The crew all walked onto the ship and said goodbye to each other for the time being. Tim set up a system so that they could communicate, wherever they were in the ship.

"Everyone, to your positions." Commanded Tim.

Reluctantly, everyone powered up their systems. This ship was special, the default fighting style for this group was to use missiles to disable the shields, and blast away with lasers.

"I look forward to working with you idiots." Remarked King.

"Shut up, your highness."

"My name is-" King was interrupted by an automatic message.

DANTE HAS LEFT THE CHANNEL.

DANTE HAS ENTERED THE CHANNEL.

"I don't care."

"Don't do that, if you disappear we'll think you're joking.

The four heroes blink to the next station.

About four stations later, an automated rebel scout is positioned, waiting. Its weapons go hot.

"Aarron, don't use the Artemis. ( Artemis is the name of the default missile launcher. ) He has no shields. Just use your Laser blast Mark III. ( Name of the default blaster. )" Tim said.

This turned out to be a mistake, about 20 seconds later a small shield popped up, only to be swiftly blasted with one laser. A detachment fell off of the ship, a Pike Beam Mark II.

"Sweet, a new gun! Can't wait to murder people with it!" Aarron proclaimed.

"Maybe you like your job too much. Are you sure you'll stay sane until we get to the Federation base?" Dante questioned.

"Since when was I sane?"

"Why did we become friends with this nut-job?"

"Since when were we friends?"

"Stop arguing, guys." Tim interjected.

"Arguing? I'm having a whale of a time!" Aarron replied.

During this conversation, a ship with the familiar purple markings of a pirate warped in.

Tim received a warning message. "Give me your goods! I'll-"

All that was heard was an explosion as a missile was fired. They retrieved 2 missiles, and way more scrap that a small pirate cruiser should ever have.

"Give me the scrap, earth species. This scrap is enough to buy 2 new shields and upgrade the reactor enough to power one."

"Why would this pirate have so much scrap? He doesn't need it, his ship was fine before Aarron brutally exploded him." Tim questioned, giving King the scrap and warping to a nearby store.

They walked into the station, but no one was there. There were four dead bodies on the floor. One Mantis, two Engi, and a Lanius.

"A Lanius? This is bad. This is really bad. We need to inform the Federation of this. The Lanius have been awakened." Tim said worriedly.

"Lanius? What's a Lanius?" Dante asked.

"A race of warriors so powerful that they could wipe us all Rebels and the Federation aren't strong enough. They don't need oxygen. All of us other races do. They could help us in the war if we interact with them correctly, though."

To interrupt their conversation, a scream was heard a few rooms over. The crew ran over to hear it.

A mantis had boarded the station and was attacking a Zoltan. "Please help!" The Zoltan cried. Zoltans are known for being weak in battle, even compared to King and the other Engi.

"Come here!" Aarron yelled, grabbing the Mantis by the neck and tossing him out the airlock like a rock.

"I just wanted some fuel, but then this Mantis had to blow up my ship and attack me! I didn't do anything!" The Zoltan screamed.

"What are you going to do now?" Asked Tim.

"Good question. I don't know how to use Mantis technology, so I can't take his ship. I have no clue."

"Why not join our group? We need as many helpers as we can get on our mission. You can arm the doors. Give us some blast doors." King suggested.

"A lowly subsystem? I can power rooms! But then again, I don't know your technology. Fine. My name's Roper, by the way."

"Okay. Now that that's settled, everyone get on the ship. We'll scavenge what we can and leave. I'll set up a chat system for Roper."