Special Notes: We are finishing off Fox's late teens/young adulthood now. Enjoy. Fox's adulthood will merge in the next couple episodes. [The Princes XIX] [Sly Fox] Fox watched the stars as his ship drifted through the vastness of space. He really had no where to go, or be, or do, so Fox moved his ship off the navigation lane several light years and drifted. Carina was an option of course, an island of his own was a pleasant thought, doing nothing but laying on the sand in the surf, but the Carinians were nine years into the Jon Black reincarnation cycle and he had heard they were being very paranoid about incoming ships. Fox powered down the ship, leaving just enough power on to stave off the cold vacuum of space and power a small reading lamp. The copy of the Carina Corax was nestled into a small shelf with the two gifts the Raven Goddess had given him; one was a copy of the Corvus Corax written in Daraian and the other a copy of the Corvus Corax written in the same language as the Carina Corax. The Raven Goddess had given him the means to translate the ancient language of Carina and Corvus and he had spent a considerable amount of time over the years writing translation notes in a journal, though he was far from completing the task. Fox read and looked for correlations between the different versions of the books. Some of the mysteries of the two Corax’ he had already solved, some he had not. The first thing he noticed was that the two Orbs appeared to be waging a philosophical war since the very dawn of the Carinian and Daraian civilizations. Fox closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, woke, ate some rations, read, and slept some more. He dreamed of tunnels covered in blood and shadows with death lurking around every corner. The emergency proximity alarm sounded and woke him. He flipped the alarm off and searched outside the canopy for what had set the alarm off. A shadow passed over the canopy and he saw the source; a medium heavy cargo ship was coming into position over top the small Needle ship. The Com-link chirped and Fox activated the link. “You are a prisoner of the Ava Bachen pirate ship,” declared a voice. “Prepare to be boarded.” “How do you plan on boarding a Needle ship you idiot?” said another voice in the background. “Umm.. we’ll bring it into the cargo bay,” said the first voice. “The grappling hook is broken,” said the second voice. Fox raised a brow and tried not to laugh, these pirates obviously didn’t realize they needed to take their hand off the Com-link control so he wouldn’t be able to hear their conversation. “If this is a bad time for you,” Fox transmitted over the Com-link, “I can come back at a more convenient time.” “You will power down your ship and we will bring you into the cargo bay,” ordered the first voice. Fox didn’t bother mentioning that his ship was already powered down. The pirate ship continued to maneuver above him and he could see the belly turret gunner trying to manually crank the old cargo ship’s gun turret around to bare on Fox’s ship. Fox fired a burst of compressed air from the Needle ships port side maneuvering thruster and spun his ship around in an arc to the opposite side of the pirate’s turret cannon, the turret gunner increased his efforts trying to follow the uncooperative ship. The turret gunner cranked the hand wheel frantically and nearly had his turret around; Fox fired another maneuvering burst and flipped his ship around to the other side of the turret. The gunner stopped cranking the turret and Fox watched the frustrated gunner yelling into a microphone. A moment later the first voice relayed the turret gunners message. “Maintain position prisoner or be destroyed,” ordered the voice of the first pirate. Fox wondered what they intended to destroy him with, or maybe they just planned for him to die laughing. “Have you ever actually captured a ship before?” asked Fox. “I am the Prince of Pirates and have captured many ships,” boasted the voice. Really? Fox almost laughed out loud. No doubt he was a self proclaimed Prince of Pirates. Fox didn’t bother responding and waited to see what they would do next. The Pirate ship maneuvered until it was directly in front of the Needle ship and started backing towards Fox; the cargo bay door of the Pirate ship lowered and he could see several of the pirates waiting in the cargo bay. Fox waited until almost the last second and fired his maneuvering thruster again and turned the Needle ship perpendicular to the pirate ship. The cargo ship advanced and nudged into Fox’s ship and started pushing him. Fox did start laughing then, the cargo bay wasn’t wide enough to bring the Needle ship inside while it was sideways. The pirate ship came to a stop and Fox’s ship continued it’s momentum away from the pirates that must be getting very frustrated by now. Fox fired a maneuvering thruster and brought his ship around until his engines were facing the interior of the cargo bay. Another burst from his forward maneuvering thrusters and the Needle ship started backing into the open cargo bay. Fox powered up his engines and wished he could see the pirates faces as they watched the very powerful Needle ship’s engine glow red in preparation to fire and make them a burn mark on the back wall of the cargo bay. He waited long enough to give the pirates a chance to exit the cargo bay and then powered the engines back down. The Needle ship settled to the deck of the cargo bay with a click. Fox lifted his hand and let it drop; gravity plates? This must be an old Kitsune ship, nobody else had gravity plates. How did these pirates come about a Kitsune Cargo ship? The cargo bay ramp was still down and the bay was an airless vacuum. His flight suit wasn’t intended for long space walks, but he didn’t plan on staying in the cargo bay for long. Fox snapped his helmet in place and opened the canopy. Fox grabbed a talon dagger, his Trident necklace was under his shirt inside the flight suit and not accessible at the moment. He jumped from the canopy and landed on the floor plating in silence and tapped his boot several times; it was an odd sensation not to be able to hear any sound. He had trained in weightlessness before as part of the Shadow Warrior training, but it was still enough of a novelty as to be interesting. The pirates were nowhere to be seen. Fox ran over to the likely door they had escaped through to avoid his ship’s main engine. He felt a vibration through the floor plates and glanced over his shoulder to see the cargo bay door sealing shut. There would be an atmosphere soon and the pirates would return, time to find somewhere else to be. Fox looked up, a ladder led to another deck and he scrambled up to a hatch on the next level. He laid his hand on the hatch’s lever and waited for the air hissing into the bay to pressurize the compartment so he could open the door. The bay pressurized and the hatch came open. Fox slipped into the hallway beyond and sealed the door behind himself, it would take the pirates a few minutes to discover he wasn’t in the cargo bay anymore. Fox followed the hall and peered into several side compartments; storage rooms full of every manor of oddity, but nothing of interest yet. The hall led to a step ladder to another level and Fox explored and found a Mess Hall through the fourth door; this would do nicely, there was plenty of room if he needed to fight. He really didn’t want to capture the ship or kill anyone; he was just bored and this was something to do. The small kitchen in the Mess Hall was stocked with a variety of simple foods. He grabbed some items that looked good and took them over to a table and made himself a sandwich. Fox was on his third sandwich and fourth glass of something that might have passed for fruit juice when the door of the Mess Hall opened and someone poked his head in. The pirate saw Fox and slammed the door shut behind him. Fox could hear the pirate calling for his companions. It took nearly ten minutes before the door opened again and several of the pirates peeked inside. One of the pirates shoved past the others and entered the room and approached the trespasser. The pirate stood in front of Fox with his hands on his hips and scowled while the others gathered just inside the door. Fox continued eating his sandwich and held up some bread to the pirate. “Sandwich?” asked Fox. “I am Prince Kota, Prince of the Pirates and terror of the navigation lanes,” proclaimed the boy. Fox corrected himself, not really a boy, the pirate looked to be maybe the same age as he was. The pirate was dressed in an assortment of no less than six different world armies uniforms; the silliest of which was a samurai ceremonial helmet decorated with what may have been a pineapple. “Hello, Kota, I’m Fox, sandwich?” Fox offered again. “That’s Prince Kota to you,” insisted the man-boy pirate. “I’m sure it is, Kota,” said Fox. “Sandwich?” “Shut up with the sandwich,” demanded Kota. “You are my prisoner.” Fox dropped the bread on the table and shrugged, then held his hand out. “We can be friends or you can attack me,” said Fox. “One of those things is wise and one would be foolish, which would you like to pursue?” Fox laid his Talon dagger on the table and smiled pleasantly. Kota moved his hand to the sidearm at his side and laughed, his eyes narrowing. “You shouldn’t bring a knife to a gunfight,” said Kota. “I’ll take that silly gun away and then snap that pineapple off your head and put in somewhere very unpleasant for you,” said Fox. Fox saw the unmistakable twitch of Kota’s shoulder that indicated he was moving to draw his sidearm. Fox shoved the table up and pushed it against Kota while he was trying to draw his gun. Fox pushed Kota back until he slammed into the group of pirates at the door. Two of the pirates leaped easily up and over the table; Daraians! Fox tossed the table aside and took the gun from Kota and threw it across the room and spun to deal with the Daraians. The two Daraians didn’t crouch but instead assumed two unusual battle stances. The female lifted one leg forward at an angle and her arms up like swans in flight. The other, a male, spread his feet slightly apart and twisted sideways, his arms low and his hands hooked like talons. Fox knew these battle stances; the female was a Hawk and the male a Falcon. The best way to fight these two in the open was a direct attack. Fox ran and jumped in the air and twisted to the side and struck out at the Hawk first. The Hawk tried to twist away but took the blow to his shoulder and fell back to the ground. The Falcon struck out with her leg and Fox felt the kick miss his head by a fraction of an inch. These two were very good. Fox landed and didn’t pause, he flexed his knees and rebounded back at the female while she was still recovering from the kick. Fox hit her in the chest and she collapsed on the ground. Fox spun in the air and came down with his Talon dagger, fully planning to plunge it through the Falcon’s neck. The Hawk scrambled and covered the female with his body. “Mercy,” screamed the Hawk. “Don’t take my mate!” Fox landed over top the two Daraians, his dagger at the neck of the Hawk. “What mercy would you have given me?” growled Fox. “None,” replied the Hawk honestly. Fox felt the movement behind him and kicked out hard and struck Kota in his stomach. Kota made and oomph sound and fell over on the floor doubled up and groaning. Fox rolled off the Daraians, leaving them alive and clinging to each other, and stood to face the last two pirates; two tattooed Cormon warriors. The Cormons knelt down and picked up the bread and meat and walked over to a table next to a view port and started making themselves a sandwich. “Not our fight,” said one of the Cormons. “This is Kota’s mess, he can fix it.” Fox looked down at Kota and then reached down and snapped the thing that looked like a pineapple off the samurai helmet. Fox grabbed Kota’s belt next and lifted him off the ground and flipping him over slammed Kota back down on his stomach and knelt with his knee in Kota’s back. Kota started screaming. “Nooooo… Noooo… I surrender!” screamed Kota. Fox sat the pineapple down in front of Kota’s face. Kota stared at the horrifying pineapple this dangerous person threatened him with. “Who is the Pirate Prince?” asked Fox. “You are,” whispered Kota. “Louder,” ordered Fox. “You’re the Pirate Prince,” shouted Kota. “Is there anyone else onboard that I need to convince?” asked Fox. “This was all the warriors,” said one of the Cormons. “There’s the pilot and co-pilot up on the bridge, and a navigator too, then there’s a half-wit around here somewhere, and a hatching defect Demonian in the engine room.” “Looks like you’re the new Captain,” said the other Cormon. “Will I have anymore trouble from you, Kota,” asked Fox. “No, you won, it’s the pirate way, you’re the Captain now,” said Kota dejectedly. “Kota, you haven’t a clue what the pirate way is,” said the Daraian Falcon. “But maybe with a new Captain we might actually successfully attack something.” “You will stay, won’t you,” asked the Hawk. A klaxon sounded and Fox didn’t have a chance to answer. “Three Gunslinger Battleships approaching fast,” shouted a voice from the ship speakers. “I told you this was a bad region of space,” yelled one of the Cormons jumping up and running from the Mess Hall. The Daraians followed and Kota looked up at Fox. Fox took his knee off Kota and stood up. “I’ll show you where the bridge is,” said Kota. Fox followed the pirate out into the hall and thought about just going back to his ship, he could probably out run the Battleships. “Come on,” said Kota. Fox shrugged and followed him to the bridge. The bridge crew was busy readying the engines, but Fox could see it was already too late; three Kurnezi Class Battleships were in a formation around the pirate ship. One of the pilots jumped up from his seat when he saw Fox but Kota held his hand up to stop him. “He’s the Captain now,” said Kota. The pilot just shook his head and sat back down. “How did they sneak up on us?” asked Kota. “A navigation wormhole opened and they were just there,” said the navigator. Fox looked out at his three Battleships. How had they manipulated the navigation lanes? With Lord Black dead and the new Jon Black still sealed inside Black Castle, there shouldn’t be any way for them to open navigation lanes. The Com-link chirped and the pilot looked at his new Captain. “Well Captain, do I answer them?” asked the pilot. “Open the Com-link,” said Fox. “Lets see what they want.” The pilot opened the link and a voice crackled over the Com-speaker. “This is First Deputy Maz of the Gunslinger Law Order, you are under arrest for piracy, power down and prepare to be boarded.” Maz? What was he doing out here? Fox figured Maz would be around fourteen or fifteen by now. Oh, of course, Prince Delphean was Maz’s prince and would be around twenty now. Delphean was probably sitting in the Battleship Captain’s chair and Maz was on the Com-system. Fox activated his wrist implant and searched for an Imperial code that might work on the Battleships without giving away who he was. “Power up the engines, prepare to jump to light speed,” ordered Fox. “They’ll shoot us before we can get five feet,” replied the pilot. “Just do it,” said Fox. Fox found the old Imperial code imbedded in his implant and picked up the Com-microphone. “I am truly sorry, Maz,” said Fox, “but it is not time yet. I’m only putting a one-hour lock on your reactors, you’ll be okay.” Fox transmitted an Imperial shut-down code to the three Battleship computers. “Their engines and weapons are powering down,” shouted the pirate Fox assumed was the navigator. “Okay, pilot,” said Fox. “Get us out of here.” The Ava Bachen Pirate ship started to move away from the Gunslinger Battleships. “Who is this!” shouted Maz over the Com. “Maz, go to Darai and see Lord Sparrow,” said Fox. “Tell him to give you a new fleet of ships, whatever you need, then take those Battleships and bury them in the desert, they are too dangerous to keep using. And stay away from this ship, no matter what.” “Who the hell is this?” demanded Maz. Fox flipped the Com-frequency and sent a message to Lord Sparrow promising payment but not to let the Gunslingers know who was paying the bill. Fox added a note for Lord Sparrow that he wanted to meet and discuss the new Dart ship line that House Sparrow had never got off the drawing board. The Ava Bachen Pirate ship jumped to light speed. “Yea, exactly who the hell are you?” demanded the Pilot. “You first,” said Fox smiling. “I’m Tolo, Kota’s brother, and that’s Tana, my co-pilot, and Seni the navigator.” “And you two?” asked Fox looking at the Cormons. “I’m Mono and this is my blood-mate, Leto.” Fox looked at the Daraians next. “Goa,” said the female Hawk, “and my mate, Falon.” “I believe that makes two missing,” said Fox. “Yea, there’s Rock, he’s in the engine room,” said Kota, “but don’t say anything when you see him, he’s real sensitive, and Squish is around somewhere.” “So, who are you that you can shut down Gunslinger Battleships,” demanded Tolo. “Unless we need to have a discussion,” said Fox. “You don’t need to know anything other than where I tell you to fly this ship.” Tolo’s eyes narrowed and he started reaching for a big knife hanging on his belt. Kota rushed over and put his hand on his brother’s arm and shook his head. Kota was a better fighter than Tolo and if he said not to then Tolo decided maybe he should just wait and see what happens. “Still need to know what to call you,” said Tolo. Fox thought about it for a moment. “Arr.. matey, I be Sly Fox, Prince of the Pirates,” replied Fox grinning, this might be fun. “Oh please, I never even tried talking like that,” laughed Kota. “You be needen’ to start then matey,” said Fox. “You’re my First Mate and we be settin’ sail for rich booty.” “Are you serious?” asked Mono. “Are we really going to get to attack something real, not just some slow mining tugs?” “Aye, all the plunder you be wantin,” said Fox. “We’ve got knives to sharpen,” said Mono as he and Leto rushed off.