The Maurading Duo Aftermath

Captain Grognard drained his mug. The rum soaked into his body. A pleasant warmness came over him. He felt his worries slipping away.

“Damage report, Captain,” someone said. He took the report and read it. The warm feeling turned cold and his worries returned. The hull was barely holding together. AA guns were completely offline. Even the engine had taken a hit. There was no way that they were going back into battle any time soon.

“Isis, pull up the scans,” Grognard said. He took another sip from his mug but it was empty. “Someone get me a fresh cup!”

The long range scans appeared on the screen. There were two blips out in the darkness of space. They could be nothing. They could be a whole lot of trouble.

Grognard grunted. The smart thing would be to go home now and repair. That isn’t what his crew would want; not those bastards. They would want to lay eyes on those two blips. They would want to make sure that they weren’t fat freighters loaded with treasure.

If Grognard went home now and they never found out what dangers that blips held, the crew would whisper about how they might have lost the score of a lifetime. The whispers would turn into grumbles and before you knew it, half of them might decide to desert at the next port.  

Right now, Grognard really hated pirates. And he hated not having rum.

“Where is my cup?” he yelled.

Someone passed him a full mug of rum. He drank it. He hated pirates a little less.

“I have an estimate from our captures,” Danica said.

Grognard looked at the Quartermistress. Oh yeah, they did capture two ships during that disastrous battle with the Star Navy fighters. With the way his luck had been running, it was probably just a bunch of raw goods and processed sewage.

He looked at the list. First was the Grand Freighter. What was it carrying that it fought so hard to protect? Fruit, fruit, fruit and more fruit. Lords of Space! That is what he gets for raiding Zhuh-Zhuh ships. He kept reading. Fruit, fruit, platinum bricks, fruit yogurt and fruit.

“Wait, platinum bricks?” Grognard said?

Danica smiled. Her olive skin was glowing. “Yeah, a whole cargo bay’s worth.”

Grognard put down his mug of rum. The warm feeling was coming back. “What about the tanker?”

Danica handed him another list. The warm feeling turned cold.

"Fruit, fruit, fruit, fruit, fruit," Grognard said out loud. "Did we raid a grocer?"

Danica nodded. "I think so."

"Oh wait, they also have fruit paste, fruit cups and fruit gum," Grognard says. "Well that makes it all good then." 

“They are,” Danica said. She was grinning from ear to ear. “I think we have 131 MegaCreds between both ships.”

Grognard stood up. he was not going home with precious metals and an assortment of fruits. The annoyance was turning into a hot lust for more treasure.

“Isis, notify the Slapstick,” he said.

“Shall I tell them to return to port?” Isis asked.

“Hell no,” Grognard said. “Inform them that I am coming aboard. I am transferring command. The Reroll can return to port. I have more blips to investigate!”