1-23

Owen grabbed me roughly and dragged me out to the ship, "I know you, young master, it will not be safe for anyone to follow you. We will take care of those girls until your return but you must escape." I was half naked as he dragged me through the entrance to the ship, he gave me a rough hug before whispering into my ear.

"The war was started by your parents' enemies so the city's forces wouldn't be able to interfere when they come for you. From what I could piece together they are known as Graves' Robbers, a large fleet of pirates and pirate lords who serve under Admiral Graves. I wish you the best of luck young master but you need to go."

I pushed my emotions down and gave him a quick embrace, I looked back at my home to see Sett and Rin running towards the ship. I waited for them, even though Owen was hounding me that every second could lead to my capture.

Once they arrived I pulled them into a hug and held them. Rin was sobbing while Sett was trying not to cry I could feel the tears running down her cheek and landing on my own.

I pulled away once Rin had calmed down, "Don't worry, I will be back as soon as I am able. Take care of the others and don't let the other families bully you, just stick to the business plan and help our family grow." I gave them each a kiss before boarding my ship.

Once the doors closed behind me I ran to the bridge and activated the autopilot, we had few safehouses off world that I could hide out in and my first destination was on a moon, a resupply station that would have enough food and fuel to last me a decade of constant interstellar travel.

As the ship warmed up I looked over the repairs, the external damage had mostly been completed though the armor was weakened it would pose an issue. The modules that could be replaced were readily available but there were many that only needed repairs that showed red on the monitor.

The bigger issue was the engines had only received minor repairs and would lower my maximum speed by 40% which meant I wouldn't be outrunning anyone, my second destination would have to be dock but seeing as how I was fleeing from pirates I would have to avoid the less known ports and go to a more central location.

Moonshadow shook as we began to rise off the ground, the night was calm with a bright moon lighting up the manor, I would miss my home but it was better to leave than risk the lives of everyone under my care.

Moonshadow began accelerating away from the manor and the nose of the ship rose up slowly, we reached our maximum speed and headed for the starry sky above. There was mild turbulence as we passed through the atmosphere of the planet.

The monitors adjusted as I watched my homeland slowly shrink as we ascended, it took an hour after my departure before I could make out the shape of the planet, there were several landmasses and large oceans separating them.

I regretted not being able to explore my own homeworld first before having to leave it behind and getting my revenge on that lizard.

I let out a sigh before adjusting the monitors to a forward facing view, I could see my first destination and we would be arriving in four hours, the large moon was on my left and we were on a course that would put us nearly on top of the safehouse.

I left the bridge for the nearby captains quarters and flopped onto the bed, this was a huge mess, I closed my eyes and fell asleep hoping that nothing would happen to my home.

Thankfully an alarm woke me up as we were arriving at the supply point, the nightmare I was experiencing had made my blood run cold. I felt exhausted from lack of sleep and now I was on the run from a group of pirates, I shook my head to rid the memoirs from my mind.

After a quick shower, I checked our status, we would be docking any moment luckily the supplies would be easy to move over with the puppets.

Two hours later everything had been moved over and it was time to go to our next destination, the closest port would be a six week trip to the next planet where I could get the repairs the ship needed.

Everything was going according to plan until the second week into our journey. I was doing my experiments and giving the hibernating Hextia a checkup when alarms began blaring.

I rushed to the bridge and viewed the monitors, there was a class B ship at the edge of my sensor range but by their bearing, they were headed for an intercept course.

I maximized the zoom but I couldn't make out anything but a blurry image, I typed a message for Hextia detailing what happened and who was probably chasing us. I disabled the cannons and hid most of my supplies in the lab along with Hextias body. Her splinters were ordered to go into stasis and were hidden around the lab if anyone entered the lab the splinters would be activated along with several other defenses.

Nothing would be getting to Hextia without a fight.

As I left the lab I left Blaine's present for Hextia as well, they had finally finished the reapers robes but it would seem I wouldn't get to test them out in the forests as I had wanted.

There were a total of five sets I had donned one and kept a spare with me. I gave the remaining three to Hextia though I hoped I would get to see her wearing it one day.

I marched my way up to the original bridge of the ship and watched as the large ship crept closer. When they had reached the firing range they hailed my vessel.

"Young Avarith, you can either let us board you, or we can destroy your ship."

The rough voice gave me little choice, if I tried to flee they would board and capture me and if I fired upon them they would blow my ship into pieces. Killing both me and Hextia.

I powered down the engines and took a deep breath, well they caught me, might as well give them hell. I pulled out two pistols and arranged them into my holsters. I checked my knives and put them into the sheathes on my chest.

I pulled out a hand cannon that only had 6 rounds of 15-millimeter slugs. The range was terrible but the slugs would be quite destructive. I felt the ship shake and a shipwide alert went through the ship, I turned it off and noticed my hands were shaking.

A minute later I heard boots pounding down the hallway, they stopped briefly outside the door, I activated my active camo and waited. The doors opened and six pirates rushed in.

They only had nonlethal weapons and were lightly armored, they looked around the bridge before I decided to make my move. I pulled out my pistols and into the pirate that was inspecting my hand cannon. Blood splattered across the console and my camo distorted as I moved around, I shot two more pirates before they knocked my guns to the floor.

I felt pain explode from my back. I pulled a knife and stabbed a guard on my right, I kicked another away from me before I could grab my hand cannon.

I didn't have time to aim properly, I pointed and pulled the trigger at the closest target before something cracked against my head and a wave of light flooded my vision.

I woke up to a massive headache, "where the fuck am I?" my voice croaked. It must have been hours since I was brought here. I looked about the room which was quite spacious, I was suspended in mid air by chains luckily I couldn't feel the bite from the metal manacles, though it was very uncomfortable being pulled in four separate directions.

I stayed awake for a while before I fell asleep from boredom.

I wasn't sure how long it was before they finally came to talk to me but it felt like a week. No food, no water, nothing but time to suffer in a dimly lit room.

The door opened abruptly, the light from the hall hurt my eyes. They would have teared up if I had any excess moisture for them. A middle aged look man walked into the room, he didn't say anything while another pirate entered the room and set up a recording device.

The middle aged man was patient, once the device was activated he spoke in quite a pleasant voice that still managed to give me the creeps.

"Young Avarith, our boss is tired of this game of cat and mouse. Where are your parents?"

I responded with a smirk on my face, "Go fuck yourself."

The creepy smile that spread across his face as he stood in front of me before I could react he shoved his thumbs into my eyes.

I screamed and tried to turn away but he held me by my eye sockets and wouldn't let me go, I could feel his thumbs still in my eye sockets as I screamed and cursed at the man.

"I know you don't have a clue as to where they are", he whispered to me before he pulled his fingers from my eyes, I clenched my teeth but a scream still managed to come out before he continued talking in that creepily kind voice, "but that doesn't matter anymore because now you are worthless."

I felt something stab me repeatedly, I coughed and felt something warm coming from my throat, the man walked away and the door snapped shut behind him.

I felt weak and cold, I knew I was dying. All I could think of were my parents. I wanted them to know that I had not betrayed them, I hoped they would be proud of me.

I really missed Rin and Sett, I would have to break my promise to them. I was so tired if only I could lay down rest for a bit.