[ WP ] A band of space-pirates faces down a massive mining frigate .

“ Attention, mining frigate Kilimanjaro. I regret to inform you that your ship cargo now belongs to the glorious Fifth Fleet of Aggressive Acquisition. You will surrender your bridge immediately. ” Aboard the Kilimanjaro, I listened to the transmission with a distracted air. I was busy trying to balance a dozen things, but I supposed a reply of some sort was necessary. Those Tenorbiian pirates could get awful uppity if you ignored them, and EarthForce regs demanded a policy of politeness towards the Tenorbiians, at least until you were threatened. 
 
 “ Pleasure to see you, Fifth Fleet. I will of course open our hangars and prepare the way for you, once the credits are transferred. Let's see... ” A brief glance at another screen showed me the current commodities prices. “ The current value of our cargo is currently rated at one hundred and six million credits on the Intergal Exchange, and the current value of the Kilimanjaro itself is a clean three hundred million. ” 
 
 “ Your jokes will not save you, human. Surrender or be destroyed. ” I sighed. Well, there it was. I made sure that the transmission had been recorded for the insurance people, and then I flicked a few switches. 
 
 “ That sounded an awful lot like a threat, Fifth Fleet. Maybe you want to reconsider that. ” Might as well give them a chance, I thought. Tenorbiians were n't usually stupid enough to mess with EarthForce, but they must have seen the Kilimanjaro's lack of escorts as a weakness, instead of coming to the obvious conclusion. I took a moment to examine their craft more closely. Typical Tenorbiian pirate fleet, really. Three cruiser class ships, each about two or three hundred meters, depending on if you counted those ridiculous decorative masts. Each was dwarfed by the massive hulk of the Kilimanjaro. A dozen fighters each, buzzing around them protectively. Nothing to call the supervisor over. 
 
 “ Your attempts to delay are pathetic. I will crack your holds open and drag the bounty from them myself. ” The channel closed, and the cruisers launched missiles. Following in their wake, the fighters moved in to attack. I sighed again. There was no negotiating with Tenorbiians, but no one would be able to say I had n't tried. 
 
 I flicked a switch, and from the opposite side of the Kilimanjaro loomed a large, kilometer long asteroid. The highly ferrous iron was gripped firmly by the Kilimanjaro's magnetic field grapplers, and it traveled in a tight orbit around the mining frigate, swinging between the pirate cruisers and their would-be target. Missiles smashed against the surface of the asteroid, along with several fighters. The rest attempted to scatter, but were painfully reminded of electromagnetism and jerked down into the field to smash upon the asteroid's surface. 
 
 The immediate threat gone, I flicked a switch, releasing the asteroid. I was about to offer the pirates one more chance to surrender, but the three remaining cruisers did n't give me a chance. Bright yellow lights illuminated their bow, and powerful beams of plasma lurched towards the Kilimanjaro. Oh well, had to give them points for persistence, I guess. The plasma impacted the thick armour of the mining ship, doing little damage. The Kilimanjaro had been designed for heavy mining within asteroid belts, and her armour reflected that. It would take a lot more concentrated fire to burn through to anywhere vulnerable. 
 
 While they were wasting their time and energy, I locked the forward arrays onto their respective targets. Ordinarily, the mining lasers would boil away the surface of an asteroid, leaving only the desired metals. But the Tenorbiian ships were n't constructed of any particularly valuable metals, so I set them on their highest setting. The powerful lasers made short work of the pirates, boiling away metal and atmosphere with equal ease. With the last of the attackers dealt with, I filed an incident report explaining the power usage, and turned back to the screen displaying my favourite soap opera.
