It had been a quiet day at the Space Station. Mammoth Inc. had sent a dozen more Daddy Long-Legs and Raofar and Skelly
 were setting them up. Jason liked these kinds of days. Walking around the Space Station in peace. He was moving to the 
cafeteria when the alarm went off.
"Alert! Mammoth Inc. has informed us of THUG ships stealing cargo!" Xavier yelled over the intercom. Jason Spun round,
"XAVIER! SPEED! RAOFAR! GET TO YOUR SHIPS! SKELLY! PREPARE SOME CRAWLERS! And with that Jason ran to the Hanger.

	“That THUG ship should be here somewhere,” Xavier thought looking around space. “Hmmm” he continued to think.
“Xavier!” Jason’s voice came in over the radio.
“What?”
“We’re getting nowhere like this.”
“Noticed.”
“You go check the Meteorite Belt, Speed’s gonna check everywhere, Raofar and me will check their old hide-out.”
“All right! Bashin’ time!”
“Jason over and out.” The Radio went ‘click’. Xavier steered to the Belt. 

	Xavier loved the Belt; his ship could retain most strikes. Suddenly, Xavier noticed a flashing sign on his radar.
“Finally, a THUG ship!” Xavier sped straight to it, going through meteorites. Suddenly, a meteorite turned around, A few shots
 were fired. Xavier skillfully dodged them and was about to return fire when he saw the colors, Mammoth Inc! Xavier moved 
along side it and contacted it.
“This is Xavier of Backwards Slide Corp!” Xavier transmitted.
“Kapola here!” came the reply.
“I’ve never seen this ship before!”
“It’s the Asteroid. It’s only used to ambush THUG and other illegal ships.”
“And it looks like a Meteorite so it won’t be noticed.” Xavier finished.
“Precisely. What exactly are you doing moving through the Meteorite Belt?”
“Looking for THUG,”
“You pickin’ on them again, eh?”
“Not this time. THUG stole some important cargo.”
“Again?”
“Again.”
‘What was it this time?”
“Crystals.”
“What kind?”
“Cretholeum”
“Oh… THUG’s gonna make a fortune…”
“That’s why I’m gonna catch ‘em!”
“Oh well. Good luck Xavier!” Kapola signed off.
“I’ll need it.” Xavier thought as he turned out of the Belt. As he turned towards the Space Station, he heard Speed’s voice.
“Jason, Raofar, Xavier!” He began, “I think I’ve found it!”
“Okay guys, meet at Space Port 32!” Jason said, “We’ll refuel and start the chase.”
“Roger that!” Xavier said and sent co-ordinates to Space Port 32.

	Raofar docked into the Space Port. He slipped on his tank and opened the cockpit and jumped out. In the Zero G 
environment Raofar flew high into space and landed on by Jason and Xavier. Speed was in the control room, also known 
as the Main Gun. Speed was jiggling the controls. He slid a CD in. Suddenly, from the helmet’s radios blared 
fast, heavy metal rock music. Jason looked up at Speed. Speed was smiling sheepishly from the Controls. He quickly hit a
 button and the cameras in their helmets played the footage into their visors. Jason saw a THUG ship shooting into hyperspace
, then the camera went blank.
“Refuel the ships.” Jason said to one of the workers there. The workers proceeded to fill up the tanks of the vehicles. “Speed,
 radio the Space Station and ask Skelly to send some Crawlers, we’re gonna need ‘em”
“Okay!” Speed replied. He turned to the controls and contacted the Space Station, “Skelly, Jason wants a few Crawlers over here.”
“Roger that!” Skelly replied.

	Skelly stood up. He looked at the Crawler’s on stand by. He hit a button and typed a number. 5 Crawler’s dropped from 
their hooks, their eyes flashed a bright red then settled to their usual green. Skelly informed them of their mission:
“Go to Space Port 32 and meet Jason. You will then go hunt down the THUG ship.” Skelly pushed another button. An airtight look 
sealed the area from the rest of the station. The floor and walls in front of Skelly receded revealing the emptiness of space. 
“Sometimes, it’s good to be dead.” Skelly thought as he watched the Crawler’s jets ignite and speed off.

As soon as the Crawlers had reached the Space Port, they clung onto the Striker and the Crasher. Jason ignited his engines and 
shot off. Raofar and Xavier joined him. 
“These ships can out run a THUG ship any time.” Xavier reassured himself as they blasted into space…

	“Okay, time for a plan.” Jason said once they had reached the ‘outer rim’. There the meanest, worst and most ruthless 
gangsters, thieves, bounty hunters, mercenaries ETC would be found. This would be the spot to find THUGs.
“Hmm… If I was a THUG, where would I sell Cretholeum Crystals…” Speed thought aloud. 
“Err, a black market?” Xavier suggested.
“No.” Jason said firmly.
“Obviously, a rich persons place.” Speed said.
“The Fire of Industry?” Xavier suggested again.
“Not likely” Jason said firmly again.
“Black Sun?” Xavier once more suggested.
“Doubt it.” came Jason’s reply.
“Alexandite League?”
“Impossible.”
“The Denzi Fleet?”
“No.”
“Monolith Mining Company?”
“NO!”
“Horaituios.” Speed said suddenly
“N-”, Jason stopped short “Oh… Him.” Horaituios was the richest mercenary out there. How’d he get his money? It remains a mystery.
 “Let’s cut that THUG off!” Jason sped towards a small vehicle; it was Horaitious’s house-ship. The four pilots surrounded it, a fair 
distance off from the house-ship to not arouse suspicion. Sure enough, a THUG transporter wadeled along - guarded by four fighters.
“I should of known…” Jason sighed. But Xavier was the complete opposite. He immediately revved up his engines and cut through a 
THUG fighter’s engines. The Pilot turned the guns to face Xavier, but a blast from the Scorpion blasted the guns away. Then a big 
dogfight began. Every pilot had a ship to himself, save Xavier who was trying desperately to get the Crawlers in near enough to hijack
 the Transport. Xavier would launch a Crawler; the Crawler’s jets would ignite, and fly to the ship and begin to hack at it. But the Crawlers
 were always caught off guard and shot. Xavier had two Crawlers clinging to the hull of his ship. Laser blasts were being fired everywhere.
 Xavier had to dodge them just to stay alive. But nonetheless, Xavier was enjoying it. The Scorpion was zooming around trying to get a 
THUG ship to shoot another. Eventually, three of the THUG ships turned tail. Leaving the Transport and a terribly beat up fighter. Suddenly,
 without warning the THUG Transport blasted off towards the house ship. A quick blast from the Gonzolaz cut the engine in two. A Crawler
 sped towards the Transport at break neck speed, and began to hack. After a few tense moments, the Crawler sped back to Xavier with the
 Cretholeum crystals tucked underneath it. The Crawler hooked onto the Gonzolaz and they sped of. 

	Xavier stayed back and looked at the outer rim. He saw some distant planets dotted along. He sighed. Sadly, he turned his ship and sped off.