Shutting down the scan I slowed the ship to a stop and
waited for the Freelancer to swing around us all the while keeping our ship in
its deadly sights. “I can’t open the
cargo door we have exposed wounded onboard.”
I said, straining against the harness, twisting to get a visual on the
Freelancer. “Red I’m still not getting
an acceptable read on you” he paused for a breath and continued, “too new and
shiny to be real. Open the hatch. Now.”
He hissed. I knew what was coming
next. “That was your last warning .. in
3 seconds I’ll open it for you.” “OK OK
give me a minute to make sure the wounded guy is secure.”
On ship comms I told the Mercs the Freelancer was off our
starboard rear quarter. I got a quick
assurance they were set and to open up when I was ready. I methodically powered
systems down to Stand-By, lastly gravity and vented atmosphere from the
hold. I paused over the hatch release
for a few milliseconds before activating.
I hoped enough time had passed for the Mercs to be in position. As the hatch partway cleared the hull I felt
the ship shake from a nearby explosion.
A nicely placed shoulder mounted missile took the top off of the rear
turret on the Freelancer. The boarding
crew from the Freelancer had already started boiling out of the rear of the
Freelancer on a direct vector to our now fully open hatch. The Mercs were shouting in the comms as they
chose targets. Two of the three
Freelancer crew were down floating in the void between the ships.
“Sit-rep” I called over comms as I continued powering up
ships systems. “We have it under
control” growled one of the Mercs. “Just
have one maggot left to deal with”. “I
have numbers on Freelancer .. she is rotating to bring her big guns to bear.
Get back onboard closing hatch on confirm.
We don’t have time to deal with these fucktards”, I said, mumbling the
last bit to myself. “Secure” shouted the
Merc over intership. I slapped at the
rear hatch controls then focused on arming weapons and boosting shields. We came in system as showroom stock as
possible. However, there was a duffle
strapped in the co-pilots seat containing a full set of overclocked modules to
be inserted before our hopefully not too exciting exit from Terran space. Familiarity with the modules gave me momentary
shoulda-coulda flash thinking about the added speed and almost insane
maneuvering capability the overclocked devices provide. ‘Don’t over think it pilot just do the
drill’, flashed through my mind quelling the negative energy. Training took over.
The Freelancer rotated toward us as our engines began
accelerating us toward system max speed.
I transferred remaining power to the rear shields from noncritical
systems. As I moved the sliders to stage
additional power from the med bay I caught a faint sig on radar. It was there for a second then gone. Weapons fire from the Freelancer splatted
against the maximized shields protecting the rear hatch of the Red. The Freelancer was closing on us. The Red shuddered as the ballistics bounced
off the thick metal of the rear hatch. I
wanted to flip us around and jab one of the tiny missiles in the racks through
her front window but I slid sideways avoiding most of the barrage of ordinance she
was flinging at us.
Abruptly the Freelancer broke off in a defensive maneuver of
its own. I crabbed us sideways looking
at the Freelancer and saw his port engine start to fragment from small
explosions deep inside the machinery then erupt into a ball of fuel fired flame
that trailed the Freelancer in its death spiral.
The F7C-S moved toward us on a steep intercept. Comms announced, “.. all good there?” “Standby” I replied “status in hold ..” “We
are good here Cap’.” one of the Mercs responded. “We have us a for real wounded guy now .. har
har har” he finished. “Yeah all good .. I think”, I replied to Ryder. “I’ll drop back some and be ready at the
return coordinates, this is as far as I go.
Apparition out.” “Afirm Red out”
I checked our heading at a glance and was relieved it was still the same as it
was a minute ago.
From the intership comm I heard a groan “.. arggg .. what the
fuck” “Calm down lad we patched the hole
in your suit and shot you with some meds”. “You scrum piles aren’t medics ..
arrrggg” “Nah .. but we’ve been shot up
enough to know what to do” “Hah look at
this ..” says one of the Mercs. I heard the familiar tapping and responding
squeaks from a mobiglass. “Go figure ..
our little bounty maggot has a price on his head” he finished.
“No shit” I replied. “ .. arrgggg
.. my arm .. man .. arrggg” our prisoner / patient whimpered. “Yes Ma’am, has a tidy little chit attached
to his name.” Then another voice added,
“Hummm .. not sure laddie but looks like you might be getting one of
these.” The other Merc responded
obviously laughing at the situation. I
couldn’t see but I could imagine the Merc shaking his cybernetic leg at the guy
secured to the ships life support systems.
Time seemed to crawl as we maneuvered through the system
following defined traffic lanes that defile space near Terra Spaceport. We were superficially scanned by one of the
drones dotted along our flight path. After
a brief exchange with intersystem control we were directed to Emergency pad 3.
“We are about 10 minutes out, handing over entry to Terra
Approach Control” I comm. “Acknowledged”
I heard from the back. This should be
interesting I thought as I flipped the switch that handed over landing to
Terran AC. The drop through atmosphere
put us on a vector directly to UEE Medical Center.
“Patient is secured and resting quietly. He won’t be a
problem.” “Roger that, weapons off,
shields down, on beacon, looks like a straight line in.” Before our ship touched down the blast doors
painted with a large number 3 opened and a med crew poured out with a floating
gurney. As the Red settled on its skids
I released the rear hatch for access.
My thoughts went back to the image of Mitch’s Aurora
disintegrating before my eyes. With a
sigh I grabbed the duffle and made my way into the med bay of the ship.
_-o-_
Disclaimer:
I do not work for nor represent Star Citizen, Roberts Space
Industries, Cloud Imperium Games or any other Star Citizen related entity in
any form or fashion with the possible exception that I am a Backer and have a
huge passion for this game already.
No comments:
Post a Comment