P.O.Wned chapter 1: The beginning
It was a distant century in the galaxy, with strife and war brewing. A central imperial government had been in power for centuries. it had been created to bring order and peace, and had succeeded, at first. It grew fat and corrupt, as it tends to do.
As the law broke down, piracy increased rampantly. Part of this was due to all dissidents being labeled as pirates and traitors. One such person was Faith, a captain of an experimental frigate, whose crime was that she had rejected a direct order from the admiralty to fire on a refugee ship. For her crime, she was sent to a high risk system, the usual way to remove people who challenged the people in power.
It was a boring run on the Fleet Ship Independence, a small frigate, as it headed back to base after a uneventful patrol. The captain was just leaving the bridge when it started. behind them, four pirate ships came out of where they lay hidden from sensors behind the planet, and powered their way into the frigate's path. Four to one odds, was too much for the Independence, but she would try, as her goal now was to escape back to the safety of the base, not destroy all enemies. Orders were given and the ship swung out of the way, to head back. Turrets came to life as the crews rushed from their standby stations to battle stations.
The battle was a mostly one sided, the smaller pirate vessels too quick for the computer systems to track. But it was not all one sided, as the crew of the Independence was well trained, and they fired volley after volley, missing a lot, but also hitting and disabling weapons, engines and sensors on the pirate attackers. Missiles were launched, but the pirates had apparently gotten hold of good counter measures, as the high tech kamikazes were sucked off course. The very few that did have a lock on the pirate vessels were easily taken out by point defense systems.
The Independence was doing evasive maneuvers, her unusual design allowing her great maneuverability, but at the cost of control and armor. The crew was only delaying the inevitable as the pirates focused not on her engines, but on her weapons systems. Soon, only her six long range siege turrets were operational, and the long range base killers were totally useless against a moving foe as the railguns could only fire after a charging period and had to be stationary for the coils to work up the power.
Faith was reeling as in her seat as the Independence shook with blast after blast. Her armour was buckling, and Faith cursed as her ship was being taken apart. She swallowed as one of her main engines was taken out. She had to make a choice, and there was only one that she could make.
"All hands... abandon ship.... and prepare the self destruct." She ordered, getting up as her dying ship shuddered all around.
Around her, the guns fired randomly, the six siege turrets changing to flak rounds to try to clear a path to the planet for the escape pods.the flak would be ineffective against the pirates, only doing armour damage, but it would shred the sensors, and thus could be used as a deterrent and a way to clear a path.
Faith's escape pod headed out, as she settled in. The acceleration kicked her back into her seat, as it launched. Behind her, the ship continued to fire on automatic, then seem to disintegrate as the reactors went critical. She did cheer as debris from the Independence's last breath took out and damaged several pirate fighters. Suddenly the ship went into a ship as it collided with a piece of space debris, and she went tumbling off into the void. Faith was bashed around as the pod fought ot get back control. she could vaguely see ships heading into the area, and the pirate vessels leave. It must be reinforcements. She passed out as as she saw a large freighter near her pod, presumably to pick her up.
Meanwhile on the current home planet of the pirates the lord martin but commonly known by his nickname Roadkill arose to a new day wondering how his friend and 3rd lieutenant was doing on the raid on the frigate patrol. They had gotten word that the frigate, a major pain in their side, would be returning to base alone, and that the base;'s sensors would be offline for maintenance for an hour. the perfect ambush condition. He was worried about his friend, as even the best of plans could go south. He sighed and shook her head, and drew himself erect. Now was not the time to worry about what ifs. He had a pirate empire to run, which was not a simple task. He had to keep his power, through loyalty and fear, as the pirates did practice leadership through power.
On board a modified freighter, David woke up in a foul mood. Not only did they lose more then expected, having suffered extensive damage to three out of the four ships, and had even lost the fourth when a missile that had gone astray had picked up his ship as it's target. Most of the crew had survived, but the explosion had damage his escape pod, sending a piece of metal through his left arm. The last he remembered was seeing the rescue team, then nothing. he felt funny, light headed, and a strange feeling in his left arm. "What... happened..." he slurred out, his eyes still not focusing.
"Well.. sir.. well..."
came the nervous response, the person stuttering and barely being understood. The person's image swam into view as David focused on the speaker, a male Doberman, who was obviously a new medic.
"Spit it out...." he growled, having no patience with the stuttering medic. He needed a report.
"Just tell me what happened."
"We had to amputate your arm. it was too damaged.. But we did fit a replacement."
David sighed, and snapped out again. "I meant with the battle." he growled out, barely registering what the medic said. To him, getting the job done came first.
the doberman's mouth opened, but before he could speak, a female Badger pushed him out of the way.
"Sir.. we have won, and have recovered all escape pods. The surviving vessels are on the way to station alpha Gamma. The freighters are heading to Alpha Alpha."
David nodded, alpha alpha was the pirate code for home base, the main planet. that done, he finally looked down, taking in the damage done to his arm, and the gleaming over-sized, metal monstrosity that had replaced his left arm. the badger noticed his gaze.
"I'm sorry sir. that was all we had available. And there was too much damage to heal your arm. once home, we could try to graft on a new arm. he nodded, the simple grasper on his arm opening and closing as he worked it with his mind. it wasn't great, but it would do until he got back home.
Faith awoke in a haze, and wondering where she was. The medical bed she was on left hard.. cold... and much more rough then she was used to. She opened her eyes, and blinked several times as the world swam together, resolving into, not a medical bay, but a cell. She screamed as she realized that she had in fact not been rescued, but was in the hands of the pirates. She continued screaming for a couple of minutes, before finally regaining control of herself. She took several breaths, calming herself. She went over a mental check list, counting her facts. One, that she was a trained officer. Two, that these were only pirates. And three, that she was sure she could take out any pirate that gave her trouble. She gave a grin, then froze as the door to her cell opened, and a huge horse came in. He lunged at faith, who raised her hands to fend him off, but he ignored her blows as his hands settled on her neck and started squeezing.
"YOU KILLED MY MATE~!!!" the horse screamed, as Faith started to lose consciousness. Just as it started to go black, there was a meaty sound, an oofff, and the horse dropped Faith into a panting heap, grabbing his balls.
She looked up, opening to thank her rescuer, then froze as she saw the fox, with the metal arm, and berating the pirate. she rushed them, trying to get out, but the fox used his hand hand to knock her back into the wall. She fell, dazed, and then watched as the horse left limping, and the fox walked over.
:"Sorry about that madam, but he just lost his mate. now.. then..." he said, in a gentle voice, his hand going for her neck. Faith shrank away, but soon a thin collar was in place around her neck. He then stood up and offered her his hand. She smiled, then took it, getting up. She grinned at the fox, who grinned back. Suddenly his leg slammed into her crotch, stunning her amid a wave of pain. She feel to the ground again, as he kicked first her left then her right breast with steel plated boots, before reaching down to grab the young lemur's tail and start to drag her out.
"And that;'s for making me lose so many comrades , captain!" he snarled.
He howled in pain as she was dragged down the hall, in too much pain to resist. Soon they arrived at a door and they entered, into a medical bay. He grabbed Faith by the neck, and lifted her up, and threw her roughly onto a bed. Faith lay stunned, as he slammed his metal fist into her chest, in anger. "Damn you..." he snarled, but regaining his composure. An elderly squirrel headed over, wiht a syringe, and quickly injected faith. Faith was in condition to fight back, and the squirrel smiled. "Good..." she said, before taking out a knife, and placing it at Faith;'s throat.
"Just stay still..." She crooned, before swiftly and with practiced movements cutting off all of faith's uniform.
Faith felt embarrassed when they removed her uniform but quickly realized that it would probably protect her from the normal crew as they would be unable to recognize her as captain. She did blush bright red as the top of her clothes were removed, leaving her bare in front of the pirates. The squirrel nodded, then reached down to adjust the collar, loosening it a bit.
"Really, David, you put it on too tight." the squirrel said, admonishing the pirate.
after the initial embarrassment had passed suddenly she felt hands at her throat again more gentle this time. Then she was injected again and she quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.
David nodded, as Faith went under. "Keep an eye on her. I want her intact." he snarled. The medic nodded, and she drew an isolation curtain around Faith's sleeping body, as the fox stalked out, heading to his room. As he entered his private communications panel was beeping. He sighed, and went over to it, and composed himself, sure that it was Lord Roadkill as it was indeed the case.
"aaah.. my friend.. how are you?"
the pirate lord asked, then paused, seeing his friend's gleaming metal arm where a normal red fox arm should be.
"Rotten, but we have the captain. The standard deal with her?"
he asked, a snarl in his voice.
"Yes, " came the reply .
"We'll have her transported then." the fox growled out, nodding.
"Then I'll leave you to your work." the dragon said, signing off. David nodded, then thought about the fate in store for the captain, shuddering a bit in sympathy.
this is only the first part of the story me and my co-author are writing, as it is still a work in progress any helpfull suggestion will be welcomed and considered,