Major Hank Thomas of the American-Earth Navy was not the type of man who liked setbacks. His brainchild, the new starship dubbed the Archangel, was facing a major one. It had been stolen from right under his, and half the Navy's, noses.

Two Months earlier

"You did WHAT!?!?!"

"I told you, I rerouted the turbine cowling so it would blow directly onto the combustion chamber."

"And you did this, why?"

"Because it'd keep the engine cooler in atmosphereic conditions."

"And it also exposes the engines to any crap that happens to be floating around out there."

Nathan Gray slowly massaged his temples, highly frustrated with his new mechanic. Thomas Lee had just signed on at the beginning of the previous voyage, and was proving to be a slight problem. The problem wasn't Tom's ability to fix things. It was his complete lack of common sense.

"well, whaddya want me to do about it, Cap'n?"

"Just fix it, alright Tom?"

"You got it."

As Lee ran back down to the engine room, Gray heaved a long, exasperated sigh. Four months out in the black and only three good prizes. Throw in being chased by six different system patrol squads, and Gray had every reason to be stressed to breaking. His crew were unhappy, his ship was falling apart, and there was a three inch coating of dust on his cargo bay floor. Not a good life for a pirate.

Almost thankful to be back on that God-forsaken rock he called home port, Gray headed for the off-ramp. The Void had been a pirate haven for a long time, since Gray could remember, at least. Hidden in the asteroid belt, the space station was built into a large asteroid, making it all but impossible to find. The only way to get there was to have the coordinates, which changed daily. The only people with the coordinates were regualr pirates who stopped in every month or so to sell their swag. The Void constantly broadcast their coordinates to these ships so they could return at their leisure.

He stopped in the cargo hold on his way out to check on Kim and Kay. Kimbe