UD-5

[Pioneer]

UD-5
Broadside

Liberty is crawling with lawfuls, some of them are even able to do their job. Some of them, are worst than the unlawfuls. They operate as rogues under the color of authority.

The ship was running empty, dead heading back to Tinkers Haven after delivering much needed salvation to some derelict place. The sleeper was dark when the first volley woke me.

"Shields fail."

Master alarms sounded everywhere, panels sparked as they failed, and lights began to extinguish. The ship had been hit, hard. Broadside. At point blank range. I staggered into the cockpit as a fourth and fifth rounds hit. The helm was sluggish and barely responsive.

"Mayday, mayday." I screamed into the mic - all communications were dead. I watched the satellite dish float past the window, along with other debris blown off the ship. He knew what he was doing, he'd hit me so I couldn't surrender. This was a death match. I yanked back on the yoke and she began to climb, just enough to allow me to glimpse back through the #4 porthole.

LSF. It was an LSF ship firing upon me. I could see the ships name, blazed on the side, but there wasn't a lot of time left for negotiations.

"Hull breach, imminent."

The ship responded with a pitch, and his shots blew by low. I'd moved into his blind spot, but it was only a matter of time before he came around again and finished me off.

It went dark quickly - but the console was still lit. It was getting dark outside, and engulfing the ship each second. I watched the LSF stop and recede. His pursuit was over, and he had had left me to bleed...wherever I was. I shut down every system back in the ship and sealed off the cockpit. Whatever cloud I'd flown into, had stopped the prick.

But I wasn't out of the woods yet.