When Olisar’s defenses failed, it was us, a Vanguard, and a Talon gone mad 

Bounty hunting in Stanton has its share of ghosts, and none haunt harder than a Talon-class ship, Pirate named Rackaham, with the transponder flying under the name “Rackham is Rogue.” He’d been slipping through contracts for weeks, dodging nets and burning hunters, leaving bodies in his wake. Spectemus and I finally got the call — intercept near Port Olisar.

When we arrived, it was worse than we’d heard. Rackham wasn’t just flying wild all around Port Olisar.  He was firing on ships docked at Olisar, blowing them apart on the pads. For reasons nobody could explain, Olisar’s security grid was down — turrets offline, tracking dead, no automated response. He was free to wreak havoc.

We arrived in a Vanguard. Tough bird, made for hunts like this. Spectemus on the stick, me in the turret. Simple plan: bait him close, pin him down, and wear him out.

It didn’t go smoothly.

The Talon came in sharp, blades glinting, tearing through space like a predator. Missiles first — hard, fast, relentless. We danced, shields flaring, hull shrieking with every near miss. I laid fire whenever I could, but that thing twisted like it was built from smoke.

Over Olisar, we slugged it out. Spectemus pushed the Vanguard harder than I thought possible, rolling and juking to keep us alive. My turret tracked, spat fire, and cursed the void whenever I missed. Every hit we landed chipped him down, but he made us bleed for it.

One engine blew. The whole ship kicked sideways, alarms screaming. I thought we were done. Spectemus leveled us out, grim as ever, and told me to “keep firing.” So I did. Round after round, chewing into the Talon’s wings until finally — finally — it broke.

Rackham went up in a bloom of fire, scattering shards across the black landing him in Klescher. Port Olisar’s shadow swallowed what was left.

We’d won. Barely. The Vanguard was limping, hull torn, one engine dead, systems flickering. But the job was done, the criminal was gone, and the black was a little quieter.

Port Olisar was nice enough to cover the repairs since we assisted while security was offline. After repairs and some free double dogs, we were on our way back to the black to keep the shipping lanes clear.