- Joined
- Aug 27, 2018
"Here it goes." With the flick of a small lever on another ship, the haulage skiff came barreling out of hyperspace in a pink flash, tumbling wildly in the infinite black of the void between stars, all systems save for the most life-critical and rudimentary disabled. The latent inertial compensation field meant that the interior of the ship was oddly serene, until one was to look through one of the exterior camera feeds and take in the madly spinning field of distant stars. It was a typical design - mostly storage space and engine, with a tiny living compartment for the one-man crew keeping an eye on the various commercial items the predominately automated craft was ferrying from system to system. The exterior was cheerful enough - all rounded edges, white paint, and smiling corporate logos.
Another rosy burst of light occurred perhaps a thousand meters behind the skiff, on the same trajectory, albeit longer-lived and more stable in appearance. A sleek vessel, black as the interstellar cold save for the skull and crossbones motifs in white along its hull, and covered with a frankly alarming quantity of protruding weapon batteries, emerged from the light. It accelerated hard until seemed to be stationary next to the out-of-control skiff. Despite being much larger, the skiff seemed a hapless predator before the newcomer, impotently flailing in the face of a coordinated, focused attack. A series of grappling lines shot out of the pirate ship's belly, and with a loud clang, it anchored itself against the hull.
A swarm of figures emerged from various airlocks, clambering over the skiff's exterior. Unlike typical commercial spacesuits, what they wore were skin-tight and seamless, allowing perfect mobility. Their helmets were dark and faceless, only a pair of luminescent red goggles giving them any indication of humanity. In their gloved hands they gripped a variety of cruel armaments: laser beamers, buckshot launchers, even cutlasses. All military-grade, and designed to dispatch foes with a minimal risk of damaging critical ship systems. They found their way to the primary airlock, and one of them plugged something into an exterior control panel. A deep, drawling voice came unbidden over the localized communicator system.
"Alright, whoever's in there, you've got two choices. You can cycle this airlock properly and let us in safe-like, or we can cycle it improperly and all your air starts to go away. I'm sure there's an emergency suit in there, but I don't know how willing we'll be to let you take advantage of it if you put us to the trouble. And I work fast. You've got twenty seconds."
Another rosy burst of light occurred perhaps a thousand meters behind the skiff, on the same trajectory, albeit longer-lived and more stable in appearance. A sleek vessel, black as the interstellar cold save for the skull and crossbones motifs in white along its hull, and covered with a frankly alarming quantity of protruding weapon batteries, emerged from the light. It accelerated hard until seemed to be stationary next to the out-of-control skiff. Despite being much larger, the skiff seemed a hapless predator before the newcomer, impotently flailing in the face of a coordinated, focused attack. A series of grappling lines shot out of the pirate ship's belly, and with a loud clang, it anchored itself against the hull.
A swarm of figures emerged from various airlocks, clambering over the skiff's exterior. Unlike typical commercial spacesuits, what they wore were skin-tight and seamless, allowing perfect mobility. Their helmets were dark and faceless, only a pair of luminescent red goggles giving them any indication of humanity. In their gloved hands they gripped a variety of cruel armaments: laser beamers, buckshot launchers, even cutlasses. All military-grade, and designed to dispatch foes with a minimal risk of damaging critical ship systems. They found their way to the primary airlock, and one of them plugged something into an exterior control panel. A deep, drawling voice came unbidden over the localized communicator system.
"Alright, whoever's in there, you've got two choices. You can cycle this airlock properly and let us in safe-like, or we can cycle it improperly and all your air starts to go away. I'm sure there's an emergency suit in there, but I don't know how willing we'll be to let you take advantage of it if you put us to the trouble. And I work fast. You've got twenty seconds."