An Engineer In Night City

The image on the map shows a space station in orbit around Earth, one of the many that grew between 2020 and the current year. Initially a dilapidated space station that was abandoned after an atmospheric breach, currently the space station has nearly a hundred inhabitants and has grown its size to nearly five times its original conception as new modules and patches grew around it like a cancer.

Mark almost admires the construction, seeing a fellow spaghetti enjoyer in action. Using his high-powered spy satellite, the Engineer managed to partially map the current station which allowed him to plan a boarding action. 

His spaceship has less than one-fifth of the mass of the space station, however, it has stronger thrusters and can self-repair automatically with the items on board.

The Engineer considers for a moment, before shrugging. "It will be good practice regardless."

When the Engineer's spaceship came within a certain distance from the Space Station, it was hailed by the station communication team. An image of a spacer appears on the ship monitor. "State your business and retreat your ship to the marked area."

The ambers of the Engineer's anger ignite once more, as Mark recognizes the person on the other side of the screen. With deliberate calmness, Mark speaks with the space pirate. "I wonder where you found the audacity to try and talk with the man you just raided while pretending there's nothing wrong."

The eyes of the person on the other side of the monitor widen, but then it morphs into an expression of mirth. "Hey guys, the dumbass is in front of our station! Come and look at him!" Three other people cram together to fit in the monitor display, taunting the Engineer. "Are you still alive, Earthsider? Did your shit miss the hole and is now floating in front of your visor? Or are you drowning in your tears?"

Mark glances at the space pirates on the monitor, noticing their attire and how well cared for they are compared with your typical cyberpunk, Iron and Chrome. It shows a level of discipline and orderliness that Mark didn't expect from Pirates acting like Call of Duty lobby toxic players. "I am offering you and your space station one chance. Surrender yourselves, return my property, and I will allow the Confederation justice to work instead of taking matters into my hands."

There is silence on the other side of the monitor for ten heartbeats, until the people on the communication station laugh and drown the call. The pirates called more people to spread the news, who further added their laughter to the mockery. Eventually, one of the pirates regains their composure long enough to answer Mark. "We respectfully decline your request. Please send a formal complaint to the Confederation while you get fuuuuuuucked! Ha ha ha ha!"

Mark remains calm, already expecting this reaction, he was counting on it. He ignites the thrusters of his spaceship. "Alright. You asked for it."

The laughter continues for a few seconds until they notice Mark's spaceship accelerating towards them. "Wait, what are you doing? You're going to ram into us!"

Mark's expression doesn't change as he replies with a sarcastic tone. "Congratulations, you have eyes!"

The pirates on the other side of the call start to panic, with one of them cutting off the feed.

"Curious, it is almost like they didn't expect me to ram into them."

Outside, the space station thrusters start to move, but they aren't meant for evasive maneuvers and the ship only manages to change the angle it is facing the spaceship before the inevitable crash.

*Crash*

Both massive structures colid against each other, the asteroid collectors grabbing at the massive piece of "debris" to hold the two structures together, while other collectors start to grab pieces of the space station, free-floating micro asteroids, and dying space pirates to be processed inside the threshers, smelters, and chemical factories.

Mark exits the Command Center using his Thruster suit's built-in jetpack and his grappling gun to grab the ruined space station. Mark carefully aims at the space pirates trying to escape the doomed station, shooting at their retreating bodies and sealing their fate forever.

Some enterprising pirates try to come closer with their jetpacks, waving their swords and plasma cutters at the Engineer.

He almost snorts at the absurdity of it, resuming his shots at the pirates until he feels a bullet hit his shield and the indicator showing that five percent of shield strength is gone. "So there is someone smart there. Guess who volunteered themselves next~"

More gunmen appear from the direction of the first shot and attack the Engineer in concert, with some of the pirates using experimental railguns that take a larger percentage of Mark's shield.

Finding what he was looking for, Mark shoots up to the gunmen and fires his submachinegun, his weapon's armor piercing rounds condemning the pirate to an agonizing death. By using his grappling gun, Mark pulls himself into the station's side and deploys his gun turrets through his construction robots while the Engineer focuses fire on the more dangerous enemies.

Eventually, blood and debris flow around the open side of the space station as blinking emergency lights and clarion calls sound on the radio chatter.

With dark determination, Mark enters the large structure like a movie monster, ready to eradicate all pirate life inside.

…

The inside of the derelict space station is cramped with various labyrinthine corridors that make sharp turns and are made for people to navigate in zero gravity.

Mark ignores them and walks using his magnetic boots while relying on his Wube Inc. enhancements to situate himself with an unusual sense of balance brought by the nature of the place.

A pair of corpses float in the corridor, revealing a hermetically sealed door that isolates the rest of the station from the exposed exterior.

Mark sends his robots to collect the pieces of debris before ordering them to rebuild the nearby area into a sealed chamber, then he opens the hermetically sealed door.

The door opens to allow passage of spacers transitioning from the vacuum of space to the inhabited areas. When the other side opens, a group of space pirates are waiting for any intruders.

The sudden appearance of the space pirates startles Mark, but then he notices that everyone else is armed with a melee weapon. "I am giving you one more chance to surrender. Give me back my property, subject yourself to the Confederation judgment, and I will allow you to live." Mark changes his weapon from the submachine gun to his Flamethrower to further accentuate the intimidation effect.

The space pirates' faces are pale with terror, and small yellowish goblets float in the sealed environment. "If we surrender, you won't use that:?"

Mark answers promptly. "I promise that if you all surrender, you will not die by my hand."

A hand gingerly rises.

Mark sighs. "Nor you will die from my weapons. I will escort you all to my ship's brig, drop you off at the Confederation capital, and then your destiny will be out of my hands." I give them a sardonic smile. "Better than trying your luck fighting me, don't you think?"

The group looks between each other, and then they "drop" their weapons, sheating all blades before magnetically clamping them to each other.

The move surprises Mark, as he doesn't expect pirates to accept diplomacy. Since he gave his word, he's not going to kill them unless they betray his trust, but Mark believes this won't be the first time he will have to deal with space pirates.

…

After several hours, the space pirate prisoners are waiting for processing in one of the larger space habitats.

Mohammed Renee feels nervous over his future fate, but in his mind, everything is better than being caught in a potential electrical fire when the madman Engineer pointed a flamethrower at him.

There are murmurs among the other spacers about the sudden influx of prisoners - slash-refugees who fled the derelict space station. The voices are discussing the loss of one space station during the ensuing conflict, even if it became infested with pirates recently.

Mohammed Renee can't help but laugh when he listens to the latter rumors, letting out a sharp, maniac laugh that attracts attention from the local authorities.

"What's going on here, Scum?" The cop asks, "Are you Fried, or something?"

The captured space pirate notices the cop and forces himself to stop laughing with effort. "Didn't you hear? The Engineer fixed it already!"

The cop stares at the Worm in front of him, his confused expression partially hidden by the sunglasses he wears. "What?"

The space pirate didn't bother to lie, easily confessing his crime to help his listeners understand. "We stole some shit from the Engineer, thought he was just a dumb dirt sniffer, and then he comes handshaking our home, you know?"

The cop shows some interest in Renee's words. "Go on."

"The madman ask us to surrender, but who would do that, right? Then he rams his spaceship into our space station. Who the fuck does that? Destroying precious living area like that, you must be fucking crazy!"

The cop nods along, the space pirate rant drawing the attention of other people and forming a crowd.

Still feeling hysterical, Mohammed continues his tale. "So, after zeroing some Chaols outside he enters our habitat area with a fucking flamethrower! At that point, we didn't want anything to do with him and surrendered. He took us to some storage area he converted into brigs, but I saw the state of the Derelict Station." The captured prisoner pauses for dramatic effect. "He sent a swarm of robots to gather all the debris around the station, fucking ate one of the modules, and then rebuilt the place again, right then and there!"

Everyone listening to the story understood the implication if the space pirate wasn't lying. 

Renee already had time to digest the information beforehand, hence his hysterical laugh. To him, the idea that someone can restore a destroyed space station, even partially, is both a boon and a threat, as the individual can use heavy ordinance in space with near impunity. For Mohammed, any other consideration of the power displayed by the Engineer is secondary.

Eventually, the events that transpired on this day would reach the ears of the Confederation's high command, throwing their factions into a frenzy.

To Mark, this is another sign he must expand his factory to make himself stronger.