"Where did you buy this pile of scrap metal?" I asked Tria. “We stood in the control room of the ship while the salarian mechanic and the batarian fiddled with the engine, trying to resuscitate it.”

“The batarians sold it to us.” Asari replied grimly, glaring at the closing doors that shut us off from the emptiness of space.

"Looks like I'm on a team of idiots." I sighed. "You bought the ship from the batarians. You have a batarian on board. You fly in a sector that is under the control of batarian pirates. Is there no doubt in your mind about the end of such an 'expedition'?”

"You don't have to think that all batarians are pirates.” Tria tried to protect her employee. "Besides, a lot of ships are flying in this sector, and nothing happens to them.”

“Oh, you. Naive simplicity. Do you have an internal surveillance system here? See what the batarian is doing now.”

"He's fixing the engine."

Tria pressed several keys on the control panel, and an image from a surveillance camera in the engine compartment appeared on the main screen. There we were presented with a wonderful picture of a decapitated Salarian lying on the floor. The traitor was nowhere to be seen.

"What? How dare he?” Tria shrouded herself in a biotic glow and began to torment the computer fiercely, switching to different cameras.

"I'll kill him." Krogan grabbed his weapon as he headed out of the control room.

Meanwhile, an accomplice of the pirates was found. He was in the cargo bay with the hatch open, talking to a dozen batarians in assault suits.

"You'll have to deal with them first." I nodded at the screen.

Krogan turned and growled menacingly, reacting to the almost fraternizing of our technician and the leader of the assault group. It was obvious that they knew each other well.

"So, what do you plan to do?" I asked asari, who continued to press various buttons with superhuman speed.

"And what is your interest?” She said.

"It's just interesting. Do you have a plan?

"Yes, I do. I'm going to activate the self-destruct system.” Rina and Okren stared at their boss in horror. It was as if Tramt had not heard those words.

"It's a shitty plan." I expressed my expert opinion.

"I'm sorry. I'm not going to surrender”

"Are you even sure this ship has a self-destruct system?" Judging by the actions of the pirates, it's not the first time they've boarded this tub. I wouldn't give the opportunity to any suckers to damage their ship, which brings a constant profit.”

After my words, Tria stopped, looked at the screen for a couple of seconds, and then slapped a biotic charge into the terminal, tearing it to pieces.

"Why are you laughing?" She turned to me. "That's your business, too."

"Far from it. For me, these primitive forms of life do not pose any threat. I can cut them all out without sweating.”

"Then go and kill them." Obstinate azari told me her plan of salvation.

“Well. But then your share of the sale of the computer will be reduced from thirty percent to twenty.”

“...Well.” Tria managed after a few seconds of deliberation. “We have just the size of the team reduced by a third.”

“But first we will sign the changes to the contract. It's not just for me, it's for you too.”

Azari growled softly, but then picked herself up and activated her multitool. I've had one now, too. I assembled it from spare parts taken from a warehouse from the deceased Garush. After confirming the terms of the deal, I rubbed my hands together. I did something nasty - my heart is happy.

"Sit here and wait for me to return. Don't open the door for anyone.”

"Even for you?" Rina asked sarcastically.

"I especially. I'll open it myself if I have to. All right, have a good time.”

With that, I left the control room and locked the doors behind me, blocking them. With my computing abilities, I had long ago hacked into the ship's computer, setting up the highest level of access for myself.

Then I did not break forward, and leaked into the ventilation. Judging by the readings of the sensors, the traitor was left to sit in the cargo hold, and the assault group of ten batarians slowly moved towards the cabin of the ship, simultaneously scouring the premises. Looking at the ship's plan, I immediately realized that the strange and inconvenient layout of the interior space was specially designed to fully search the ship, setting up no more than two roadblocks at one point in time.

Fortunately, someone else designed the ventilation system, so I used it to get to the cargo bay as quickly as possible. I thought about it for a few seconds, then contacted the control room via the ship's network.

“Ale-ale, Okren. I have a question for you.”

"I'm listening." The scientist responded.

“What means of communication do the batarians have?”

“Radio communication through four channels and laser communication.”

“Can you give me the characteristics of the ranges? Enter the data into the terminal.”

“Just a minute... Do you want to break their connection with each other?”

"Yes, I do. And with support, too. Judging by their behavior, they do not expect much resistance. So short-term silence should not arouse strong suspicions.

“It's done.”

"Yeah. Thank you. By the way, did you know there were two dozen broadband jammers inside the ship?

"What?" It was Tria who intervened.

“That. Okay, I have to get busy.”

I activated the devices I found in the ship's network, which were essentially banal interference generators over a wide range. After that, all I had to do was put the ship's network in lockdown mode, and I could be sure that the pirates wouldn't be able to call for help even if they connected to the network. Now it was possible to activate the normal operation of the ship only from the central server.

Then I got out of the vent behind the batarian traitor and quickly beheaded him. I wasn't going to scare anyone or explain anything. This whole pirate raid was just a way for me to have fun. So-to-say, a small insertion of a stealth shooter in the strategy of real time.

Then I took the form of an innocently murdered traitor and quickly followed the pirates. They divided in pairs and went around the ship's premises. The first two victims met me at the maintenance hatch, where one of them was digging around trying to connect to the ship's computer.

"Korkak, you were told to sit still and not twitch.” Addressed me 'guard', before criticizing crookedness of 'technique'. Even though I was kind of an ally, the batarian pointed his weapon at me. However, there was no anxiety in his emotions.

“Let me help you with the equipment. It looks like this frog was able to access the ship's computer.” I said, coming closer.

"Yes, do it." Second pirate irritably moved to the side. “I'll go on with the detour.”

The first pirate, apparently, suspected something, but did not have time to react. My hands turned into blades, and then I stabbed them through the necks of my opponents, breaking their vertebrae. A split second later, a spike that grew out of the blade passed inside the spine and turned the brain of one of the victims into a puree.

The second pirate became my information donor. While he was dying in agony, the memory reading spell gave me all the information about codes, passwords, protocols, typical pirate behavior, accent, and so on. Five seconds later, I took the form of a combat suit, so that in the conditions of a working jammer I was indistinguishable from the original.

What followed was, in fact, routine. Silently sneak up on another pair of victims, cut off their heads, if necessary, change the appearance, and go look for the next.

The last batch of future corpses I caught up right in front of the entrance to the control room where the would-be archaeologists were holed up. There were four of them, so it was necessary to act quickly and accurately.

Fortunately, the man at the back, glancing back from time to time, paid no attention to me. So, I quietly grabbed him, severed his spine, and quickly dragged him into the passageway he was just passing. After a couple of seconds, his doppelganger came out in my face. My body's ability to take any shape turned me into the perfect spy.

"Hey you, there! Open the door in a good way.” The pirate leader shouted as he reached the door. Two of his escorts took their seats along the edges of the corridor. The 'speaker' himself did not dare to stand in the middle of the aisle, but went to a small snout right next to the door, where there was some kind of technical shield with equipment. In fact, it was another design solution that made it easier to capture the ship.

I didn't slow down, but rather accelerated my pace and punched the necks of two stormtroopers. Magic-enhanced daggers sliced through the spacesuits' armor like paper. The chief pirate noticed my attack and even managed to raise his weapon, but that was the end of his success. With a wide movement, I cut both of his arms, so that the assault rifle fell to the floor. Then there was another session of memory reading, the results of which I became the owner of information about the general situation on the pirate ship. After cutting off the batarian's head, I opened the door to the control room, entering it in my standard form of the Prophet from the game Crysis.

"Didn't you expect it?" I said to the 'comrades' who were pointing their weapons at me. “Hold the trophy. Then you can dry it and hang it on the cabin wall.”

I threw the head of the pirate leader to the krogan. He caught it deftly, examined it from all sides, and chuckled contentedly, apparently appreciating my offer. The batarian's body was covered with many colored tattoos, so the trophy was quite original.

"And what now?” Tria asked, looking out into the corridor. Three beheaded bodies in combat suits impressed her. “How do we get off this ship? Judging by the readings of the instruments, we are now moving at superlight speed.”

"I'm going to have to cut off all the pirates' heads and grab this cargo ship for myself. It seems to look more solid than your tub. What do you think?

“It's crazy. If you can take down a dozen stormtroopers, that doesn't mean you can kill a thousand. This is 'Ishnup Star' - the mobile base of the pirate clan 'Warriors of Ishnup'. This is where most of their forces are located." Tria stunned me.

"And when did you realize that? I asked.

"About five minutes ago. Compared the image of the ship with a database of pirate clans in the sector.”

"Well, it's better late than never. In general, my plan does not change. We either need to capture the entire base, or somehow intercept the engine control, get out of the superlight, open the hangar and make sure we're not shot as soon as we fly out. Given the number of points in the second plan, it is guaranteed to fail. So, it will be easier to behead the command of pirates, and then finish them off one by one. Or maybe you have a better plan?

The answer to me was an embarrassed silence.

"I understand that. Okay, sit quietly and don't be naughty. Don't open doors for strangers. Wait for me and I'll be back, just wait...”

With these words, I left the control room and went to conquer the base of the pirates. One against ten thousand. Where am I going to bury them? Judging by the knowledge in the head of the leader of the assault group, there were more than ten thousand pirates on board of the spaceship. Recently, the 'Ishnup Warriors' had a large raid, and now the crew of most of the pirate ships have been relaxing here, descending loot and patching wounds.

I got out of the ship of archaeologists already in the form of a batarian. The tattooed pirate was not the last figure on Board, although he had few subordinates in the overall power structure. Rather, he was the commander of a special forces unit that was sent on important assignments.

I needed to destroy a lot of people, and the easiest way to do it was with their own hands. On some other ship, this might have been a problem, but here was a society of pathological murderers who dreamed of power and glory. I think a small bloody riot would be very useful.

First, I had to break the ship's internal communication system. Oddly enough, the entire technical section of the batarian ship was managed by a salarian. That's where I went. The search for the victim was delayed because I had to go from end to end to catch up with a hard-working toad, constantly engaged in all sorts of activities. But there was also a plus, because I found him in a deserted technical room, where only a Salarian, two of his bodyguards and three batarian technicians were present.

Here I decided to test my knowledge in Mass Effect technology. Earlier, after disassembling the weapons of ten attackers, I extracted the Zero Element. And now I had a weapon in my hand that combined magic, Ancient technology, and local technology.

The first two shots showed that the base power of the weapon is described by the word 'overkill'. Two batarians in heavy armor literally disappeared. At least they were standing a little apart, so the salarian wasn't hurt. After that, I sped up and quickly finished off the technicians with my sword.

The salarian surprised me with a good reaction. He managed to pull out a gun and even managed to hit me a couple of times. That's just the use of it was zero. After that, he dropped the weapon and reached for the multitool on his left hand, but I didn't let him raise the alarm. After immobilizing the victim, I broke into her memory, reading the information about the ship.

Almost immediately, I came across a reference to the presence of a network of radio jammers on the ship. They were needed in case someone tried to board the ship. In standard mode, they left a few frequencies clear for the pirate commanders to talk on. But it was possible to turn on the full suppression mode.

The computer terminal was nearby, so I immediately used my new knowledge to log in to the network and give the appropriate command to the computer. Also, I blocked the internal connection through the computer network. To prevent disabling of this mode, I changed the main and spare passwords. After that, I could only sigh at the lack of time for thoughtful brain evisceration and wring the salarian's neck.

Then I went to the lair of one of the leaders of the local electorate. It was a krogan named Turchak, who led a fleet of three ships, the basis of which were krogan. Given the fact that 'Ishnup Star' was a batarian group, it was easy to see that the authoritative krogan was not liked by the rest of the gang.

When I reached my destination, I stumbled into a room filled with drunken krogans. Any other visitor would have thought ten times before doing this, but I was not scared by the crowd of local thugs. On the contrary, I was going to scare them.

“Turchak, I brought to you a message from the ataman.” I shouted to the entire room. The noise of conversation faded a little, and the head of the krogans rose to his feet.

“And what does Nergal's belch need?”. He asked and poured a mug of some swill into his mouth.

"He's ousting you as squadron commander. All those present in this room will be executed for treason. And right now, my soldiers are clearing your barracks.”

Krogan at first did not believe me, but the attempt to contact his subordinates naturally failed. And then he was not up to politics. I took out my 'blaster', which now had the look of a conventional heavy assault rifle. A long line killed at least a dozen krogans and wounded as many more.

The pirates rushed somewhere. Turchak slid into cover as fish, where he began to fire at me with a pistol. After a few seconds, he was handed a more powerful weapon, and I had to dodge the shots so as not to seem like an unkillable monster in the eyes of others.

In a rustle, I ran away from the place of celebration while leaving the krogans alone. Then I was on my way to the 'throne room', where a feast was being held with the participation of the leader of all this pirate rabble. On the way, I took the form of a Turchak. Normally, he didn't walk around the ship alone, but my one-man theater had a limited number of staff. At least for the moment.

"Rugert, Nergal's bitch, I challenge you to a duel!" I roared as I entered the room. The guards tried to tie me down, but I easily scattered them, breaking the necks of a couple of particularly zealous ones. “From now on, I will command the 'Star Ishnup'!”

“Kill him.” The batarian commanded, simultaneously activating the kinetic shield around his 'throne'. The force field that appeared cut one of the pirates in half, but no one paid any attention to him.

The order was given, but there was no one to carry it out. In this room, only the guards I had just scattered had weapons. At the entrance, everyone was checked for weapons. They checked me, but no one expected me to be a weapon on my own.

In front of an astonished audience, I performed a trick worthy of Houdini. I tilted my head back, opened my mouth wide, and pulled out a compact automatic blaster. After that, I started shooting defenseless batarians, most of whom could barely stand on their feet at all.

Security tried to break into the hall, but I used the salarian tech's multitool to close the main doors and block them. After that, I literally staged a genocide by shooting everyone present. Only Rugert and three of his closest henchmen were hiding behind a protective field, unable to stop me in any way.

Finally, convinced that I would have to use something more powerful than a normal blaster to break through the kinetic shields, I promised to the pirate leader that I would personally take his head off... after I take over the ship. With that, I opened the emergency exit door and fled from the scene.

Then I went to the barracks, where there were subordinates of the same tattooed pirate, from which I began my masquerade. Raising the fighters on the alarm, I went with them back to Rugert. Then I volunteered to personally finish off all the krogan, and then sent my subordinates to clean the living quarters of the krogan, where they were already waiting with open arms.

The bloody bacchanalia on the ship was gaining momentum, and I was making even more confusion in the minds of the pirates as best I could. Half an hour later, it was no longer just a battle of batarians against krogans. A couple of captains also decided to catch fish in the muddy water, forming a third camp, which hit the back of 'my' special forces storming the krogans.

During all this time, none of the pirates were able to leave the ship, because it was still moving at superlight speed. Attempts to stop led to nothing, because I blocked the computer, and in the technical rooms next to the engine barricaded two dozen salarians, who after the death of their leader reasonably feared for their lives.

Alas, this whole celebration of life could not last long. Rupert was killed in another firefight. This happened without my participation, but I was aware of the events, because I constantly monitored the situation on the ship through surveillance cameras, which I contacted via a secure laser communication channel.

Just a dozen seconds after this death, the alarm sounds were heard throughout the ship, and I discovered that the self-destruct system had started counting down in the main computer. Most importantly, I only had thirty seconds of time. I spent twenty of them trying to hack into the computer to disable the countdown, and ten of them trying to protect myself with magic shields and the simplest chakra enhancement of the body. The self-destruct system was completely isolated, and in principle it was impossible to disable it remotely.

When the countdown ended, there was a bright flash. All my magic shields were useless. The explosion was so strong that it literally vaporized the entire ship over a kilometer long. Only my crystal core could survive the disaster.

And so, I was hanging in outer space a few light-years away from the nearest star. It was like the time I got here, but now I didn't have a normal body, so I had nothing to build a stargate out of.

All I could do were hanging in complete emptiness and reflect on how I had come to life like this. Obviously, such a finale was a consequence of my pride. I felt that no one could threaten me, but the reality refused to meet my expectations. The explosion of the ship has robbed me of everything I have been able to achieve since my arrival in this world. And now, I had to find a way to turn things back to normal.