Ten Yards

[VioletRapture]

To any passer-by, it would just look like another border skirmish. Argon police fighting some pirates near the gate to Split Fire in Elena's Fortune.

But something wasn't right. There was too much dark space concentrated in a certain spot. And it seemed to be moving.

Suddenly, green plasma and mass driver shells lit up the space. It was a Teladi Condor, sporting some kind of light-refracting device. Cheap camouflage. And it worked, but not to the trained eye.

The Condor was heading toward the gate, plowing through friend and foe alike as she continued her one-ship stampede. Fighters were being continually launched from the ship, serving only as cannon fodder - it seemed like she was in full retreat.

A new ship warped in, directly in front of her, the Condor veering up and to the side lest she smash herself on the side of an Argon Titan. Normally this would be possible with only slight hull damage - but having so many ships piled on her shields wore it down to almost nothing.

The captain of the Titan was a young Nyota Haruna, one of the few female military leaders of the Argon Federation. Cool-headed and calculating, there were few that could beat her in a one-on-one M2 capital ship battle. However, this would be her first carrier she would have to take down. With heavy fighter support on top of that.

But it was no matter to her. Once the Condor's shields were down, it was easy to smash through the delicate hull that gave life to the passengers inside.

The passengers inside... Nyota thought for a sezura. Five thousand people would die if she were to destroy the ship. But they were pirates, right? No-good, evil pirates, and slaves who were beaten into servitude and would require many jazuras to restore their proper mental health. Was she doing a favour by ending their lives right here and now?

She thought for too long. The Condor clipped the bow of Nyota's Titan, nearly tearing shielding of both of the ships right off. As the Titan shuddered and alarm klaxons sounded, she activated the comms. "Attention pirate vessel! This is Captain Nyota Ukada of the AFD Draconis. You are to power down your engines and surrender immediately!"

The Condor continued its course, almost rotated ninety degrees due to the Draconis jumping right into her way. As the pirate ship started to turn back to the gate, a response burst into Nyota's headset. "Let me pass, little military pawn, or we will both die here and now."

He was bluffing, that was for sure. Nyota knew better. Her ship was more heavily armed, and with these odds, the Condor would be destroyed before the fighters could tear her shields away. But then she would jump out and leave the remains for the police to mop up. Her ship wasn't meant to attack fighters, only defend against them.

"Negative. I repeat, power down your engines and surrender immediately. You are risking the lives of all your men aboard."

"You know NOTHING of what is at risk. The whole sector could be destroyed. Now let me pass and we may be spared!"

More bull-arse from the pirate captain. Did he think he was going to win her with words? No, it seems like a fight is the only way to end this. Besides, the fighters were beginning to bomb the Draconis. She only had a small window of opportunity.

"Starboard guns, open fire. Destroy the enemy."

The massive cannons on the Draconis started firing, slow bolts barging straight into the Condor. Her shields were shredded immediately, and the pulse lasers bit their way through the hull, tearing through vital systems and machinery. After a few sezuras of sustained fire, the Condor exploded, the shockwave causing the Draconis to shudder slightly and taking out half of the remaining fighters.

There were no sign of survivors.

"Captain Haruna to AF command. The enemy has been destroyed. I'm jumping out to let the police cl-dear God, what is that?"

Two bright yellow beams of light tore through the wreckage of the Condor, grazing the Draconis' shielding. As the debris slowly spread out into the emptiness of space, Nyota could see one of her worst confirmed fears: a Kha'ak destroyer, surrounded by a swarming mass of smaller fighters and interceptors. Blotting out the sun was an incredibly large Kha'ak ship, similar to the M0 but more reminiscent of a super-sized destroyer. Was this the carrier that old war veterans spread rumours of in the bars? No, it couldn't be, the Kha'ak don't use car-

There was no time to think. The beams fell on the Draconis, pounding the shields.

"Attention! We are on full combat alert. Ready the lifeboats and prepare to evacuate ship!" Her voice sang out like a flute through the ship, but the message was clear - get the hell out of there. As the shields wore out, lifeboats were starting to be launched, all non-essential personnel leaving first. Soon the only people left on-board were two platoons of Marines, a skeleton crew, and Haruna herself.

"Activate engines now. Get us to that gate!" The shielding of the Draconis was destroyed now, but the destroyers stopped firing. Instead, smaller ships were rocketing their way towards the Titan. Flak took care of them quickly, but there were too much and they were overwhelmed. But the smaller ones did not fire either. Instead, they latched themselves onto the destroyer, as if trying to board it.

"Ma'am! We've got Kha'ak trying to board the ship!"

Nyota's face went pale as she realized that hope was almost gone for her. The Kha'ak have never been known to board ships before, so what were they going to do? Kill everyone and use them for food or fertilizer? Capture her, torture her, get her to tell them everything about the Argon? Take turns raping her and then toss her corpse into a random sector?

No, that's not possible. The Kha'ak don't want that. They want the ship herself. To learn from it so they can better destroy our ships next time.

"Ma'am? Are you alright?"

She snapped back to attention. "Send the marines to the boarding sites. Kill the Kha'ak on sight."

"Yes ma'am."

She turned back to the bridge. The kyon lasers of the destroyers kept pounding her shields, enough to keep them down, but not enough to do any hull damage. The gate loomed in front of the Draconis, only a single click out. She could faintly hear small arms fire and screams of pain, both Argon and Kha'ak. After only half a minute of bloody battle and death, the screaming and fire stopped.

The Marines were dead. There was no hope left. They'd kill her too, and take the ship.

"Ma'am! Ten yards from the g-"A sickening crunch and scream followed in her headset.

Ten yards. Just ten more yards...

And then she saw the Kha'ak, pouring into the bridge around her, grabbing her with their strange limbs, forcing her to the ground. About to kill her.

The ship never made it that ten yards.

[berth]

Hmm... harsh ending. I like it.

[VioletRapture]

I might just be inclined to write a second part of the story, detailing what will happen to Nyota and the Titan. Since, after all, I never really said that the Draconis was destroyed or that Nyota and the rest of her skeleton crew is dead.

[SOTS]

Here's hoping!

[VioletRapture]

I'm actually going to plan out a series of short stories with very loose relations to this one. You'll see the first one once I get off my arse and do something.

[bolmy]

VR, I complement you. A very, very well written story. I love it. You now have another reader of your stories. Thank you for writing such wonderful work.

[amz-Alexander]

I liked it aswell. It somehow reminded me of the "Saga of Seven Suns" (ok, both is scifi, but still, the writing style seems kinda similar).