The Rise of the Black Plain

Weeks after the incident at the Scout Base...

Starship 666 had departed quietly following the raid weeks ago. While passengers and crew had suffered some losses during the encounter, it hadn't been so severe that anyone was left destitute or desperate.

Operating under the protection of a prominent figure on the planet linked to Scout Base, the space pirates had refrained from excessive aggression. Nevertheless, nearly everyone aboard Starship 666 had suffered some form of loss.

Following the uneventful robbery, those bound for Scout Base disembarked at the station while other awaiting passengers boarded, joining the journey to the final destination at the Aether Terminal.

With the departure from Scout Base, the travelers aboard the ship resumed their usual space travel routines. Since then, they had encountered no further issues, fortunate to have avoided any further encounters with space pirates.

Their luck had held out. Under different circumstances, a pirate attack could have been far more devastating, potentially resulting in the loss of their vessel or even capture as slaves.

Fortunately, such brazen acts by pirates were rare, particularly during transit.

With the previous stop, the party should have five weeks from the Scout Base to the next stop, a period during which they were unlikely to run into any pirates.

And indeed, that's what had happened in those weeks, as the party gradually moved closer to their next stop, only having to deal with temporal and spatial instabilities along the way.

The challenges faced by a space-traveling crew include exposure to extreme radiation that can compromise ship systems, spatial instabilities that can destroy ships or divert them to distant points in the universe, and temporal fluctuations that have the potential to alter the ship's timeline.

The party faced some of these problems but arrived at the present point in one piece, without any significant malfunctions.

...

At this point, the crew was preparing for another stop. Today was the beginning of a long series of stops before a long period of no stops.

The spacecraft would stop at 6 stations over the next 13 days to load and unload, change passengers, and rest the crew.

But after these 6 stops, the group would travel for 20 weeks without further stops until the final leg of their journey to the Aether Terminal.

Minos and his companions felt a sense of unease about the upcoming days, understandably concerned about the prospect of several consecutive stops.

Their worries extended beyond the potential dangers, such as an increased risk of further robberies; it was also inconvenient for the group to be confined to their cabins for extended periods.

Similar to the departure from the Artificial Moon, each time the ship departed from a station, passengers were required to remain in their cabins for a designated period, unable to freely move about.

With the same departure procedure applied as the arrival process, the group anticipated experiencing 12 similar instances to the departure day within the next 13 days.

Consequently, all passengers were currently confined to their cabins while the crew prepared for the ship's approach to the current stop.

"I hope we won't be surprised again. The last passengers to enter the Scout Base said the situation ahead should be more stable," Ruth said as she and the rest of the group were strapped into their respective seats.

"Look on the bright side," Minos commented with a smile. "With each new stop, we're further away from powerful areas like Zacorro. Even if we have problems ahead of us, maybe they won't be as bad as you think, Ruth."

"That's true. From what I've heard, this station we're passing today is the last one on our way that has access to Supremes. After here, all of the destinations ahead of us had its peak at the 11th stage."

"I hope that's right," Ruth said after the robot's comment.

Then, her ship would make another stop in the next few hours.

When the ship docked at the local spaceport, the captain would again go with his crew to disembark and embark passengers.

Some passengers who still had destinations ahead of them took advantage of the stop to do some shopping at the station, leaving the ship without encountering any pirates this time.

"Sigh... It looks like we won't have any problems today," the captain commented to one of his men as the disembarking passengers passed them, and those waiting to board in that area waited in an orderly fashion for their turn.

Among the 22 creatures waiting to board the ship, one looked like a snail because of most of its body, but it had the head of a serpent with poisonous fangs protruding from it.

As he watched the passengers disembark, his forked tongue quivered, and his eyes narrowed.

'This is my chance.' He thought to himself.

Minutes later, disembarkation ended, and the captain's group began boarding. Some of the passengers who had been shopping in the area began to return.

At the end of the two-hour rest period, the ship would be ordered to leave the area, heading for its next scheduled stop in two days.

...

Hours later, the ship was cruising, just minutes after the signal from the cabins changed to allow passengers to move around the four levels of the ship again if they wished.

Meanwhile, the serpent from earlier left his stateroom with a strange look on his face.

He circled around the area of the cabins, noticing that several of them were open while only a few were closed from the inside.

Then, looking from side to side, he pressed a button on a device he had with him.

As soon as he had done so, he strode confidently toward the trio of aliens who were walking nearby, while the sounds of startled shouts echoed from the passenger common areas.

"Attention, everyone! This is an assault! I urge you all to remain calm and refrain from attempting heroics. No one here desires any harm. Place your arms and hands on the ground immediately! Follow my instructions precisely, and my associates and I will depart without incident."

With those words, the creature launched into action, targeting the strongest individual in the vicinity, a level 104 being who was walking a short distance away from a group consisting of a level 99 male, a level 100 female, and a level 102 male.

This formidable adversary, a serpent with a cultivation level of 108, was not acting alone. Five other beings of similar strength, two at level 111 and one at level 114, were accompanying it!

Minos observed the unfolding situation with a growing sense of urgency.

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