Breaking the Spirit

[Heresy]

Both ships were on their last legs. Tim had sustained heavy damage and had been forced to isolate a minor coolant leak in the reactor of his Eagle. The enemy vessel was ridden with missing hull plates and had lost one of his three engines in the furious fighting.

Fighting tooth and nail, it was fairly obvious that the battle was going to be decided by who made their last mistake first. For what seemed to be a huge amount of time, both pilots performed perfectly in their duel. Then, it slipped. The dark ships disabled engine finally gave way and exploded to a grazing energy bolt. The remaining integrity of its hull was enough to hold it together, and it shot off at uncontrolled breakneck speed into the distance. Evidently, its maneuvering thrusters werent as sturdy. The explosion also ruptured the cargobay, and its contents were spilled into space.

There were so many escape pods littered in the suddenly quiet, small debris field. Exposed wiring, ship hull panels, glowing reactor cores and various other bits of apparel were scattered everywhere. Tims ship was in no condition to fight another battle, and he was in a dangerous position, exposed as he was. As fast as his battered Eagle could take him, he tractored in the escape pods and drifted towards planet Cambridge, bursting his thrusters to gain speed.

God was on his side as he encountered no ships of any kind on his way back. At that point, he was just relieved to be alive, not to mention that he was exhausted. After landing the scrap that he was flying in his own small hangar, he decided to rest and relax for the night. The sensors in his craft were still working and told him that the captured pilots all had enough food and water for at least another week, so it wasnt a problem. Hed just claim the rewards on them tomorrow.

---