Rise of a Scoundrel

[Distance_warrior@hotmail.com]

Patrick sat on the lanes one Sunday afternoon keeping one eye on his sensors while trying to coax Clarence out of the electrics with a cracker. Some would say a lost cause as whenever Clarence went to grab the tasty treat he lost his grip and suffered the same panic attack he always did when his flight instinct failed in zero gravity. But Patrick'€™s faith in the little bird'€™s intelligence was not misplaced as it finally figured out how to gently push off from the cables and glide towards his prize. Just about to grab his reward a siren blared from the cockpit shattering his concentration causing his flight reflex to take over sending the poor parrot careening around the cargo bay.

Patrick left the bird to his own devices as he investigated the alarm, liberty gunboat approaching at high speeds. Hitting the cruise engines he plotted a vector to the nearest asteroid field when a disrupter shot out of the offending gunboat. As he ordered a countermeasure to be fired Patrick focused on finetuning his course. The disruptor hit the ship bringing it to a sickening halt. Checking the launch bays for disruptions he noticed his countermeasure counter was at zero and swore.

'€œI knew there was something I forgot this morning. Ok step 1. Act natural wait for a hail and explain you'€™re self. Step 2. Run. Step 3. Gut the bastard later with a bomber.'€

What happened next was very unexpected. Instead of the usual by the books navy hail a razor shot collided with his windscreen sending sparks as his shield dissipated and the escape pod activated.

'€œCLARENCE!!!!!!'€ He screamed as the pod closed around him.

'€œClarence!'€ He said as he searched the pod hopeful that his beloved pet and guardian was in the right place at the time of the explosion. He was searching in the cramped confines of the pod when he felt a familiar rasp of claws through fabric.

'€œ Oh thank god you bloody bird.'€ He said as the bird climbed up his shirt. But the bird seemed distracted. Tracing his eye line Patrick finally noticed the illusive cracker floating just above his head

'€œOh No'€ He said as the bird tried to fly towards it only to panic and rebound around the impossibly small space screeching the whole time.