Yo Ho, Matey! Last one!
If you’ve read through the other parts of this FTL series, thanks for sticking with me! (If you’re just engaging, I would recommend starting from the beginning.)
Pirates is a bit of a catch-all term in the Polyslate Dystopia universe. By the time of Astral Twilight, human civilization has spread out across hundreds of solar systems. To a naval officer, there’s little need to differentiate between privateers, pirate corporations, corporate mercenaries under a black banner, and rogue cells that are out to take implants, corpses, and valuables.
As mentioned previously, FTL drives (both inclusion and splash drives) have limited ranges. These limitations vary by manufacturer, model of the drive, and general wear’n’tear. To a pirate, there’s nothing spicier than knowing when and where another ship is going to be arriving from a jump. Even if the cargohold is empty, a pilot’s implants are usually worth the loss of at least one small ship. As long as a pilot isn’t lost in the fight, getting some new implants will either make the pirate gang better or bigger in the long run.
Better yet, taking both the ship and the pilot intact is the ideal scenario – and that situation often puts pirates in their boots, waiting for a ship to be open and unguarded, or a pilot drunk and in the wrong place. But walking around a station or colony isn’t without risks. There are plenty of bounty hunters, officials, and arbiters around, and they are all capable of taking down a small group of pirates.
Fear not though! Pirates have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves, and most have an army of fixers working with them behinds scenes. There are even whole stations, relays, and colonies that are pirate-owned. The professional pirates have a plan, backups for that plan, and have been waiting for their target(s) to arrive. And when they’re done, trust and believe they’ll be in the ships as quickly as possible and ready to jump away without paying attention to proximity warnings.
In the context of FTL technology, the focus shifts to engines, parts, data, and scientific implants. Pirates will take anything to make their cohorts grow. Often in history, power moves have been made by pirate groups to steal personnel, have personnel replaced, or to broker new arrangements for supplies.
