Day: 27

Year of event: 22+ 10^(10.1395)

Notes: this report entry contains graphic description of violence, strong language, and more overt sex innuendos than usual.

“We are in the middle of nowhere though,” Dorothy said as she herself turned towards the bay window, and squinted in hopes of seeing whatever it was Re’A had seen.

Noticing her efforts, Cassie projected an enhanced and zoomed-in video over the dark glass. It depicted a circular space-craft, with flat, handle-like protrusions on either side.

“Is it catching up to us?” Dorothy asked, before entering a series of commands into the display control panel.

“Sure is, sir. We have slowed down to 1 knot, remember. This is Onshore territory after all, and there are two stations in range.”

“In range of what?” Dorothy asked.

She had added a few more layers of data onto the screen, including a heatmap of the other ship, which would indicate if or when they’d start powering up any weaponry, as well as a dynamic trendline of their velocity.

“Ships do fly in this sector.” Re’A said, making an effort to use Offshore nomenclature, “but this one seems to be headed straight for us.”

“Your eyesight sure is stellar.” Dot said with a smirk. Then she turned towards Re’A and asked. “Should we hail them first then? Tell them to leave us be?”

“Or better yet, ask them what they want?” Cassie chipped in.

Re’A shook her head; another gesture she’d adopted aboard Cassie.

“I believe it is best not to initiate contact, unless that is what you want.” She spoke.

Dorothy leaned back into her chair.

“Alright I don’t want contact, but I’m not sure we can ignore a ship heading straight for us.”

“Their navigation aide, or thrusters might be malfunctioning. Perhaps you could do the - the manoeuvre where you go up?” Re’A suggested.

The two women continued this debate, while the other ship remained on course. Soon, they were interrupted by an announcement from their own navigational aide:

“Ladies, I don’t mean to interrupt, but the boys on the round boy are sending us a signal.”

Dorothy gave Re’A a questioning look, waiting for her expert opinion on the subject.

“Then they are either very desperate or pirates.” The alien said before turning towards the screen. “Are they Human?” She asked.

“Some are, some are ugly.” Cassie replied. “They are being very insistent with their signal though.”

Dorothy rubbed her temple after hearing that first comment. Tact was something Cassie simply did not have.

“What should I do, captain?” The AI asked, more insistently this time. That signal must have really been bugging her.

“Alright. Patch them through. Audio and video, is they aren’t Offshore, then it doesn’t matter what they see.” The technician said as she gave Re’A a quick glance.

The latter had repositioned herself on her chair. Her body was tense, like a compressed spring. She seemed to be hoping for those folks to be pirates, as if eager for an altercation. Dorothy herself was surprisingly calm. She felt safe aboard Cassie, knowing that is push came to shove they could jump away faster than a laser would hit them.

A projected image appeared over the still-open bay window. It took up about 60% of Dorothy’s field of vision, as the other info she’d been displaying shifted towards the edges of the screen. For a few seconds, the screen remained dark. Which wasn’t surprising, considering that transmission times were significantly longer when done through regular space.

Then, suddenly, the screen turned bright. A group of four men now faced Cassie’s passengers. One, an older Human with an unkempt beard and a large scar running down diagonally over his face, was seated in the centre of the group. He was wearing a black uniform which had seen a lot of wear and even more tear, if the mismatched sewed-on patches were anything to go by. A few meters to his left, at the edge of the circular room which all four of them were in, another Human, a younger black male with the same worn uniform, was typing something into an analogue keyboard. Dorothy suspected that he was the one in charge of making contact with Cassie. The third man, whose face was covered in bony protrusions, was busying himself with a console of some sorts to the right of the man with a scar. From what Dorothy could see at this angle, this third man had his eyes glued on some sort of radar scanner. He pressed something on his console, and the heatmap displayed on Cassie’s screen suddenly lit up.

Dorothy looked at Re’A and gave her a knowing nod. The other woman had been right. These guys were pirates.

“Hello little miss. You’ve got quite the pretty ship.” The man with the scar spoke with a patronising voice.

Dorothy raised an eyebrow, not sure if he was talking to her or Cassie.

“He’s talking to you captain.” The AI joyfully confirmed. “They pestered me for such a long while that I decided not to add myself to the conversation.”

By that, she meant that she did not edit in some random woman to act as her placeholder in the video. She had the technical ability to do that because according to public surveys a lot of people liked having someone to look at when talking to ship AI. Some of the bigger cruisers even came with droids, nanobots, or multiple hologram projectors for that exact purpose.

“You should answer when spoken to.” The fourth pirate spoke in a deep and rough voice.

He was the least human-like of the group, and was likely the one Cassie had described as ugly. He somewhat resembled a gorilla, if Dorothy squinted hard enough, with his large, fur-covered frame, muscular arms as thick as a tree trunk, and overall forward-leaning posture. But his head was covered with a non-hermetic metallic helmet, the front side of which projected an almost human face in a deep terracotta hue. Dorothy had seen one of those when Cassie and Re’A had given her the full tour of the local population. That fourth pirate was a Knoscis. Dorothy proudly remembered that his kind made up almost 10 % of the population in this sector.

“I am at a loss for words.” Dorothy replied, once she finished examining the crew. She couldn’t say that she was impressed. “What are your demands?” She asked.

Re’A snapped her head towards the technician and gave her the strangest look. Her mandibles twitched ever so slightly, but before either of the women had had the time to say something they were interrupted by one of the pirates:

“All out weapons are set Captain.” The Vimlen reported, his eyes still glued to his console.

“Good.” The human with the scar, no doubt said captain of this little group of misfits, smiled widely. “Now listen girl, my demands, as you put it, are very simple. Give me your ship, and I’ll let you fly away in one of our escape pods. And if you do it nicely, I’ll even make sure my boys keep their hands to themselves.”

Dorothy scoffed. This might have sounded intimidating, had their ship not just aligned itself perfectly with Cassie’s Z-axis. This meant that they could safely jump right through the pirate ship, without risking ending up in dead space. Although, this also meant that they would have to power down their cloaking. But thinking about these four idiots suffocating and freezing to death after the disappearance of a good chunk of their hull might well be worth it.

“And what if I refuse?” Dot asked, with genuine curiosity. “Surely you won’t shoot down the same ship you plan on looting? What if she blows up?”

The two Human pirates exchanged a look, and the younger one nodded, with a confused expression painted on his face. The captain seemed to be very annoyed. He leaned towards the screen, and with his fingers intertwined together, arms resting over his knees, and the tone of some who’d already won the battle and was humouring his enemy, he spoke:

“You must be joking. A single shot to your oxygen reserve, and you’ll slowly suffocate for hours. Then all we have to do is throw your body out, and maybe play with it a little while it’s still warm. That fucker,” He nodded towards the left side of the screen, “is already up for sale, and your oh-so-precious ship will be resold on the black market. Oh, and your parents might even want to pay for your B-ID even. How much? Let’s say 80-85 grant.”

Dorothy sat back in her chair with a frown. She partially covered her mouth in disgust. Highway robbery was one thing necrophilia was another. With her free hand, the technician pulled forwarded a hologram keyboard, and entered a command to jump through the other ship. The ETHC would no doubt understand. Plus, as long as they didn’t get caught by the locals, this wasn’t considered murder in Offshore books. But before she had had the chance to press ‘go’, the pirate captain, spoke again:

“Yes, that’s right darling. There’ll be nothing much left to you or your fancy pet once we’re done.”

The man at the weapons console said something in a language Dorothy didn’t understand. All four men erupted with laughter, and the technical rolled her eyes. She didn’t get the words, but she got their meaning.

“Right Cassie-” She began.

[The following was translated from Vaberong4]

“Go to hell you motherfuckers.” Re’A interrupted the technician. “How dare you speak to my captain that way. I will tell you this now, and I will tell you this once. If you even dare say something of the same calibre again, I will personally get on your ship and rip you all to shreds. What's the worst you can do anyway? Took five PzO5 charges to get my arm that way, doubt you low lives have even two on board.”

Re’A tapped her paralysed arm with one of her good ones. Her eyes had a disconcerting glimmer to them. And despite her facial expressions being as difficult to read as ever, she seemed almost bitter.

“What, you care about your Human?” The Vimlen mockingly asked. “Fine, we’ll throw her corpse into space. What will you do then ei? Hit us with your bare fists?”

“I’ll punch that kid’s head through a wall, and while his squashed brains and eyes mix with his juicy blood, and soak into your filthy floor, I will strangle you. Your kind amuses me so when you die. Did you know your pectoral bones come off?” Re’A jumped up from her seat, and raised an arm in the air, as if she were pinning someone against the back of a chair with it. “I’ll break it off and run it down that other fucker’s face. He’ll have a scar to match before I’ll shove it through his throat.”

She then looked in the direction of the Knoscis and scoffed. She grinned wide, her mouth parting further than it should be able to. Two purple-ish tongues came out, and twisted around one another in a very controlled and deliberate manner.

“I know what’s under that mask.” Re’A said, still facing the Knoscis. “And, of, of, believe me you won’t die without it.”

Dorothy had no idea what had just been said, but if the facial expression of the pirate captain was anything to go by, it was nothing good. Maybe they wouldn’t have to jump through them after all. The technician turned towards Re’A, wanting to ask for an explanation. Just as she did so, the gorilla-like alien rushed towards the communications console and hit it with his massive fist. The screen went dark once again.

“Bravo!” Cassie joyfully said.

“What was that?” Dot promptly asked.

Re’A turned towards her, covering her mouth with one of her hands.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. Any of it.” She quickly apologised, although she sounded more rehearsed than genuine.

“Oh, there’s nothing to be sorry for,” Dorothy waved it off, “I just wanted to know what has been said. Actually,” She paused, wondering is what she was about to say was rude or not, “I never expected you to be so eloquent.”

A heavy silence fell over the room, as even Cassie didn’t have anything useless to add for once.

“That’s right.” Re’A finally spoke. “You do not have a translator implant.”

“No, I do,” Dorothy reached behind her ear, “But it needs a software update.” She slowly added.

“We do not have any records of this language in our database. Otherwise I would have given it to you, pumpkin, before you set out in the big wide world for the first time.” Cassie confirmed.

“I didn’t say anything worth knowing.” Re’A quickly said, before either of the other women had had the time to come up with some idea as to how to interpret that colourful conversation.

Notes:

4. Vaberong is the equivalent of British English for Vimlen. Several regional dialects exist, and it is important to know that only the pirate artillerist was speaking ‘proper’ Vaberong. The rest had to be slightly adapted to translate the meaning of the phrases rather than individual words.

5. PzO stands for Proton zenith Overdrive and is a type of EMP cannon. It is considered as medium weight, short range artillery, commonly used by guards and police in urban environments. It could be compared to a mechanical revolver, in that its ammunition is heavy, needlessly hard to reload, and although the damage output is worth it, they are not the easiest the wield.

The central xeno-historical museum on Venus has a well-preserved PzO gun on display (among other Onshore weaponry collected from derelict ships).

On behalf of the ETHC I would like to confirm that actions taken in self-defence and resulting in murder are not punishable or prosecutable. We do however advise against murder under any circumstances due to the effects it might have on one’s psyche.

Current year: 22+e^(23.347)

Redactor signature: E.E. Shwartz