Arrivals- A Nexus Tale

*Close Nexus Orbit, Arrivals Queue*

"I'm sorry, Lady Solarius, but your ship's manifest does not list that equipment, and some of it is rather...out of the ordinary," the Mechari's voice sounded through the ship's intercom. The robotic voice, normally tinny anyway, was made more so by the way it was altered by the intercom's speakers. Not that Cassandri could hear the voice very well with the heavy metal music she has blasting in the Starclaw's cockpit.

"Are you serious right now? You do realize that this ship is bloody Highborn property and that I've been waiting in queue for three hours right?" Cassandri replied, glaring at the ship that hovered a few hundred meters away from the glass of the Starclaw's viewing port.

Although she sounded angry, Cassandri was reclining in her pilot's chair, her combat-boot clad feet up on one of the control consoles as she idly filed her nails. She frowned as she looked at them, realizing that the waiting had made her impatiently bite some of the black nailpolish off; she'd have to fix them later.

"We apologize for the delay, Lady Solarius, but as you can imagine a lot of equipment is being offloaded from the Destiny right now," the Mechari replied in a monotone voice. "As you can see by the line of transport ships ahead of you, we are a little backlogged. That being said, Class 5 weapon pods are not standard issue for your vessel and we need to examine them and your licenses before you can proceed. I'll have a security vessel dock with you shortly so it can be sorted out and you can be on your way."

Cassandri shook her head, her eyes rolling as the Mechari's voice continued to chitter on. She brushed some of her long black hair out of her face in frustration before setting her nailfile down and giving the patrol vessel out in space a lewd gesture. Even as she did so, a flash of light flickered from the corner of her view and streaked across space, the laser beam striking the patrol craft and blowing it into pieces in a second.

Startled and wide-eyed, Cassandri nearly jumped out of her seat, sitting ramrod straight as the sound of broken bits of what was once the patrol craft pinged harmlessly off the Starclaw's hull. "Bloody hellllllllll....."

Even as she murmured to herself, the shape of another ship drifted down, maneuvering thrusters steadying it as it took up the position that the Dominion patrol craft had just recently occupied. Compared to the gold and red, sleek ship that had just been communicating with Cassandri, the craft she now viewed was an abomination of scrapped together parts and improvised weapon systems. Floodlights came on as the marauder vessel examined Cassandri's ship, several of them shining into her cockpit and making her eyes water. She held a hand up to block some of the light, muttering more curses.

"Well well, a cargo ship full of plunder, and a little lovely thing flying it," a rather gruff voice came through the comm. "Looks like this little raid is gonna pay off big time."

The floodlights dimmed and Cassandri could see the blue-gray alien that was piloting the other craft clearly now, the two vessels only a few dozen meters apart. In the distance, more streaks of lights showed additional marauder ships closing in with Dominion vessels in what appeared to be a full scale pirate raid. The comm buzzed again and the voice was mocking now, "Prepare to be boarded little lady. We'll be takin' what we like."

Cassandri smiled through the glass of her cockpit, offering the pirate a demure little wave before jabbing a finger down on a red button on the console in front of her. Her voice was almost a lustful purr when she responded, "This is going to be fun."

To the pirate's surprise, the sides of the Starclaw opened in several places, more than a dozen weapon systems folding out into space. There was a heavy whine as laser capacitors began to charge, and on the bridge of Cassandri's ship a beeping sound began to repeat over and over again until becoming a solid tone as her ship's missiles locked onto target.

For a brief second, neither marauder nor Highborn moved, the two ships menacing each other at point blank range. The pirate's voice, when it came through the intercomm, was shakey now, "Look...this don't need to get violent little lady. Just take it easy now and we-"

"Goodbye!" Cassandri said cheerfully, pressing another button on her console.

In a second lasers flashed from the Starclaw into the marauder's vessel, the first few hits dissipating on the raider's shields. Return fire from the enemy ship was harmlessly reflected by Cassandri's own shields, both ships losing some power as their vessels struggled to maintain their protections. Unfortunately for the raider, Cassandri's ship was equipped with the best engines, shield modules, and weapons that money could buy, and her ship effortlessly reconfigured the shield to full power, deflecting additional shots.

The third barrage from the Starclaw disabled the raider's shields, allowing the barrage of missiles that followed to strike its hull directly. The ship disappeared in a glowing ball of expanding gasses as it was vaporized, metallic pings ringing through Cassandri's ship for a second time as more debris struck her hull.

Cassandri quickly sunk back into her pilot's chair, her hands grasping the control stick and yanking back on it. She had no time to warn the rest of her crew as the Starclaw lurched into motion, and she could hear cursing and the crash of unsecured cargo falling deep within her vessel. There was no time to worry about that though as another laser streaked through space, narrowly missing the tail end of her ship as she quickly accelerated. Bits of the destroyed marauder vessel bounced off her hull as she pass through the debris field, a second raider vessel hot on her tail.

Cassandri grinned, the thrill of the chase making her heart pound in her chest as she gunned her ship's afterburners. Behind her, the raider struggled to catch up, a barrage of laser fire flickering in space around her. Cassandri threw her ship into a barrel roll, the enemy fire narrowly missing the Starclaw's stubby wingtips.

Ahead of her, a large transport ship was struggling to break formation from the arrivals queue as another raider attempted to board it. With a wicked smile on her face, Cassandri pressed the firing stud on her control stick, watching as half a dozen missiles flashed through space and collided with the slowly moving raider vessel. It exploded, and Cassandri brought her ship down low around the edges of the blast, hugging the side of the transport ship even as laser fire from her pursuer burned holes in its hull.

With a grunt Cassandri yanked the stick hard to the right, sending her ship into a roll around the edge of the transport ship and narrowly avoiding one of the protruding control towers on the vessel. Behind her, the raider attempted to follow her, the less maneuverable vessel flying out wide and losing sight of Cassandri's ship as it flew around the curve of the transport vessel again.

As she reached the 'horizon' of the transport ship's curve, Cassandri pressed a second button on her control stick, sending out thousands of inert flechette rounds out of a port just below the Starclaw's tailfin. As the marauder attempted to catch up with Cassandri and rounded the curve of the transport ship's hull, it intersected with the fast moving projectiles, the little bits of sharpened metal shredding the nose of the pirate ship and sending it into a roll as it lost all control. Secondary explosions rocked the vessel as Cassandri cut back on her ship's throttle and let it sail past her. With a triumphant shout she put a few laser rounds into the already-doomed vessel before turning the nose of her ship.

In space around her, the raiders had already begun to disengage from the fight; they were not there to fight a huge space battle and with three of their ships destroyed and Dominion security likely on the way in force, they had to cut their losses. All that is, except for one marauder that had attached itself to a large transport ship some distance up the line of queued vessels. Cassandri engaged her thrusters again, heading towards the pirates.

She found the vessel snugly secured to the outside of the Dominion transport, and when she scanned the ship, marauder comm signals were detected throughout the ship's bridge and main cargo holds. Cassandri pressed the firing stud on her control stick, sending thousands of laser rounds into the docked marauder vessel and detonating the small craft where it lay against the transport's side. Although the transport would have serious scorching and one of its airlocks was now non-functional, the ship was still intact and, provided the marauders could be removed, would still be valuable to the Dominion.

With a grin, Cassandri brough her ship closer, her display screen showing that there were no marauders in the engine rooms yet. It was time for a boarding action....

*********************************

The captain of the marauder vessel was having a bad day. It had started out well enough of course, what with the destruction of the Dominion patrol craft and the successful boarding of what was likely going to be a loot-rich transport ship. They'd taken out the crew on the main decks and bridge with no problem, even capturing a few of the choicer Dominion citizens for sale later.

No, the problems began when a loud explosion rocked the vessel and threw everyone to the deck. Since then, the emergency airlock doors had closed, cutting him and his men off from their ship; a ship which now was not answering any hails on their comms.

To top it off, the transport ship's engineering crew had sealed themselves in the engine room, and now they had to cut through a solid bulkhead to reach them. He and his men crouched in long corridor that lead to the engine rooms, one of the marauders using a torch in an attempt to cut through the thick metal. It was taking too long, and they were running out of time. If something had happened to their vessel, they needed to complete their capture of the transport ship and get out of this area of space quickly.

Just as the pirate captain began to become really impatient, the bulkhead door that his men had been trying to cut through slid open, the locks activated from the other side. Standing in the doorway was a Cassian woman, her body clad in a mechanical, armored Exo-suit designed for ship boarding exercises. Surrounded by what could almost be called an army of combat bots, she held a heavy gun in her hand.

Through the holographic display screen that painted targeting markers on all of the marauders, the pirate captain could see the woman smile, a glitter of joy in her blue eyes as she pumped a round into the chamber of her gun. Targeting lasers played over his men from the woman and her bots, weapons whining as they powered up.

And then the firefight began.

*********************************

Hours later Cassandri reclined in her pilot's chair, one leg draped over the armrest as she casually ate an apple. Around her space began to lighten, the atmosphere of Nexus beginning to burn off around the Starclaw as the ship descended towards the surface below. It had been a good trip from Cassus, and an eventful one. Fun enough to take Cassandri's mind off her romance troubles back home, and profitable to boot as well when she was thanked personally by the Dominion strike force captain that had come too late to rescue the transport vessels in space. She'd brought honor to the Solarius family name, and she saw it as a good omen for her adventures on this new world.

Besides, the Dominion captain had been pretty cute, and she'd gotten his number. With a grin she tossed her apple core into the trash incinerator beside her and sat up in her chair, grasping the control stick and guiding her ship towards the piece of land she'd purchased. There she would have a base constructed, and begin her work for the Dominion in earnest.