To an unexpectedly complicated situation.

The trip with the two sisters is indeed a pleasant one as that time together that you three shared in the dining hall isn't the last sexual escapade you get to. During the week the trip takes you, you and the sisters fuck like mad, sometimes in a group and sometimes in a one on one situation. There was a particularly pleasant time where Teesha caught you in the shower you'll remember fondly and a time when you and Farrah had a sparring session that got down and dirty that will have you getting an unexpected hard-on when you get into fist fights for awhile to come.

But it wasn't all sex and fun times, obviously, as you were on a hunt for a band of slaver pirates. That kind of puts a damper on things at the best of times, after all. So, when sex wasn't on the menu, following the pirates' trail was. Teesha's initial information got you all to a shady space station where pirates and criminal types (like yourself) stopped for supplies, repairs and recreation. Luckily, you had some contacts at this particular station and you called in some favors to get you on the pirates' trail again, the information you got saying they were heading towards a recently colonized world where they thought they could have easy pickings.

Something nags at you about that information when you punched in the coordinates, the quadrant that the world was located in seeming to prod at a memory in the back of your mind that you couldn't quite reclaim. You dismissed it because you figured dwelling on it wouldn't help and because, after you got the ship back into space, Teesha had come into the cockpit wearing nothing but a smile. Still, it nagged at you a bit during the rest of the trip.

It wasn't until you were checking on your course and a sudden proximity alarm went off that you remembered what it was you'd been unable to recall. It would be surprising if you didn't remember for, as you slowed the ship down to dodge around unexpected debris, the scene that you saw through the front viewport served as a big reminder. A very big reminder.

For what you saw was a large, heavily modified freighter severely damaged and dead in the black while a much larger cruiser and a number of small fighters encircled it. The freighter you could guess, from the description that Teesha and Farrah had gotten, belonged to the pirates that had kidnapped their sister and mother. The cruiser, though, well, you knew that ship from past experiences.

The ship was a deep crimson in color with jagged golden lines that looked like bolts of lightning all along its surface. You could see it was heavily modified for both offensive and defensive capability and that it was probably more than formidable in combat. Even if it wasn't, the small fleet of fighters, each single ship painted in much the same way as the larger cruiser, would have more than made up the difference in combat situations and you knew it. You knew it very very well.

"Oh...fuck...", you curse as you stare out at the scene in front of you and your mind races to try and decide what to do from here.

"What? What's wrong?", you hear Farrah ask as she enters the cockpit with Teesha, both of them looking worried as the sudden loss of speed had clued them in that something was up.

"Wait? What the hell's going on out there?", Teesha asks as the two sisters come up beside you and see what you're seeing.

You hold your tongue for a moment and then sigh as you point to the damaged freighter. "That there? That's probably the pirates that took your sister and mom. Seems they ran into some trouble.", you explain as your pointed finger moves then to the large red cruiser, "That trouble bein' them, the Crimson Bolts. They're a band of pirates that stalk this sector of space and specialize in targeting slavers and other pirates. They're a group made up only of women, you see, and most of 'em were ex-slaves or prisoners saved by the Bolts so they don't got any love for slavin' sorts."

"Wait...but that's good, isn't it? That means they would have saved Layssa and Mom!", Teesha says with a hopeful smile on her lips that you do not share in.

"Uh, well, yeah, that's the good news. If your mom and sister were on that ship, they're definitely safe now. That's the good news.", you say as you look nervously at each of the sisters.

"I'm guessing there's bad news?", Farrah asks and you give a lopsided, nervous grin and a shrug.

"Um, well, let's say that I, er, have somethin' of a history with the captain of the Crimson Bolts. A, uh, checkered history, you could say.", you remark with a nervous chuckle, "And, uh, well, I might not be her favorite person right now. In fact, she, uh, might not take too kindly to my bein' in her general vicinity."

"Oh...", Teesha says with a frown, "Well, that was in the past, right? Maybe whatever you did to piss her off has been forgotten by now."

Almost as though to prove just how wrong those words could be, your alarms go off as an explosion goes off near to the port side of your ship, causing the ship to vibrate and shake from the concussion. The two sisters cry out and you have to hold on tightly to the arms of your pilot's seat to keep yourself from going down to the ground. Since no impact alarms went off or damage reports started flashing on the console, you knew it was a warning shot...which didn't really bode any better than if it had been a targeted attack because it meant they wanted you in person.

Again, almost as though on cue, you hear a voice from the comm on you console. "Derrick Halloway! By order of Captain Rose of the Crimson Bolts, you are to stand down and allow yourself to be towed to the Captain's command ship!", the voice orders and you can see a quartet of fighters break off from the larger group and start to turn towards you...but they're still pretty far away. Far enough away that you could probably make a break for it and get out of here before they reach you.

You start to reach for the controls to do just that, but you stop as you look over at Teesha and Farrah who have gotten back o their feet after being knocked to the ground by the explosion. You could go ahead and make a break for it, sure, but then Teesha and Farrah would, again, be unable to find their sister and mother. If you left now, the sisters would lose the trail and probably never know what happened to their family members as time would pass and the Crimson Bolts would move on. The trail would grow cold and they may never find their sister and mother.

It shouldn't matter though. What should come first is saving your own skin. You've done a lot for the sisters already, considering how things started with you and them. Some would say that you've already gone above and beyond and didn't need to stick your neck out any further. You'd probably say that yourself, if asked what you'd do in this situation. You should just get the hell out of here. That'd be the smart thing to do...and yet...