UNCLAIMED SPACE- UNK425

Red Dawn- Crew Quarters

Smoke and screams filled the air as he leaned around the corner and fired off a burst. Two of the three rounds hit the pirate in the chest and sending him reeling back further into the compartment. The marine standing opposite of John primed and tossed the Sonic Grenade into the compartment before closing the hatch.

5 seconds later John and three Marines stormed into the compartment and finished off the three remaining pirates. As soon as the pirates were secured and looted they checked their weapons and headed back toward the main corridor. He still had three more grenades and four clips for his rifle and six for his hand-cannon. He brought up his HUD and checked on the rest of the Marine squads throughout the pirate ship.

Both the port and starboard weapons banks had been secured, engineering was also secure, but they were bogged down pushing into the crew quarters areas and command areas. The cargo areas were completely locked down and vented, a pair of marines secured those doors to make sure if any pirates that survived the venting would not leave alive.

"Commander Smitt, how long until you gain control of the crew area?" John asked.

Over the whine of a Pulse Cannon, Smitt came back "Another 15 minutes if we are lucky. Right now we only have control of one way in and out of the crew quarters, if we could flank them 5 minutes. The squad pushing for the bridge could use some help if you do not mind."

John could hear the frustration in his voice, every minute they were bogged down could mean the life of one of his Marines. "Understood, heading to support Lieutenant Freelands squad to push toward the bridge."

The private took point and led them toward the bridge 'Jeeves is there any way we could cut through the bulkhead and into the crew quarters so we can flank the pirates?' John wondered.

'I am sorry captain by the time you cut through the bulkhead they would have already finished storming the compartment. You can try to use the crawl space and get into the compartment that way...but the Marines combat armor is too bulky to get through the crawl space. You can get through with your lightweight armor.'

John thought about it...' Jeeves highlight where I need to go, "Sgt lead the rest of your squad to support the push toward the bridge I am going to help Commander Smitt push into the crew quarters area." John knew the Marine Commander would be pissed when he learned he ditched his escort, but he needed his help more.

Five minutes later he was looking through a grate down onto the crew quarters, six pirates were randomly firing toward the Commanders position, two on his left and four to his right. "Jeeves I am going to toss my remaining Sonic Grenades in the room, send a message to Smitt after I toss them in. I really do not want to be fired on by one of our people.' John asked his A.I. as he duct-taped the three grenades together. He really hoped this would work, otherwise, this was going to hurt really bad. John took a deep breath activated the grenades and prayed his idea would work.

After the Sonic Grenades went off he dropped into the cabin and turned to his left. He didn't want to leave any threats to his back. He immediately shot the pirate on his right in the knee nearly blowing his lower leg off, John rushed the falling pirate and grabbed him and spun around so he would between him and the four pirates between him and the Marines.

The other pirate close by was stumbling around like he was drunk when he got three rounds into the face. John flicked his selector from three rounds to single burst and started firing toward the remaining pirates. John managed to wound one and kill another before they regained their senses and started firing back. Two cracks of a Pulse Rifle downed the remaining pirates as the Marines stormed the compartment.

"The ship is secure sir, I would appreciate it if you would not go off on your own again. This was difficult enough as is without the chance at losing you. We have captured 5 Pirates and we have 6 wounded 1 being critical and already back in medical." Commander Smitt reported while looking like he wanted to dress down his Captain. John smiled and thought back on what had lead to this...

UNCLAIMED SPACE- EDGE OF UNK425

Riptide- Bridge

2 Hours ago...

As the Riptide punched into the normal space of UNK425, her warp drive spun down and she moved into the system under her stealth suit. "Report" John called out as he finished getting over the transition from warp to normal space.

"Stealth systems are up and running, we are clear for 1km out. Local traffic is clear...I think" Ensign Sasha Daniels responded. "Sorry sir, this system is Binary and we are getting a lot of interference from the double stars if we can change our position I might be able to clear up the signal." Ensign Daniels clarified. Due to the radiation being thrown off by the binary stars, he knew it would interfere with communications and long-range sensors.

"Lieutenant O'Hansen, work with Ensign Daniels on getting the Riptide in a position to find out if we are getting a signal or not," John commanded.

45 minutes later they had the initial scan of the system and the signal was coming in clear. "The transmission is finally clearing...'This is the freighter Rising Tide from Xaranx Prime. We need assistance, we are under attack by pirates. Repeat this is...' Right now from what we can tell the Rising Tide is about an hour away at maximum speed, what are your orders?" Lieutenant O'Hansen called out.

"Make for the Rising Tide at maximum speed, once we are about 5km out drop to half speed and activate the stealth suite again. Lieutenant Johnson, place the combat drones on standby 'Kate sound GQ'" John called out.

30 minutes later the tactical situation had been updated "Sir, the Red Dawn has already boarded the Rising Tide. They do not have any combat drones deployed" Ensign Daniels called out.

"Understood, 'Kate, have the XO report to the bridge and have Lieutenant Commander Smitt report to the launch bay in 5 minutes it seems we have some plans to make.' Lieutenant Johnson I want all our combat drones on standby and ready to launch," John called out.

Present...

John headed back toward the Riptide. 'Jeeves, send an all-clear to the XO and to the Captain of the Rising Tide that the Red Dawn is secure' two Marines shadowed him as he walked through the pirate ship and into the bulk freighter. Hundreds of containers dotted the expanse of the hold as the remaining freighter crew scrambled to make repairs to ship and secure the cargo that had been displaced.

"Captain, what are you planning on doing with the prisoners and with the Red Dawn?" Captain Jones asked.

"Usually in Remnant space, all pirates captured will be summarily executed after being questioned, but we are not in Remnant space so I will defer to your judgment Captain," John responded.

Jones nodded before answering "About 36 hours away from here my species controls about 6 systems, the Xaranx. We are fairly tough on pirates and just based on what they have done today will earn them a sentence of hard labor for 20 years and if they have any history of piracy in our space could increase their sentence. We will put a prize crew on the Red Dawn, she will be pressed into service, sold or dismantled. Either way, captain thank you for your help. I won't forget this."

'Captain, the XO wants to talk to you in private and is waiting in your quarters' Kate told him...Time to face the music.

As he walked into his quarters the only thing he saw was one pissed off second in command. "Permission to speak freely?' she asked. John sighed before nodding. 'What the hell were you thinking John? If you had died over there, what would have happened to the Riptide and all of us? FleetComm would have had my head. You cannot do that ever again understand?" She was yelling at the end.

"I understand your worries Rebecca but if I can help in a bad situation I will. I cannot ask anything of my crew that I am unwilling to do. Yes, I understand your concerns and will take that into account for the future. Now secure the ship from GQ and start us on the road for UNK527 as soon as all our crew members are back on board." She nodded her head and left to head to the bridge while he got out of his armor and started clearing his alerts.

Mission Complete: Boarding the Red Dawn

Description: The Rising Tide was attacked and boarded by the Red Dawn. You saved the crew and they will remember it and spread the word among Xaranx.

Rewards: 300 Experience for all none borders, 600 for all participants in repelling the boarders. The Xaranx will see you in a friendly light if you call upon their aid, UNKNOWN

Skill (Small Arms) Increased to Level 2

Description: Increases the accuracy of small arms by 6%

Skill (Rifle Proficiency) Increased to Level 2

Description: Increases the accuracy of rifles by 6%

ALERT...

You have encountered the Xaranx for the first time, due to your actions they are likely to come to your aid if you request it.

ALERT...

Now that the pirates were secure they could survey the system. From the initial scan of the system, it was a Binary system and would take a better part of a week to survey even with the scout drones.