Smoke coils through the bridge as the live broadcast hisses across every deck. The council station is gone, the fleet is scattered, and the surviving Pirate Lords stare at Tressa and the command console like it might bite first.
Pirate Lord 3
We need the traitor, not a throne. Say the word, and I want every ship checked.
Pirate Lord 12
We need formation now. If we drift, the nobles pick us apart one by one.
The hologram map flickers, showing broken pirate signatures, three trader hulls, and the hostile lanes tightening around the kill zone. Tressa has the only clean command link left.
Morrow Nine
If she hands me over, I am dead. If I talk first, I might live.
A hard-lock clang seals the bridge doors. The broadcast cuts through the static, waiting for Tressa to set the fleet’s next shape.
The Lord
Give them a destination, dragon. Or watch them scatter into the dark.
Every eye turns to Tressa, because the vacuum is real now, and whatever she says next decides whether the surviving fleets become her empire or her wreckage.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the Pirate Lords’ pledge
“*I cut out the hologram of the Lord ending the call so he can't hear what I have to say next* look both of your fleets got eviscerated in the destruction of the station pirate lord 12 has already pledged his fleet to me. Imperial forces are going to be here soon we need to leave, the Marrow 9 worked with the two other pirate Lords I just killed to leak the station block us in set the bombs and then work their fleets and the imperials to kill us. Both of those pirate lords are now dead. And I have a fleet of 2,000 ships”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Tressa slashes the hologram control, and the Lord’s image breaks into a spray of blue static. The bridge falls quieter at once, with only the ship hum, smoke, and the live broadcast left breathing through the speakers.
Tressa
Both of your fleets are wrecked in that station burn. Pirate Lord 12 is already with me. Imperial forces are coming, so we leave now. Morrow Nine worked with the dead lords to spring the trap. I have two thousand ships.
Pirate Lord 3 straightens from the console, suspicion still on their face, but their eyes flick to the fleet numbers. Pirate Lord 12 lowers their pointing hand and studies the map like it has finally become a road instead of a grave.
Pirate Lord 3
Two dead lords, a live admiral, and a clean route off this hull. If she is lying, it is an expensive lie.
Pirate Lord 12
Then we do not scatter. We fold the survivors into her command and move before the Imperials get eyes on us.
Morrow Nine swallows hard in his restraints, looking from one pirate lord to the other as the broadcast indicator keeps blinking. The silence from the darkened hologram position feels like a door finally shut.
Pirate Lord 3
I want the list of surviving captains and the first jump point. If she is taking the fleet, I want the terms in writing.
Pirate Lord 12 gives a short nod, already pulling the route overlays toward Tressa’s console. Around them, the bridge stays smoke-choked and tense, but the shape of command has changed.
Quest Complete
Secure the Pirate Lords’ pledge