by Nicholas Kee
Shin crawled quietly and carefully through the air ducts. He could hear the battle raging on below him but Navi’s quiet voice guiding him is what he concentrates on. The air ducts smell like a mix of body odor and chemicals, only the old ships had air that smelled like that, filtration just wasn’t as good as it is now. With Navi’s help Shin reached an outlet near the airlock the pirates had used. Shin listened closely to the fighting happening behind him and suddenly hears silence, “now was as good as time as ever” he thought to himself as he started to raise the grate to slip down. Suddenly a huge metal monster thundered by bristling with weapons. The large spikes on its shoulders lightly scraped the air duct as it passed by below. “Captain, this is Shin, I highly recommend retreating a gorram war bot just flew under me!”
“I hear you Shin and appreciate the info, we will keep it occupied as long as possible you just execute the plan, Anker out.”
“Copy that captain, strike hard.” Shin quietly drops to the deck and slips through the open airlock. There is one pirate guarding the door to the Wasp. The man is looking back in the ship laughing at something someone inside is saying. Shin creeps slowly up behind the pirate, He knew hurrying in these types of situations are what killed people. He was within arm’s reach, when the pirate turned and found himself face to face with a small Asian man dressed in dark grey. Shin sees the man’s eyes dilate and then his mouth begins to open. Shin strikes with the speed of a bullet striking the pirate in the throat. The pirate sinks to the ground, gagging quietly before falling silent. While Shin did not enjoy taking lives, he considered pirates sub human. A voice calls from the wasp’s interior.
“Oi Stubz ya want a beer?”
Shin stands by the door listening and waiting, sure enough the footsteps come soon after the silence from the lack of a reply.
The pirate comes strolling through the doorway completely confident of their control of the situation. As soon as the pirate’s face appears shin slips an arm around the pirate’s neck and applies pressure. The pirate struggles for a few seconds before his brain shuts down from lack of oxygen.
Shin glides through the doorway, the wasp is surprisingly clean considering it is home to a bunch of scummy pirates. Shin steps carefully over a few beer cans on his way towards the bridge. The wasp is empty and other than the watch crew that shin had already taken care of. Moving like a shadow Shin silently searches the ship just to make sure, he then walks into the cockpit.
The first thing Shin notices is the absence of an A.I., Shin walks over to the flight controls and hits the “seal ship” button. Shin’s ears pop with the adjusting pressure. Sitting down in the pilot’s seat Shin starts the engines and while the ship slips away from the Golden sun, a small satisfied smile plays on Shin’s lips “Captain the wasp has no A.I., the ship is ours.”