Jace was humming nonchalantly while sitting in the pilot’s chair. There was nothing for him to do at the moment. So he was just waiting while glancing at the pilot’s station every few minutes to make sure that nothing had changed. His helmet was off for the moment and his body was clean after taking a shower or whatever it was they had on this ship.
Although he was spending a lot of time dodging both Nila and Vana. It was fortunate that he and Asana were the only pilots aboard the ship. So he could spend half of his time on the bridge as he was busy.
"Jace, is there a particular reason you are humming that melody?" The ship’s computer asked as she was prone to do when they were not busy. The ship’s computer had become exceptionally curious over the last two days.
During which they had passed through the Victorium Systems and had arrived at the edge of the Kitnol Line systems. They were less than an hour from arriving in the Waterswan system.
"No it is just catchy, why do you ask?" Jace responded as he sat up properly. It would just become uncomfortable if he started having a conversation in the laid back position that he was used to taking while it was his turn to watch the controls.
"No reason. It is just similar to a musical song from Earth, Ride of the Valkyries." The computer remarked as it began playing an excerpt of the song.
"You are right, they are definitely similar. But there are just a bunch of humming tunes and songs I picked up over the years. Some of them do not have names and were just passed down over the ages from word of mouth." Jace remarked, "from what we understand our cultural identity took a rather remarkable hit when we began developing more and more advanced technology."
"That is an inaccurate assessment. Earth culture along with several other cultures developed rapidly over time when they began cooperating. Especially since they were all seemingly competing for dominance. But in actuality their competition was a great source of strength for the community they were building. Although my records show that they were about to come up with an agreement to cooperatively control space. It would have greatly affected the United Earth Exploration ships like the Discovery. But we disappeared before anything could result in it." The ship’s computer explained.
"Interesting," Jace shrugged, "but we still need to-" The ship suddenly shook and Jace was sitting at attention and pulling them out of warp. "Computer, what is the issue?"
"Just some drag from passing through an energy field. Seems that without a warp bubble we would have been bugs against a windshield." The computer explained with an analogy that bothered him. "I am bringing the others to the bridge and scanning the surroundings."
Jace nodded as he spun the ship in a sickle as he looked around for the source of the energy field. He found it a second later. Hidden along a field of asteroids were a pair of ships facing each other.
"Those ships are the source of the energy field." The computer informed him as the bridge door opened up and the others came running in. "We are being hailed."
Nila nodded as she arrived at her station, "we are indeed. Do you want me to answer?"
"Yes," frowned as the ships moved into attack positions. "Asana, bring up the shielding and Jul’an adjust the deflector plates. Computer, are our weapons operational?" Jace asked as he adjusted the ship he was slowly backing up.
"Only the laser is. The torpedo tubes are not set up for the moment." The computer answered.
Then a second later the other ship was connected to them through an audio only call. "We are the pirates of-"
"End it." Jace told Nila and then looked at Asana who had rushed into the weapon’s station seat next to him. "You ready?"
"I am now. The shields are up and the lasers are ready to fire. Who am I hitting?" Asana asked as Jace moved the ship out of the backed up corner they were in. He flew down and then spun around while moving to one side so he was under one of the enemy ships.
"Either of them, they are both pirate vessels." Jace informed her, "Jul’an, scan them and find where their crucial systems are located. Nila, contact the Waterswan base and inform them about the energy field they set up. Ask the computer for the relevant data." Jace began sending out orders as moved the ship just out of the way of a volley that almost hit them.
"Scanning now," Jul’an answered. "Aim for the rear between their thrusters. That is where their main power source is located. But try to hit from the back, that is where the shields are weakest." The ship shook slightly as they were hit by a hard light beam.
"They are sending over some ships to deal with the energy field and take whatever we leave behind." Nila informed him from her position. "Apparently they have been hearing about trading groups having trouble but that is it."
"Trouble? Probably because everything else was destroyed." Jace growled.
He watched as a red beam hit the back of one of the pirate ships. It tore through the back and then there was a bright explosion as the entire ship blew up. Jace quickly spun the ship around, causing a few grunts from the inertial forces. But it was effective as he was behind the other pirate ship just as it began running away.
Another laser sunk into the back just as it fled. So there was a trail of explosions and debris as it went to ’faster than light’ speed.
Jace slowly moved the ship around and began moving them back toward the space station that was in Waterswan. They were stopped just at the edge of the system so he just had to do a quick warp jump and they were there.
"Nila, see about getting us a palace to land." Jace ordered.
"They are asking for clearance codes?" Nila answered.
"Tell them it is Spectre Jace." He answered with a chuckle, they were being a bit too much of a stickler for rules. Someone important was here watching them.
"Okay, sending you the docking coordinate. It is an external airlock of the base. Seems they were not prepared for a ship ." Nila answered as she sent him the positional data to dock with the station. He began maneuvering the Discovery to dock with the station.