Fiction Friday - Series 2: Chapter 15

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 Chapter 14
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"Engaging," Jace broadcast as his Harpy sped into range of the yacht and opened fire. Greenish blue flares spread out from where his energized subatomic particles slammed into the tightly packed fields of the ship's shields.


"The guards are moving full speed towards you. I'm keeping pace," I told the other two pilots. Pertins radioed back a curt, "Roger."


My local comms lit up as the Puma started broadcasting. I brought up the feed and saw a dark skinned Gallentean woman frantically yelling into the stream. "Please hold your fire! We are registered Scope journalists and have authorization by the State to be here!"


Jace broke radio silence. "We're not interested in your authorizations." Another salvo from his blasters broke through the shields and pieces of the ship's hull and plating were ripped off.

"AAAHHH!" the woman screamed into the camera as she was rocked off her balance. "PLEASE! We are civilians! We can pay you money! We work for a megacorporation!"

Pertins chimed into the local communication channel, "We're not interested in you money either, bitch." He laughed, obviously enjoying himself. "We want your wreck and corpses."

"NO!" she yelled in anger, frustration, and panic. Suddenly her feed went dead as Jace's assault ship blew charges through the Puma's reactor and the ship exploded in a yellow bloom of radioactive gases and debris.


I was more than a little disturbed by the exchange. I expect my foes to be cagey Gallentean operatives ready to face death with a steely glare, not some reporter panicking as her life was snuffed out. I felt dirty.

"Check check," I called on our private channel while trying to reclaim my calm. "Sitrep: those guard ships are aligning for warp out. I think they realize they are outmatched."

"Smart move," growled Jace, "we had them easily outgunned even if their buddies could get the docked ships operational."

"Yeah, what a turkey shoot," Pertins added. "I was hoping for a challenge."

The remaining Broken Spear cruisers warped out and I updated my locks on the docked guard cruisers in case they somehow managed to get functional and feisty.

"Uh oh, guys?"

"What is it Jace?"

"My scan of the Puma wreckage is only picking up seven bodies. There are supposed to be ten."

"Did they get atomized in the explosion?" I asked.

"No, he's right," the Crow pilot interjected, "my initial scans only show seven life signs."

I mentally chewed my lip in though. "They probably remained on the station, either too slow or too afraid to board the ship." I shrugged. "Not much we can do about it-"

"Engaging platform," Jace broadcast as his ship accelerated into orbit around the waystation.

"Wait, what?!"