The Sentient Star

Chapter I - A Grand Heist

This was going to be a good one. The Mineral Cargo Ship, Agora V was stacked with gallons of loot just waiting to be snatched. Ungral and his crew approached it carefully, not wanting to alert the ship's defensive systems to their presence.

As the pirate focused his eyes on the target ahead of him, his ship received a transmitted radio message from one of his crew members. The ringing sound bounced off the compact metal and glass dome of the cockpit like light being reflected on a mirror. Ungral silently tapped a button in response, and a hologram of Captain Igunaz was projected, depicting him sitting quietly with a dangerously serious expression on his face.

"Listen carefully everyone, this is important." The captain whispered, keeping his eyes on the space ahead of him. "The ship is armed with six plasma canons. There are five of us, so each of you will take one. I'll handle two. We'll approach quietly, so we have the element of surprise on our side." He paused to clear his throat. "Once the external defenses have been terminated, we'll move in swiftly. Good luck team, and stay fierce!" After this, the captain tuned out. This was Ungral's que to jump in.

With a couple of quick hand-maneuvers, the pirate engaged his thrusters to accelerate the ship's speed and readied the beam blasters to complete his captain's command.

Once he was in close range of the massive circular cargo ship, he could see the light of his comrades blasters as they violently bombarded it.

Ungral fired in response at the nearest cylinder-shaped canon, and after only a few rounds, the enemy's weapon exploded and aggressively lit ablaze.

After this act, Ungral could hear blaring alarms coming from the cargo ship, and a frightening number of star fighters emerged from the massive vehicle's head. They glided straight towards Ungral and his crew.

With hands as quick as lightning, the pirate thrust his ship forward and fired a barrage of lasers at five of the enemies, terminating three of them in a flurry of explosions.

However, the two he missed banked around him and shot a blistering gamma ray at his vessel, blasting the left wing clean off.

One of his fellow pirates, who happened to be in close proximity of the assault, took care of them though, firing two rockets to decimate the hostiles.

After giving a signal of gratitude to his ally, Ungral flew in the direction of the other enemies. As he approached, three of his comrades, including his captain, could be seen being chased by four of the blue and red fighters. The pirate rushed in to help them but was pelted with lasers from two of the ships orbiting his, preventing escape.

However, a couple of measly defensive star fighters weren't going to stop him. After giving a quick thought of what his next action should be, Ungral blitzed in a perpendicular direction, and the two hostiles followed him.

Upon reaching the conflict involving his captain and the four fighters, Ungral accelerated forward between his allies and enemies, causing his two pursuers to violently collide with the other four.

A massive explosion ignited behind him, and he quickly whipped around to examine the battle at a better view, making sure no hostiles had the upper hand.

He saw two of his crew members batter two of the enemies with lasers, and his captain fire an eight-foot-long missile at the heart of another.

It was only a few more minutes until the hostiles were defeated, and the space debris from their demolished ships floated around Ungral silently.

It was then that he knew it was time to board the Agora V with his crew, hoping to deprive the ship of all its treasure.

Once he maintained focus on the entrance of the massive cargo ship, Ungral glided towards it carefully and swiftly launched into the glossy white interior of the docking bay.