"Thanks!" she grinned exuberantly.

They left the hangar with John and Alyssa carrying their armour and weapons to take up to their room. After packing the gear away neatly, they headed up to the bridge to prepare for the fight with the pirates.

“Hey Calara, everything ok up here?" John asked the gorgeous brunette as he climbed the steps to the command podium and settled in his chair.

“Sure John." she replied, smiling at him warmly. "We've got just over an hour until we catch up with the Stalingrad. I checked the system where we should be able to ambush them and it's a binary star system called Irinis-gemini."

Calara turned to her console and pressed a couple of buttons bringing up the system map. The map blinked into existence in the middle of the bridge, casting a pale blue illumination over the command deck. It showed them their current location, travelling through a system called Iota-Carinae and then under Calara's skilled hands the map glided through the sector, passing system after system until she brought up the Irinis-gemini system.

John leaned forward to look at the map. There was a single Gas giant an asteroid belt that was being heavily mined and one other planetoid, a habitable world called Winnesh, all orbiting the primary star in the system.

“Can you show me the exact place we'll catch..." he began.

“BWOOOP!" "BWOOOP!" “BWOOOP!"

An obnoxiously loud siren sounded through the bridge and the Invictus began to vibrate alarmingly.

"What the fuck's going on?!" John asked in alarm.

“We're being pulled out of Hyper-warp!" Alyssa exclaimed, staring at her Navigation overview intensely.

“Get our shields up and weapons ready Lieutenant!" he ordered the Latina, who was already springing into action, her hands a flurry of activity over the tactical controls.

The weapons loadout hologram hovering above her tactical station showed the armoured panels in the Invictus’ hull peeling away to expose their weaponry.

“They're using an Interdictor against us John!" Sparks called out in alarm.

“Put our current star system on the map Sparks" he asked her brusquely, having no time for pleasantries.

The sultry redhead nodded determinedly and the System map snapped back to Iota-Carinae. They were on the outskirts of the system, the huge A-type star bathing the system in a white glow. The tactical map showed that they had been pulled out of hyper-warp and dragged close to Iota-Carinae Alpha, the only planetary body in the system. It was a freezing world of sub-zero temperatures, surrounded by a wide band of frozen ice chunks in concentric rings.

Their focus was dragged away from the system map for the moment when Sparks reported they were receiving incoming fire.

"Shields at 62% Commander!" she cried out in alarm "We're being attacked by multiple targets”.

“Boost shields and engine power, divert all energy from weapons." John said.

Sparks swiped her hand over the power distribution hologram to obey his commands. The shields on the damage control overlay began to pulse in a light green, showing that they were recharging and the massive engines groaned as they trembled with power, the Invictus Leaping forward eagerly.

“Alyssa, evasive manoeuvres, we've got to get out of their killing ground!" he said curtly.

"On it John!" the beautiful blonde said in reply, rolling the Invictus and pulled the nose of the ship around to point at the Ice planet.

“Calara, show me the tactical map!" he ordered the Latina.

The tactical map appeared, replacing the system map in the middle of the bridge and icons quickly sprung into place as they were picked up by the sensors. Their dark grey hulled assault cruiser was centred in the map, surrounded by a destroyer, a frigate, four corvettes and the heavy cruiser. It was the pirates from the Chendar system and the hacking Sparks had done on their transponders, allowed the crew to see the full order of battle arrayed against them.

Sparks swiped her hand over the power distribution hologram to obey his commands. The shields on the damage control overlay began to pulse ina light green, showing that they were recharging and the massive engines groaned as they trembled with power, the Invictus leaping forward eagerly.