The rattling ship had fired on its prey, but the barrage hadn’t done any damage, so instead, they took a more personal approach. At the helm, a woman in a long-brimmed hat took hold of a giant wheel and maneuvered her vessel to sail alongside it. She was clearly not new to this, handling the journey there as easily as putting on a shirt.

The ship that they were attacking was larger- much, much larger than her humble ride. However, that made it easy to outmaneuver. The woman kept her hands tightly on the wheel, expecting to have to dodge out of the way of defensive fire, but weirdly that never came to be. In fact, it would seem that the enemy ship wasn’t even moving. Her eyebrow raised, if she didn’t know any better, she would think that her victims were welcoming the attack.

Her men were primed and ready, each jumping about anxiously waiting for their turn. There were three men in total, all shorter than average but making up for it with ferociousness. Two of them gripped their weapons to their side- a highly modified Laser-Musket for one and what appeared to be an electrified bat for the other.

The men kept their footing as their ship clamped against the side of the other vessel. Licking their lips, the third man reached out and activated a button which in turn caused a giant panel to slide away. Normally, as any astronaut would tell you, opening a door on your spaceship is a good way to get pulled out into nothingness- often followed by a long period of questioning your life choice before finally dying due to lack of oxygen. However, a small gravity pocket had been created around the opening, which perfectly gave the little man enough leeway to begin his duty.

The Plasma-Slicer was already hot as the man began to cut into the side of the other ship. He had neglected to wear goggles, and so his eyes were occasionally burned with a stray spark, but he didn’t mind much. Like his other mates, this man was a Claglaxion, fire was barely an inconvenience to them.

“Now, boys.” The woman said, her duty done at the mast as she came down to join them. “Our scan showed us that there’s only four or five signs of intelligent, meanin’ that there’s gonna be four or five people that’s gonna want you dead when you get in there!” Her words didn’t seem to phase them, in fact, they seemed to make them more excited. “Gleg, when you cut down that door, you’re gonna want to stay aside, unless you don’t want your head anymore that is.”

“I know, boss!” Gleg responded, accidentally eating a giant spark from the cutter. “They’re going to start shooting the second we open her up, ain’t they?”

“Got the shield, boss?” Said the little man with the bat.

The woman smiled and nodded. Casually she reached out her arm and, with a nimble flick of the wrist, her entire hand folded in on itself- flipping around until a large metal stump appeared in the place of her fingers. Then, with a violent slap, she banged the side of her arm. Immediately a large circle formed around the stump, an electric force shield that nearly covered the entire front of her body. “I’ve always got the shield!”

Gleg signaled to the group that his work was almost finished, they all took a breath and prepared for the fight. Soon they would be weaving in and out of blaster fire and running for cover, they needed to be aware or else they’d be space debris.

“One… Two…” Said Gleg, counting down as the last inch of the hull melted away. “THREE!”

The men stood aside and waited for the gunfire, after a moment they realized that no one was shooting at them. “Waiting for us to step out,” said the boss, shield ready. “Alright then, it’s time for the party!”

With haste, the woman sprinted out the door- shield raised to stop any sort of a barrage that was coming her way. Her men followed closely behind her, making sure to stay behind the barrier so they didn’t get toasted. In the heat of the moment, the men didn’t realize their captain had stopped and so bumped into her. “Boss, what the hell are you waitin’ for?”

“Shh!” The long-brimmed hat on the top of her head shifted left and right, looking for any sign of danger. Then, with a start, it shifted upwards and checked the ceiling- but nothing. She shuddered, but mostly because the place was so damn cold. “Something peculiar is happen’ here, I don’t like it.”

“Look, I think I see something!” The one with the Laser-Musket took a knee and aimed at what he saw.

They had found themselves in a long corridor, with many doors and plenty of spaces to hide in. Now, from out of one of these doors, something was slowly creeping out. Was it a gun? A trap? A lifeform?

“Is that… a stick?” From out of a doorway, a small stick was poking out towards them. On the end of it hung a couple of paper towels that had been wrapped around it in a hurry, from the looks of it. The makeshift flag began waving side to side, almost desperately. “What does it mean?”

The woman raised her other arm, and just like before her hand flipped around to reveal a stub. This time when she slapped her arm, a gun barrel popped out instead of a shield. “I don’t know what ya’ll are playin’ at, but you better show yourselves right now or we’ll blast you to Atorus and back!”

Slowly, almost sadly, the flag pulled back and outstepped a dark-skinned man who was wearing half a tie. “Hello!” He declared with a dramatic bow. “We wish you no harm, for we are friendly and do not want to die!”

The marauders looked at each other, “our scan said there’s five of ya.” One said, brandishing his bat. “Where’s the others?”

The boy thought for a second, then reluctantly gestured to his friends to come to join him. Out stepped three other people, all pale white and looking very anxious- except for one.

Timothy was quite surprised to see that three little green men had come aboard the Lavender, as well as one very tall and menacing-looking woman. He wondered why they were carrying those scary weapons, maybe they thought they needed to defend themselves? “Hello!” He declared, stepping forward and holding out his hand for a greeting. “My name is Timothy, what’s your…”

Instinctively, the little man with the bat brought his weapon down straight onto the boy’s arm. A shock ran up from the very tips of his fingers and right back into his shoulder, needless to say, it was quite painful. Timothy howled, his arm falling limp to his side.

Sophia wasn’t having it and quickly ran up to her friend, pushing him behind her. “You touch him again and I’ll break every bone in your god-damn body!”

Alex’s eyes widened. “Oh, we are so very sorry!” He declared, running up to her side with a smile. “My friend doesn’t mean what she said, she’s just a bit on edge. You see, we’re actually just passing through here and we were hoping that…”

The girl pushed him away, “get off it, Alex! We ain’t doing that shit again!” She raised a finger to the group of invaders, her voice rattling with seriousness. “Now, I don’t know who you people are, but we’re not important alright! We’re nobodies, so there isn’t a point in kidnapping or killing us, or whatever the hell you’re planning to do! So, I suggest you just beat it, save yourself a headache!”

The little man with the gun raised it to Sophia’s head, “so we knock ‘em, boss?”

“Wait!” The woman raised out her hand to stop him but seeing how her hand was currently a giant gun it didn’t do much to calm the tension. “Bleg, what did I tell you about shooting first and asking questions later?”

Bleg rolled his eyes, “you’ll only blow a hole through another senator again.” He repeated like a scolded child, lowering the gun.

The woman dropped her shield and walked over to Sophia- the girl stood her ground and didn’t flinch. “Do you know who I am?”

Sophia raised an eyebrow, “should I?”

The little green men in turn raised their own eyebrows, the woman smiled. “Name’s Jenny, Jenny McClain- ring any bells?”

No bells were being rung in Sophia’s head, so she shook it.

Jenny chuckled and turned to her men, “Heh, boys, looks like we got ourselves a couple of outsiders!” She turned back to the group and gave them a good long look. “You ain’t from around this sector of the galaxy are ya?”

“Couple of scrappers?” Asked Gleg, voice like nails on a chalkboard.

“Must be,” answered Bleg. “How else would they get this ship?”

“Maybe they stole it?” The other little man interjected.

“Nah, don’t be daft, Qleg, they can’t be pirates.”

“Why not?”

“Cause we’s pirates!” Bleg gestured to himself. “Ya thinks that they’d last a second in the Ring? Look at ‘em, they didn’t even try to fight back!”

“Shut it, will you?” Jenny snapped and quickly her men obeyed. “Qleg, get the scanner already, let’s see what this hunk of junk is worth!”

The little man holstered his bat on his back and pulled out a weird, pen-like device. Pushing a button, the corridor was flooding with a green light that lasted only a second before the scanner beeped and finished. “Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

“It says it’s worthless!” The surprised alien cried. “Only a couple hundred creds for the big thing!”

“The scanner must be bugged!” Jenny said, walking over and snatching the device. “Gotta recalibrate it!”

“No, boss, I checked! The thing’s tellin’ the truth!”

Neil had been silent this entire time, he figured that a closed mouth was the best way to go unnoticed. He had debated whether or not he should make a run for it but decided against it seeing how the only place to go was further into the ship- and that action would likely get his friends killed. The likelihood of fighting them off was minuscule too, the only option left is just hope for mercy. “The scanner probably is faulty,” he heard himself interject. “You said that it picked up five of us, but there’s only four.”

Bleg looked up and snarled, “maybe they’re just hidin,’ waiting to get the drop on us?”

“Nah, he’s right- the scanner’s faulty.” Jenny declared, tossing the thing back to Qleg. “Besides, an ambush ain’t something up these guy’s alley.”

“What makes you say that?” Sophia questioned; her stance still strong.

The Pirate gave a weak smile as a response, “call it intuition.”

One by one, Qleg shoved the scanner in their faces. Neil could feel his entire body shiver as the green light flashed in his eyes, this is going to give me cancer, isn’t it? He theorized in his head. I hate this alien shit…

“No bounties.” Chimed the little green man. “They’re nobodies.”

“See?” Sophia smirked, “So, why don’t ya just leave, huh?”

Suddenly, Jenny raised her gun arm and shot it in the air. Neil nearly jumped out of his skin, Alex ducked, Timothy reacted way too late, while Sophia flinched. “I leave when I want to!” Jenny shouted. “You don’t make the rules here missy, I do, got that?”

Alex stammered before Sophia had the chance to respond, “yes, yes we do, perfectly!”

“Good.” The pirate said, turning away from them. “Now, boys, get them on the ship- if they try and run shoot ‘em.”

“What?” Neil said, his voice quivering. “Why?”

Jenny gave him a cool smile, “cause, like you said, scanners broken! You could be the most wanted criminals in the cosmos, and we wouldn’t know, better take you with us and make sure we’re not missing the catch of our lives.”

“I’m terribly sorry,” Timothy said, realizing his arm was still unable to move and feeling very awkward about it. “But what exactly is happening right now, I’m afraid I’m still a bit lost?”

“You’re being kidnapped honey,” Jenny replied with a smile. “Welcome to Ring life!”