Always unlucky ...

[BeanzOnToast]

"We're here."
The Neutrality had arrived at Crete orbit, skeleton crewed by 32 men who had come to the Freeport after hearing of the Neutrality's story, and barely in combat readiness. Adamo headed to the hangar bay to take a ship to Crete, but as he reached the CIC's door, the comms officer spoke "Senor, I'm picking up some radio chatter... patrols are reporting there's a large Bounty Hunter fleet headed to Crete!"

Adamo's heart beat quicker at those words. His first battle in the Neutrality. "Bring the ship about, let's christen the Neutrality with Hunter blood!" Two M26 gunboats and a Praefect approached from Tripoli Shipyard for the fight, and countless Titans and Praetorians swarmed out of Crete's docking ring.

"Hostiles on scanners Senor! One battleship, two destroyers plus support craft!" the radar operator reported. A familiar voice sounded on the loudspeakers, as a frequency opened up from the Crucifix, which had just come out of Crete. "Locotes, I'll take care of their fighters and destroyers, you take out the big one!" Adamo stuttered "Y..yes Senor!"

The Hunter fleet arrived, and the battle broke out, explosions and radio chatter raged, the gunboats and Praetorians attacked the destroyers, the Titans engaged the Mantas and bombers, and the Praefect provided covering fire where it was needed. The Neutrality opened up some of her guns at the fray, but her bow was pointed elsewhere. At the Hunter Battleship.

As the two giants neared each other, Adamo's heart raced. The Neutrality's armor was weaker, and he had barely outfitted the ship with what turrets the Zoners had at hand. The next few moments were a blur, Adamo remembered giving the order to fire, he didn't remember anything else. Four Praetorians threw a volley of antimatter at the Hunter ship, which downed it's shield instantly, battleship gunfire was traded for what seemed like an hour, but was really only three minutes. The guns of the Hunter ship stopped when the Praetorian wing swung round again for another strafe, which disabled the collosal ship. The rest of the fight was over, all the Hunters had been destroyed or routed. The specialist Praetorian pilots threw Nova torpedoes at the disabled battleship to tear it asunder.
The Neutrality only took minor hull damage to the bow.

An hour later, he had finally arrived on Crete. He got out of his ship, and was greeted with an enthusiastic, cheering crowd. Adamo raised his arms and laughed. Then, in the corner of his eye, he saw something coming at him. Gentle. WIth a whip. Adamo was so bewildered that he didn't start running until the third lash hit him across the chest. He'd never run so fast in his life.

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