“Is this your first time on a spaceship?” The human asked.

“Ye…Yes my lord,” said Ukkox anxiously.

“It’s OK. You don’t have to call anyone a ‘lord’. I am Captain Scott Lawson, welcome on board Macau,” the human captain greeted.

“What exactly is this…ship? Why is there a black flag on its side?”

The human captain laughed. He ignored Ukkox’s question and lead him into an open hatch instead.

“What do you know about the Commonwealth?”

“I know they capture slaves from our planet. And from countless others too,” said Ukkox as he squeezed through the small hatch. “And if anyone dared to resist their will, they would destroy their hometown and kill every man, women and children there…”

“I guess you have never heard of the battle of Earth then,” the human captain laughed. He led Ukkox through the narrow corridors and tight corners. Metal pipes hung low from the ceiling, forcing Ukkox to crouch down in some areas. Valve handles and light panels around every turn makes the space even more cramped. Ukkox couldn’t imagine how a human, let alone a group of them, can live in such abysmal conditions without turning insane.

“Here is your room. You can put all your things in the footlocker in front of your bed,” said the human captain. “Now follow me to the bridge.”

Ukkox obeyed. He dropped his bags in the footlocker and tried to turn around. His 6 limbs flogged around uselessly as he struggled to turn his body in the small room. The human captain grabbed one of his arms and pulled him out into the hallway.

“How can you live in such a cramped metal box?” ask Ukkox as he catched his breath. “There’s not even a single window!”

“We get used to it,” said the human. “Now let’s get to the bridge.”

Ukkox did not know what a bridge was. He could tell that the room was slightly bigger than the one he was in. However, all the extra space was taken by bulky computers and blue display screens. The human crew members only sit on small chairs and stools in front of their own workstations. As the human captain entered the bridge, the crew immediately stood up.

“Captain on the bridge!” Announced one officer. Everyone saluted to the captain before he gestured them to sit down.

“As you are,” the captain sat down on a slightly larger chair in front of the forward-facing window. The crew around him worked like clockwork, powering one sub-system after another. The nuclear reactor slowly came to life, heating up the plasma engines within minutes.

Soon, the spaceship was undocked from the refueling station high above Ukkox’s home planet. It slowly drifted forward until it was a small distance away from the station. The ion thrusters gradually pushed the spacecraft into a higher orbit, away from other friendly ships in the area.

“Engage warp engines. We are jumping out,” the captain ordered. One of the officers inserted his key into the panel above him. His other hand flipped the cover of a red switch.

“Warp engines engaged!” The officer replied. In a split second, a dazzling blue light engulfed the entire ship from outside. The windows were immediately shut by metal blinds.

“We are jumping to Ladetania system. Once there, we should hide in the gas cloud 6 astronomical units away from Ladetania-3. We can cover our tracks and wait for the cargo ships to fly by,” the captain explained.

“Wh…what are you planning to do?”

“Delivering vengeance,” said the captain cryptically.

Soon the ship arrived at its intended destination. The metal blinds retracted automatically, allowing the crew to see the stars around them. Ukkox could see the gas cloud that the captain was talking about in front of the ship. Soon they parked themselves in the cloud, concealing themselves from the planet that they were monitoring.

“Are you ready for a fight?” The captain broke the silence after a long wait.

“Are we fighting…the Commonwealth?” asked Ukkox. He was starting to regret coming onboard the human ship. Sure, he needed a job. But the Commonwealth does not take kindly to anyone who dared to oppose them.

“Don’t worry. I have been fighting for 3 years now and I have yet to lose a single man. We will be out before they can figure out what’s going on.”

Ukkox was literally shaking from fear. He couldn’t believe his ears. These humans must be mad. How could they take on the largest empire in the galaxy? They must be out of their minds!

The human captain was much calmer. He gave order after order to the crew. The team worked like cold machines with brutal efficiency and precision. Ukkox could only watch them operating various switches and buttons while coming to terms with his own fears. He had heard stories about the Commonwealth, how they silence opposition by carpet bombing entire towns and cities, how they abduct critics and use them as slaves. Ukkox’s skin turned red in fear as he fought to keep himself at bay. He hoped that some technical glitch or small malfunction would force the humans to go home.

His hopes were extinguished when a ship appeared in the sensors. The automated electro-optical systems chimed as the target moved closer and closer to Macau.

“Battle stations! Gunnery, ready railguns. Torpedo room, load boarding torpedoes. Standard combat procedures. Wait for them to get close,” the captain’s orders were clear as day. Ukkox could see the humans around him speeding up in their small workstations. Soon, the gentle interior lights were replaced by red emergency lights. Everyone seems to be working on something. Except Ukkox. He was still working with his inner demons as the enemy ship moved closer.

“Sir, 2 new contacts bearing 026 and 030. Classified as escorts.”

“Change of plans,” said the captain. “We need to destroy the escorts first. Focus fire on their comms system first. Fire as soon as ready.”

The gunnery officer rotated the railgun turret on the bow with a small joystick the size of her thumb. The targeting systems automatically generated the fire control solutions on the moving targets, but the human gunner did not seem to be impressed. Instead, she pressed a few buttons on the keyboard and generated a new solution for the main guns. Then she trained the guns left and waited.

Ukkox could feel the tension around him. Some of the human crew looked up from their stations and waited for the gunnery officer to fire. The gunner herself was sweating heavily, something that humans do whenever they are hot or nervous.

Then the railgun erupted like a volcano. Hot armor piecing shells flew out of the barrels, streaking across the skies with terrifying force. The guns recoiled back into their original positions before the autoloaders pushed new shells into the chamber with a mechanical squeak. A few more salvos followed before the first round found its mark.

A shell flew straight into the bulky escort’s conning tower. Its communications antenna was destroyed in the explosion. Another round tore the side armor open, destroying the engine of the ship. The other escort immediately stopped. Its particle beam cannons firing at the gas cloud around Macau.

“Don’t worry, they haven’t found us yet. Look at that loose pattern, they are just firing blindly into the gas cloud,” said the captain. “We better keep them blind. EW, start the active jammers!”

The officer sitting in front of the electronic warfare console quickly got to work. A screeching noise filled every channel that the Commonwealth ships were using, blocking their radar signals and wireless transmissions. Not only were the ships blind and deaf, they were also unable to call for help.

With another thunderous roar, the railguns fired another salvo into the targets. Moments later, one of the shells hit the anti-matter reactor of the remaining escort. Its armor panels were ripped open like tissue paper. Seconds later, the fuel granules exploded in a blinding blue flash. The entire ship disintegrated immediately. As the light from the reactor detonation slowly faded, the remaining cargo ship sped up and tried to escape. Unfortunately for them, the human captain was not going to let them run away.

“Fire boarding torpedoes!”

The captain’s commands were relayed to the bow section of the ship. A small crew of soldiers quickly got to work. Unmanned combat vehicles were loaded into the torpedoes and the hatches were sealed. Soon the torpedo officer pulled on a red metal lever on the back of the room. A mixture of gases rushed into the 2 torpedo tubes, forcing the front covers open and sending the torpedoes into the vacuum of space. Their rocket engines lit up seconds later, pushing their deadly payloads into deep space.

As the rockets approached the escaping cargo ship, the payload fairing popped open, revealing a cluster of warheads and decoys hidden in the rockets. The decoys were quickly ejected into space, confusing enemy point-defenses. The real payloads soon followed; every warhead came with a reinforced tungsten tip to help them penetrate the armor shielding of even the toughest targets in the Commonwealth.

This was an overkill for the cargo ship. The warhead slammed into the unprotected hull of the spacecraft and lodged themselves in deep in the vessel. The hardened tip was ejected with a hiss, revealing remote control rovers armed with miniguns and grenade launchers.

Back onboard the human ship, Ukkox could see the operators mowing down Pryddohx crew onboard the cargo ship. It was an unbelievable sight for him. He has never imagined how the patrician elites of the Commonwealth would run and scream for their lives. The human operators did not show mercy. They quickly subdued the security team onboard the ship and guided their rovers into the cargo hold. One of the operators pulled Ukkox over and pointed at the screen.

“Does it say anything about slave trade? Hostages? Or maybe valuable military cargo?”

Ukkox looked at the video feed. The sign was written in Pryddohxian but he could understand most of the symbols.

“It said slave control chip shipment number 33452,” replied Ukkox.

“Search through the cargo hold, if there are any slaves, guide them to the escape pods,” the human captain ordered. “Alpha team, get to the bridge and secure it. Don’t let them engage self-destruct.”

The rover operators quickly got to work, searching through the cargo containers for any signs of slave pens. Ukkox watched them clearing the area with merciless efficiency. They are one with their war machines, as if they were merely an extension of the human body. The human operators were completely focused on their mission, ignoring Ukkox’s existence save for a few times when they asked him for translation. Half a short-unit later, the team has finished the sweep but could not find any slaves onboard. Instead they found a large stash of microchips and chemicals used for enslaving various alien species. The human captain looked on with disgust.

“Open the airlock and throw all that junk out. Establish a data link between our mainframe and theirs. See if we can set a course for their autopilot to follow.”

“Sir, new contact bearing 042. Classified as a patrol ship,” said one of the humans.

“Hurry up people,” the captain waved his arms and ordered. “Hack into the mainframe before we lose this fish.”

Fish? Ukkox thought to himself. Why are the humans talking about their aquatic food source again?

The crew did not share Ukkox’s concerns. They worked quickly and started the cargo ship’s warp engine. Before the patrol ship got into range, Macau and her trophy were already speeding away in FTL.

“Is that…how you fight?” Asked Ukkox in disbelief.

“Yes. And this is our way to get more ships,” the human captain finally relaxed a little. “What couldn’t build ourselves, we would raid from our enemies.”

Then the human gave Ukkox a piece a paper. It was a small propaganda poster, with the sentence Would you like to know more? printed above a strain of numbers.

“Here. If you want to join our fight, call this number. Combat interpreters get double pay and extra paid leave. You can join us and make a difference.”

Ukkox took the piece of paper. His career in the UN space force has begun.