Confront the Pirates

You quickly bring the scan of the pirate ship on your tablet as you consider what to do. Then, taking note that they have 6 cargo bays, each able to hold 300 000 cubic metres, you estimate that they usually manage to grab one to two million credits worth of cargo raiding a freight the size of your families. Which explains why they just expend one to two hundred thousand credits worth of ordinance disabling your defences. Going back to the sensor record of the pirate ship to note they have 40 life signs on board which doesn't give your uncles, cousins and brother good odds for repelling the pirate. On the other hand, if they fall back fighting a retreat, they should be able to hold out for two days before being completely overrun and wreck the ship in progress. Worse, the pirates could probably disable the engines before that if the guys fight a retreat rather than holding. But they would likely be able to take out several of the pirates if they fight a retreat too. So you just need to convince the pirates it's not worth fighting it out. The only problem is even giving them all the cargo; they won't break even on the attack.

Well, step one is clear, get the cargo moved to whichever bay the pirates are planning on breaching, so you retask the cargo bots to move the cargo to the aft starboard section and set your table to ping you when the pirates start to move in. Checking on the other girls, you see they're all off the ship's sensor, so they must be sealed up in the bunker, and since the pirates haven't bothered to do any internal scans yet, they won't know about them. So you switch out the crew manifest and crypto records with one of the fake sets you've been maintaining just in case, so you're the only girl listed as still alive going back five years.

Heading to the armoury, you mutter to yourself, "Ok, that's sorted, not just to confront the pirates and convince them to take the cargo and go, or failing that. I guess I'm probably worth a million credits. Maybe if I throw myself in, that will convince them to let my family go. But how to ensure they don't go after them anyway." Rushing into the armoury, you don your suit of powered armour and grab a plasma rifle than your notice the tactical nukes and grab a five kiloton fusion bomb about the size of a drink bottle. As you leave the armoury, your tablet pings, and you project their course and calculate the cargo bay they plan on breaching. You race off to catch up with the guys after directing the bots to transfer the cargo there.

You catch up with the guys outside the cargo bay as the pirate ship starts cutting through the outer door. Your brother sees you and asks, "Jazzy, what are you doing? Here shouldn't you be with the other girls in the bunker?" Then his eyes go wide as he looks at your gear, panicked. He continues, "Is that a fusion bomb? What are you doing?"

"Don't worry; I've got a plan to convince the pirate to let everyone go," you say, patting the fusion bomb.

"And what about when they see you? It's not like they just let you go; that's why you should be in the bunker with the other girls."

"Ar, that would be why I'm in powered armour; they won't be able to disable me without killing me well unless I surrender, but that's the fallback plan."

"WHAT!!"

"I fixed the crew manifest, so I'm the only girl listed, and it's technically legitimate since I actually switched in a mirror of the entire data core, but I listed the other girls as having died in an accident five years ago. So all the crypto signatures match."

"No, the fallback plan."

"Oh that, if they're still willing to risk in on the off chance we're hiding something, then I'll let them have me if they let everyone else go."

"That's a terrible plan."

You turn away from him as the pirates finish cutting into the cargo bay and push forward to stand in the armoured hatch into the cargo bay, saying, "They're here, no more time to talk."

"Jazzy, get back here; it's not safe," he yells.

But you ignore him; instead of waving to the pirates and yelling out, "Well, you bozos chose the wrong ship to raid, that all the cargo we have to feel free to take it," you wave at the cargo pile in the bay. Then continue, "see, we just finished delivering relief supplies under contract, but given the station was damaged, they didn't have much in the way of trade goods for us to pick up. And while I'm sure the 40 of you could take our ship, it takes days for you to take us all out, and the ship will be wrecked. So how many of you do you think 15 guys and a kickass girl can take out before you finish killing us?"

The leader leers at you're his gaze running up and down your body as he replies, "Ha, nice try with the story, I'm sure we can find some more valuables, why don't you just surrender now and make it easy on your self girly."

"Check the manifest, or how about actually scanning our ship or are your sensors that bad? If that's the case, I'd give us even odds of killing the lot of you before you finish us all off."

He guests to two of the pirates one of them pulls out a comm while the other access one of the computer terminals in the cargo bay, after a minute or so, the one on the comm calls out, "Sir, sensors only show cargo in this bay, and only 15 other crew all appear to be male."

Then the pirate using the terminal calls out, "That's what the manifest says too."

You grin at the leader, saying, "See, I told you so, take the cargo, and this can all end with you still alive on the other hand, if you want a fight, how about I start it by tossing this five kiloton fusion bomb into the bay with you. Then you'll be dead and your crew even more out of pocket, no loot and minor damage to your ship."