Chapter 559: Crimson Heaven Raid

It had been a few days since Xavier locked himself with Xalvoria in his quarters, and they hadn’t left even once.

The Strider navigated the deep void far beyond the Jupiter station when red warning lights suddenly flared across the bridge console alongside blaring proximity alarms. A massive warship dropped its stealth cloaking to block their flight path.

The dark hull proudly displayed the blood-red crest of the Empire.

An incoming transmission hijacked the main terminal to reveal a scarred commander in imperial armor glaring through the screen.

“Attention, rogue vessel,” the commander demanded. “You are trespassing in Crimson Haven planetary territory. Cut your thrusters and surrender all your belongings, or we will shoot you down and take it from your corpses.”

The transmission cut off just as the warship charged its forward weapon batteries. Requiem calculated the incoming enemy firepower on his interface before glancing over his shoulder at Reva and Lyra.

“Go get Xavier,” Requiem said. “He is the captain, and he needs to make the decision.”

Reva turned toward the blast doors, but Kylus stepped into the center of the bridge and raised his hand to stop her.

“There is no need to disturb him,” Kylus said. “It’s calm and peaceful without him.”

Lyra ignited a flame over her knuckles. “They are threatening to blow us out of the stars. We need his orders.”

“They are nothing but glorified space pirates,” Kylus scoffed while pointing at the enemy vessel looming in the viewport. “I know the Crimson Haven fleet. They operate as thugs backed by the Empire to extort independent ships, and they have absolutely no legal right to threaten us or claim this territory.”

Stepping over to the tactical station, Kylus initiated the Strider’s weapon targeting systems with a confident grin.

“Load the forward railguns and prepare the boarding gear,” Kylus ordered. “We are going to launch a preemptive attack, breach their hull, and loot their entire ship instead.”

Kylus slammed his palm onto the firing console. The Strider’s forward railguns discharged a blinding beam of kinetic energy. The blast smashed directly into the Crimson Haven warship and tore a massive hole straight through its outer plating.

Debris spilled into the void. Reva, Lyra, and Rin stood at the edge of the open airlock. They launched themselves across the vacuum of space and crashed onto the pirate vessel’s lower deck right as the emergency bulkheads sealed the breached sector.

A squad of pirate guards raised their rifles. Reva dashed forward before they could pull their triggers, moving in a blur of crimson speed. Her talons extended and sheared right through the chest plate of the vanguard. She ripped her hand back out and grabbed the next guard by the throat. Her fangs sank into his neck to tear the major artery. Blood painted the metal walls.

Reva dropped the corpse and licked her lips. “They dare threaten us with this level of security? Pathetic.”

More guards spilled out from the adjacent corridor. Lyra raised her pulse rifle and fired three precise shots. The plasma bolts dropped the front line. The surviving pirates returned fire, sending laser blasts scorching past her head.

Lyra holstered the rifle and drew her short blades. Demonic fire flared to life around her hands, turning the black metal of her weapons a glowing orange. She closed the distance in a single bound. Her blades sliced through their weapons and armor alike, melting the pirate pulse rifles into bubbling slag.

“These guys are a joke,” Lyra thought as she kicked a burning piece of debris out of her way. “Bots can fight harder than this.”

The deck vibrated beneath their boots. Four armored mecha-suit enforcers stomped around the corner to block the main hallway. Thick, reinforced plating covered them from head to toe, and their shoulder-mounted cannons tracked the intruders.

Rin stepped past Lyra and drew his twin dark steel swords.

A brilliant silver-light aura ignited along the edges of his blades. He dropped into a low stance and dashed forward. His blades flashed in a precise cross-slash. The silver aura severed the thick mecha-armor completely, splitting the first enforcer in half.

Rin spun and drove his left sword through the knee joint of the second enforcer before decapitating the third with a sweeping upward strike. The machines crashed to the floor in useless, severed pieces.

“Standard military plating.” Rin flicked the blood off his swords. “Even their gears are mediacore.”

Kylus’s voice crackled over their comm links. “Good work. I am tracking your position on the tactical map. You need to drop down two levels to reach the main cargo bay. Grab whatever loot you can and wipe the rest of them out. Be quick, though. I am sure they have signaled their other ships. We have to get out of here before their back up arrives.”

“On it. But I don’t expect to find anything valuable here.”

Reva tore the access panel off the elevator shaft. The three of them dropped down the dark chute and landed two levels below. Rin stepped forward and kicked the reinforced doors to the main cargo bay completely off their hinges.

Inside, a dozen pirate crew members scrambled to secure the high-value crates. Lyra dashed forward, her demonic fire flaring from her short blades. She spun through the scattered defenders and severed their weapons and armor in a blazing arc.

Reva handled the stragglers by driving her talons through the last pirate’s chest plate and tossing his body aside.

The cargo bay fell silent. Only the sparks showered from the destroyed ceiling fixtures.

“Area secured,” Rin said. He sheathed his dark steel swords. “Start cracking the vaults.”

Reva walked over to a stack of unmarked, reinforced titanium crates. Her talons extended, and she slashed directly through the heavy digital locks. She pried the lid off the largest container.

“Let us see what these glorified thugs consider valuable,” Reva muttered.

She expected a stash of imperial credits or smuggled plasma cores. Instead, a row of metallic, spider-like drones rested inside a specialized stasis gel. Their multiple ocular lenses glowed with a crimson light.

Lyra walked over to look inside. Her eyes widened.

“No way,” Lyra thought. She reached in and pulled one of the metallic spiders out of the gel. “I have only seen blueprints of these in Bull’s archives.”

“These are Imperial tracking bots,” Lyra said. She turned the device over in her hands. “This is high-end surveillance tech. They lock onto a target’s unique signature across entire star systems. The Empire strictly regulates these.”

“Then we are taking them all,” Reva declared. She hoisted the entire heavy crate onto her shoulder effortlessly. “Xavier will definitely find a use for them.”

The comm link crackled to life. Kylus spoke with a sudden urgency.

“Grab whatever you have and get back to the ship right now. The long-range scanners just picked up three massive warp signatures entering the sector. Crimson Haven backup is arriving in less than two minutes.”

Rin tapped his earpiece. “Understood. We are heading back.”

The trio sprinted back through the bloodstained corridors. They reached the original breach point on the lower deck and launched themselves back across the vacuum of space. They landed smoothly inside the Strider’s open airlock just as the metal doors sealed shut behind them.

On the bridge, Kylus watched the tactical map update. Three new imperial cruisers dropped out of hyperspace on the edge of the system.

“Hold on to something,” Kylus yelled across the ship-wide comms. “Initiating escape protocol!”

He punched the hyper-drive coordinates into the main console and engaged the thrusters.

The Strider shot forward and vanished into the warp tunnel just as the enemy cruisers locked their targeting lasers onto their previous position. They left the crippled pirate warship drifting behind in the void.

The pirates were looted by an even bigger pirate gang with a small crew.