The Hunter

[Sanguine Frozen Boy]

Samantha watched with deep satisfaction as another pirate's shield fell and the resulting barrage of gatling blasts sent him sputtering into an asteriod. There were still many more to deal with, but so far the pirates hadn't reduced the shield of their ship past three fourths max capacity. She was quite happy to be commanding the ship as if it was her own and everytime she pointed to another pirate, they would simple cease to exist. To her it was a child's game and was rewarded with her father's hand on her shoulder, but the game soon became dangerous as new pirates entered the sector. The leading sensor tech identified them as Mollys.

Mollys? She barely knew who they were and as she recalled it, they didn't hang out in the colorado system so they had to be here on specific business. No sooner had she thought this than the communications officer reported they were being hailed. She listened as a bit of static followed by an older man's voice. She didn't want to take off the viewscreen just to speak with him when determining the next pirate to die was more important.

"You thought you could escape, but now, we're back for you and the ship you stole." The voice was very angry. She looked up to her father to see what he would say, but he said nothing, only looked down at her and then back at the viewscreen as though they were no threat. She was terrified that they might be too strong for their one cruiser and as the numbers came out, it was against another cruiser, several gunboats and several light fighters. This added to the number of pirates and increased the odds against them.

"We're surrounded, should we run?" One of the tech's asked and looked back toward Samantha for advice. In turn Samantha looked to her father again and this time she was punished for it with a backhand across her face.

"Your insecurity is going to get your crew killed." She could feel her father's gaze on the back of her neck momentarily before it left."Open fire on the lead gunboat, broadside them."

Samantha felt her father leave her side to give orders, she stared at her lap and watched as tears fell into it. Her semi long hair vieled her face from the rest of the crew and made her blind to what was happening. She didn't care, she was too upset to watch anyhow. The constant shaking from new fire made her nearly fall out of the chair. She huddled up into a ball on the chair and held her hands over her face, ashamed of her failure.

----------

Although his ship was incredibly large, it housed less personnel than one of half it's size. That was, unless it was full of cargo. He watched as a marine walked past him with his weapon drawn who seemed semi nervous as well. The sight was very common on his prison liner especially when they were coming into range with their objective point. The prison liner wasn't designed for combat but it still had enough turret mounts to protect itself from the many pirates that plagued the region. The turrets, however, could not protect his ship from running into asteriod after asteroid. The ship was safe, but inside it, he held on tight to a nearby railing as he lifted a data pad into view. The ship shuttered and suddenly up became down, the marine flipped and then tumbled head over heels and finnaly came to a rest back on the floor of the deck. He struggled to his feet and cursed lightly.

"Guess you were right, definitely should have magnets or anti gravity or something on the bridge. It gets really shaky up here." The marine removed a large number of credits from his utility belt and handed them to him."Damn Angel Eyes, you must be used to flying through shaky spots."

He smiled at the marine and took the credits and pocketed them with his free hand watching as the marine took up residence next to him with his strong hand on the rail."Been flying a large number of ships and you have no idea how long it takes to get used to big ships flying through thick asteriod fields. Try flying this baby through the badlands."

"No thanks. I prefer shooting the pirates right here, that way they dont' have any shields."

"Tell that to the marines who have to board enemy installations." He patted the marine on the back and began making his way down the short hallway towards the bridge."Now if you'll excuse me, I think we're coming close to our contact. I dont' think she'll be pleased to see me again so soon but I have to be 100 percent positive."

"Sounds like a lot of fun, i'll be waiting right here....." The marine gripped the rail even harder as the ship shook slightly.

"Oh i'm positive you'll be there....might not be on your feet though." Angel Eyes smiled as he left the struggling marine and entered the deck of his ship. He quickly sat down in his favorite chair as they approached a heated battle."Not done yet I see. I'll just have to lend a hand." He could only see one gunboat and a Hugenot cruiser firing at another. There were plenty of light fighters flying about, but the occasional stray shot seemed to be wearing their prescense down. The lone cruiser was at around 3/4 hull capacity and the pirate cruiser was almost untouched. The odds were against them so he decided to do something quite drastic to help out.

---

Property of Sirfrozenalot.