The term crime doesn't pay always amused Vespira. Humans were such weak creatures to think of such nonsense. Just thinking of the phrase made the Gorgonian smirk knowingly as she layed in a large bed in her room. Heat lights shined down upon her glistening body, providing the alien woman with the wonderful comforts of warmth. Two human slaves eagerly tended to their Mistress's needs. One ran her hands over the alien woman's olive skin, massaging the voluptuous but solid form of the snakewoman while the other human slave waved a fan to provide small wafts of cool air. The soft smiles from both women revealed they loved their roles in life, thoroughly trained and brainwashed to want nothing more than to serve their owner for the rest of their lives. Crime doesn't pay? The luxury of Vespira's existence begs to differ.

The crimelord had several brothels and clubs throughout the galaxy that provided the pleasures of flesh to all who could afford it. She had slaves of all species at her beck and call, ready to serve their Mistress or any and all customers that come to her establishements. The income constantly rolled in, allowing Vespira to spread her web further to other planets and systems while also indulging her own desires of fashion, jewelry, or more lovely slaves.

The only unfortunate part was the need to travel from place to place in order to ensure everything was up to Vespira's high standards. But even in travel, the Gorgonian spared no expense. A luxury cruiser flew through the void of space with a full crew of various races along with elite Saurian guards for her protection. Despite the cruiser's design for lavish comforts, the ship was still designed with defense in mind. Vespira had many enemies that included the ADD. The last thing she needed was to be attacked in transit and delay her operations. Any who dare raise a hand against the Gorgonian were certain to suffer for thei insolence. But, no one would just attack an armed cruiser out in the middle space. Not when there is smaller and easier prey out there or so Vespira thought.

A third slave soon entered with a tray of wine glasses and grapes. The Gorgonian rolled onto her back, allowing the slave massaging her to start stroking her large breasts while the third proceeded to feed their owner grapes and wine. Oh yes, it was good to be queen Vespira thought.

Captain Fluffy intently studies the data and their capture plan. She had studied it all a thousand times. But still she looks it over for the thousand-first time. The vixen had not become one of the most feared pirates of the space lanes by being sloppy.

The risk was great but the prize well worth it. The pirate captain had made a deal with a slaver: Deliver the owner of the Prize to him and, in addition to a cash reward, Fluffy would get all the slaves on board as well as the ship itself. With two ships, Fluffy would have the making of the fleet and gain the rank of Commodore. The two vessels working together would quickly add to the former slave's fleet and she would rule the space lanes.

Captain and crew stare at monitors and sensor displays. The Fuxx lies in silent wait behind an asteroid. A navigation error, which cost the vixen captain a great deal of money, would bring the Prize to this system. Armed with access codes, they would attack the Prize and use their weapons' fire as cover for the transmission of the codes to the computer on the Prize. The resulting engine and weapons failures would leave the Prize helpless to prevent capture.

A dot appears on the pirate captain's monitor along with the soft pinging of an alarm. Within a few moments, information joins the dot indicating that the Prize has arrived. Within seconds, the Prize is inundated with comm traffic demanding the ship heave to. The Fuxx's transponder transmits the ID of a much larger system defense boat. The ruse needn't and wouldn't last long.

The Fuxx charges towards the Prize still broadcasting the phony message. They fire its beam weapon aimed at its engine compartment. Under cover of that blast, they transmit the access code to the Prize. If it works, first the engines, then lights, hatches, and other systems will seem to fail on the prize. While the armory should lock out its crew, the pirates are prepared for any weapons the crew and owner may already have on hand.

Fluffy races to join the boarding party. They all wear special goggles to help them see in the expected darkness and to, hopefully, protect themselves from the Gorgonian's hypnotic glare. Fluffy alone carries the weapon which will stun the beauty. It is so powerful that to use it on the crew and cargo of the prize would be extremely harmful. And Fluffy won't lose profit. The vixen awaits the docking of the two vessels. Soon she will learn if her time and money were well spent. Or if her plans have failed and they must battle the Prize while trying to escape with their lives.

Becoming complacent was a weakness in any person who believed they were safe and in power. The crew of Vespira's ship were just that. They were members of a ship of one of the most powerful and influencial crimelords in the galaxy. No one was stupid enough to attack this ship. If they did, they would be destroyed by the ship's superior firepower and those who survived would have the wrath of a Gorgonian to deal with.

Their complancent attitude led to a missed jump that led them to the wrong system. The system was an asteroid field. Before the crew could manage to figure out what went wrong, they were hailed by a large defense boat. What was going on?

The ship rumbled as it suddenly went into red alert. Vespira hissed and sat up. She had the same question in her head as her crew. Seeking answers, the Gorgonian slithered for the comms. She pressed a key only to have it shut down along with all the lights in the room. With no power, her voice would not be heard. This applied to the rest of the crew as well as no one could signal the others through the ship's systems. Portable communicators allowed the crew to quickly break up into squads and seek the armory. Unfortunately for them, the armory was locked down.

The only armed individuals were Vespira's personal guard which consisted of Saurians. The large lizardmen were good for nothing but combat and thus were always armed and ready for battle. Their armored hides were designed to take a great deal of punishment making them perfect shock troopers.

The saurian guards spread out, giving a couple to each squad. A group continued to try and get the armory open so they could help support the lizardmen. Engineers were struggling to restore the ship's system. Things were utter chaos. Coms were open between squads so they could call in where the boarding parties were entering from. They could then cosolodate their forces appropriately.

With the doors disabled, Vespira was trapped in her room. She could force open the doors but that would leave her unarmed in the pitch black halls of the ship. Her slaves remained close though their was little they could do to fight back against an invasion. Arms crossed, Vespira hissed her displeasure of this interuption of her work.

So far, Fluffy's plan had gone off without a hitch. The ship had not managed to send out any distress signals before being shutdown. Life support was offline but there was plenty of air in the ship to get in and take care of business. The biggest issue was dealing with the saurian guards before the systems come back online or the crew gets the armory open.

Fluffy entered the Prize with a "yarrr!" and immediately, her countenance took on an evil grin. Chaos reigned in the darkened ship. That was just what the vixen pirate needed. As she and her boarding party advanced, the pirate captain scanned the clamor for targets.

"Saurian!", she shouted, pointing her sabre at a pair near the hatch. Immediately, two of Fluffy's crew mates fired on the lizards and downed them. The specialized weapons they carried would be ineffective in normal combat with Saurians. But in the close quarters and chaos of the Prize, nothing felled one of these lizards faster. The speed at which the pirates dispatched the lizard men stole any courage left in those they accompanied and they surrendered quickly. Fluffy's crew quickly liberated all the weapons and communicators from their captives and locked them in a compartment, another advantage to having the access codes to the Prize.

The pirates split into two groups. One group headed for the engine room and soon took control there. The group led by Fluffy captured the bridge.

With the ship secured, Captain Fluffy turned her attention to her second goal. The ship and its booty now belonged to the feared pirate captain. But a certain customer desired its captain. And the vixen intended to deliver.

Leaving the bridge in the hands of her mate Ginger and armed pirates, Fluffy and several of her crew made their way to the ship owner's cabin. Ensuring their goggles to block the naga's hypnotic stare were in place, the pirate queen opened the cabin door and rushed in with her mates, ordering the room lights on at the same time.

"Avast!", Captain Fluffy growled. "Surrender peaceable like and ye'll not be harmed." Each of her crew covered ant slave or crew member in the cabin while specially armed mates stunned any Saurians inside. Fluffy aimed her specially designed weapon at the Gorgonian. She could stun the owner immediately, but wished to avoid possible harming the beautiful creature on whose head weighed such a large bounty.

((I am so terribly sorry for the delay. RL and rust conspired against me. (And not being sure how to handle combat.) But I felt I should to post a reply on International Talk Like a Pirate Day. ))
((And I looked up Saurians and had to laugh. Krystal was one possible model for Fluffy.))

Power did not come back online and time was passing. Something was definitely wrong. The sound of weapons firing could be heard beyond the door before suddenly falling silent. The doors were pryed open. Vespira's tongue flicked out and frowned, tasting the presence of something other than her crew and servants. Whoever these people were, they were well prepared to disable her cruiser and subdue her crew. Several Saurian bodies were scattered throughout the long corridors of the ship. The rest of the crew surrendered with little resistance. Useless peasants...

Vespira's eyes narrowed at the figures approaching her dark chamber. The slaves stood between her and her attackers. But it took no effort at all for the pirates to subdue the slaves having dealt with heavy Saurian guards with little issue. Surrender was not appealing at all to the Gorgonian but her options were unfortunately limited. "I doubt that," Vespira replied with a hiss, arms crossing infront of her chest. Being captured by pirates would always lead to harm one way or another.

The Gorgonian approached the pirates, slithering slowly. Her hips swayed from side to side while what little light from the stars glimmered off her scales and jewelry. The alien crime lord was not attempting anything as there was not enough light in this room to even use her abilities properly. Not only that but the pirates were wearing eye protection. No, Vespira was merely showing off her body as she slithered towards the captain. If the crew closed in, she would not resist being apprehended. The Gorgonian remained calm despite the major setback this attack had caused. For now, this would be this unknown pirate's victory.

"You are making a foolish misstake, mutt," Vespira hissed softly, waiting to be led to where ever these robbers and criminals were taking the Gorgonian. This was apparently planned with the intent of apprehending her. Whoever these pirates were fools and whoever hired them were fools as well. Vespira would get her revenge and would not rest until she was satisfied with crushing each and every one of them.