17 Chapter

"Exiting hyper in five... Four..." Tel'te started to count down, her hands on the controls ready to bring us out of hyperspace when the counter reaches zero.

I forced myself to stay relaxed around my pillar as I put away the datapad I had been working on. Paperwork waits for nobody.

The blue whirling colors outside the windows turned to streaks of light and then snapped into the pinpoint pricks of light that were stars.

Turning my head I shifted around the pillar to look over at my com and computer technician.

He was bent over his console, working the controls before he nodded. "Got them, Captain. Straight ahead, moving in the system."

I nodded. "Well, let's give them the benefit of a doubt. Miss Tel'te, bring us close to them on a non-obvious course. I don't want to need to chase them across the system if they try to escape."

The blue-skinned twi'lek turned to look back at me and I realized what I just said, causing me to close my eyes for a moment.

Derp.

"Forget I said that... It's been a long night. Just catch up with them." I said with a small sigh. I had stayed on the bridge throughout the entire trip through hyperspace. I had already known that I wouldn't be able to get any sleep, so I decided to at least catch up on the ever-present paperwork.

"Aye, Captain," she nodded and turned back to the controls, plotting an intercept course after the Autumn Flower.

A couple of minutes went by before Jack spoke up. "They are accelerating. They spotted us."

Nodding I activated the transmitted, hailing the other ship. "Autumn Flower, this is Captain Atreus on the Remembrance. Please cut your engines and have your papers ready for a random inspection."

It took a second before a hologram of a bald human appeared as they responded with a smile. "This is Captain Mart of the Autumn Flower. It's good to see you for the first time, Boss."

I nodded, not bothering to raise my head feathers. There was no way he could read my body language anyway.

"It is. I have started random inspections of my freighters papers, just to make sure they match up to what's sent in. Honestly, mostly it's an excuse to meet my crews." I answered him. All captains were all hired from an agency by the 'home office' and they got to hire their own crews. I'm starting to think that was a mistake even if it was much faster.

"Ah... I see." the human answered after a second "... I'm afraid you caught us at a bad time though, we have a very time-limited delivery to perform. I'm more than happy to meet with you once the cargo is delivered."

I tilted my head at the hologram. "That was not a request, Captain."

"Boss, we have medical supplies on board. They are desperately needed at the station." The human quickly said, glancing 'off-screen'.

Yeah. I was just about out of patience about now.

Smuggling... Fine. At least they brought in a profit and had not gotten caught. I would even have given them another chance if they switched to legal cargo from now on.

Something I do not tolerate though is somebody outright disobeying my orders without a damn good reason.

"Maybe I did not make myself clear, Captain. Cut your engines, or I do it for you!" I told the hologram coldly a second before it shimmered out of view.

"They are running for it." Jack said as he looked up from his console.

I growled and pressed a button combination on my pillar. "Crows, take flight. Hunt the target, aim to disable engines."

The covers from the small drone bays flip open and the crows launch into space like a murder of crows. Over a hundred of them changed course towards the light freighter.

I tilted my head and purred as I squeezed the pillar slightly as I watched them fight on sensors. The pilot on that ship was good and it was fast... But they didn't stand a chance.

Even with two gun turrets, they didn't take down a single crow. While the shields of the drones could only take one shot at that level of firepower, they never got more than one hit on any, but one drone.

To fast, to maneuverable.

One on one a crow would not have been a danger. They should have been able to handle five or maybe even ten.

A hundred though?

I spread my head feathers as the freighter's shield was battered down, it's engines a glowing mess as their power died. It was a testament to the skill of the pilot that he was able to last more than a moment against all of the crows.

Nodding I recalled the crows. "Miss Tel'te, move us into range for the docking tube." I said before I pressed a button on the pillar. "Commander Swan, is the boarding party ready?"

"Yes, Captain." She answered a moment later "All twenty security droids are ready by the port docking port. Ready to extend the tube as soon as we are in position. I ordered them to use their stun setting."

"Good. We have questions that need answering." I said before I closed the connection, watching the small disabled freighter slowly come closer.

Soon we will have those answered, one way or another. Then we need to find out what to do with it.