Boarding!

The crew of Cannon 13 stood together in the hallway, surrounded by ratings from other stations. There was a cannon crew a few yards ahead of them and another a few yards behind. Along with them, there were various other crews in the hall from cargo haulers to waste collectors. All of them had a solemn look on their face with impromptu weapons in their hands.

Standing out from the crowd of ratings were the petty officers who had nicely colored blue uniforms and real weapons in hand, a sword in one and pistol in the other. All of them did their best to stand up straight with courage, but it was clear to many that they were just as scared underneath that facade.

As the crew started getting impatient and wondering if the boarding was even going to happen, a loud clank could be heard on the hull of the ship. Shortly after there was the sound of a laser and then an explosion!

Their ears rang from the echoed explosion that rang throughout the hall, but the crews did their best to bring their heads up to look for the source of danger. It took only a few seconds as down the hall a horde of people came swarming out. 

What they were to expect was unknown from their assailants. Even then, what started coming towards them as other crew were mowed down was unexpected. Tattooed men and women with piercings and shaven heads barreled down the hall with swords in hand, slashing and stabbing. All of them wore snarls like they had nothing but hate for the crew of the ship.

All of the petty officers started barking orders and words of devotion to the Holy Emperor in order to inspire the ratings under them and Liam was no exception.

"Remember that today we fight for the Holy Emperor, for our ship, our crew, and better yet, our lives!"

Liam looked as if he expected a cheer, but there was none. The crew just looked ahead at their impending doom and attempted to steel themselves in preparation to defend themselves.

They watched as the crew in front of them was hacked down by the swords of the pirates and were getting ready to hold them back when Liam announced, "CHARGE!"

Almost instinctually they leapt forward and swung their weapons. Micca had a crowbar and swung it like a sword at the first pirate's head and made contact. Another swung his sword at Micca just to be blocked by the crowbar. A kick to the man's groin had him double over leaving the back of his neck exposed for Micca to hit with his elbow and knock the pirate unconscious. Another sword came at him that he didn't think he could block before Verona stabbed the wielder with a screwdriver in the heart. Micca noticed a pirate behind Verona raise a sword prepared to strike her and thrust his crowbar into the man's throat. 

The brutal brawl was going back and forth with the crew being whittled down by the pirates and little hope being left for Micca. Other ratings were joining in from behind at the direction of their officers, attempting to push back and break the horde of pirates. Just as it seemed like they were going to be the ones broken instead, a large group of ratings came from a hallway on the left and slammed into the crowd of pirates. 

As the pirates noticed this a lot of them concluded that they weren't going to win the fight. 

Like a tsunami many of the pirates surged forward and knocked down the ratings that included Micca. Some of them slaughtered the ratings they knocked down, but more of them tried to run further into the ship, away from the large group of ratings that was hacking them down.

The area around Micca became turmoil as the pirates mixed in with the ratings trying to get through. The pirates were more than happy to fight their way through anyone and some of them even seemed more interested in fighting than getting by.

Verona was still trying to get up as a pirate saw her as in the way and prepared to swing their sword from the side. Micca still trying to get back up, lunged forward at the assailant and grappled them onto the floor. He beat his fists into their head over and over until clear fluid started leaking out of their ears.

Micca looked up around him and it seemed like the fighting was dying down as the pirates were now scattered about in brutal melees. Just as he let out a breath of air putting himself at ease, a figure started aggressively approaching him. This figure wasn't covered in the tattoos and piercings of the pirates though and it held a large wrench instead of a sword. It was Vog.

"Time to die." was all Vog said before raising up his wrench over his head and bringing it down at Micca. Just before the wrench hit, Verona launched herself at Vog and stabbed his side with her screwdriver. The wrench went to the side and narrowly missed Micca.

Vog backhanded Verona away and raised his wrench again, ready to strike. Micca brought up his crowbar to block the strike and held it off as the crowbar was knocked out of his hands.

Vog rose the wrench again, clearly irritated with being stopped. He swung down with as much force as he could and then a hole appeared in his head. His body toppled over and behind him Pretty Officer Liam could be seen with a smoking gun aimed where Vog's head was.