by Jon Gerrard
* * *
The pirate sub Wraith disengaged its stealth system as it neared the crippled transport. The torpedo had done its work and knocked out the ship’s engines, forcing it to drop out of hyperspace. As the sub approached the helpless ship a signal jammer was activated to prevent the crew from calling for help. This was not the first time the pirates had taken down a transport and the crew moved with experienced efficiency. The sub pulled alongside the transport and fired a series of magnetic grapple lines. There was a brief electrical display along the grapple lines, like lightning strikes in space, as the static charges of the ships hulls were cancelled out. Then the sub began winching the two ships together. Even though the pirate ship was nearly a hundred and fifty meters in length the transport was half again as long. But the pirates knew that the ship’s holds were only partially filled. What she was carrying would easily fit in their own cargo spaces.
A docking sleeve extended from the pirate ship as the two vessels drew closer. As soon as the ships were locked together and the docking sleeve sealed against the transport’s port side cargo hatch, a team of pirates wearing protective space armor took up positions in the sleeve. Precisely placed, shaped charges blew the outer hatch on the transport and the raiders swarmed into the ship.
