A Space Pirate Saga: The Jewels of the Five Kings

[Tickles]

“Wake up; we got a transmission about 4 hours ago.”

I looked at my crew, all hunkered over from their little party last moon. We all had just finished a large mission, earning about 5000 treps each. What better way to celebrate than by killing off some brain cells.  But it was no time for sleeping, before we can fully enjoy our bounty, we got another mission.

“I said get up!”
   
My crew finally stirred awake, some complaining about their hangovers, others could barely stand. It surprised me how much of them were lightweights. I gave them all a stern look, bringing them to attention. A bunch of misfits, all of them, each one either banished from their kind, or left on their own accord. How I got stuck with them is beyond me.

“Now then, down to business. The transmission comes from a man who calls himself Amethyst, claiming to be a very wealthy man. He wants us to head to the Temple of Gal’Tho, where we all know the Jewel of Crai Gal’Tho III a priceless artifact that is said to hold a strange power, but let’s be honest, a rock is a rock.”
   
My men laughed at this remark. They all knew how easy this job would be, a simple barge in, take no prisoners job. I knew these guys would meet my needs for this mission. They weren’t very skilled in important fields, like recon or espionage, but give them a gun, and they become your best friends, mowing down everything and anything that doesn’t wear our uniform. I was put in charge of this group 4 years ago, not really by choice.
   
I was just an explorer, travelling through space, learning all the mysteries I could if possible. I was living the dream. That was until these guys came crashing into the transporter ship I was on. They seemed lost, but nevertheless, they were ready to do whatever they had planned. They began their slaughter on the ship, looting bodies as they fell, stone age tech call “ballistics” and more recent plasma technologies, spraying everywhere, leaving no one behind, except for me, what a miracle. One of them grabbed me; he stunk of Alcohol and decay, and took me aboard the ship.
   
There I was, tied up, nowhere to go, twenty or so hulking Pirates arguing about what to do with me. One of them suggested throwing me in a black hole and watching the whole thing is slow motion on the monitors, another suggested peeling off my skin and feeding it to me. I needed to figure out a plan fast, or it may have been the end. That’s when the Captain appeared, he was bigger than the others, and carried a large hammer like object, probably thrown together from random pieces of scrap.

“Enough of this,” He barked at his men “I want to have a bit of fun too, been a while since Mitalia had some fun.”
   
He shook his hammer as he said this, and then gave me a look of bloodlust. His eyes were blue, but around where there is supposed to be white was black. His face resembled that of a canine species, but his body was like a reptile.

“Tell you what; I’ll let you fight for your freedom.” He shook his hammer at me. “If you win, we’ll send you off on one of our nice little escape ships, but if you lose...”
   
He slammed his hammer on one of his crew, crushing the guy’s skull instantly. The others stood back, obviously knowing better. One of them threw a plasma blade to me, but I could already tell it would malfunction. It even had teeth marks on its handle. The captain untied me, grabbed the blade and me, took me below to the combat room, and threw me on the ground. He politely handed me the blade; however, smirking at what he knew is an easy win. The crew formed around us, barking and cheering for their captain.
   
He charged at me, swinging his hammer like it was made of air. How strong was this guy? I scrambled, blade in hand, trying to get it to turn on, but it was no use, I had to run. He may have been strong, but he wasn’t very agile. I stayed out of reach of his hammer, hitting the handle of my blade, but it just wouldn’t turn on.  I tripped, not paying attention to the random objects flying into the zone. Apparently, the crew didn’t like my actions. I was on the floor, hopeless; my weapon was a useless piece of scrap. I threw it as hard as I can at my opponent, hitting him in the forehead. It bounced of pathetically, and all he did was laugh.

“Well, it was fun while it lasted, but this is the end. You know, I would love to hang around longer, but I’m a busy man, have a crew that looks up to me. Be sure to write from wherever you’re heading.”
   
He raised his hammer, and brought it crashing down, I barely dodged it, having my left arm get completely shattered. I shrieked in pain, and the captain just laughed. But then a loud crack could be heard from the ceiling. Something must have given way to his last attack, because the next thing I knew, he was on the ground, motionless. I got up using my good arm, the other throbbed uncontrollably. He was dead, the room was quiet.

“There, I won, now let me go!”
   
The other men just stared at their lifeless leader. I noticed a pained look in one of their eyes. That’s when it hit me; they must have been family, each one of them related in one way or another. And I just killed, not intentionally, their father.

“Get up, you’re not dead!” One of them screamed, almost crying.
   
I felt bad for them, and I offered to stay with them as a prisoner, but they were all to hurt to do anything to me. Over time, they grew to like me, and I became their captain. 

Here I am now, four years later, doing what I still loved, exploring, and it’s not too bad to make some treps here and there either.

“Now then, let’s go over our plan of attack.”

To be continued……

[Tickles]

“The temple is located in the southern part of the planet, on a small island. The inhabitants use hovercrafts to get to and from there.”

I zoomed in on the hologram as I was going over our location. The  Island was the smallest part of the entire planet, in fact, it was the only island you can find on the map.

“From what I can guess, there are guarded posts in these three sectors,” I highlighted them so my men could get a small visual, “and maybe a few more guards inside.”
   
I saw some of my men begin to arm themselves, flashing their guns like toys. They started to get crooked smiles on their faces, which told me they were ready to kill on sight. I gave a bit of a smile too, nothing like a couple meatsheilds so I can nap this thing and get the hell out of there. But even I knew that these guys were tough to kill.
   
The creatures that I call my crew came from all over the galaxy, some heavily plated bug-species, others fast moving lizard like beings, a couple humanoids like myself, and a robot with a  broken voice box. This was our crew now, 40 strong, and they were all ready for battle.

“We’re going to attack from above, blow a hole in the center of the temple. This will draw the attention of any guards. This is where the Zeaks come in,” I pointed to the bugs, “You guys can take the most hits out of all of us, I want you guys to hold off the guards, and make sure the Han-Dall,” I motioned to the lizards, “have clear shots on them. They have the best accuracy.”
   
I focused my attention on the humanoids, Pearl, Ura, and Lex.

“You three man the cannons, if you see anything in the air, shoot it down. Do not hesitate at all. I don’t want any mistakes like the Tamkol mission.”
   
All three looked down ashamed of my comment, but quickly nodded and show determination.
“As for you Phillis,” I looked at the robot, “Make sure our ship stays in the sky, if we take any damage, assess it, and begin repairs.”
   
Phillis quickly pulled out his multi-tool device and began spinning it around. He had the fastest hands on the ship, and was well adept with tools.

“Our arrival time will be 3 hours, once we’re in the orbit, we’ll cloak ourselves and begin descent. Until then, prepare yourselves for this mission, I have a feeling this may not be as easy as you may think.”
   
I knew they were ready; I just like to tell them that so they give the mission their full attention. I returned to my quarters, deciding to get some rest before we attacked the temple. I quickly fell asleep.
   
I woke up in a field, how I got here is a mystery, but it felt familiar somehow. I stood up, felt weak in my knees, but quickly adjusted. Up ahead was some bright lights, though a sign of civilization, this brought a feeling of dread into me. I looked around me, my crew was here, all dead, looks of terror on the recognizable faces. I tried to call out to anything, but I was silent, my voice didn’t work. I touched my throat, only to feel the cold metal of my robot arm. The lights grew brighter, almost like a plasma beam, and starting heading my way. I turned to run, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate with me. Behing me, the land was getting scorched, the beam got closer. I kept trying to run, but it was no use, the beam was catching up, I could feel the heat come from it. My back began to burn away slowly, exposing my spine and organs, the pain erupting throughout my body. I was going to die here, I failed the mission, I failed my crew, I failed in my new life. I woke up in a sweat, time had passed already, we were at our destination. I grabbed my plasma sabre and .357 Magnum.

“Well, it’s now or now, there is no never.”