Unbroken Arrow

A week after setting out in pursuit of The Arrow, Banigoth (and their allies’) punitive expedition returns, in pieces. Apparently, their guns were unable to even make a dent in The Arrow’s shields, while their own ships were decimated by enemy fire. The mission’s commander was promptly sentenced and executed for his failure, but then the rumors started swirling that The Arrow was using Idiranium shields and warheads. It was true.

Such liberal use of a highly priced, military-grade metal could mean only one thing: these pirates had found Idiranium deposits that both Havvacor and Banigoth have been frantically searching for these past few months. And if they could take a relatively run-of-the-mill merchant vessel like The Arrow and turn it into a formidable warship in few short weeks they presented a threat that could not be simply ignored. On the other hand, the pirates clearly didn’t have a shipbuilding facility of their own, or they would not have needed The Arrow: ships more suited to combat were being regularly produced all over the Galaxy.

From that point onward, all merchant and military ships regardless of the affiliation started traveling with a “self-destruct” box. At the first sign of being attacked or boarded by enemy, a bomb could be activated either by the captain, or remotely from the HQ, blowing the ship to smithereens and making it unsalvageable. The crews obviously hated this, and everybody’s economy would suffer, but it was the only way to buy time to outfit a couple of ships with Idiranium shielding (at exorbitant cost) and go after The Arrow. And once the pirates’ Idiranium deposits were discovered and taken over, the returns would be enormous for everyone.