[Targets confirmed, long range scanners indicate a small pirate outpost with between 8 and 10 total crafts, at least half of which are expected to be combat ready]
"Alright, time to light the fires and kick the tires… Is that the saying? Well never mind, is Lisa secured?"
[Yes… Sister have already secured herself in the medical pod, I have sedated her]
"...Is there a reason you call her your sister now?"
A few moments passed before Luna's slightly defeated voice sounded out
[It was a prior agreement, please don't question me about it]
"Sure thing, are you ready for this?"
[Yes, drones and missiles have been reprogrammed successfully, weapons are ready, craft have been depressurized and upon return to real space the main reactor will cycle up to combat output within 4 seconds, sensors will indicate target points for the first strike within 10 seconds]
"Alright, let's do this"
It had been 4 days since the unfortunate meeting with the Guild in Reeb and by now the trio was already a few systems away. Over this time they had ironed out a plan for future operations, which was relatively simple: they would target pirates without working for the guild. Normally this wasn't something that would cross anyone's mind, the risk were simply too many for any normal mercenary with a combat capable ship of their own to launch an attack on a pirate outpost alone
'Well it's not entirely without risk for us either… But it should be fine'
Mark's advantages were as followers in order of importance: Luna, his biology, and finally the Sparrow
The Sparrow was the most obvious advantage, given the extensive modifications and restoration Luna had done on it the Sparrow had turned into a mean piece of kit, in function and performance it resembled a black operation special forces ship more than the mercenary beater it had been originally
Mark's biology directly influenced his pilot abilities that already were superhuman even without him mending his senses into the ship he was flying, his reaction speed with near instant, his G tolerance seemed limitless, his focus was unlimited and he lacked the mortal need for sleep
The last and biggest advantage was Luna, as a machine spirit / fairy (in Mark's words) it had completely control over all sup systems of the Sparrow and could manipulate and tune them to perfectly support Mark's pilot abilities, in essence Luna acted as the perfect operator, basically the job title of a crew member that managed everything on the ship besides directly flying it (examples include, navigation, sensor operations, reactor management and power distributor management)
[Punch out point approaching, 5 seconds]
"Got it…"
As the ship punched out into real space Mark's perception of time slowed down to a crawl, around 2 kilometers ahead of him lay a small outpost, he immediately clocked the open hanger that contained 4 ships and another ship that was already launched
[Reactor combat output confirmed, initial strike point marked, hard points deployed]
Showing a thin smile Mark engaged at once, the two size 2 multi cannons lit up as dense metal alloy slugs lit up the asteroid belt and struck the pirate station in the area Luna had marked, at the same time countermeasures along with other surprises shot out from the sides and bottom of the Sparrow to delay a clear return lock as an armor panel on the port side of the ship heated up and cracked under intense heat Mark reacted quickly and lit the maneuver thrusters as he kicked the entire craft sideways while he continued firing
[Directed energy attack shields are coming back online in 11 seconds, there's a turret on the outpost structure, angle of fire marked]
"Got it, how is the target looking?"
Mark continued evading the laser turret as he ducked in and out of asteroid cover while he continued directing his fire at the same spot on the station
[Armor integrity is higher than expected, however loiter motions have already been tasked, new priority targets have been marked]
A moment later, the missiles the Sparrow had dumped along with the initial countermeasures lit their boosters and an instance later stuck the weak points on the outposts structure that powered down a few moments later as Luna confirmed
[Power line cluster destroyed, outpost weapons offline. Shields are back online]
"Got it…"
Mark broke the Sparrow out of cover and pushed the offensive towards the station as he switched focus to the pirate ship that had been out of the outpost when their assault had started
[Missiles approaching, countermeasures deployed. Enemy port side maneuver thrusters are damaged]
"Alright"
Mark instantly changed the Sparrows approach and exploited the weak port side thrusters of the pirate ship to keep out of its beam lasers angle of fire as he saturated its shields with multi cannon fire, no more than 3 seconds later the shields failed and the cannon fire ripped the enemy ship's flank out completely before the Sparrow's insistent peeking gored out the ships power distributor and the poor victim instantly lost power
[Ship disabled, another craft is incoming. Loiter drone sensors have painted another weak point on the outpost for priority targeting]
"On it, warm up the rail cannon"
Mark ignored the other pirate craft that was burning towards him and took distance once more while the size 2 rail cannon mounted directly under the cockpit on the Sparrow's belly lit up and started to crackle with voltage as its capacitors charged for a few moments
[Rail cannon charged, target point and fire vector painted]
Mark kicked the Sparrow to the side as he squeezed the trigger for the rail cannon's fire control down, as fire permission was given to the fire control the rail cannon fired the instance Mark lined up the shot at the firing point. The magnetically accelerated dense metal dart instantly shed its sabot acceleration jacket as it cleared the Sparrow and a moment later it passed through the pirate outpost at a mind-boggling speed of 5 km/s, a moment later an explosion rocked the pirate outpost
[Ship reactor destruction confirmed, radiation burst confirmed, all life signatures in the hanger have been cooked]
"Let's wrap this up then! Warm up the rail cannon for a 2nd shot"
"Confirmed, the target's maneuver pattern have been analyzed, follow the indicated route"
Mark continued dodging the medium-sized pirate craft's multi cannon fire as he ducked and weaved in between asteroids along the route Luna had plotted for him, by the time the rail cannon's capacitors had finished charging it was already too late for the oblivious pirate pilot to realize he had walked right into a trap as a dense metal dart passed right through the center of the cockpit obliterating the pilot and disabling the ship that continued drifting along the same course until Mark destroyed the thrusters with a short burst of multi cannon fire
[Ship disabled, combat operations complete. Please catch the medium-sized ship before it drifts away with a tether line Mark]
"Sure thing"
Mark burned after the drifting ship before he fired a harpoon-like tether at it and gradually slowed it down before he managed to neutralize the ship's acceleration, then he towed it back towards the pirate outpost where he let it drift, then the Sparrow started rapidly circling the outpost
"How does it look?"
[Scanning still in progress]
"... But how does it look?"
[There's not too many life signatures left, so the chance of hostages is low]
"Alright… I would still like to go in, you know, just for a practice run"
[Alright, I will take over piloting and support you from out here]
"Got it…"
Mark pulled his senses out of the Sparrow and a few moments later he returned he floated off the pilot chair and out into the hallway where he picked up a chest rig which he quickly put on before he stored 4 magazines into the magazine pockets before he picked up his rifle and wrapped the sling around his back before he wrapped his left arm around it twice and gripped the vertical fore grip
"I'm ready when you are"
[Use the port side hatch and standby]
"Going"
Mark quickly exited the Sparrow though the port side and hanged onto the side as the Sparrow continued flying around the outpost
[Enter though the battle damage visible in 6 seconds]
Mark nodded and pushed off the Sparrow before he entered the outpost though a large hole ripped into the outpost from a missile strike, once inside he felt the drone on the back of his chest rig separate from him, the small cube of metal floated up and away from him using cold gas thrusters before it illuminated a hatch with a blue laser pointer
'Alright…'
Mark opened the hatch and found a depressurized hallway, a few casualties were present but given the scent and the drones lack of response to them, they really had kicked the bucket so he ignored them and closed the hatch behind him again. The drone that floated next to him blinked a yellow indicator light on the back of it, so Mark stayed put and checked over his rifle
'Chamber good, magazine secured, fire selector at single… Acceleration kit is charged and ready, smart stock is charged and engaged'
Raising his rifle as he shouldered it, Mark took a deep breath before he stopped breathing. As he made a conscious effort to stop his unconscious mimicry, the other unconscious parts of his natural mimicry instantly faced away, all his other natural mannerisms faded away
'Time to hunt…'
The light on the cube drone flashed green, and 4 red laser points lit up and pointed out the closest targets, Mark lowered his rifle slightly as he flew ahead while keeping a low ready stance, reaching a corner in a narrow hallway Mark turned his entire body and reoriented himself so only his head, rifle and upper body were visible as he slowly 'cut the pie' and cleared the corner, as the target, a pirate in a vacuum suit came into view Mark squeezed the trigger at once and sent a bullet into his back
'Puncture, suit compromised'
Mark watched the pirate scramble for a few moments trying to cover the hole in the back of his suit before he double tapped the back of his head, continuing ahead Mark reached a hatch that the small drone marked with a red laser
"Give me a precise picture"
Mark waited for the drone as he slowly moved his thumb up from the fore grip and enabled the acceleration jacket that covered most of the hand guard. A few moments passed before a green laser light shone onto the door, Mark didn't hesitate and fired through it, as the bullet passed down the barrel the acceleration jacket magnetically accelerated the bullet to several times its original speed which made it pass clean through the hatch
"...Target killed"
At Mark's conformation, the drone's laser switched out before Mark continued towards the next target