Steel given is heavier than steel taken.

  Drexari Bone-Word

  ‘A grav-sled.’

  ‘Really?’ asked Feebee. ‘Of all things, they printed a grav-sled.’

  ‘Yes. Low-profile, wide platform.’

  Meanwhile, somewhen else… The Long Quiet reported.

  OBSERVATION: Resource extraction prioritised over violence

  NOTE: Noise seeks escape.

  STATUS: WATCHFUL.

  Back now…

  ‘Peas. Can you get a drone into S-34.A. I just tagged it.’

  After a couple of seconds, ‘No. Sealed room. Standard for macro-forges.’

  ‘How many exits?’

  ‘Three but only one that’s close to their ship.’

  The AI updated Feebee’s schematic with directions. ‘Where are these taking us?’

  ‘To the likely route they’ll take back to their ship.’

  Feebee smiled, ‘Good thinking. I like it. Share with everyone.’

  ‘Ack.’

  They found a point along a particularly long piece of corridor with just a few rooms off to the side. They found two adjacent rooms, got the doors open and sealed the rest with red Choc, set to a slow burn.

  The smoke hung in the air, the smell acrid, not nice, like cordite.

  Then they waited.

  The first indication that the pirates were coming was the buzz of a drone that flew up the corridor, then returned about a minute or so later.

  They heard it coming but were already in the two rooms. The doors were barely open.

  Behind one was Sparky and the coffee boys.

  In the room adjacent with Feebee was Bench press and Spotter. They looked out through a small crack, the door just open.

  Peas was down the corridor, controlling the drones. She had two small drones cycling through a surveillance pattern between their current position and pirates’ route.

  Feebee refrained from using Choc. Too near the outer skin of the ship had been the AIs response, when asked. But Feebee was more concerned with the smoke.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  First there was the sound. A clunk clunk, typical of heavy metallic objects knocking together.

  One of the drones showed the grav-sled loaded up with

  It was then that the AI chipped in. ‘The most valuable thing guaranteed to be near forges are the bricks used to feed them. Feedstock bricks. Very valuable, easy to sell. That’s why they needed the grav-sled.’

  ‘Makes sense. To get them back to their ship.’ Then an idea popped into Feebee’s head. ‘Can you hack the grav-sled.’

  ‘I can give it a try,’ responded Kirr quickly. Its phrasing carried a sense of excitement. Feebee definitely needed to address Kirr’s love of hacking systems, but it was useful for now.

  ‘Peas. Can you get eyes on without giving us away.’

  ‘Tricky. Better to back-off.’

  She thought on that, ‘Hhmm. Agreed. Do it.’

  ‘I’ve got limited access to the grav-sled. I can’t over-ride the main controls, steering, speed. That sort of thing.’ Kirr sounded smug.

  Feebee’s head spinning.

  Just let them have the feedstock bricks, or attack? She decided quickly that letting them have the bricks was a bad idea. They’d just keep coming back for more, she’d have to stop them at some point.

  The grav-sled and the pirates were getting nearer. The sound louder, she could even hear the clicking chatter of the Drexari.

  Sparky called out over the comms, ‘Orders?’

  ‘Hold’

  Then she spoke with Kirr, to better understand the access she had to the grav-sled.

  ‘OK. Listen up. We’ll let the grav-sled by then attack them from the rear. Sparky, you and the coffee boys take any pirates North, we’ll take the sled and South. Peas, I need your drones to take out as many of the human pirates as you can. Focus on the humans – they’re much more dangerous than the Drexari. Leave the sled alone. We’ll need it after. We go once Peas has stopped bombing the pirates. Everyone OK?’

  She got thumbs up emojis from everyone except Spotter. ‘How will we know when Peas is done?’

  ‘Peas?’

  She answered, ‘I’ll call it.’

  Everyone gave a thumbs up.

  The grav-sled clunked past and Feebee gave the Ok to Kirr, ‘Do it, now.’

  The power cells on one side of the sled suddenly produced an overheat message. The AI on the sled shut the cell down and began to reboot. A forced reset.

  This caused one side of the grav-sled to lose lift, immediately crashing to the floor, spilling the bricks and people on it. One of the pirates was squealing as it was pinned to the floor by half a dozen feedstock bricks. The grav-sled continued to grind along the deck until one of the pirates turned off the engines. The whole sled then crashed into the deck.

  The pirates started to cluster around the grav-sled but were called away. Told to hold their positions and spacing. At that moment, when panic was at its height, two of the micro-drones crashed into the lead and tail of the group. The explosion was mild but concentrated forward, killing the two human pirates.

  All discipline was lost when the two humans went down. The remaining pirates, Drexari, clustered around the grav-sled. Peas took out a further two with her last drone then called in over the comms, ‘Drone Attack Complete. Seven Drexari left. Go. Go!’

  The two teams opened the doors and emerged quickly. Feebee led her group, they were slightly ahead of Sparky and the coffee boys. She lifted her rifle, took aim at the Drexari and was about to fire when she realized none of them had drawn weapons.

  A strong quiet voice echoed through Feebee’s bones and in her head, “Shoot! Shoot! Kill them, Kill them all!” It was the voice from her dreams.

  “No!” she shouted. A call she repeated over the comms, ‘No! Hold.’

  Both her teams froze; all seven pirates froze. It was an instinctive, visceral response to stillness, bred into Drexari from birth.

  No shots were fired.

  Stillness and quiet descended on the corridor as the humans and remaining Drexari pirates faced off.

  Feebee slowly edged back along the wall. Working her way around the pirates so they were all in front of her. Gun up, ready to fire. Seeing Feebee move, Sparky and coffee boys did the same. It was a slow, easy move but ended with the two fire teams either end of the corridor with the pirates between.

  ‘Can you translate Drexari?’

  The AI made its scratchy laughing sound.

  ‘Some dialects.’

  ‘Tell them to leave. This is our ship and we will not tolerate theft from it. Also tell them we are seven of many.’

  One of the Drexari came forward. Older, scarred. It held out a sheathed knife still in its scabbard. The handle being offered. Feebee walked forward, gun up, ready.

  ‘Careful ma’am!’ Peas had joined them.

  Two larger drones hovered above Feebee’s shoulders, clearly armed. Their view filled two of Feebee’s windows. Cross-hairs visible, on the older Drexari.

  She reached for the knife, and as she does, he says, ‘You do us honour. This blade has tasted war. It will remember restraint. Take it. You ended us without ending us. That is victory.’