“Shields at fourteen percent!” yelled out the crewman at the tactical console. Her fur stood on end, and she found herself feeling very agitated. They were outnumbered and alone. That last jump should have allowed them to escape these pirates. Their jump drives were faster than Rykoni hyperdrives were, but twelve cruisers had been waiting for them when they emerged from the slipstream. She yelled out an order to return fire with the aft batteries, and increase speed. Her single heavy cruiser was far more powerful than any single Rykoni ship, but with the damage they had taken in their last fight, they were no match for twelve cruisers. Worse one of the famous ones was here, the Black Flag, and to top everything off now her shields were starting to fail. Which combined with the fact that she needed another twenty minutes to charge the jump drive made for a bad day.

The Black Flag was one of the terrors of the region. She had first appeared thirty years ago, and had since become the single most feared ship of the Rykoni Raiders. Her captain was one of the great Rykoni warlords with nearly a thousand ships to his name. Given her luck, she wouldn’t be surprised if more of those thousand ships showed up. Almost as if to prove the point of her idle thought a dozen hyperspace signatures popped up, and twelve more cruisers emerged into normal space.

The ship shuddered again, as the guns of the Black Flag hit her ship with a full broadside. An officer shouted that shields had fallen below ten percent this time. Then before she could respond, another officer reported, “Sir, unidentified warp signature approaching. ETA twenty-one seconds.”

Her first thought was to wonder how it got so close, but it didn’t really matter as she had bigger things to worry about. Focusing on the Black Flag, she said, “All starboard batteries return fire on the Black Flag.”

A series of green photon pulses fired from her Photon Cannons. Slamming into the shields of the Black Flag. At the same moment, she saw a small flash of light as a small ship just sixty meters in length dropped out of warp. The Black Flag opened fire on the little ship with its ripper cannons, and she noted its shields were down. She expected to see it ripped apart by the projectile weapons. Instead, the projectiles slammed into the hull and knocked the little ship around. However they failed to penetrate its hull plating. The ship suddenly stabilized with no apparent source of thrust, and then it fired a beam right into the Black Flag. The blue energy beam punched through its shields and a second later an officer informed her the ship had lost forward shields. Not that she needed it as she could see her own batteries start ripping into its hull plating.

The Black Flag returned fire with its rippers, and a number of hellfire laser batteries as well. Which the nimble little ship dodged, and then opened fire with its forward guns. Blue energy bolts slammed into the Black Flag’s hull and ripped rents into it as if it was wet tissue paper. Then the Black Flag jumped to hyperspace, and the other cruisers followed suit. Apparently scared off by a single little ship. Then her science officer spoke up with a report, “I have analyzed the alien corvette. She is outfitted with some highly advanced powered hull plating. I don’t think there is a single weapon on those Rykoni cruisers that could penetrate it and also has the tracking and accuracy needed to hit the ship. As for their weapons they are particle-based, and while impressive that beam weapon only penetrated the Black Flag’s shields because they were already being heavily taxed by our guns. What is more interesting is that it was pinpoint targeted at their shield generators. Also, my scans indicate a distinct lack of shield emitters. I don’t think the ship has shields, and as for propulsion, it appears to use exotic particle waves.

Now my favorite part, her sensor array. The ship has a rather significant array, and based on these readings, I believe they are multi-spatial sensors. That ship can likely see things we can’t.”

She found all this interesting, but she noted this was in part speculation. She thanked him for his report and then gave an order to hail the ship. It took them a few minutes to establish a link, as their ship computers traded language data.

Sali relaxed after the Rykoni fleet jumped to hyperspace. They weren’t expecting any company in this system at all. So being shot at as soon as they came out of warp was a real surprise. After all, this system had been empty when the fleet last scanned it an hour ago. Unlike some of the other races they had encountered though, their ships were actually the least vulnerable when they just dropped out of warp. The hull plating had been overcharged to by nearly forty percent when those rounds hit the hull. The overcharging had to do with the fact that they absorb a lot of energy from translight particles while at warp. This becomes especially true at high warp. The energy buildup is high enough that special shunts are needed to divert extra energy to other systems to prevent burnouts in the armor circuitry.

Then she turned her attention to the sole cruiser still in the system. It was a fairly large ship. Just over two kilometers in length, and heavily armed. She found herself listening to Irina describe the scans of the ship.

“It looks to be a heavy cruiser sir. Seems she has taken a fair pounding. Her shields are on the brink of collapse, and she has sustained multiple hull breaches. I estimate her overall structural integrity is at forty-one percent of optimal. She is armed with a type of energy weapon not listed in our database. Her shields are quite impressive, about three times stronger than a Valorian Dreadnought, and her hull plating is quite substantial at nearly fifty meters thick. She also appears to be outfitted with energy torpedoes. Overall she looks to be a real solid ship,” said Irina who was studying the scans.

“Well, they clearly aren’t friends with the Rykoni. Hail them, the fleet would appreciate any information they may have on Rykoni strongholds in this sector,” said Sayuri.

“They are hailing us, sir. I’ll put it on screen as soon as the computer has a translation for their language,” replied Irina. Sayuri looked a bit surprised, but went with it. It took a few minutes for the computer to establish a connection, and then what was best described as a wolf woman appeared on the screen. She was covered in thick wolf-like fur, and had a head similar to a wolf’s but her build was bipedal. She was entirely naked and had three small pairs of exposed mammaries. The fur hid the lower pairs more than the uppers, but not enough. She saw other naked aliens walking about on the bridge, and Sali found herself thinking that clothing was foreign to this culture.

“Good day new friend, I am Matriarch of the Koros. I represent the Eninaci Clan, and you are?” said the woman.

“Commander Sayuri of the Sol Refuge LPC-X1. I am only authorized to represent the People of Sol in a limited fashion however,” said Sayuri. Sali noticed a slight shift in the matriarch’s expression but didn’t know what it meant. Sali recognized the name Sayuri had given the woman was the ship’s official designation.

“Anyway, what brings you to this part of space?” asked the Matriarch.

“Pirate hunting. We were asked to locate and destroy as many Rykoni bases as we could find in the Orilias Belt. Any info you have on the Rykoni would be much appreciated,” replied Sayuri. Sali noted the professional and diplomatic tone she had adopted.

“Yes, the Rykoni have been getting a little out of hand as of late. We got separated from the Clan fleet in a previous attack, and their ships seem to be just about everywhere. I’d be happy to share what I know, but a place where I can anchor and conduct repairs would be appreciated,” replied the Matriarch as she adopted what looked to be a more relaxed posture.

“I have a few scans of the system to make, but I can lead you back to where our fleet has anchored. You should be safe enough to make repairs. While our resources are limited, we can help you fix your ship as well,” offered Sayuri.

“I think we might take you up on that. A good place for repairs is hard to come by in deep space. However, our drive types are very different. If you can offer the coordinates we can make our way there via whatever jump nodes are available,” said the Matriarch.

Sali looked over her shoulder and noted that Sayuri had adopted a thoughtful posture, and then she said, “I’ll transmit the coordinates, and alert the fleet to expect you.”

A couple of moments later the transmission ended with some minor pleasantries, and then Sayuri gave her orders to fly to the first target on their list to scan. At the same time, the Koros made for a nearby jump node that would take them towards the Refuge Fleet.

She watched the familiar shift as the ship emerged from the slipstream. There had been no direct route to this system, so this was the third jump they had made to reach the coordinates they had been given. In the three days that had taken, she had found several of her clan’s other ships. So she now had a total of eight ships with her. All of which were in dire need of repair thanks to recent battles with the Rykoni. The ships belonged to other groups that had been cut off from their main fleet group when the Rykoni had attacked their clan fleet five days ago. They had not located the city-ship however, and she hoped that meant they had escaped the Rykoni.

As normal space appeared on her screens she noted the presence of a fleet not far from their position, and one of her crewmen reported, “Sensors have detected a small fleet in the system as expected. No Rykoni signatures in the area, but we are picking up quite a bit of activity in the system. Looks like the People of Sol are quite active here. I have already identified several heavy cruisers, a few industrial ships, and what looks to be their flagship. The industrial ships appear to be actively conducting repairs on two heavy cruisers and three smaller ships. I think they are destroyers. Looks like they had a major fight, residual energy signatures match Cylovan energy weapons.”

That was worrying, and she asked if they could detect any Cylovan signatures and thankfully there were none. Then a few minutes later they were being hailed. She had the image placed on screen, and a few moments later and an alien male appeared on her screen.

“I see you found some friends, along the way. I am Countryman, Supreme Protector of the Sol Refuge, and welcome to the LMR-11 star system. I sure you noticed that some of my yard ships are currently busy, but we can still help with those repairs if you want,” said Countryman.

The Matriarch was glad that the offer was still on the table, and she had brought with her some valuable minerals that were worth a fair bit in trade so she was certain she could pay for the repairs she needed. The offer was definitely appreciated, but they did have other things to discuss.

“I am thankful for the offer. Our ships are in dire need of repair thanks to recent battles with the Rykoni. They have become more active of late, and have begun attacking the clans. Ours was hit hard a few days ago, and we got separated from our city-ship. We would appreciate any help you can offer in getting us back to our city-ship.

I have a bay full of Pholite and Erentium. I was hoping to trade some of it for materials we need to fix our hulls, but we would appreciate any help you can provide in that regard. In the meantime, I am transmitting what data I have on the Rykoni. Hopefully, you can wipe out a few of their bases and we will be free to locate the rest of our fleet without being harassed.”

Countryman shifted, and his facial expression changed slightly, “Certainly, and I’ll have my scouts keep an eye out for your ships. I’ll have some berths readied for you, and we can negotiate our prices face to face.”

“I look forward to meeting you in person then,” she said moments before signing off. As he left her screen one of her crewman looked up, and said, “I have been taking a look at their flagship. At first glance, it looks like a battleship, but I noticed a number of discrepancies with that theory. I believe it is a city-ship, like ours. Also, I'm detecting some arms deploying from the underside similar to the ones that industrial ships we identified earlier were using to fix their damaged starships. I think we are looking at another nomadic clan not unlike our own. They are conducting the same sort of activities we would in an isolated system like this one. I have found ships patroling, ships mining asteroids, and even some harvesting fuel. A more sedentary race would be setting up an outpost here, but there is no evidence of that.”

She had gotten the same impression, but wasn’t going to make any conclusions just yet. A couple minutes wait later, and she was being sent docking instructions for docking with the flagship, whose name she had not yet been given.

As she got closer she was given an excellent view of the ship, and she found herself impressed. It was in generally better shape than those of her clan were, but that likely meant that they weren’t in battle as often. The Rykoni were always a problem, and knew this part of space just as well as her people did. One on one her ships always won, but the problem was that the Rykoni Clans greatly outnumbered the clans. Even if all the nomadic clans united into a single alliance they would still be outnumbered. Life was difficult thanks to them, and the clans often had to attack Rykoni outposts and bases.