<div style="text-indent:1em;">Erix&amp;#39; head rang as he was once again thrown about by a second volley of fire, then the lights died as the ship lost power.  A emergency generator must have kicked in as the gravity was still on.  Erix rubbed where his head had hit the wall, then realized his right arm was working again.  Carefully checking his left arm, he found the energy slug crushed between the wall and his arm.  Erix silently stood up as the pirates started yelling about getting off the boat.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Oh I wouldn&amp;#39;t worry about getting off this ship."  Erix said, walking towards the gate.  "If they wanted it blown to pieces they&amp;#39;d fire one more time.  What they want is prisoners, someone to blame for the damage that was caused to the transport.  Thankfully you&amp;#39;re not gonna have to worry about that."</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"An&amp;#39; whys tha&amp;#39;?" The first pirate demanded, charging towards the cage door.  He stopped cold when a blade of energy erupted from his back.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Because you&amp;#39;re between me and my ship."  A sharp crack as the energy blade cut through the bars of the cell, the pirate falling over as the blade stopped supporting his weight.  In the light of the blade the two other guards could be seen scrambling to find their rifles, but they never got the chance.  A plasma caltrop opened from Erix&amp;#39; left arm, shooting down the further pirate.  The closer one find his rifle just as the blade found his lower back, cutting him in two.  The energy blade cauterized the wounds as it made them, leaving the whole room perfectly clean.</div><br/><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Erix had to get too his ship.  Sure if the Con&amp;#39;s found him in his cell they&amp;#39;d likely wouldn&amp;#39;t count him as a member of the pirates, but that would also make him look weak.  They find him in his own highly advanced ship with a trail of pirate corpses behind him, and he might seem like a respectable warrior.  One worth not sending back to Alliance space for the bounty either way, or at least Erix hoped so.  Strolling through the hall of the ship Erix lead with his blade, searching for the armory.  He wanted his rifle and other equipment back, if the Wolven got to it first there was no way he&amp;#39;d get it back.  He stopped as he walked over an unconscious pirate at the base of stairs leading to the upper deck.   Based on the dent in the wall he had been thrown down the stairs by the impact.  As he scanned the downed pirate he heard a sound from stairs to his left, and a pirate came charging down with a gun.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"This is your fault!  They want your bounty!"  The man said as he fired at Erix.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"That makes no god damn sense and you know it."  Erix said patiently as his left hand came to life with energy, raising it to intercept the shot.  The plasma bolt deflected off the energized surface of his palm, slamming into the pirates knee to send him tumbling down on top of his shipmate.  A swift kick to the head followed and the man was sleeping as well.  Erix quickened his pace down the hall, other&amp;#39;s might have heard the pirate yelling and be coming to express their displeasure as well.</div><br/><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Erix arrived at the armory without further interruption, finding most of the rooms contents crashed down on the ships quartermaster.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Crushed by weaponry, bad way to go." Erix said to himself as he picked through the pile for his rifle.  After a second of shuffling he found it next to the quartermaster&amp;#39;s head, looked like it had been the gun to bash it in.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Good girl, Chelsea." He said to the rifle, pulling it out of the pile.  He then moved to the back of the armory where they kept smaller, more valuable items.  The lock box would be holding his ship keys, or at least he hoped.  If they had left it on the table it would be in the mess of weapons covering the floor, and Erix would never find it before the Cons got there.  Taking his energy sword, sliced into the safe box where the latch would lock in.  Pulling the now lock-less lock box open, Erix found his keys scattered about a pile of small gems and jewelry.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"For a bunch of idiots these guys are really well off." Erix whistled to himself, grabbing the keys from box.  He pondered grabbing the valuables as well, but he didn&amp;#39;t need money now so they were useless to him.  Exiting the armory, he found a pirate walking down the hall from the direction he hadn&amp;#39;t been, armed with an energy sword.  Dashing to the man before he could react, Erix flicked the pirates energy sword aside with his own, then grabbed him around the neck.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"If I energize my hand, you&amp;#39;ll die slowly as you&amp;#39;re throat melts, leaving you unable to breath.  Or, you can tell me where they are keeping my ship."  Erix threatened, and the pirate dropped his energy blade and began telling.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"It&amp;#39;s just down the hall, but you&amp;#39;ll need a card and a voi-" the pirate cut out as Erix let go of his throat.  Erix them grabbed him by the side of the head and slammed it into the wall.</div><br/><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">Walking past the downed pirate, Erix found the door he mentioned.  He started to cut into it with his energy sword, but found it reinforced.  Erix tapped the door with his knuckle, then the wall around the door.  The ring was higher, which meant lighter metal.  Slicing through the metal around the door, Erix kicked it down and entered.  The room was not given the benefit of the back-up generator.  As Erix walked in he immediately began floating about the room.  Thankfully he wasn&amp;#39;t sharing the air with much, just a few loose tools and his ship.  Floating in the air, it looked like a giant dark-grey ice cream cone.  The control hub was the cone, with the top half of its pointier side a clear glass cockpit.  The ice cream was the engine, which currently had no distinctive features except a small indent on its top.  Erix set his caltrop to its lowest setting, and began to fire it behind him to push him towards his ship.  Upon getting close to it he hit the big button on his keys, and the glass top opened.  Slipping into the space above his seat, the Hull Tap&amp;#39;s gravity pulled him down into his chair.  The lid closed, and the engine quickly came to life, flashing a bright blue energy all about the cargo hold.</div><br/><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"And now, to freedom."  Erix said, pushing the ship forward.  The ship began forward movement, but was soon stopped by the cargo bay doors.  Then the engine began turning, the exit port shifted to point diagonally, and spinning rapidly.  The point of the Hull Tap dug into the bay doors, digging deeper as it drilled into the iron.  With a metalic scream, the metal gave way and Erix pulled through to the open space beyond.</div><br/>Looking about, he saw that it was not the transport ship that had ruined the pirates'.  A large battleship was pushing forward, Erix could see boarding parties departing to capture the pirates.<br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"Must have jumped here, no way the pirates were dumb enough to attack while that thing was insight."  Erix said to himself, turning his ship towards the large cruiser.  Hitting a few buttons, he set up an SOS becon, and began broadcasting a short message.</div><br/><div style="text-indent:1em;">"My name is Erix Treye, I was captured by the pirates but managed to free myself during your attack.  I am looking for safe harbor, and offer my skills freely to any who would have me."  He set the message on loop, and began a slow approach, waiting for an answer.</div>