Chương 71: Chapter 72: Pillaging

Adam decided to put the mysteries and complexities of the universe to one side for the moment before he checked on Cooper. Seeing that he was still unconscious, Adam decided to have a snoop around his ship for anything interesting. [Vinnaka (Felinia 6): Why are you looking around his ship streamer? Your mission was only to capture him and return him to Palaxia.]"Well, he did call me a pirate, and what do pirates do after boarding a ship?" [Vinnaka (Felinia 6): You're going to loot it? Seriously?]"Why not?

As far as I'm aware, there is no law against it; in fact, since he's a criminal, I am well within my rights by Terran law to pillage his ship as the one who captured him." Adam replied as he started to inspect the different compartments for anything valuable. [Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): He's right.] [Beczontop (Imperial Down): Hahahaha, serves the traitor right.]"Spector, anything of use to you on this ship?"

[[Not really, all the weapons and other components are of a lower standard than mine, though you can remove them from the ship after you're done and sell them to the Mercenary Hall. Also, the EM countermeasures may be useful in the future if you find any left.]]"How do I remove them?" [[Blasting them off is the easiest way since removing them manually will take a long time.]]"Won't that damage them?"

[[Possibly but that's to be expected from any components recovered after a space battle and selling them will still get you more credits than not.]]"Good point." Adam searched the entirety of Slingshot, but other than finding several boxes full of hexagon-shaped devices about the size of footballs that the chat identified as EM and Thermal countermeasures, he only found a few guns worth taking.

After taking his haul back to the docking hatch and placing them all in the airlock, Adam grabbed Cooper's still unconscious body and, after making sure his suit and helmet were properly attached and sealed, tossed him into the airlock beside his loot before closing the inner door and pressurising the airlock. After the airlock pressurised, Adam moved his loot and the unconscious Cooper over the docking bridge and into Spector's airlock before closing the outer door and pressurising it.

Finally the inner door opened and Adam started dragging his loot and Cooper onto Spector before he closed the inner door again and said, "Ok Spector undock us from his ship and then start removing it's valuable equipment and having the worker bots bring them into the cargo bay, I'm going to store this loot and place Cooper in one of the holding cells."

"Affirmative," Spector replied over the internal comm while undocking from the Slingshot. As Adam started to store his loot and lock up Cooper, the stream view switched to show Spector circling around Slingshot as it fired its laser repeaters, cutting off the other ship's weapons and external equipment that could be stored in the cargo bay before being sold to the Mercenary Hall.

"Are we finished?" Adam asked as he entered the cockpit and sat down.

"Almost, the worker bots are bringing the last piece of equipment into the cargo bay now."

"Once it's back on board, take us back to Palaxia so we can hand that guy over. The special mission against the pirates will start in a few hours."

"Affirmative." 💫💫💫 After Spector exited FTL near Palaxia, it was soon approached by two Palaxia Defence Force ships before being hailed.

"Attention, Spector, we are the Palaxia Defence Force ships that have been assigned to guide you to a defence force-controlled space dock. Please follow us."

"Understood," Adam said before he started to follow the defence force ships into the atmosphere. [StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Oh shit, is he getting the VIP treatment from the defence force?] Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. [1000yearsofdeath (Earth): More like they want to arrest him once he lands for riding like a madman earlier. Kekeke] [Beczontop (Imperial Down): You're both idiots. He is being escorted because that traitor already escaped once, making the defence force look like idiots, and they don't want to take the chance that will happen again.] [StealthAssassin9 (Earth): Do you ever actually do any work?] [Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): I often wonder about it myself.] [Beczontop (Imperial Down): Hey! 😡] [Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): 😜] [OfficialLorelie (Imperial Down): I'm also starting to wonder about that.] [Beczontop (Imperial Down): Not you too, Lorelie. 😭] [OfficialLorelie (Imperial Down): 😜] Spector followed the defence force ships and soon after passing through Palaxia's atmosphere, Adam saw a space dock in the distance with an empty landing pad that he was being led towards.

"Initiate landing," Adam instructed as his console suddenly received landing clearance from the Palaxia Defence Force, and the defence force escort ships veered off back up towards space.

"Affirmative." [[Condition Blue.]] As the ship touched down, Adam noticed three men leading a squad that was heavily armed and all wearing space suits towards the landing platform. Once Spector had touched down, Adam got up from his console and left the bridge before heading to the holding cells where he had stored Cooper. He grabbed the still unconscious Cooper and slung him over his shoulder before heading for Spector's exit ramp, which he soon descended while the three men leading the squad approached him.

Adam recognised the man on the left as Andrew from the Mercenary Hall, who was grinning at him. In the middle was an old man with grey hair and beard who was looking at the unconscious Cooper with disappointment and anger. The third man on the right, however, was looking angrily towards Adam himself. [1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Uh oh, looks like that dude on the right is pissed at the streamer. Kekeke.] [Werewolf1987 (Caniniar 4): My bet is that guy is the head of the Palaxia Security who was complaining to MercheadAnderson about the streamer's crazy actions earlier.]"So you got him, nice work," Andrew said.

"Don't act like you didn't already know," Adam said before rolling his eyes.

"My men will take him from here." The old, old man with grey hair and beard said before waving his hand and causing two of the squad following them to approach Adam before grabbing the unconscious Cooper and dragging him away.

"Ah, let me introduce you." Andrew began by indicating the old man with grey hair and beard and saying, "This is Admiral Dexter, the head of the Palaxia Defence Force."

"Thank you for your assistance, young man. I feel ashamed that I had to rely on you, a civilian who isn't even a native of Palaxia, to fix our mess." Admiral Dexter said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, I am being compensated for it in the end," Adam replied.

"Very true, as per the agreement, I will double whatever you make from the upcoming special missions. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go interrogate Cooper." As he finished, Admiral Dexter turned and left with the rest of the squad following him.

"So this is the brat who caused all that commotion in my city earlier, is it?" The angry-looking man finally said.

"This is Security Chief Marco of the Palaxia Security." Andrew introduced.

"Chief Marco," Adam said politely.

"Well, at least you have manners, even if your methods are on the extreme side. Consider yourself lucky that I'm not arresting you, boy. Both Andrew here and Admiral Dexter have vouched for you and persuaded me that your actions were necessary at the time."

"Though I'm still trying to figure out how dropping an ordinance drop pod in the middle of the city and creating a crater in the middle of a busy road was necessary."

"Just remember that actions have consequences, boy and the next time I won't let it go so easily." After he finished speaking, Chief Marco huffed before turning and walking away. [Devil_Prince_Asura (Deverinian 9): The guy doesn't know how to appreciate what the streamer just did for them.] [Werewolf1987 (Caniniar 4): Nah, he's just one of those who's not very good at showing gratitude.] [Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): Yeah, his grumpy attitude reminds me of an uncle I have. 🤭]"Cheers for sorting that out," Adam said as he turned to Andrew.

"Don't worry about it, that old coot might sound grumpy, but he's actually an ok guy as long as you're not a criminal."

"But I almost was a criminal."

"Oh yeah, hahahaha."

"Honestly, I wonder how Lizzie puts up with you with your lazy and carefree attitude; it's not really the attitude a leader should have."

"What can I say? I must be good in bed." [Noobkiller9000 (Earth): Errr, does he not realise the streamer is still live?] [1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Kekeke.] [OfficialLorelie (Imperial Down): …] [Gunlovergirl (Earth): Gross.] [Superhearofangirl (Earth): Ewww.] [Celebrityhunter69 (Earth): 🤮] [Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): Wow, such a romantic guy.] [Beczontop (Imperial Down): I'm assuming that was sarcasm.] [Tessisdabest (Imperial Down): Do you even need to ask?] [Lizziethetruepower (Palalxia): Tell that idiot he's on the sofa for the next month. 😡] [1000yearsofdeath (Earth): Kekeke.]"Ummm, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you," Adam said as he turned to Andrew with sympathy.