It had been weeks since armed guards came to escort the Mogul last time. It was never a good sign, and she had actually thought they had left such behaviours behind them. As they walked towards the bridge, distant humming sounds could be heard, changing in intensity and pitch until they stopped abruptly. It was probably the warp engines failing to establish the warp bubble. Something must be terribly wrong she thought.

Just as they were about to enter the bridge, they took a turn and ended up in a room she had never been in before. There captain Vaac sat behind a wooden desk. The room was poorly lit. He pointed at a chair in front of him and she sat down. The guards retreated into the shadows in the corners.

Vaac looked her in her eyes for a few uncomfortable moments before speaking.

"This is a trap", he began, leaning forward, "but it makes no difference to me really."

Uildova looked perplexed. Vaac continued.

"When your Zeltrex friends arrive, or whatever scum you have hired to snatch us, I will be more than happy to demonstrate the full capability of the arsenal of this cruiser."

"But captain, I..."

"I will let you decide how they go. Antimatter or perhaps something more spectacular, like aerosol acid?"

"Please listen, I..."

"There is also a third option. Save them all and call off the attack!" Vaac slammed the desk.

"Sweet, dear Khadan! I swear this isn't our doing! We are merchants, killing our customers is bad for business! It must have been the Lafars Band, I suspected they were onto the stasis ship."

"Lafars Band?"

"Pirates..." The Mogul turned her head to hear better. "It sounds like you have problems with the warp. The Lafars have a way to strand ships. Don't ask me how, but I bet this was them."

"You did not think it was prudent to tell me about these pirates?"

"They rarely venture this far south. And I swear by Eriza, I don't know much more about them than their name. And if I were to tell you of all dangers of the Tikanyaki Territories, we wouldn't have left Treecuu space yet."

"For the moment I will believe you..." The captain relaxed and suddenly looked a lot friendlier. "Tell me", he continued, "how good are they at hide and seek?"