The Zoner Meeting

[Trogdor]

(The Captain was right. The corsairs would try something that day. As the ship's crew monitored and inspected a light Zoner trade convoy approaching Gran Canaria's docking ring and mooring fixtures, a wing of a dozen Centurion fighters approached from the nearby Barrier Nebula. They moved in quickly, and before the Captain even had a chance to finish hailing them, they had already set about demanding cargo from the Zoner Dromedary. Right in front of Gran Canaria and the Nephilim guarding it.

The Zoners must have felt that the Burninator would have been able to dissuade or protect them from the larger force, because they immediately refuted the corsairs' demands. Sadly, they were mistaken. The ships were too closely packed. They could not open fire without also showering both the friendly ships and the docking ring. And so the ships were lost, as the corsairs, in their arrogant and blatant disregard for the elephant in the room, pounced upon them. Three Zoner ships were torn asunder in a matter of moments, while the rest of their escort quickly flew towards the safety of the Nephilim.

All was not lost, however, as while the ships were lost, the crew was not. The Burninator precisely plucked escape pods from the burning wreckage before they could fall into the planet's gravitational well, be captured by the corsairs, or be caught in the hail of blaster fire that was to follow. While this was going on, the docking ring's computer automatically powered up its defensive turrets, and by the time the last pod was tractored into the capital ship's hold, the corsairs were spraying plasma at the docking facilities and the planet's atmosphere in a seemingly drunken rampage.)

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(The Captain did not know, at this point, whether the corsairs were after the Doc and his guests. Nor did he care. Corsair plasma was taking small chunks out of the docking structures and streaking through the heavens above Gran Canaria. This would not stand. The captain watched as the majority of the attackers condensed into a ball of spacefaring rubbish, and ordered their elimination. The Solaris Gatling turrets on the port side of the ship showered the tightly-grouped fighters, stripping away large portions of many of their shields, and getting their attention in short order.)

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(In an astonishing display of ignorance, the raiding party actually thought they could take down a fully armed Nephilim. The Burninator pulled away, drawing the engagement away from the planet. She banked left and right, partially avoiding some of the blaster fire, wary that some of the fighters may have mounted torpedoes. As the somewhat-nimble heavy fighters darted in to attack and out to evade, the Captain and his gunnery crew were unfazed, ignoring targets that fled and switching to those advancing. One by one, a hail of concentrated gatling fire shredded each and every Centurion.)

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(Finally, the dust had settled, and the last corsair ship disassembled. The captain ordered the helm back into position and left the bridge in the hands of the first officer while he descended to the cargo hold. He inspected what they had hauled in: Three Zoners, some damaged weapons, and five corsairs. The Zoners were already being carefully extracted from their life pods and lifted onto stretchers by the ship's medical staff, in preparation to be moved to sick bay. The Captain nodded a carry-on, and continued toward the corsair pods, drawing his personal sidearm from the holster at its hip. He considered interrogating them during the elevator trip down to the hold, but after seeing his fellow Zoners loaded onto stretchers, blood soaked into their uniforms, he no longer cared. Each corsair pod was kicked open, its occupant barely able to utter a sound before being shot below the belt. The plasma-hot end of the barrel was then jammed into a wincing eye socket before he delivered to each corsair the death they claim comes so naturally to them.

He returned to the bridge, resuming the day's vigil, silently wondering what the Doc hoped to accomplish in words with an adversary who had grown so arrogant and bold in the absence of unified Zoner leadership.)

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