Encounter at Airlock Seven

The airlock opened and Captain Grognard winced. The screech of metal on metal was irritating on a normal day but today his head was barely functioning. He had just returned from New Hope and he was just now starting to come down from all the stims he had consumed. He wasn’t as young as he used to be and staying alert for a 93 hour game of Alignments and Alliances had been a challenge. Grognard had won a glorious victory but he barely remembered half of it.

Still, it had been nice to game again. Even better was being able to walk into a gaming parlor and being rich enough to purchase whatever expensive or obscure gaming holo-figure that he wanted. He should have become a Space Pirate ages ago. There was almost no other way to afford being a gamer these days.

Grognard walked down the corridor towards his ship. His bodyguards were aware of his headache and were respectfully quiet. Grognard planned to get back to The Reroll and crash in his quarters for an entire day of silence. He couldn’t wait.

“GOOD EVENING, CAPTAIN GROGNARD!” a booming voice announced down the corridor.

Grognard physically recoiled from the sound. When he opened his eyes, he saw seven people standing in front of the airlock to his ship. All of them were wearing leather and polished steel. Strange piercings emerged from unexpected places. Both men and women had long flowing hair that shimmered in the light. They wielded large weapons that Grognard didn’t recognize and his personal sidearm felt inadequate in size.

“Keep your drekking voice down!” Grognard snapped. “What do you want?”

The leader stepped forward. He was seven feet tall and a chest nearly as broad. Muscles rippled on his chest as he walked. He carried a large club adorned with spikes.

“I am Randy Deathspasm!” the leader yelled slightly quieter. “I am lead singer of the starship band known as Omega Murder Comet! We are a three hundred strong band and we have come to rock!”

Grognard relaxed slightly. They were Indie Pirates. After the great A-Tunes Infringement Wars, many music armies went rogue and sought out their own fortunes. He had heard of them but he didn’t know any of them was operating in this sector.

He took a closer look at the fearsome group. What he thought were weapons were really musical instruments with really sharp edges and laser barrels. Randy wasn’t carrying a club, it was a microphone. Each of them had a cable plugged into their ears, obviously feeding them a constant stream of music.

“You have come to the right place,” Grognard said. “There are plenty of merchants ships that come through here. Just leave the other pirates alone and you’ll be fine.”

Randy Deathspasm shook his head. “We heard that you have fought the Star Navy and lived. We have heard that you have slaughtered people in boarding actions. We have heard that you have an unquenchable blood thirst!”

Captain Grognard stood a little taller. “Yeah, we kick a lot of ass around here.”

“We wish to join your tour!” Deathspasm said. “We want to add our music to yours and wash in the blood of our enemies, steal their gold and ravish their groupies. We shall open for you until the skies rain gore on our rotting bodies!”

“What the drek does that mean?” one of Grognard’s bodyguards said.

Captain Grognard smiled. “They want to join our fleet.”

He stepped forward and offered his hand. The giant rocker shook his hand, his large fist swallowing Grognard’s.

“To celebrate, my band crew has prepared a song,” Randy Deathspasm said. “It is called Murder Pirates. It is twenty minutes long and extremely brutal. Plug into our Shipper network and you can download it. I can’t wait to hear what you think of it.”

Grognard’s smile never faltered. “I can’t wait to hear it.”