Bright beams of light flashed across the void of space as the two spacecraft shot at one another. The Star Patrol Ship SP-339 banked sharply, dodging the shot from the other ship. At Lieutenant-Commander Imeida’s order, the ship’s gunner fired back at the suspected smuggler.

“Though at this point, we can probably drop the ‘suspected’ part.” Imeida thought to himself, watching the twin-green laser beams from his ship suddenly impact against the shimmering blue-green shields of the other. They crackled as the shields bled power to try and deflect the hit.

The SP-339 had been on routine patrol through the sector when, by luck more then anything else, they’d blundered across another craft attempting to ghost through the system, engines off and all power turned as low as possible. The smugglers must have thought they’d been spotted, because they’d suddenly lit up their engines and fled. As the Space Patrol Boat closed in, the smugglers had opened fire with their craft’s single laser cannon.

“What could they be carrying…” Imeida thought as another shot came in from the smuggler’s ship. “That getting caught running it would be worse then firing on a Star Patrol Ship?” This time, the Patrol Boat was slow to dodge. The ship shook and the lights dimmed briefly as power was rerouted to the shields. Imeida gave the order to fire another laser salvo at the fleeing ship.

“Direct hit, captain.” The weapon’s officer announced. “We’re reading their shields at less then 25% power, sir.”

“As soon as the laser capacitors are charged, fire another volley.” Imeida ordered, rising from his seat. He nodded to another of the bridge crew. “When their shields collapse, lock and prepare to teleport a strike team over to secure the vessel. I will lead it myself.”

He strode out of the bridge and through a hatch. Already, the ship’s squad of marines were assembled on the teleport pad, ready to go. Imeida nodded to the sergeant as he took his spot, drawing his own ray pistol.

A moment later, they heard the sharp whine as the teleporters powered up. There was a flash of light and an instant later, Imeida and the marines found themselves standing in the engine room of the other ship.

There was one smuggler in the room, hunched over the control console, trying to wring as much power out of the engines as possible, in hopes of outrunning the Star Patrol. She turned, her eyes widening with shock as she saw the squad suddenly materialize. Her hand went to the ray pistol at her belt, but shock made her reaction slow. Before she could draw it from the holster, Imeida’s pistol flashed, hitting her with a stun ray. She slumped to the deck.

“Sergeant, secure the prisoner, then lock down the engine room.” Imeida ordered. Two of the men went to the unconscious smuggler, drawing binder bands from their belts. One went around her wrists, the other her ankles. They tightened, securing her for when she came to. The other marines fanned out, making sure the engine room was empty of hostiles and covering all the entry-hatches.

Imeida walked over to the console. Quickly, he set the engines to power down. It didn’t take long for the rest of the smugglers on the bridge to notice the loss of power. A minute later, two more crew came through the hatch to see what the problem was. No sooner had they stepped through, then the marines hit them with stun rays. The unconscious smugglers were dragged over and secured next to their first prisoner.

With three smugglers now secured, Imeida figured there were only one or two left. Small-time operations like this usually ran with minimum crew; fewer numbers to split the profits with, fewer potential informants to go to the Star Patrol. He took two of the marines with him, leaving the rest to guard the engine room and their captives, and headed for the bridge.

By now, the smugglers had realized they’d been boarded. One of them got a quick shot off with his ray gun as they stormed the bridge, but the marine’s armor stopped the blast. Imeida and the other marine took out the two remaining smugglers with their own ray pistols.

As the two unconscious smugglers were dragged to the engine room to join their associates, Imeida contacted the Patrol Boat. A trio of engineers teleported over, to examine the ship and to fly it back to the nearest Star Patrol Base.

“Commander!” One of them commed, “We’ve found the smuggler’s hold.” Imeida came over to the cargo bay. Sure enough, as he came in, he saw one of the standard shipping crates was a false-front, concealing a hidden hatch to a second, secret, cargo bay.

“So that’s what they were smuggling. No wonder they were so reluctant to be boarded.” He thought, looking around. The hidden bay had been converted into a makeshift prison. Steel bars were welded to the floor and ceiling, creating half a dozen cages. Packed into each cage was a dozen female Lutians. The blue-skinned females were prized in slave markets around the galaxy for their grace and beauty as dancers, courtesans and concubines.

Imeida walked over to the closest cage and peered through the bars at the occupants. A dozen pairs of large, frightened, golden eyes peered back at him. The females were naked, apart from the slave collars they wore. Their hands and feet were secured with binders.

The commander turned and switched his comm unit on to record. “This is lieutenant-commander Imeida of the Star Patrol. Having boarded the smuggler’s craft Gold Aurora, and having found on said ship contraband cargo, namely a cargo of Lutian female slaves, and having resisted this boarding with violent action, the crew of the Gold Aurora are hereby placed under arrest by the authority of the Star Patrol. Their ship shall also be impounded and its cargo forfeited to the Star Patrol.”

As he shut the comm off, Imeida grinned, looking back at the cages and their occupants. They’d fetch a fine price when the Star Patrol auctioned the ship and its contents off. And as the ones who had captured it, Imeida and his crew would get a good portion of that in prize money. All in all, not a bad day’s work…