Fiction Friday - Series 2: Chapter 14

Previously:
Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8
Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13
* * * * * *

I brought the Iceheart in at 100 kilometers as instructed to the waystation platform. These structures are like stations but much smaller and all of the docking is done externally. Inside there are a number of rented hangers for cargo transfers and small basic office space where companies too small for full station access can operate at a much cheaper rate. This particular waystation had berths for 8 ships of which six were occupied, one of them holding the yacht that was our target.

Two of the guard ships were also docked, presumably to allow the crews some R&R time, and the other three were orbiting the station at various points and immediately began locking me as I came out of warp. Standard identification queries were issued to me and I simply ignored them and began returning locks, including the station.

"Locks acquired, opening fire. Two Broken Spear cruisers docked," I said into comms for Jace and Pertins who were idling at a deep space location in system.

"Roger," answered Pertins. "They might give us some trouble if they undock around when the Puma does. Kirith, can you damage them first?"

"Directing fire on docking guard ships," I reported.

My railguns opened up and smashed particles into the first of the vessels, a Moa. Since it was docked its shields were not active and my salvo ripped through the radiation umbrella and into the hull armour. I winced as I picked up venting gases and radiation spikes, realizing that the mercenary ships were lower quality than expected. I directed only three railguns to fire on the docked mercenary Caracal cruiser and its damage was not as severe but still considerable.

"Docked guard ships are damaged, three quarters armour on Moa cruiser designate alpha, one half armour on Caracal cruiser designate beta."

"Ouch," piped up Jace.

"Yeah, no shield in port. Sucks for them. Turning weapons on Moa designate gamma. Secondary targets are Caracal designate delta and Caracal designate epsilon."

The three undocked guard ships were approaching at their maximum speed and were less than 90 kilometers away. Unlike the docked ships their shields were active and at full power so I did not hold back with my opening salvo of spike ammo from all six guns in the fire arc. The Moa's shields dipped but not by much; fortunately, the cruiser's speed was slow and its distance long enough that I wasn't worried. I turned my full attention back to the platform and the docked ships.

"We've got life on the Puma," I said. "Power levels heating up." A few seconds passed. "OK, we've got disconnection from berth and maneuvering jets. Interdiction is a go, repeat, target interdiciton is go!"

"Roger that, warping now," replied Pertins. "Warping," echoed Jace followed in a second with, "in warp."

"That was faster than expected," said the Crow pilot darkly. "How close are the guard ships to the target."

"Right now," I checked the readout, "about 30 klicks."

"Could be rough."

"Agreed. I'll start moving towards you as I've got lots of room before they can even think about scratching my paint." I brought my battlecruiser around in a collision course with the guard ships. "If they turn back towards you I'll punch the after burner and ride their ass. If they keep coming at me I'll warp out when they get to close."

"Sounds like a plan. Landing in a few seconds, get ready."

"I've got you on scan," I answered as the interceptor streaked into the overview, barely slowing down from warp before accelerating again towards the yacht as it pulled away from the platform and began aligning. The Harpy assault ship arrived seconds later.

"Point!" exclaimed Pertins.