text: [Themes: sci-fi, war]
  
  Things were turning to hell.
  
  A good portion of the pirates were in mass exodus off the planet as the Earth fleet above started to bombard their base locations. Ryker had managed to set up a radio out of some components from one of the ships and was able to patch in with communications back at the pirate H.Q. Apparently it was in shambles with desertion rampant and chaos with the revolt of all it's slaves.
  
  You even had to hide both of your ships in mountain cave not to far from your base location in fear that you guys would be targeted next. You still kept the jeeps and quads in your possession so that you still had some what of a means of transportation.
  
  Anna said that in order to put up a standing fight for when they touched the ground that we would still need more manpower. She ordered Ryker to try to contact any pirates she could that would be willing to join our cause. Ruby mentioned of some pirates that she was close too that would be more than willing to join if the situation was as shit as it seemed.
  
  Not even days after Ryker sent out all the messages that were to be sent, two ships with around five pirates each came in order to join the cause. You feared that they would be unwilling to cooperate and would try to take over what you and Anna had built upon over the years. Yet to your surprise, they all had a lot of fear about their own feature.
  
  Apparently it wasn't just bombs that were being dropped, they were also gassing the pirates. Some of those that had joined had visible burn scars that made you cringe. All of them were in fear of the bounty that no doubt on each of their heads. Apparently the fleet had found out about the ambush on their scouts and are now punching back with iron fist. They were all hoping that you would help to protect them.
  
  Anna was much more charismatic then you had planned on being and promised them that as long as we all stuck together that we would dominate over the colonists once they touched down. That seemed to be enough for them as they started helping around base and making it bigger and better. Anna really had the pants in all this, though she never tried taking any of co-leadership away from you that the two of you shared. Anna seemed to get less and less upset about everything and tried to always keep a smile on her face which was very unlike her.
  
  Maybe it was just to help keep an image of her as the fearless leader that everyone could luck up to. It was working no doubt, as there wasn't much complaining in the work that was to come. Anna wanted to set up separate hidden outposts in case our main base fell, so she sent multiple teams of the new recruits to start building up around the desert and nearby mountain with the ships they brought.
  
  It was at one point while working on a hut that Anna seemed to want to have a word to you up front.
  
  "Hey, I've been needing to talk to you about something important while all the recruits are away."
  
  "Yeah?" You respond while putting down your hammer.
  
  "Well right now I'm only seeing two options in our survival. Either trying to take these fucks out from within or defending ourselves until we can no longer stand. The second option seems a lot more head hardened and risky so I wan to get with plan two, if you'd be up for it."
  
  "What does the plan entail?"
  
  Anna takes a breath before contiuing.
  
  "Since you used to work for those Earth invaders, I want you to pose as a survivor and get on their fleet. Afterwards you can maybe drop down with the colonists and fuck with them to bring them down a notch. Don't worry though, I'll stay in constant contact with you so you won't be alone in this. I'm just asking to see if you'd be up for something like that." Anna finishes.
  
  Something in her eyes seem as if she thinks that you won't be willing to do this. You could go either way honestly, getting captured as a spy doesn't seem too keen to you but neither does holding out and trying to fight against a organized military fleet head on.
  
  > stay and fight a Guerrilla war
  No doubt the colonists would not buy your story about you surviving this long on your own. You would have much more luck helping with the fight here and fighting them head on when they touched down. You just had to raid and pillage their colonies enough so that they would submit to your rule. Doing it with espionage would take too long and put Anna in danger if you failed with your assignment. Even if you did fail with this guerilla war at least you would be doing it together.
  
  "I know you think that it would be better if I went off and did this, but trust me we'll have a much better outcome if we take the fight to them together and drive them off the desert. Afterwards we'll build up a army together and take control of what we can." You persuade, gently grabbing onto her shoulders.
  
  She looks down for a moment, thinking over what you've said. When she looks back at you, you see a bit of hopefulness in her expression.
  
  "Alright, you've been right on some things so far. So I guess I'll trust you on this shit Dipshit." She smiles.
  
  "Trust me, if our soldiers can get those outposts up, we'll be in much better shape. Hell we'll even build underground if we have too. It'll be a fun war for us I can tell you that."
  
  You then see Ruby start walking up to the two of you.
  
  "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."
  
  "Nah, why is something the matter?" Anna asks.
  
  "The opposite actually, Ryke's managed to get that radio working. Says well be able to listen in on the colonists now. He'll find out when they're dropping in on the planet soon."
  
  Anna beams with delight at this news.
  
  "That's great! Now we just got to wait for news on the outposts for when they come back and report. Should be any day now." Anna replies.
  
  Like Anna had predicted some of the troops had come back to report on their respective outposts on quads. They said that everything was turning out good and once they finished up the defenses that they would report back to H.Q. All that was left after that was to hold out and wait for the landing of the colonists, while hoping that none of your bases were targeted by the barrages of missiles or gas that wiped the pirates.
  
  Weeks later
  
  Word had spread throughout your troops that there had been spotted the landing of the colonists that was predicted by Ryker. A few more ships filled with feeling pirates had stopped by your H.Q looking to join up with you. You took them all in with open arms as now you had a sizable force of around thirty or so pirates with your own personal fleet of eight ships, they even managed to fix the one that got gotten damaged in the ambush with the help and leadership of Ryker who had the most knowledge in the area.
  
  Ruby managed the logistics and food supplies as more farms started to be set up creating a constant food supply for everyone. Though as the fear in the pirates had started to diminish as they started feeling more safe and comfortable, so did their restlessness, and their thirst for revenge against the invaders.
  
  Anna assured them that as soon as the time was right that they would have their chance to fight back. You and Anna started setting up some tactics and plans for how you conduct raids on the nearby colony. What you knew for now is that a total of six ships had touched down, all of them fairly big vessels that held a numerous amount of supplies and colonists as well as troops. Anna wanted to raid this colony before any more reinforcements could get dropped down. She also wanted to raid their weapons to have a better fighting chance along with taking a few hostages so that the remaining fleet up in space would hesitate before barraging you with their arsenal.
  
  "If we could take one of the higher ups hostage, then no doubt that they would be totally against firing on any of us since they wouldn't want to kill their own commanders." You suggest to Anna.
  
  "Then let's get this attack going as soon as we can before they set up too many defenses. I'll command our air units while you get the jeeps and hit them from the ground while taking any hostages you can find, we'll have to implant fear into them to break any morale they have. If we attack during the night then we'll have the element of cover and surprise. If the situation starts to lose our favor then we'll retreat with the ships covering our ground units." Anna explains.
  
  "When would you like to attack?"
  
  "Tonight." Anna grins.
  
  Later in the day.
  
  With air teams prepared and briefed on their mission, everyone else who wasn't on board one took a quad with a passenger on the back equippd with a rifle. The quads took point, following you as the ships hovered from behind. You could already see the bright lights that illuminated from the base of the colonists.
  
  You made your quad pick up speed as the pirate behind you clutched on harder. Ryker who was back at H.Q and was coordinating part of the assault radioed in to your earpiece.
  
  "We can either have the quads attack first with their speed or have the ships lay down a barrage of fire first. What's your call commander?"
  
  > have the ships attack first
  "We'll have a better chance if we light up the fuckers first." You switch communications so you can be heard by the rest of the fire teams.
  
  "Anna, I want you and your team to give that base everything you got. Quad team, slow down and wait until the ships are done firing. Continue the charge when I give the signal."
  
  "Alright you heard him, give them fucking fire and fury guys."
  
  The calm night that was once before had now transformed into a loud light show as multiple missiles, lasers, and bullets fired upon the colony up ahead. It's a good thing that the earbuds you had in your ears for communications also acted as a deafening tool, otherwise you would have already lost all hearing. The attack lasted a few minutes, with the last ship stopping it's attack, you started yours.
  
  "Alright, let's fucking go!".
  
  Upon your order all the quads roared forward as you made your way closer to the colony. To your luck a large portion of the makeshift fence that would have blocked your advance had been obliterated in the earlier assault. You also saw multiple bodies all over the place that seemed to be the guards that were protecting the colony. There glowing eyes gave you the assumed knowledgeable that they had equipped night vision. How horrible it would have been had you charged straight in with the quads. A wave of your quads storms the colony as a alarm is heard, your team manages to gun down remaining stragglers from the attack as everyone dismounts and begins the raid into the various buildings and ships.
  
  "Remember that we need a few prisoners." You say into you mike as you unsling your own rifle.
  
  Screams and wails of colonist could be heard as the raid commenced. You felt bad for the women the most, the men had been pretty antsy without slaves to fuck that they had back at their original pirate base. They could do whatever they wanted, as long as it caused chaos and fear then it would be in your favor. A few of the soldiers guarding the colonists started pouring out of different buildings wearing pretty intimidating power armor. A friendly hovering ship though was able to gun a few of them down as the rest of your men took of defensive positions to take out the stragglers.
  
  You had no idea wether or not the ships could distinguish enemies with friendlies, but they seemed to be doing a pretty good job so far. While the rest of your men battled on with the power armored soldiers, you snuck your way past the mayhem to one of the bigger landed ships. It had been peppered with ammunition and the ramp was wide open from the disembarking, defending soldiers. Running up the ramp with your rifle drawn, you took out any armorless ship assistants that were in your way as you made your way farther into the complex machine. The hallways were tinted red with alarms as a occasional body was seen limp on the floor while you casually stepped over it.
  
  You really had low hopes of actually finding a suitable hostage although it wouldn't hurt to at the very least try. With all your experience with different types of ships, finding the control wasn't much of a challenge as most layouts were similar to one another. Entering the smoking control room, you saw to your dismay that most of the occupants seemed to be dead or on the verge of it.
  
  Still, you start bandaging up one of the men who seemed to have had the best hopes of surviving and started to tighten and dress his wounds as best you could could before fireman carrying him out of the destroyed ship.
  
  The sounds of fighting had started to die down outside as most of the colony defenders were taken out. Your own dead men were spotted on the occasion that you stepped over them, hopefully this hostage run would be worth it.
  
  "Alright everyone start pulling out, Anna light this place up again until you don't see anymore signs of movement and head off as well. Our mission is done here." You order to everyone.
  
  Finding your parked ATV, you place your prisoner in the front as you take control from the back and start driving yourself out of the war zone.
  
  It took awhile for everyone to regroup back at H.Q, but everyone manged to get back without a hassle as you started seeing Anna's team land itself in the mountains to the south. Sending a squad of quads to go pick them up, you examined the prisoners taken in the meantime to see if any of them looked to be worth the efforts while your medic bandaged them up.
  
  Most of them were unconscious, and some of the women were missing their pants, in fact a few of your men had came back rather late but gave the excuse that they were finishing up with the clearing of the colony.
  
  Nevertheless you would have to wait until one or two of them regained consciousness and took back to taking count of your men and casualties. You only lost around ten of your soldiers in total, not bad from what you had been expecting but still a number that hurt you a bit. Any other of your raids would have to be smaller scale to minimize any high casualties like that. Wether or not they would bother rebuilding that H.Q was up to you, you wouldn't be surprised if there was any survivor but then again there could have one or two hiding in a closet somewhere.
  
  Mission successful nevertheless.
  
  > Epilogue
  As it turned out, you managed to capture a pretty high ranking man. All the other men and women that were captured were given to the men to do fuck all with. No retaliation strikes were put on your outpost as of yet, though it didn't matter as all of your men and supplies were moved to a much safer location in the mountains while awaiting for any heat to die down.
  
  Your scouts would continue to search for any pirates that were in hiding in order for them to join your cause and bolster your numbers. You found quite a few enclaves of them and with each one held a group of sad men who still had fire in their hearts and a thirst for revenge. Funny in how you were running from these men in the start of this all and now you commanded over the remaining major resistance.
  
  Any natives that came across your path were executed and put down. They had chosen to side with the colonists and endure them and because of that they were enemies all the same. It was you and your band versus the world at this point.
  
  Your only hopes from this point onward was to scavenge any of the power armor and high tech weapons from the colonists and just hope that tactics would prevail over all.
  
  You didn't really know how long you would be able to last like this, more colonies were already landing and they were getting bigger and stronger by the day. You most likely wouldn't be living a long life, but what made you happy was living a free one and that's all that mattered. Your men would rape whoever they wanted, loot whatever they wanted and you would tell them to do whatever you wanted.
  
  You don't really mind keeping a platonic relationship with Anna either, it would complicate things rather too much otherwise. The two of you would rule in your own way as your dreams of a future were still bright and hopeful even with your circumstances being so low.
  
  Your life was happy and your life was free.
  
  Life was good.
  
  Till the day I die-Ending.