After seeing the alternative coloration of the light cruiser that was currently approaching the Appalachia Rebecca determined that that must be the ship of the pirates Tranquil Blue was sending after them. A few moments later the crew returned to the cockpit only to see the same ship approaching theirs.
"Well Captain it looks like our guests showed up", Hendrick's pointed out letting everyone know that this was likely the pirate ship they were expecting.
"Contact AGI and let them know our location", the captain ordered as the crew began taking their seats. "We've got these bastards now."
The same panel that had the star map popped out as Hendrick's tried establishing communications with their contact in AGI. However, the signal wasn't able to get through despite all of his attempts.
"Captain we have a problem", Hendrick's stated while still trying to get a signal out. "I think they're jamming us."
"What!" The captain said surprised. "I thought this kind of com couldn't be jammed."
"Correction, it can't be jammed by the standard jammers that come on ships outfitted for military service. They must have something stronger."
"We'll shit! There go all of our plans." The captain replied frustrated with this new development. "Well, no problem. Raise the white flag Hendricks; the rest of you prepare for boarding."
The rest of the crew got up, and filed out of the cockpit into the central room with the ladder to the turret.
ANDI was about to leave the cockpit as well when suddenly the captain placed his hand on its shoulder. "Except for you ANDI. I'll need you to protect the ship, and watch the girl. Make sure she doesn't get off the ship."
Upon receiving those orders ANDI went back to standing by and staring at Rebecca to make sure she didn't move.
"Oh great! They fight pirates and I sit here cuffed to a chair while talking to a robot", Rebecca stated outwardly expressing her disappointment.
"Hey I'm stuck here too", Hendrick's pointed out.
Rebecca once again realizing what a crappy situation she was in and did nothing but sigh in response to Hendricks's comment.
The rest of the crew was in the center room between the cockpit and the living quarters. The captain opened up a small panel on the wall next to the door to the living quarters. After inputting a code panel on that wall flipped to reveal shelves with several weapons on them.
Rodriguez already had his own weapon on him; the assault rifle he had earlier when they were planet side, but Morgan and the captain needed a change in their arsenals if they were going to be raiding another ship. The captain picked up what looked like a tommy gun and a couple of strange spheres the size of a hand grenade that looked like they had several holes all around them which he stuffed into his coat pocket, while Morgan grabbed a couple of pistols off of the wall. Once they had their weapons the captain hit another button on the panel, and the wall returned to normal.
"Alright is everybody read?" The captain asked with a determined look on his face while heading over to the door leading to the airlock.
Rodriguez and Morgan both looked at each other and nodded, then looked at the captain. "We're all set." Rodriguez claimed as the both got into position to the right side of the door.
The captain pressed a button on a panel next to the door to the airlock to open the first door, and patiently waited for the fighting to begin.
Hendrick's had sent out a white flag to the other ship which was essentially just a signal announcing their surrender. The light cruiser swung around to the side of the Appalachia, and they could now see the name of the ship. It was the UFS Baron, and older ship from before the formation of the Earth Galactic Federation.
It had likely been decommissioned and fell into the hands of outlaws at some point, and just kept changing hands. This happened a lot to smaller military vessels. They'd usually get stolen, or go missing, and would be salvaged and restored, then sold off to various different groups like these pirates. Sometime the salvagers themselves would get it into their heads that they could make a ton of money by turning to piracy as well.
Either way, seeing old military vessels wasn't terrible uncommon, but it didn't put the Appalachia at a major disadvantage since it didn't have the fire power to take a ship of this caliber down with just a turret. Their best bet would be to ambush the pirates as they boarded the Appalachia, infiltrate their ship, and find a way to disable the jammer so they could call their contact in AGI for backup.
They could hear the clicking sound of the two ships docking, and the sound of a door on the other side opening. The captain and Rodriguez pointed the barrels of their guns at the airlock door, and after a few seconds they opened to a group of three red Kelafi about to walk through the door.
The first wave was easy enough to take out with just a few shots. All though the captains weapon looked like a tommy gun from the 1920's it was a fully functional laser gun that fired at the same rate as a tommy gun that used bullets.
At this point in time guns that used bullets were essentially relics and no longer produced, but it was common for weapons manufacturers to model the appearance of laser guns as guns from the 20th and 21st centuries. Given the captains fascination with 20th century culture most of his weapons were modeled after the weapons from that century.
Even with the first wave taken down it wasn't long before the next wave appeared, but this time instead of walking through the door they were taking cover on either side of the doorway onto their ships just like the captain and his crew were.
This is where those spheres that the captain picked up earlier came in handy. He pulled one out of his coat pocket, and chucked it across the hallway connecting the two ships while Rodriguez laid down cover fire.
The captain was easily able to chuck it into the hallway where the other pirates were standing, and with one clock of a button on his wrist watch the sphere suddenly let out lasers in every direction incinerating the enemy.
After several seconds of not being fired upon Harpy proceeded down the hallway to check if the coast was clear. After looking down the three corridors of the entrance to the ships she didn't see any enemies, and signaled the others to come onboard.
