The Assault. This is a work of fiction, any resemblance to persons, places, or situations is purely coincidental. Characters protrayed in this story are copyright Drakis Kier (drakiskier@hotmail.com). CoC Savannah Bloodtear - Female Hyena - Mistress of the Starlance Sylth Terrance - Male Panther, Lord of the Bastet Demesh Threy - Male Hare, Commander of the Prey's Revenge --------------------------- Prologue ---------------------------- "Listen up you worthless pack of dogs... If we are to pull this off, we need to work together!" A snarl capped the sentance, showing that while she might be a female, she was not to be trifled with. Her short hair and strong arms made her look like a male, but that was common with hyena females. At five feet, nine inches, she was not the most intimidating commander out there, but her crew was loyal to the teeth, hand picked and trained to know the ship like the backs of their hands. Her stance was confidant and her gaze steely, her emotions held tightly in check as she listened to the com channel. With a scrape of claws on metal, the large female paced around the bridge, waiting for the other captians to stop bickering. Her patience was wearing thin, and the fur on the back of her neck bristled as she she bit her tongue, keeping her voice calm and even as she spoke. "If you two cannot work together, then I will take my proposal to the other pirate lords." The two captians on the screen begrudgingly ceased their bickering. One was a male panther of medium build, in command of a destroyer-class ship named after an ancient cat god, Bastet. His black fur was sleek and his piercing glare made most cringe when it fell upon them. "This sounds more and more like a suicide mission to me... nobody has ever managed to..." The panther was cut off by the opposing captian on the screen. "What's the matter kitten, scared of a couple of overgrown reptiles?" The taunting captian was a an unlikely canidate for a pirate lord; a rather large lapine male, his body coated in scars from cuts and burns, and his left eye concealed behind an eye patch. He commanded a heavilly modified frigate that he had renamed 'Preys Revenge.' The panther snarled in response to the provocation from the prey species, "With that mouth of yours, it's a wonder you've survived this long, bunny boy... let alone been promoted to captian..." "Enough dammit! Shut your goddamn mouths and listen to me!" The hyena bared her teeth as the unique sound of a hyena growl interupted the bickering captians, her claws digging into the padded rest of her captians chair. "We have only one chance at this. The target is in an uninhabited system stripping down some asteroids. We do not have much time to Intercept." "Then transmit the goddamn nav codes!" the lapine snarled to the hyena, the sneer on his face showing that he meant business. The hyena was not goaded by the agressive lapine, and turned her attention to the panther, "Slyth, Are you in?" A moment of silence followed before the feline nodded slowly, "I'm in. We will take escort position until we arrive." The hyena smiled darkly, "Gentlemen, let's bag us a dragon." ---------------------------- Interspace ---------------------------- The two pirate ships took up escort positions on the ship commanded by the hyena, the destroyer in position on the right and the destroyer on the left. they were mostly in a line, the battle hardened captians knowing from experince better than to fully expose their rear flanks to other pirates. Once in position, the three ships synced their navigational computers and initiated the warp jump. The three ships accellerated sharply as a warp in the fabric of space opened, a quantum tunnel welcoming the ships into the folded space. Navigating the folded space took split second timing and a natural intuition for which path to take. The hyena sat in her captians chair, holding onto the arms as she watched her pilot in the central console. The hawk had been a warp scout for the military before a messy court martial due to improper liasons with his superior officer. One ship in the fold can be tricky for most pilots, but his natural talent let him guide all three ships without incident. "Easy, Fredrick, we don't want to lose a ship on the way, do we." The hyena smiled to her subordinate, the menace gone from her voice now that she was talking to her crew alone. "Yes, Mistress." The hawk replied without taking his attention away from the path ahead. "It might not be the smoothest ride, but we will be there in time." "Excelent. If our mission is successful, you will get an extra... reward." The heyna grinned as she drew ot the pause between the words, her hands relaxing on the chair as the ride smoothed out a little more. She gazed at the forward display, watching the network of web-like veins that their ship danced through, the various eddies and currents showing up on the screen as patterns and colors that could easilly dazzle and distract those who were not used to them. It always intregued her the way the bird brain of her pilot never once faltered in its interpretation of the onslaught of information that piloting the folds gave. The hyena pulled up a hologram of the long range scans, the grainy image suspended in midair like a ghostly vision. Her eyes narrowed and her face grew grim as she contemplated their strategy; every ship before her that had tried to take on a draconian ship with brute force had met with an untimely end. This operation would require finesse and percision to get their prize. "Com, get me the Preys Revenge." "Yes, Mistress." The com officer barked in response, the small monitor beside the captians chair sparked to life, the image of the hare showing on screen. "What is it now, Bloodtear." the hare snarled curtly as he glared at the hyena, "we are struggling to match the course of your crazy pilot." "Come now, Demesh, if you cannot keep up in that bucket of bolts, then we will bag the dragon without your help." The hyena snarled in response to the hare, her eyes narrowed threateningly, "Now, if you are quite done being rude, I need you to take the right flank once we are out of the fold, use your missles to block the ship from escaping." "Just how much ordinance am I going to have to waste to bag this overgrown reptile?" The hare grumbled into the connection as he called up his own hologram of the system they were approaching, plotting his flanking manouver and possible exit strategies. "As much as is needed to take out that goddamn ship!" the hyena snarled at the tone of voice used by the hare, "And you had better not skirt the battle and still try to claim a full share..." The hare scowled and crossed his arms, "Just don't expect me to rush to your aid if your ship gets dammaged. My ship is built for long range fighting." "Fine, just do your part and the op will be a success. Starlance out." Bloodtear looked away from the monitor and back to the forward display, gazing out into the computer interpretation of the folded space outside. She felt a shiver of dread work its way up her legs and then over her spine until it danced over the back of her neck, making her fur stand on end. "Fredrick, ETA" "Three minutes until resurgance, mistress." The hawk said without taking his eyes off the displays that surrounded him. "All hands to battlestations," The hyena said into the com system as she addressed the crew, "Resurgance in two minutes, weapons hot." ---------------------------- Interception ---------------------------- The quantum tunnel erupted into normal space in a blinding spray of energy, the three ships immeadiately breaking their formation and taking off in seperate directions. It took a few moments for the sensors of the ships to realign after the resurgance, but as soon as the noise cleared up and all three ships got a positive lock on their target, the attack run began. The Prey's Revenge took the first shot, three heavy missles lancing out, carrying their high explosive. charges on a spiralling path towards the ship sitting in the asteroid field. Bright explosions clouded the view for several moments, but when the debris cleared, the ship remained where it was, seemingly unphased. Using the explosions as cover, the Bastet moved in closer, bringing its weapons to bear. The destroyer led the salvo with its smaller weapons, beams of energy sweeping across the hull, leaving scorch marks as they swept. The draconian ship started to move in a sluggish response to the attack, accellerating away from the asteroid it had been harvesting from. The acceleration was slow, but as its speed increased, so did its manouverability. The beams of energy continued to criss-cross over th hull, but the evasive action meant the beams were unable to focus on any one portion of the ship for long enough to cause any real dammage. With the target distracted with dodging the energy beam, Savannah Bloodtear grinned toothilly, "That's it..." She muttered to herself, waiting for the proper moment to enter the fray, "Fredrick, begin attack pattern Zebra... Ericson, bring the main cannons online." Over the com systm came the response, "Yes mistress, capasitors charged and ready for the first volley." The voice was rough and deep, but clearly canine. "Excelent! Fredrick, bring the ship into firing position and give the signal to Ericson and fire when ready, one salvo only." Savannah grinned as she sat on the edge of her seat, her body feeling afire with the thrill of combat. Her fur prickled and stood on end as the ship hummed around her, the pitch building until the whole deck vibrated. At the cresendo of this hum, the ship lurched, a thunderous boom lancing from the rear of the ship all the way to the forward section. ---------------------------- The kinetic warhead screamed as it accelerated down the launch tube, the massive piece of solid steel being pulled by magnetic fields that made the entire ship shake as its momentum grew. The engines of the ship fired to compensate for the counter thrust of the immense mass driver, the hull of the ship creaking in complaint at the stresses from both the opposing forces of the kinetic missle accelerating and the ships engines, and the intense magnetic fields given off by the massive coils of the driver. Glistening in the pale starlight, the warhead tore its way towards its target, its only trail being a thin stream from the stabilizing thrusters that gave the massive chunk of metal limited manouverability. It closed on its target silently, spinning slowly as the thrusters guided its progress and correcting course after colliding with asteroid debris. At seemingly the last moment, the dragon ship pivoted out of the way, the massive projectile striking only a glancing hit, but even that was enough to gouge a scar in the side of the ship. A rush of atmosphere screamed from the tear for several moments before abruptly cutting off again, the ship spiralling madly from the impact of the warhead. Thrusters fired spastically on the dragon ship, desperately trying to compensate for the deadly spin before the ship was torn apart. Slower and slower it spun until just before it was fully under control, the ship went silent. ---------------------------- Assault ---------------------------- "Fredrick, bring her in close and ready the boarding ship. I want our very best on the boarding party, ready three Garrisons and two Salvages, plus our five best gunners. I will lead the assault myself." Savannah growled to her subordinate, her voice laden with the glee of triumph. Without another word, she left the bridge and practically ran down the hall, heading straight for the armory. With little heed for the other pirates in the room, the hyena stripped down to her undergarmets and squeezed herself into her custom armor. The form fitting armor was composed of plates of ceramic and steel, and had many times saved her life in combat. She slid her favorite vibrosaber into its sheath by her side and holstered her plasma pistol on the other side, taking a moment to ensure the biolocks had not been tampered with. The hyena made her way to the shuttle bay, stepping into the large room to see her squad ready and waiting. Three 'Garrison' class power armors stood there, going through weapon checks, the fully pressurized suits able to survive in the harshest enviroments. All three were armed "Inferno" class flamethrowers, specially designed for boarding actions; powerful enough to deal with any resistance encountered without dammaging the surrounding structure. The opposite arm of the power suits were each armed differently, one had a "Streetsweeper" class fully automatic drum fed shotgun, loaded with plastic flechettes that would be non lethal. The second suit had a "Echo" class sonic disruptor that would disorient the enemy and make them easier to subdue. The last suit was outfitted with a much stronger weapon, one that would only be used as a last resort: A Plasma Rifle. Superheated balls of plasma could do serious dammage to ship and crew alike. The two other power suits that were ready for deployment were equally armored, but rather than being geared for assault, they were outfitted with laser cutters and dexterous manipulators. The sensors on the 'Salvage' class suits were more advanced than the combat specialized equivelent, less need for tracking and predicting movement, and more need to see the flows of energy around them; the sensor suites could detect even the slightest electromagnetic field. The remaining boarding crew were outfitted with heavy body armor and anti-infantry weapons, mostly combat shotguns and laser rifles. ---------------------------- With the prelaunch checks completed, the boarding crew secured themselves into the shuttle. The small craft launched from the pirate vessel and began its interception with the target ship. The dragons ship was still adrift, slowly pivoting on two axis, but it was simple to line the shuttle up. With a burst of propellant, the grappling hooks fired, striking the hull of the stricken ship and lockng in place with a mix of magnetic sealing and physically digging into the armor. The teathers were drawn in until the boarding craft met the hull of the draconic ship, the docking port sealing against the hull and several laser cutters starting their work. That was where things first started to go wrong with the operation. The cutting beams from the boarding craft had little effect on the purplish grey metal of the hull, and after two minutes of getting nowhere, the hyena was getting restless. "For fuck sake... detach and relocate to the breach we made earlier, we will begin the assault there." Savannah snarled as she punched the wall of the boarding craft, the sound of metal on metal resounding through the small craft. The grapples detached and the ship manouvered its way to the crack in the hull, reattaching itself to the hull with the breech where the pirates could step through. With this portion of the ship exposed to space, the boardinf crew cycled through the airlock at the base of the boarding craft and made a 'leap of faith' into the exposed section. The section was just what they expected, cold grey walls and no small items, as they had all been blown into space. The three combat armors led the way, able to take the brunt of any ambushes they encountered, and stood guard while the salvage suits worked the door controls. Within less than a minute at the controls, the door slid open, an energy field holding the atmosphere inside the next room. "Good work, Jarak." The hyena complimented the technition in the suit "Ummmm.... it wasn't me boss, I hadn't even finished interfacing..." the tech said worrily, his voice trembling a little. "Ethier way, its open." Savannah grumbled a little and signalled to the combat suits, "Advance and secure" The three combat suits moved forwards through the bulkhead door and fanned out. The room looked much like the same, and was an eerie dead quiet. No hum of ships systems or anything. The three suits waited as the rest of the boarding crew filed through the bulkhead, pushing through the energy field and into the still pressurized section. Savannah was the last one through the door, and as she passed through the field, she felt a chill creep up her spine. She shivered a little in her armor and turned around to look back at the boarding ship she had just came from, and stumbled back a few steps at what she saw. The doorway they had just walked through twisted and deformed silently, spiralling together until the doorway resembled a sphincter, and then smoothed out into an unremarkable metal wall. "...The fuck??" the hyena screamed, beating against the now solid wall. After a few long moments she turned towards the salvage suits "Sensor report!" For several long moments, the suits scanned and scanned, confering with each other about their findings. Finally the lead salvage suit gave its report, "I.... It's impossible... all scans say its solid bulkhead with the vacuum of space behind it... we can't even detect the boarding ship..." A growl rose in the hyenas throat at the report, her fist slammimg on the now solid wall. Through the sheer power of her will, she regainer her composure and turned to her crew, "We can deal with that later... first we need to secure the ship. Form up and begin your sweeps." The boarding crew nodded in acknowlagement and broke up into three groups. Two groups were composed of a garrison, salvage, and two troops, and the last group was the remaining garrison, one troop, and the hyena. The three squads went seperare directions, fanning out inside the ship. The teams with the salvage suits had orders to strip down any technology they could find, even if they didn't know what it was. The hyena crept along the corredor behind the lumbering power armor in her squad, her gun drawn and charged. She lifted her free hand to her helm, "Squads, report in." "Beta squad, no contacts." the voice came in loud and clear. "Gamma squad, no contacts..." The com crackled with interferance as he spoke, "...but Jerak keeps saying his scanners must be malfunctioning..." "Put him on." The hyena scowled a little behind her helm, things just kept getting worse on this operation. "B...Boss... somethin's not right here... I'm getting sensor ghosts all over..." the tech's voice waivered, almost getting lost in static, "...visuals show nothing but bulkheads, and scanners don't even show any ambient EM fields!" "Beta team, put Dreech on." The hyena waited a moment, "Report?" "I found a power conduit and it lead to sssome kind of machine. I'm not sssure what it doesss, but I think I should be able to disssconnect it." The elongated esses in his words revealed that Dreech was a reptile, a lizard or snake of some sort. "Are your scanners acting up as well?" The hyenas voice seemed cool and calm, but inside she was seething with barely restrained anger. "No, misssstressss, mine sssseem to be working fine." The tech replied, his confusion at the question showing in his tone of voice. Savannah gave a soft growl into the com, "Hear that Jarak? It must be your sens...." The hyena was cut off by a scream over the com, the sound of gunfire making the voice difficult to make out. "...ssstop... no... why isssnt it ssstopping... heee.. -SSSSKRRRRCH-" The last of the transmission was garbled, but it sounded distinctly like something getting crushed. Savannah shiverd at the sickening sound at the end of the transmission, "Beta team, come in.." Silence. "Beta team... report in now..." Still silence on the com, not even static. "Dammit!" snarled the hyena leaning against the metal wall, "Gamma Team, Beta team is gone. Watch yourselves." "Y... Yes mistress." came the reply from Jarak, the fear in his voice showing through. ---------------------------- The hyena rallied her squad and pushed forwards, filing through the next doorway and into a large room. Like every corredor and room they had encountered before, this one was bare walls and devoid of anything that looked like a ship system. Savannah glanced around the room and growled, "This is impossoble... where is everything?" "Mistress, we have movement, five contacts." The garrison suit called out in a synthesized voice. "Two of the contacts are much larger than the others." "Is it Beta team?" Savannah let the sound of hope fill her voice, "Did they survive?" "I don't know mistress, im not reading an IFF." The garrison suit hefted its weapons. "Shall we investigate?" The hyena scowled a little, weighing her options, "Yeah, let's go." ---------------------------- Betrayal ---------------------------- Slyth Terrance looked over his readouts. The ship showed little power output, it in all respects appeared to be dead... but he was an experienced pirate and had many times used the playing dead routine himself; He made sure his crew maintained a weapons lock at all times. "Bastet to Preys revenge." The panther waited for the response from the other ship, his fingers rapping on the plastic armrest. "What is it, kitten." Demesh Threy snarled as his image came onto the display, "I have better things to do than listen to your whining." "Shut up, you filthy herbie..." Slyth snarled in response to the provocative lapine, "I'm worried about the boarding party... they haven't checked in and I am getting suspicious..." "Watch it, Meatie..." The hares eye narrowed as he watched the panther. "You are right though... I say we finish the ship off and split the salvage..." The panther chuckled softly and gave a wide, toothy grin, "That's thinking like a predator... but what about the Starlance?" "Please..." the hare rolled his eye, his head making an exaggerated movement to match, "It's an artillary ship. Aside from the main gun, it doesn't have much in the way of weapons. Why do you think she needed us?" "I will concede that point." The panther hmmmmed softly as he weighed his options. "We will stike the Starlance first. -------------------------- Engines flared on the two smaller ships, accelerating from their positions in the triangle that they had formed around the draconian ship. Missles were once more the opening volley, streaking across the black backdrop and towards the larger ship. Bright explosions decorated the hull as holes were torn into the skin, letting precious atmosphere bleed from the ruptures. Even as the ship reeled from the explosions, beams of high intensity energy clawed at the hull of the stricken ship. Metal glowed fiercely from the heat of the beams, more fissures opening up. A second wave of missles lanced from the retrofitted frigate, but this time impacted on an energy shield; The Starlance had recentered its shield matrix to protect itself from the assault. Countless batteries of railguns opened up, the large caliber munitions spraying in heavy streams that could ethier puncture hull plating or wear it down. Streams of metal fragments splashed across the hulls of the two attacking ships as the Starlance tried to defend itself. ---------------------------- Savannah called out as the whole world seemed to disappear around her. They were following some signals on their scanners, when without warning the laws of reality seemed to break away. Her entire squad found themselves weightless, but constricted, as if they were suspended in a tub of jelly. Even the power suit was weightless, the magnetic pads on the feet losing traction. The walls then melted away, revealing the blackness of space. She could see the triangle of ships that had taken up position around the draconian ship, and she screamed silently into the void as the pirates turned on her ship while she was gone. She floated there in the void, helpless to stop the assault on her beloved ship, watching with rage as missles and energy beams carved up her ship. Engines flared in those final moments before the ship broke apart, pieces of the ship peeling away until the main reactor went critical and exploded. Savannah wept tears of rage as everything she had ever owned was destroied. Her home... Her possessions... Her friends... she had nothing left but the emptyness and rage now as she fought to regain a hold on something. She spun around to look at the rest of her squad, also floating there in the void with her. She could feel their eyes on her, and knew they would support her, their loyalty unquestioning. They would help her rebuild if they got out of this. With little warning, reality asserted itself again. The squad found its weight return and the void around them melted away, showing once more the walls and corredors of the draconian ship. Everyone scrambled to get to their feet and regain a defensive posture, and it took several long moments to restore morale. "Our ship is gone... but we are still here. We can rebuild, we just need to get out of here." Savannah addressed the remnants of her crew, the ache in her heart steeling her resolve. "Form up and watch your flanks." ---------------------------- Misfire ---------------------------- With the rival pirate ship adrift and breaking up, the Bastet ane Preys Revenge moved into attack position on the draconian ship again. The two pirate ships opened up with all their weapons, missles and lasers cascading over the hull of the draconian ship once more. This time however when the sensor interferance cleared, they found they hadn't even scratched the surface. A second salvo of missles homed in on the target... ...and stopped dead in space near the ship, the rockets still burning furiously until with a cough they ran out of fuel, still not having detonated. The Bastet opened up next, the multiple beams of concentrated energy lancing out at the speed of light... ...and bent around the draconian ship, twisting and spiralling together before erupting back out, aimed at the Preys revenge! -------------------------- Sparks erupted around the bridge of the Preys revenge as Demesh snarled, looking at the dammage display. "Slyth you filty meatie, you nearly took out the core!" The hare snarled as he launchex another wave of ordinance, this time using his most powerful warheads. Rage built in the hare as once more his weapons proved ineffective; the warheads once more stopped in mid flight... but this time, just as the rocket motors ran dry, some unseen force altered their course and sent them hurdelling at the Bastet. The destroyer rocked with the explosions as they peppered the hull, tearing out chunks of armor, but without crippling the ship. The ship reeled from the force of the explosion, manouvering thrusters firing on the opposite side to regain control. Both ships halted their assault, trying to understand exactly what happened. Words passed between the two pirate ships over secured com relays, but neither could speculate what had happened. ---------------------------- Savannah clung to the wall, her pistol tight in her grip. The contacts they had been tracking were just around the next corner. There were five contacts in total, and the hyena carefully peeked around the corner with the aid of a small camera. The image was hazy, but she knew the effect in an instant; cloaking shrouds, actively replicating the background around it to camoflage the wearer. With a grin, the hyena motioned to her squad, using hand signals to indicate five targets in the open. She then motioned to the power suit with them to take point, flamer first. With a squeal of hydrolics and a warcry from the external com on the suit, it lept into the hallway and fire engulphed the entire area. Screams echoed from the smaller targets as they lept from the fire. The two larger targets braced against the blaze, but were too slow to evade. "Ambush! Take cover and return fire!" came the return call and the corredor was thick with shotgun pellets and laser beams from both sides. The hyena took aim with her pistol, the bolts of blue plasma erupting from the tip and lancing down the corredor and scoring a direct hit on the largest target, striking it in the right arm. As she ducked back into cover, her com came to life. "Gamma team to Alpha, we are under heavy fi..." static garbled the next words, making them incomprehencable, "...argets, requesting backup." Savannah snarled into her com, "Dammit Jarak, we are pinned too... hold tight and we will join you after we have delt with this group." The hyena looked to the power suit with her, giving a nod to him. The suit tilted its head in a nod and hefted the weapon it had avoided using until now. The a hum filled the corredor as the weapon charged, energy swelling inside its core. The suit stepper out of cover and let out a roar over its external com as it unleashed its payload. The rest of the squad ducked for cover as the massive blue ball of energy was released from the three prongs of the plasma cannon and accelerating down the hallway... ...and right into the largest enemy. Blue fire enveloped the whole corredor, incinerating the whole area. Static came over the com again and a weak voice emerged, "miss...tress... ...'m sorr...." before the com went dead again. Savannah's eyes widened as she stepped out of the cover from the bulkhead and looked down the corredor; her stomach turned as she looked at the carnage, body parts and chunks of metal decorated the walls. The hyena fell down to her knees infront of the only remaining piece of the foes she had just defeated. It was a power armor, mangled and scorched, legs demolished, one arm completely gone, helmet and chest plating melted. Her fingers worked at the melted latches that held the helmet on, and when they wouldn't budge, she dug her gauntlets in and pulled with all the strength she could manage; the helmet came off with a crunch of metal as the melted seals gave out. Savannah's eyes teared up as her worst fear was revealed. "Oh gods no... Jarak..." the hyena cradled the head of the fox in her arms, stroking over his ears softly as she looked down at the lifeless eyes of her former crewmate. "G...gamma squad..." one of the troops said quietly, his weapon dropping to his side as he looked around at his dead comrades, and then struggled to get his helmet off. The rat revealed under the helmet stumbled away and vomitted as he colapsed to his knees. "Contact, coming in fast." The garrison suit intones through its external com, "Get to cover, the energy signature is immense!" The troops dove for cover, the one rat still without his helmet, and they prepared for the next onslaught, theit guns trained on the directikn the contact was approaching from. A small orb of energy floated around the corner and hovered in midair, dancing lightly. "Open fire!" came the call from the garrison suit and once more the hall was thick with gunfire. Shotgun pellets and deer slugs, beams of concentrated laser energy, and even balls of plasma... ...and the ball of energy danced still, bobbing and weaving, unphased by the assault against it. It danced for several long moments and then darted forwards at an impossible speed, where it impacted with a troop. The whole squad reeled as the orb passed right through the helmet of the troop, leaving a fist-sized hole clear through the fleah, bone, and hardened armor alike. The dancing ball swelled lightly and then split into two parts, one increasing in brightness, the other becoming as black as the void, ripples forming around it as the pair danced together, swirling around each other until they parted ways. The dark orb sought the largest target, advancing slower than its brighter counterpart, but shrugged off the plasma balls sent its direction, simply absorbing them and growing in size until it loomed infront of the power suit, nearly the size of the suits head. The garrison backed away from the dark orb, its legs straining as it became harder and harder to move. Instruments went haywire, reading no pressure outside the suit, then fifty times the normal atmospheric pressure, and back and forth. Metal creaked and actuators groaned as the orb grew closer and closer. The suit lifted its arms protectively and watched as the armor creaked and then crumpled, loud crunches coming in waves as the barely visible waves washed over the suit from the orb. The rat with no helm watched as the suit bent over, hearing the sickening scream from the pilot as the torso of the suit crumpled inwards, each ripple compacting the suit further. He couldn't look away, in total shock at what he was witnessing. His gun was long gone, dropped and forgotten about, and he hadn't noticed the blazing bright sphere burning holes through it and ruining it, leaving him defenceless. He sunk to his knees as he watched the remnants of the massive suit drop to the floor, now just a oozing ball of metal no bigger than his helmet was. The rats eyes glazed over before he slumped over, passing out. Savannah sobbed as she cradled the head of the dead fox, completely obvlious to the carnage around her and the two orbs that hovered menacingly over her. ---------------------------- Retribution ---------------------------- Demesh looked over his readout and scowled. The draconian ship still appeared for all intensive purposes to be adrift and defenceless, yet both ships had their attacks repelled by some force they could not see or detect. The hare snarled as he looked over the dammage report that was coming in. He had spent almost half his supply of ordinance and he had sections of plating that were about to buckle. With a snarl, the hare made the decision, "Let's get out of here, this isn't worth losing my ship..." The Preys revenge fired its engines, turning to run for the edge of the system and open a warp tunnel. Even as the engines ramped up to full power, the ship slowed, and when the throttle was opened up fully, thu dead stop. The ship shook as the engines were pushed into the red zone without result, and as soon as the powe was dialed back, the ship lurched back towards the draconian vessel. Demesh pounded on his console in anger, launching off all of his countermeasures, trying to distract and escape in the cloud of explosions, but to no avail, his ship would not move. Slyth watched as the frigate tried to run and got nowhere, and then was engulphed in explosions. He scowled and focused his weapons array on the draconian ship once more, combining all the beams from his weapons into a single more powerful beam... ...and once more it was deflected back, scything across the back side of the Preys Revenge as the explosions around it cleared. It then bent further, arcing across empty space until it approached the source. The panther snarled and cut power to his weapons as his ship rolled to avoid the beam, exposing its vital underbelly in the roll. A burst of energy lit up the sensors of the ship, systems going haywire and giving conflicting readings as Slyth strugged to regain control from the manouver, the readings his sensors told him made no sense. The walls around him groaned and whined as he tried to understand what was happening. It was like gravity had decided to randomly change, his sensors reporting gravitational shear forces washing all over the ship, trying to stretch some parts and compress others. The shearing force grew in magnitude with each passing moment until with a hull shattering crunch, the power core lurched out of position, almost tearing itself from the belly of the ship as systems went dead. The Bastet drifted in space, looking like it had been bent in half, its hull crumpled in some areas and bloated in others, atmosphere seeping from cracks and giving the crew and commander a slow death in the dark. ---------------------------- Savannah awoke with a scream, her head throbbing as the loss came back to her. Everything she had worked for, everyone she trusted and cared for... all gone now because she was so foolish. Her thoughts returned to the present and her surroundings. She glanced around the small room she was in, the steel walls and door were just what she expected in a prison cell, though the bed wasnt as uncomfortable as she had expected. Instinctively she felt for her weapons, and gave a startled yelp as she found herself not only disarmed, but disrobed as well! A quick scan of the room revealed her body suit hanging on a small hook on the far wall. Within moments the hyena was wriggling into the last of the clothing she owned, sliding into the form fitting fabric like a glove. Savannah paced the room, going over the events she had witnessed in the last twenty-four hours; the destruction of her ship and the death of her crew. Her mood swung randomly between rage, loss, fear and many others. After a few hours she finally calmed down and began to think clearly once more. She started to study the room, checking the walls for weakness and the door for looseness of joints. It was in the middle of this searching that the hyena once more got a suprise from the ship. "Don't bother trying to escape..." The ghostly voice echoed the room, seeming to resonate from the walls themself. A moment later, a small translucient white dragon stepped through the door as if it was never there. The hyena backed up into a fighting position and snarled at the ghostly hatchling, her claws bared as she stood at the ready. "...the fuck?" The ghostly dragon stood with a non-threatening posture as it addressed the hyena, "You have been found guilty of assault against the draconian empire." The ghostly little dragon paused raising an arm and snapping its fingers, a holographic screen popping into existance and showing clips from the assault, "You cannot deny that these events happened, but you can beg for mercy." The hyena snarled low as her fur stood on end. She lost everything to this ship and now they wanted her to just kneel infront of them? "You can't be serious..." "Quite..." the little dragon crossed its arms, looking expectantly at the hyena, "Ethier you submit, or you are executed. Draconic law stated you are to be given the choice to make amends for your transgressions." Savannah scowled as she weighed her options, "What happens if I submit?" "Three years of servitute, then your memory is wiped, you are given cosmetic changes to look different and you are dropped off on a civilized planet to start a new life." The ghostly dragon stated matter of factly, the tone implying it had been performed many times. "Lose my memory or lose my life? Not much leeway in those choices." Savannah scowled, swallowing the lump in her throat. -------------------------- **********