It took two hours for the freighter to reach the designated coordinates. True faster than light drives were still a thing of the past, but modern ship engines could come close. The freighter sped as fast as it could through the black void of space, distant stars and planets dotting the view through the command deck forward display. A massive nebula grew brighter and more prominent as they arrowed towards the edge of Raiel Space.

The freighter had a battery of four mid-rang cannons, arrayed two to either side of the stubby vessel. Liam had suggested The Songs make sure the guns were in working order. They delegated that task to Monch who took to it with aplomb. The smugglers hurried to patch up the ship's hull as they rapidly went through routine maintenance checks. Anything that didn't need immediate attention was put aside to ensure the freighter's battle readiness.

Unfortunately, the vessel was no warship. Liam became acutely aware of this important detail as the ship's sensors suddenly registered multiple contacts. The Captain put that area of space on the display and the screen flashed with distant explosions. Scores of tiny ships swarmed much larger and slow-moving craft. As they drew closer a trawler-class ship exploded under the assault of the smaller, faster ships.

"Are those–" Hitman started as the display zoomed in.

"Croabarbos," Nubia hissed.

The crew immediately began to panic.

There were many races excluded from the Combine of Galactic Governor's council seats. Most were species with populations too small to warrant their own chair and embassy. These creatures banded together in a faction known as The Union. The Union's seat was a new development, but they wasted no time pushing for changes to galactic policy that would provide them with more rights and protections. There were only two races too large for The Union and unwelcome by the CGG council: The Hortisk and The Croabarbos.

The former were loosely affiliated bands of shapeshifting pirates who reaved wherever they could make landfall; pillaging, raping, and consuming any and everything. The latter were the remnants of a vast empire turned to raiding and theft. Sanctioned for their aggression and violence, The Croabarbon Empire was permanently prohibited from taking part in the CGG. In response, the fallen empire declared war on every nation sitting upon the council. Their raids were fast and bloody and their forces were vast.

"Of all places, why here and why now," Hitman grumbled.

"We're near the border between Human Space and Raiel Space." Nubia said as she tied her braids back. "They love smash and grab tactics along the established edges. Aside from the felarnians, who respond to any border incursion with immediate overwhelming military might, most Combine Nations send investigatory forces first. The Toads do as much damage as they can then retreat before anyone can make them pay."

She tucked her hair under a bright yellow bandanna. She spoke from her time as a pirate, dodging the authorities as they stalked the void.

"They rarely risk clashing with the Felarnian Hunts," Scott said with pride, "but they constantly harass the raiel."

Scott didn't have to say it, but Liam heard the implied condemnation. It was because the raiel have no standing military that the croabarbos take advantage of them.

The sensors chimed as another raiel ship moved into the area. It was twice the size of the freighter, resembling the head of a wide tuning fork. It whizzed past the Song Brother's ship, deploying a dozen pill-like smaller boats. When he was a soldier in the EC such a ship arrived right after the vessel he was stationed on was struck by a massive chunk of untracked debris and lost propulsion. The raiel hospital ship had saved them and recovered the bodies thrown into space by the impact.

"What's our plan here?" Liam asked the ship's captain.

The raiel looked back at The Songs as if expecting one of them to answer for him. When they didn't, he nodded and sat a little straighter.

"Our canons are useless in close combat, but we can provide decent support at midrange. We can move within 12 miles of the fighting and bombard their fighters."

Hitman scoffed, grabbing everyone's attention.

"Your big guns will be almost useless against their tadpole fighters... unless you have scattershot rounds onboard."

The captain shook his head.

"Wait! Aren't we carrying a crate of needle balls for... a certain client?" One of the younger humans blurted out, the confidence of their words faded as they realized they might have said too much.

"You'll have to move in a lot closer, but the scatter of the needle balls will actually take out their fighters." Hitman looked out the display. "If we had the armament, I'd say we need to go after the carrier that launched them."

Pi looked at Pornim.

"This trip is starting to prove more costly than it is worth," the unscarred brother grumbled. "Have the artillery change the shells. We'll apologize to our buyer and see if we can fulfill his request at a later date."

Liam filed this all away. Hitman's adding of his insight, The Song's willingness to lose out of profit in order to perform their civic duty, and the true combat capability of a raiel battle group.

"They're going to wreck as many ships as they can." Nubia nudged aside the squim monitoring the sensors and began tapping controls. "Then the bigger ships will swoop in and salvage what they can. We won't see any large vessels until they're almost ready to turn tail."

"This isn't our op," Scott growled, bringing down the team's building bluster.

The surly felarnian had a point. They were passengers on the ship, not commander or crew. This was not why they were so far from home.

Another ship exploded under the relentless assault of the swarming tadpole-like fighters. The pill-shaped medical transports flew into the building field of debris, stopping only to snatch wounded and dying out of the vacuum. Even as Liam admired the pilots' dedication to preserving life, the swarm redirected its wrath on the purple tuning fork of the hospital ship.

"Bring us around," the captain hummed. "Focus the starboard cannons on the swarm."

As the crew put his commands into action, Liam watched the main display. Two more ships joined the raiel border defense. It seemed so ill-conceived; an impromptu militia of random ships meant to defend their borders. Yet that is exactly how the oldest space-faring people of the CGG have protected themselves since before the people of earth entertained exploring the stars.

One of the new arrivals, a luxury liner from the looks of it, moved in close to the hospital ship, bringing to bear a fuselage of kinetic machine gun turrets. The second, a science vessel, stopped on the edge of the debris field and launched a squad of smaller ships. These used small EMP cones to create a defensive perimeter around the medical transports. The freighter moved into range and opened fire on the tadpoles trying to keep out of range of the machine guns.

Before Liam's eyes, the defenders started to claim the upper hand. Then the croabarbos warships arrived. Bulbous hulks covered in blister-like bumps, the vessels looked like massive amphibian egg sacs. One moment the space on the far side of the debris field consisted of a dozen disparate ships attempting to fend off tadpole fighters, in the next three warships barreled into their midst. For a moment, Liam was speechless. His mind could not believe what he'd witnessed.

"The fucking toads have FTL travel?" Hitman said for him.

No nation in the CGG had made it past the testing phases of faster than light travel. The VaPu bent space. Their technology led to the gripjumping harnessed by everyone else. The idea that the malign croabarbos had cracked the code of space travel seemed wrong.

"It isn't true FTL, but a sort of gravitational slingshotting," Pi hummed. "It is dangerous and often inaccurate."

"That didn't look inaccurate," Nubia observed.

Pi could only nod his agreement.

Explosions erupted along a line cutting across the larger of the hospital ship's tuning fork tines. The croabarbos warships opened fire on a trio of tugs lugging a huge freighter. One of the EMP ships suffered a crippling blow and spun off into the debris field. After four collisions, it exploded.

"Captain, the hospital ship is asking for assistance. They need to reroute power to address the fires, but they'll lose their gun battery."

"Bring us in closer."

"Those fighters are gonna put the shields to work," Hitman said, shaking his head.

"That's what shields are for," Liam remarked, studying the unfolding battle. He knew Hitman's real concern was whether the shields could hold.

"I could lay down some support with the strike shuttle. I've tussled with those toad boys before." Hitman moved towards the door. "I just need–"

"No," Scott growled. "It's not our fight."

Against Liam's natural inclination to join any fight against violent aggressors, he held his tongue and continued to watch the battle unfold.

As they drew closer to the hospital ship a croabarbos vessel shaped like a broad spearhead dove between them, veering dangerously close but missing both. A second arrowed into the gap and plowed into the medical ship. The hails for assistance became frantic with news of toad forces spreading through the ship. The captain called for evasive maneuvers too late to avoid the next two spear-shaped ships.

"Captain, we've been breached!" shouted the pink squim beside Nubia. "We have reports of croabarbos marauders in the loading bay and on level 5."

Level 5: the cargo hold one level above the cafeteria.

"The strike shuttle!"

"The intruders in the loading bay are pinned down, but level 5 is reporting heavy casualties!"

The crew looked nervously at their captain. He again looked to The Song Brothers for instruction. Pi hummed to Pornim who blinked slowly as he stared at the display screen. For a raiel, he was clearly agitated.

"Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, our staff do not have the military expertise necessary to repel the invaders," he finally said. "It seems we require your specific set of skills."

Liam glanced at his team. Nubia waited with anticipation, her fingers gently tapping her pistols. Hitman clearly wanted to hurry to the shuttle, if for no other reason than to secure his music equipment. Blockade stood stoic, unflinching while waiting for instruction. A smug smirk slid across Scott's face. For once, it looked like he had a plan.

"Twenty-five thousand credits," he purred.

"That's outrageous," Pi sang.

"That's impossible," Pornim agreed.

"Twenty-five thousand for services rendered. That's the price for removing your toad infestation."

"Level 5 has gone silent, captain!"

Scott's grin looked more like a threat of violence than a smile of contentment.

"Twenty thousand," Pornim countered.

"Twenty-six thousand," Scott countered.

"Twenty-four." A purple vein bulged in Pronim's neck.

"Twenty-seven."

"You are insane–"

"Deal," Pi cut in. "Get them off of our ship while there is still cargo worth hauling."

Scott turned to Liam, content like a cat with a saucerful of his favorite milk.

"You heard the man. We have a job to do."

"We can't just leave the shuttle undefended," Hitman said for the tenth time.

Liam, Blockade, and Hitman stood in the lift, doing a last minute weapon's check. The command deck held them on Level 6, waiting for Liam's signal to drop them one floor and throw open the doors.

"The sonic cannons down there have them locked down," Liam said as he switched the long range scope of his Embrine rifle for a circular iron sight.

"For how long? We can't let those damned toads get their hands on my— I mean, our stuff."

Liam laughed.

"Have you ever seen sound weapons on a raiel ship? I'm confident the shuttle is safe."

"I don't doubt the hardware. It's these smugglers... I don't trust them to stand their ground." He looked up at the camera in the corner. "No offense."

Liam shook his head.

"Guess we'd better be quick then." He tapped Blockade on the shoulder and positioned himself behind the big man. "Time to rock. Command deck, ready when you are."

A moment later, the lift lurched into motion. Liam took deep steadying breaths, mentally preparing himself for battle. As if reading his mind, the R.Nano in his system regulated his adrenaline, simultaneously getting him pumped and hyper focused. All he had to do was trigger the nano's release and his body would become a weapon of war. Like a drug it called to him, encouraging him to activate war mode, but this was neither the time or the place. With so many prying eyes, his secret wouldn't remain a secret for long.

The lift opened with a loud ping and the trio stepped into a hall choked with thick hanging green fumes. A smuggler's body sat in a pool composed of some of her liquifying remains and croabarbos bioplasma. Another body laid on the floor a few feet away, his face contorted and stained by biochemical rounds. The marauders of the fallen empire proudly utilize weapons banned by the CGG war conventions as a sign of contempt towards the rules.

"Mask up," Liam said, bringing down the screen of his temporary hazard mask.

The others did the same then moved into the hall. The level was eerily silent as they passed body after body. The readings on the hazard mask classified the fumes as mildly paralytic. The smugglers would have been sluggish and confused when the toads hit them, no match for the seasoned marauders. Even if they were braced for impact, they wouldn't have stood a chance. They passed fifteen dead before they reached the end of the fume-filled hallway.

The next intersection was marred by the signs of combat, but thankfully devoid of the noxious vapors. Blast holes, flash burns and blood stained the walls. Crimson and pastel blue were testament to the smugglers' efforts to hold back the enemy, though the bodies reflected how one-sided the fight was.

The head of engineering had told them the quickest route to the breach was to the left, but a door opened to their right as they made the turn. A quartet of marauders stepped out of a storage locker, arms full of whatever they could carry. Laughter died on their lips as they locked eyes with Liam and the team. The leader croaked a command just before kinetic rounds tore through the side of his face. The others dropped their plunder and went for their weapons.

Liam gunned down another as he backed out of the intersection. Blockade gauntlets swelled, one becoming the head of a maul and the other spreading out to make a wide diamond-shaped shield. He blocked a volley of biochemical rounds while Hitman ducked low and took out a toad's legs. The last marauder charged forward clutching a pulsing grenade in each hand. Blockade stepped forward and Liam jumped in the way, shooting the toad's knee. The enemy stumbled and his grenades reduced him and the bodies around him to a fine mist.

"When pinned down, they will always sacrifice themselves to kill us." Liam gestured for Blockade to check the door. "They take no prisoners and never allow themselves to be captured."

Hitman checked the body of a smuggler, but found no pulse. "I heard that they used to send a delegation to the annual CGG meeting and kill themselves in the governors' hall as protest to the sanctions placed on them."

"I've heard something similar, but we can't believe every rumor."

"I'm just saying, the toads are insane."

"Fearless," Blockade grunted.

"Of course the big guy admires them."

Blockade nodded.

The average croabarbos grunt was roughly the same size as a human, but their hunched posture made them look shorter. They had long arms and legs adept at short distance leaps. Wide-faced with large bulbous eyes on the tops of their heads, their species looked a lot like anthropomorphic Earth toads. Looking down at the corpses, the dead could almost pass for misshapen humans save for their green and yellow skin.

"Let's deal with their ship and then mop up the remains," Liam said, nudging a withered squim with his foot. "If we're fast, maybe they won't be able to surround us."

They formed up behind Blockade and followed his lead down the hall. At the next corner they heard a sound that made Liam and Hitman duck.

"Was that gunfire?" the latter asked.

"Sounds like someone's still putting up a fight. Double time, people."

At Liam's urging, Blockade charged forward. Stray rounds fizzle past, setting off the sensors on their hazard masks. Something hit Liam's shoulder and the burn was immediate. A hunk of his light combat armor and shoulder melted away, eaten by the acidic ammunition. He tucked his arms behind Blockade's mass with a quick glance back to be sure Hitman was safely covered. The R.Nano in his blood flowed into the damage on his arm, already reknitting the flesh.

Ahead of them, a group of smugglers hid behind a haphazard array of supply crates. They blindly fired down the hall at a dozen croabarbos. A squat marauder at their vanguard held her arms wide, manipulating a bubble shield that seemed to devour the kinetic rounds. A horned marauder bounded onto a crate and puffed out his throat, firing poison-coated barbs in a cone. A smuggler shot the toad in the eye just before a cluster of barbs punctured his own throat.

Liam spied a partially open doorway and dove through. Seeing the room beyond was clear, he called out to the smugglers trying to help their friend.

"Bring him here! Blockade, Hitman, they need cover."

Liam leaned out and took a few hastily aimed shots, dropping two marauders. Hitman crouched behind a crate, taking measured shots at any croabarbos who dared to step out from behind the bubble shield. Blockade raised his shielded arm and created a path for the smugglers. The first to move was an old grizzled veteran with scarred body armor and a patch over her eye. She beckoned for the others to hurry. A woman dragged her companion, a dwarf-martian man, into the room.

"Grenade!" Hitman yelled.

Blockade turned just as the pulsating green ball exploded, throwing him and Hitman through a door on the opposite side of the hall. One smuggler was reduced to tiny globs of bloody pulp. A second stumbled away from the edge of the blast covered in boils and virulent pustules. A croabarbos sniper quickly ended his misery. The last smuggler crawled through the opening Blcokade's body made of the door.

"Team, report!" Liam shouted.

Raven: Almost in position

Hitman: We're alive. The big man is out cold... and he's got my legs pinned.

"I'm coming for you," Liam said, sending a volley of blind fire down the hall.

Hitman: No, we're okay. Stay on your side. This nice guy with the grenades is going to help us.

In response the smuggler peaked out of the doorway.

"Fire in the hole!" He tossed a frag grenade towards the advancing marauders, killing two and forcing the others back.

"Copy that."

Liam sprayed the hall again then ducked back into the room to reload. The two smuggler women propped the wounded dwarf-martian against the wall in a seated position. The man groaned as he clutched an arm half-eaten by biochemical rounds. The smuggler woman pulled a canister of medical nano from her belt and shook it vigorously. Liam stopped her before she could spray the man's wound.

"Don't! It's like spraying water on an oil fire." He eased the canister away from the man's ruined arm. "You'll spread the active elements. Flame suppressants accelerate the decay of the slime."

The woman nodded and put the canister back. Looking around, she spotted a fire station and rushed over to grab an extinguisher ball. She popped it and fire foam blasted the corner, coating everything. Ignoring the thick layers of suppressant covering her gear, she hurried over and lathered the wounded man's arm. Careful not to get any of the slime on her fingers. The dwarf-martian flinched.

"How do you know this stuff?" he asked, squinting up at Liam.

"I've tussled with the toads before. Had to learn the hard way."

Liam looked at his shoulder where the hole in his combat armor remained, but his own wound had already become an angry patch of pink flesh.

"What are we going to do?" The grizzled smuggler asked. "We're outnumbered and outgunned. Our low-yield rounds just bounce off their armor and their bubbles eat our stronger stuff." She fingered her body armor. "Our shit barely keeps us from being eaten alive."

"The objective is to dislodge their ship," Liam responded, appreciating the resilience of the woman's gear.

"Good luck with that. It's just around the corner, but we can't get past that bubble shield. I don't think my people have it in them for a push." She looked over at the dwarf-martian and the other smuggler. Their expressions were grim, but determined.

"They killed the others," the man said, his accent thick. "It was a massacre when we arrived. Everyone dead, even the unarmed."

"That's their way. No prisoners."

Raven: We're in position.

"Copy." Liam gathered the smugglers' gazes with his own. "I don't need you to push, but I am gonna need you to make them think that we are. You have enough in your tank for that?"

After a moment's hesitation the humans gave him a thumbs up. The dwarf-martian nodded.

"Hitman, your friend have anymore grenades?"

Hitman: This guy's got half a bandoleer.

"Good. I want him to toss a pair down the hall on my mark."

Liam gestured for the smugglers to join him at the door. Pistols, rifles, and shotguns ready. Liam poked his head out and narrowly avoided a sniper's bullet. He took more deep steadying breaths. If he went war mode, he could probably dislodge the croabarbos all by himself, but keeping his capabilities a secret had always played a big role in keeping him and Scott safe. They'd have to do things the hard way.

"Mark."

Liam sprayed the hall, forcing the sniper to duck his head, and the smuggler hurled his grenades. The first explosion proved too much for the bubble shield and the second blew a hole in the enemy line. Hitman and the smugglers, laid down a barrage of light and mid-yield rounds. The croabarbos took cover, put on the defensive. They returned intermittent fire as they tried to recover their wounded.

"Raven, do it now!"

A loud explosion, the grinding of metal, and a dull thud were Scott's only response. For a second, the hall decompressed, then the ship's gaiar shields kicked in. The croabarbos stopped shooting, no doubt distracted by their communications chatter.

THIS IS THE CAPTAIN OF THIS VESSEL. The words boomed through the ship's intercom. SURRENDER NOW AND YOUR PEOPLE WILL BE TREATED WITH CIVILITY AND RESPECT.

"Shit," Liam swore, knowing how the croabarbos reacted to such words.

"The First Empire will rise again!" a heavily accented voice burbled down the hall.

"They're gonna charge!" Liam warned.

As one, the toads shouted a horrifying warcry, that made Liam's blood run cold. He'd heard it twice before. Both times, men and women died. Most didn't have to.

Three dozen croabarbos marauders charged over the crates, guns blazing and death in their eyes.

The smugglers panicked and retreated from the doorway. Liam fired into the enemy ranks. They wouldn't stop until they or the passengers on the freighter were dead. For the marauders, there was no greater victory than dying in defiance.

"Ten feet!" Hitman shouted, tossing a yellow marble at the lead toad.

With a bright flash, a wall of yellow hard light washed down the hallway. The toads were thrown backward. Some were crushed against the crates while others were splattered against the walls. Liam jumped back as the wall swept past his position, tossing crates and bodies with equal ease. When the wall hit its 10 foot radius it shattered like broken glass. Liam took the moment's reprieve to reload.

A tall marauder wearing an officer's cap drew a long curved cutlass and ordered his bewildered soldiers to their feet. His croaks were drowned out by a roar of challenge. He turned in time to meet Scott's plasmatic edge with his own blade. The energy blade cut through the metal like a heated knife through butter. Nubia shot the shield toad three times in the chest and grabbed the devices on her wrist. Liam and Hitman picked off the confused toads as Scott slashed a hot line up the officer's chest and cut off his head.

Liam would have liked to take prisoners, but the croabarbos died to the last man. When the marauder's in the loading bay charged, they'd managed to kill four defenders before them and their ship were dislodged and tossed into the vacuum of space. The toads' anatomy allowed them to hold their breath in the void, but the freighter moved off before they could become a problem. The croabarbos warships retreated minutes before the first raiel capital ship arrived.

The casualties were surprisingly one-sided on The Song Brother's freighter: twenty-three smugglers dead versus fifty-nine marauders. The majority of the enemy died in that final charge.