Judgement

[Toaster]

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The Sleipnir shook as it shot through the expanding cloud of vaporized metal and chunks of debris that were all that remained of the enemy ship. Its shields flared up as remains bounced off. Richter looked up through his canopy, searching for the opponent’s escape pod. As he cleared the debris, he made out the capsule’s tell-tale red signal light flashing, shrinking as it thrust away from the explosion.

“Got a life pod here,” Richter announced over his comms system.

After a brief pause, his wing leader’s reply crackled through his earpiece, “Leave it. Take care of the others.”

Richter looked out through his canopy, searching for his comrades’ vessels in the dark of space. In the distance, green flashes streaked across the void. He yanked at his control stick, whipping his fighter around, and shot off towards the ongoing skirmish.

* * *

“That’s the last of the scum,” Wing Leader Steiner announced as the last enemy fighter spiraled out of control and exploded, its escape pod rocketing off into space. Richter relaxed in his flight chair, loosening his grip on his ship’s controls. A few hundred meters in front of him, the only remaining hostile craft floated through space, its systems disabled by EMP blasts.

“Sir, what about the life pods?” one of Richter’s wingmen, Mannscheidt, asked. Richter glanced at his sensor readout. Three of the four hostiles had ejected. The fourth remained in his incapacitated fighter.

“Mannscheidt, Freist, collect the federal bastards,” Steiner replied. The two wingmen’s fighters accelerated towards the blinking red lights of the escape pods, leaving Steiner and Richter behind. “Now,” the wing leader continued with a sneer, “let’s see whether we can get this one to disembark.” Richter watched as Steiner’s craft slowly approached the disabled ship.

Suddenly, the enemy’s fighter’s lights flashed on and its reactor housing regained its usual faint green glow.

“What the-,” Steiner’s curse was cut short over comms as the hostile craft rocketed forward, past the wing leader and straight towards Richter.

Eyes wide, Richter watched as bolts of green plasma splashed across his bow shield. Reflexively, he threw his Sleipnir into a roll to evade the fire. The enemy tore past him, mere meters separating them, afterburners accelerating the vessel to breakneck speed. Richter’s cockpit rang like a bell as the engine wash rocked his fighter.

A second later, Steiner’s ship shot past him as well, in pursuit of the enemy.

“Get the bastard!” Steiner’s anger tore through the comms.

Richter swung about and fired his thrusters, burning after the two vessels.

* * *

For minutes, the enemy pilot evaded volley after volley of plasma and pulse fire coming from Steiner and Richter. However, showers of sparks cascaded from the ship’s engines and the distance between the three shrunk by the second. Suddenly, the hostile’s engines went dark. The craft swung around on its horizontal axis, continuing away from its pursuers.

“Engine kill!” Richter cried. A barrage of plasma bolts washed over Steiner’s and his fighters, splashing against their shields. Richter returned fire blindly, unable to see his target through the flaring energy field.

“Damn son of a bitch!” Steiner’s yell crackled over the comms. Richter glanced to the side through is canopy just in time to watch his wing leader’s right wing get sheared off by the enemy fire. The craft briefly spun out of control before straightening out again. Its weapons flashed as Steiner fired again and again at the enemy.

Richter squeezed his trigger, showering the hostile ship in green fire. Still floating through space without engines, the enemy was now an easy target. Its shields flared and burst from the continued barrage. Hull plating buckled and vaporized, tearing off the ship’s frame. Finally, it exploded, metal vapor and debris shooting off into space like shrapnel from an oversized hand grenade. An escape pod rocketed away from the explosion, a trail of superheated dust following it into the dark.

“Sir, he ejected,” Richter spoke into his mic. He relaxed back into his seat and took a deep breath.

“No,” Steiner’s voice came coldly through the comms. “He didn’t.”

Steiner’s damaged fighter rocketed past Richter towards the escape pod. Richter jumped up in his seat, eyes wide.

“Sir, what-…”

Richter stared on in disbelief as streaks of green plasma shot out from Steiner’s craft. A flash of light enveloped the life pod, vaporizing it and the helpless pilot within.