Pirate Bebop

Ch.37

“Y-you actually came back…” Vonee said in awe when we entered with a cart full of droid brains the following morning. “It’s been a few days. I know you said it would take at least as much time, but I…” The silver slime gabliani was clearly at a loss and looked like she had renewed hope. “I shouldn’t have doubted you, I’m sorry.”

“Hey, ya didn’t know us before we met. It’s understandable. Just know that we expect some help after helping ya. As much as I wish we could afford to just be charitable, we need ya to pay us back with yer skills and expertise.” I said to the short woman as I barely avoided rubbing my firm abs. The glow of the purple pearl in my navel was enough for everyone in the know to look at me with varying levels of annoyance and lewd appreciation, but I’m going to wear my low-cut jean short-shorts and my belly-baring crop top with pride, damn it!

“Well, that’s something I can accept easier than being helped for free. Just so you know, the sexual service option is still available. We’re a mess of needs right now and even without isolation being a factor, we gabs are really horny by default.” Vonee said with a leer at my abs.

“If ya want to do that, ya can, but we need yer help assembling a rebel fleet to free the Three Galaxies from the tyranny of the Govs and Corps and hopefully establish a new united diplomatic government. Don’t know how that’ll work, but something’s gotta be done.” I told her before grabbing one of the droid brains from the nearest cart and holding it out to her. “Here. My sexy rask friends assure me that it’ll work out fer ya.”

“Rasks? We don’t have a high opinion of them despite how sexy they are, but if it was a repair job, I’ll trust it wholeheartedly. Nobody can fix anything like a rask.” Vonee took the softball-sized spheroid and absorbed it into her sternum. I could see the dozens of threads snapping off until only her vibrant soul was in control of her nanobot slime swarm. “I...I can’t hear them!” Vonee went to the console and she sighed in relief. “They’re all here. I’m free...I’m free!”

“Let’s get yer people out of there, huh? Gather up all the silver goo ya can.” I said to the wonderfully aglow and beautiful person in front of me. Seeing someone revel in their Freedom just felt beyond satisfying. It wasn’t pleasure like what I had from sex and whatnot, but it was a different kind of wonderful that made me want to keep doing good like this. Just seeing Vonee’s happiness was reward enough for me, but I need to be a scrupulous pirate, not a charity.

🎺

“We’ve taken damage!” An ensign barked as the Infinity was battered by Separatist droids.

“Hyperspace Drive is active! Captain?” The navigation officer barked as the ship shook.

“Random jump, we can’t lead them back to the Capital!” Captain Atano ordered before a red wormhole opened next to the ship. “Wait, abort that or-.” Everything turned red and black before brief moments of sanity returned slowly.

“Give me a report?” Atano groaned as she climbed up from her collapsed position on the floor, rubbing the bloody gash on her head.

“We’re in unknown space, the chronometer is reporting a temporal shift.” The science officer called out as she held a broken arm.

“Separatist droids are non-functional, security is dealing with them for now.” The security chief reported as he leaned off of his broken leg.

“Reports of injuries and deaths all over the ship.” Atano’s second grunted, holding her side to stem the bleeding. “Looks like we are floating next to a planet that’s been cracked in half.”

🎺

“Hey, Bobo? Is that ship bigger than a moon and looks like it’s even older than a Relic?” A Gab asked her Rask friend.

“It’s named Infinity? What dumbass named their ship that? Don’t the fuckers know no one name’s their ship that unless they want doom? Didn't they hear the legend of the super dreadnought Infinity? Fuck, I’m so high right now. It can’t be that big.”

“Pass me the joint! I want another hit!” The gab demanded. “The movies of the ship are trash anyways.” The two intoxicated dumbasses didn’t even notice their ship being pulled in by tractor beams towards the ‘moon’.

🎺

“Uh, Jet? There’s a giant moon-sized ship with the IFF of Infinity suddenly in orbit around Tarkus.” Collateral said when he entered the bridge of the Bebop where Jet was already looking at his navigation console in bemusement.

“I see that, but when did that prop ship show up? Something that big can’t have come from nowhere.” Jet scratched at his ear. “It should be hollow like the others, but where did it come from?” Juet questioned while peering at the hologram.

“Jet, we checked the IFF: it’s the real deal.” Collateral told him flatly as everyone quickly filed into the bridge at the announcement from HK to gather there. The base didn’t have its own properly fleshed-out ops center, so the Bebop would keep having to serve the role for now.

“What’s going on?” Visilia huffed when she entered with Shekka and Hildra practically hugging her hips. “Ladies, not now. This is serious.” Visi said upon seeing the hologram.

Jet was stunned at being told it was legit, so Collateral pointed at the hologram of the gigantic, badly damaged space-hulk. “A few moments ago, a UNSC ship known as the Infinity had exited slipspace and is now hovering right outside our doorstep. Yes, people, it’s real. Now, would any of our native friends care to tell us why you think this ship isn’t?”

“Um, it’s been declared lost with all hands since before the Empire left Andromeda, since before Urta took the Empire over for a thousand years after she stormed a warpath through Andromeda to reform the Empire after the first split. It was the Flagship of the Republic.” Spike explained which caused the Argentines to groan in annoyance.

“Of fucking course.” Brennie huffed with a shake of her head. “We didn’t care much for it, since it was from the early actual reports of that war. We were brought in later on when things looked about ready to spiral out of control.”

“Then that means these are the last remnants of the Republic itself. We have to take over that ship before its crew tries something stupid, or worse, all of Novahome wakes up and launches a full-scale raid on it.” Runner told everyone and they couldn’t deny the possibilities.

“Hold up!” Jet shouted to gain their attention. “Now, while I agree we need to do something about it before shit hits the fan, how are we supposed to go about it? We can’t exactly tow it and stow it away, that thing is an artificial moon! Then there’s the crew! They probably still think the war is on-going and cannot be persuaded. I’m sorry, but it’s too risky.”

“Jet, that ship carries a fleet within her belly. This is something we cannot ignore.” Pillar countered, only for Jane to return from her trip with Helvex and Sellox to deliver the droid brains and storm in with her hackles raised so hard that her neck and tail were almost twice as fluffy.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on?! I’m feeling a lot of suddenly intense things in the...the Force I guess, stressing the threads of every soul on Tarkus!” Jane snarled and everyone looked at her in shock. “What?! Okay, look, I need to get to the source of, of whatever that thing is.” Jane pointed at the Infinity’s hologram. “If I can get to their leader, I can resolve this before everything goes to shit! I can feel practically every pirate crew on Tarkus salivating!”

“It’s an ancient Relic from one of Andromeda’s past wars, before they even encountered the Milky Way. Anyway, fine, I’ll get you there. Brennie, Hunter, Collateral and Pillar, you’re coming too!” Runner declared as she rushed past Jane, who also followed her to Bay 3, where she transformed into her ship alt. “Get in me!” Runner shouted as her ramp lowered.

“Normally that’s a sexy thing to hear from you.” Brennie commented while they entered. Runner didn’t even wait for them to get to the cockpit, she took off and rocketed into space using the same daring swooping arc that Jane used to and from Exogol. “Okay, so, if I remember right, these ships had extensive tractor beam systems, so they’ll try to nab you.”

“Oo~! A tractor beam run! Gimme!” Jane jumped over the back of Runner’s pilot seat and moaned from the lewd method of synchronizing happening quickly. “Mm~. Draw it out when ya can next time, luv. Now then~. Time fer some fun.” Jane pressed some buttons and the viewscreen turned into a blackout with odd previously invisible waves.

“Hey, you have tractor beam sensors, Vinnie?” Hunter asked his ship-wife in surprise as Jane took the controls and worked her magic.

“Hey, I thought I might be able to punch past them with my speed, I didn’t know I had this feature!” Runner replied happily as her future waifu navigated her through the web of capture beams trying to nab them. “H-hey, slow down or-!”

“Yee-fuck-haw~!” Jane squealed and there was a shuddering jolt that overcame the inertia dampeners slightly. “We’re in! Get yer sexy seat-dildo out of me, we’ve gotta go!”

“D-did you just punch me through a damaged section of the hull and-oh~ I fucking love you, you crazy bitch!” Vinnie panted and Jane moaned and squeaked as she wiggled on the seat.

“Open up!” Brennie called from the back as she, her Crusaders and Vinnie’s Chasers were all waiting for the ramp to lower. It was good that they had followed briskly after them when they left the Bebop or they would have missed the ride.

“I will after I fuck this-!” Vinnie whined when Hunter helped the panting and eager Jane free from the silvery seat-dildo that was soaked in Jane’s grool by hoisting her over his shoulder. “Fucking cockblockers! Ugh! Fine, get out and make sure it’s safe for me to shift back.”

The ramp lowered and they quickly took stock of the situation. It seemed Jane had rammed the Runner into an already spaced area of the hull, specifically where a breach had emptied most of the storage room the small golden gunboat had lodged into. “Yeah, you’re clear!” Hunter announced on the comms since they were in EVA gear. Well, besides Jane, but she’s a metallic argent slime and the void of space had no real effect on her.

Runner changed back and then summoned her armor, having been too much in a hurry to do that first. “Hey, wait, Jane doesn’t have her own armor!” Runner pointed out and the voiceless, due to there being no atmosphere, slime wolf morphed her waist through Hunter’s arm and somehow propelled herself towards the blast doors that had closed this breached room off. It was surreal to see the nearly-naked woman so at ease in the void of space.

“Well, she’s a metallic slime, right? Doesn’t she have the same durability as iron or something?” Brennie asked curiously, since slime sub-types weren’t really a thing beyond Argent and non-argent in Devorak. “I mean, she is really heavy, but we’re super strong and-.” Brennie watched as Jane slipped through the supposedly sealed blast doors. “Uh…”

“I’ll just grab those.” Runner grabbed Jane’s abandoned daisy dukes and crop top moments before the outer hull started shifting and sealing the breach. “Hey~! That’s really smart! I was figuring we’d need to hack this, rush in, lose atmo in the interior, cause more blast doors to activate. She’s an old hand at this.”

“She is a veteran pirate, Runny.” Hunter commented as he crossed his arms and shook his head with impressed appreciation as the space began filling with atmo.

“Let's move on.” Pillar urged the group as he and his Defenders took point.

The door slid open to reveal Jane in her nude glory with her tail wagging. “Hey lads and lasses! Welcome aboard! I’m yer captain: Jane ‘Long John’ Silver! I’ll be yer guide to piracy today! Step one: secure a breach! Step two: find the nearest barracks and take prisoners! Let’s go!” The naked sexy bitch turned around and almost ran off, but Collateral grabbed her by the scruff.

“Not so fast! These old ships were-.” Collateral was interrupted by blaster fire coming down the hall and punching through the silver slime wolf, who instantly regenerated before they got behind the Defender’s shields. “Full of well-trained soldiers!”

“Well, they’re fast, I’ll give them that. Also, woof! Those blasters are hot. They actually boiled away the slime they hit before my body could dissipate the heat. Nice. I want one.” Jane casually commented as Pillar and his Defenders stomped towards the assault with their shields blocking the hall.

Once they were close enough, they lowered the tops of the shields enough to launch stun grenades from their shoulder launchers. With them stunned, Vinnie and her Chasers raced towards them, quickly pacifying the soldiers by disarming them and tying their wrists and ankles. Brennie and her Crusaders covered the other end of the hallway, while Hunter and his Ghosts snuck away to scout ahead.

“Alright, as much as we appreciate your expertise, we’re veterans with tens of thousands of years of experience at this kind of stuff. Even if you didn’t just bypass that blast door back there, we would’ve been able to make do just fine.” Runner approached her lupine lover and handed her the crop top and daisy dukes. “You may want to put these on.”

“Eek!” Jane squeaked adorably and hurried to put on the clothes before fishing out her odd right arm and right leg exo-armor. “I-I can’t believe I wasn’t worried about being nude around so many people! So embarrassing~!” Jane mewled as she adjusted her crop top.

“Hey, it was a great view. Anyway, we need to get to the bridge and in a ship this massive, that’s-.” Runner held up a hand and then looked at her future wife. “You punched me through the hull in a damaged spot barely two decks below the bridge? How the fuck are you so good?”

“I dunno. I just go with my instinct. I’m no mastermind.” Jane shrugged and followed the flow of the troops as Collateral patted Runner on the shoulder.

“You just know how to pick ‘em, sis.” Collateral chuffed in amusement and they too joined in on the flow heading for the bridge.

🎺

I entered the bridge with a sashay to my hips, a wag to my tail and a swagger to my step. “Hello~, lassies and laddies. Yer currently our esteemed guests on yer own ship. Please relax while I parley with yer captain. Now, speak up, who is it?” I cheerfully asked as I looked over the assembled crew that had been promptly subdued and tied up by Hunter’s ghosts since they had found the bridge first.

“Hey, no need to pull the whole intimidatingly cheerful pirate queen act. We were their allies back in the day.” Hunter voiced and I shrugged with a devil-may-care grin. “Fuck, how do we keep finding people like you? Now then, apologies for the rapid takeover, everyone, but if we don’t declare your allegiance to a pirate crew now, you’re going to get swarmed by a whole planet full of them!”

“I’d sooner die than ally with pirate scum!” A Togruta declared. Her orange skin on her face was stained red from the gash on her brow that stretched nearly to her left montral. Her uniform was clearly that of a commanding officer, so I approached and knelt in front of her.

“Well, that’s just not true. I know it. I have bad news fer ya. That cosmic event ya just survived? That was a Warp Storm of sorts, both spatial and temporal. Yer another galaxy over and several thousand years past yer times. The Empire reunited, grew and fell while yew’ve been gone. Ya have nothing besides this floating coffin unless ya announce yer allegiance to a crew.” I told the woman in a gentle yet firm tone that was nearly condescending. A tone I knew she would cave to if it endangered the lives of her crew further.

“I...what?” The woman’s pupils dilated and she looked around at the Argentines.

“Ah, she probably doesn’t recognize us. Hold on.” Hunter took off his helmet and his siblings/lovers also did so. “We’re the DOOM Marines of Devorak. Sorry about the armor change, but that happens over thousands of years. You need to broadcast immediately that you are allies of the Silver Pirates before a whole fleet of hungry pirates launch from the planet.”

“Yeh, I’ll even do it fer ya. Hold on sweet thing.” I traced her head injury and she hissed, but then her face relaxed after I finished sealing it with my slime. It would still scar her brow white as Togruta biology was wont to do, but it would be one she could be proud of since she survived such a harrowing experience.

I stood and went to the comms station, casually kicked my paws up on the dash and pressed a few buttons. “Hello~ Tarkus. This is the Infinity, no, not a joke. She just popped back into reality and she’s mine. I am Jane ‘Long John’ Silver. Yes, that Silver. Don’t fuck with my stuff or I’ll come down on ya harder than the UnSC on a minor inconvenience~.” I declared with a saccharine sweet tone so dangerous I’m sure I just made a few lesser men piss themselves.

I hung up and put the message on loop for a few minutes before I looked over my shoulder at everyone. “Okay folks, let’s get these poor sods straightened out, catalog all the damage and go from there. Untie them.” I waved dismissively as I relaxed in the chair and relished in the feeling of asserting my dominance without actually hurting anyone. Damn do I get an endorphin high from this shit. I really missed this, even if I wish I didn’t have to be a pirate.

“Already on it, but it’s slow going with so much damage. Plus the tech being so outdated anyway.” Collateral answered with a look around the bridge. Some sections of the ceiling had been rattled apart by the transition through the Warp and there was a blast shield covering a cracked portion of the forward viewscreen.

“It’s even more outdated than what the UnSC uses.” Brennie commented and all of the Infinity’s crew looked confused. “To be fair, this old ship is ancient even by this dystopian era’s standards. It would take an army of engineers to get her up to spec.” Brennie’s words made me smirk.

“Babe, what did I just do before we had to fly up here and save these poor sods?” My words made the Argentines sigh in collective resignation. “What~? Ya make it sound like yer used to shit falling into place by some cosmic convenience and it’s getting exhausting.”

“Vinnie, take her away to spare us her insufferably sexy smugness.” Pillar huffed and I got the feeling that was out of character for him. Yeah, I went a bit far for their tastes. Well, besides Vinnie, who approached me with an amused grin.

“I’m so confused. Gods, I wish Ani was awake.” The captain groaned and the Argentines grumbled while Brennie specifically looked like she suddenly wanted nothing to do with this.

“You better come with me, babe. I get the feeling your purpose here is done.” Vinnie casually hoisted me over her shoulder with her hand on my ass and I let it happen. I even had a pleased wag to my tail batting at her snoot.

“Aw, but I wanted to catch them up on things.” I playfully whined and winked at the woman who was a dead ringer for an adult Ahsoka Tano, but I think her lapel simply read Atano.

“Nope. You’ve done well enough for today. Back home for you.” Vinnie patted my ass playfully.