the combination?" Jaspers asked, sneering slightly "Nah boss. I deal with electrical stuff don' I? This big clunky shit ain't my style, y'know what I mean?" The fox said with a London accent. "Yes...I think I do." Jaspers said and walked up to the vault. Her ran his hand over the door, the missile retracting, and melting seamlessly back into his arm. Rolling his sleeve back down, Jaspers Cricked his neck, and raised his hands. His fingers elongated into barbed spikes, which he rammed into the door. He gripped the door tightly, so the metal crumpled around his fingers. He paused for a moment, before heaving. The door creaked and groaned, rivets popping along seams in the door. Suddenly the whole vault slipped forwards, causing Jaspers to let go, lest he fall over. "Hmmm...we don't have time to secure it properly." He muttered "Hacker, go get me Sapper. This is more his area of expertise." "Right you are guv'." The fox said, jumping to his feet and trotting off. "What do you suppose is in there, boss?" Aneas asked. "Gold possibly? Advanced weaponry? I dunno. Could be anything, I guess we'll find out when Sapper gets here." "Then ya won' have to wait long." Jaspers turned to see Sapper and Hacker walking up to the vault. Sapper walked over to the vault door and studied it for a moment. "I've not seen a door like this fer' a looong time." He said "Fortunately boss, you managed ta give me a pretty good startin' point." "Just get the door open. I want whatever's inside. The Empire will detect a security breach soon, and I want to be gone before the entire fucking fleet shows up." "Right you are boss." Sapper said, and went to work. "Do you really think they'll send the whole fleet?" Aneas whispered to Jaspers. "Maybe. They might figure only I'd have the audacity to pull something like this off." "But with the Onslaught we could..." "No Aneas. Eight ships we could just about handle. The whole fleet? They'd get us eventually, even if we did do some serious damage." "I see." Sapper walked back to them dusting his hands. "Roight. I filled the holes you made, captain, so that should weaken the main lock. Then we just need ta rip it off its hinges." "Just do it. I don't care about the details." "Roight you are, boss." Sapper pressed a button on his wrist panel, and the charges in the door went off. The explosion sent lumps of metal spinning into the air, and raised a large cloud of dust. When the dust cleared, a large hole could clearly been seen in the door. Jaspers walked up to the door and grabbed the edge of the hole. He grunted, and ripped the huge door off its hinges. Rivets pinged off the floor and ruined walls; Jaspers throwing the door to one side peered inside the vault. What met his eyes was certainly a sight to behold. Inside the vault, stacked floor to ceiling all the way up to the door of the vault were rectangular containment boxes. Jaspers grabbed the handle of one and pulled it out. Setting it on the ground, he opened it. Inside was a glittering orange crystal. It was Promethium ore. The single most valuable substance in the galaxy. It had the ability to channel and store any type of energy it encountered. It was the most efficient thing ever found for doing this job, the problem was, was that Promethium ore is so rare, only three places in the empire have been found to produce it. Careful mining of the ore took place in the three locations, producing only eight tons of the ore from all three locations. This was a hell of a lot more than eight tons. Jaspers looked at the lid of the box. It had the weight stamped on it. One hundred kilos per box. Aneas whistled when he saw the ore. "Fuck me Sapper said, running his hand over his head." Several more of the crew came over to see what the fuss was about. "Holy fuck...Hey! Everyone! We Got Promethium ore!" someone shouted. Soon the whole of the crew on the ground was gathered round the vault. "How many boxes do you think are in there?" Hacker breathed. "Standard container vault like this, assuming its filled right to the back, hundred and fifty boxes." A human at the front of the crowd said. "Calculus?..." Jaspers said "Yeah boss?" the human replied "Each of these boxes contains one hundred kilos of Promethium. Please tell the crew how many tons that is." Jaspers continued. "Lemme see...Holy shit!! Fifteen tons!!!" The human exclaimed. The crew started whooping and cheering, shaking hands and hugging each other. Their celebration was appropriate, given that a hundred kilos of Promethium was worth about thirty five million galactic dollars. "T-that's...five billion two hundred and fifty million galactic dollars..." Aneas said with a somewhat shocked expression. Jaspers, however, simply looked down at the glittering ore. He reached down and picked up a crystal. He placed it against his arm, and small grey tendrils rose up and grasped the crystal, absorbing it into his arm. Jaspers eye twitched for a moment, but then began to glow. He chuckled softly. His mouth split into a wider grin and he began laughing. It started out quiet, but slowly grew in volume until he was howling at the sky. "Load this on the ship!!!" he shouted "We're going to fucking war!!"