The Full Account of Reggy the Monster [Disturbing Content!]

[Marrone]

We were moving along fine, really. I disengaged our thrusters, looking out the cockpit towards the merchant who hired me. Gave him a thumbs up to give him clearance, but I wasn'€™t sure he saw. While we moved towards the trade lane, I thought over how I'€™d try to keep milking for more money. He was happy I was here, and I think it atleast warded off a few rats, but the lack of an actual fight might'€™ve left him in doubt. He knew, though, that I was more than experienced and more than capable; maybe a little too old, though. We engaged the trade lane, just like the hundreds we had before.

It all happened so fast. The world flew by, as it does, and I could feel the turbulence slamming against me; but it was like nothing else. The trader'€™s transport I was watching, like a brushstroke of paint speeding towards the light, collided with a glacier. Somehow, an ice asteroid made it into the cleared path; but more importantly, somehow, everything that was promised was gone. In the instant his ship imploded, I could see his hull crushing inwards, letting the pressure take complete advantage. The eject pod spat out, straight into the rock, splattering red paint all over it'€™s side. I disengaged the autopilot that allowed me to stay stable in the trade lane, effectively disabling the kinetic energy that thrusted my ship. I watched; it was all I could do; crumpling my hands, balling them into fists around my blaster.

Like a swarm of locusts over the plantations, fighter jets oozed from the asteroid field into the trade lane. I could feel my own gulp, I could hear it; they all just piled out towards the transport vessel, possibly prospecting it. Without a thought in my mind, or an infliction to run, my hand automatically squeezed against the firing trigger. Rays of plasma flew infront of my ship and everything began to swirl. My brain felt numb; I triggered my ships evasive maneuvers, but there was just so many of them. Their ships, light'€”Startrackers, maybe'€”and a few of them blew up relatively fast. It wasn'€™t long until bolts broke through my shield, and the cold, monotonous AI voice reminded me that the energy was depleted. I squeezed my eyes closed as hard as I could and made a sharp turn towards a nearby planet; it was a few kilometers away, so I decided to take a run for it.

After activating my cruisers, a few of them tried to hit me with their missiles; luckily, the field I was going through disallowed that from happening. Before I knew it I was speeding towards a large, circular blob of light blue, past thousands and thousands of rocks; some smashed into the window, dissipated, others left cracks. I managed to avoid most of the large ones, and the planet got bigger and bigger. I could feel them on my tail, laser blasts smashing against asteroids next to me or infront of me. Thinking I had the situation under control, I dodged away; my left wing scraped hard against a giant rock, I can hear it crying, shrieking and the pop of it dislodging itself. My computer went psycho, everything turned black and red, my heart was pounding, bells went off, my AI screamed at me, all I could see was blue, and all I could see was blue!

---