The Dead Zone
Unnamed Planet: DZ199,181-2
Aboard ISS Belfast Windfall
ISS Belfast Windfall rocketed through the blue skies and white cumulus clouds, a trail of thick black smoke in her wake. Biggs hit the comm box, "Ux what's my status?"
"The port side is chewed up, sir," came the report. In the background a box of tools crashed to the deck, adding to the confusion. "Watch it!....the re-entry angle, it tore right through the heat shielding. The outer hull on one side just peeled away like paper, even the inner layers in a few places. A few compartments were breached...that's on decks two and three aft. The cooling lines broke clean away for about eight meters, so far as I can tell. That's why I had to shut down the port engine well-- port side, you two, port side!"
"Okay, Ux, how soon can we get back into orbit? I want to put a plasma bolt down somebody's-" He was cut off by some noisy calamity in engineering. Biggs pointed at the blue skies on the viewer as ISS Belfast Windfall careened through the sky. "Arella, can we breathe that?" The lieutenant nodded. "Good, let's open the vents and get some new air. It's getting stuffy around here." Ux made it back to the comm.
"Sooner the better, skipper. The friction down here will just make the damage worse. Gotta go...click."
"Grix, get us back up there," said Commander Biggs Hilsfar. ISS Belfast Windfall groaned as the superphotonic converters generated a skyward column of superheated air and drove the vessel toward the stars.
The Dead Zone
Unnamed planet DZ199,181-2
Thrynn Frigate Kryssthoggr
"Here come the Humanss," hissed one of the lieutenants. "They're pulling into orbit jussst beyond the horizon." She was reporting to nobody in particular, though one of the others was sitting in the command chair, soaked in Hthssbr's cooling blood. Two of the lieutenants at the navigation console keyed in a missile launch command and Kryssthoggr loosed four missiles. "Thisss day shall be long remembered."
The Dead Zone
Unnamed Planet: DZ199,181-2
Aboard ISS Belfast Windfall
"Commander, four missiles inbound," reported Grx'bzzgah.
ISS Belfast Windfall was in high orbit. So long as the shields were up, a missile impact wouldn't throw her like it had in the gravity-rich lower orbit. Biggs checked the status display. Eighty-nine percent. He gritted his teeth. Nobody stared, but everyone stole a glance at the mad man for what he said next. "Let's eat 'em."
The Dead Zone
Unnamed planet DZ199,181-2
Thrynn Frigate Kryssthoggr
The young officers were hissing and growling as the missiles streaked toward their target. They were all facing the view screen when the hatch burst open. Captain SshT'k and his loyalists were getting old, but they were still handy with the reverb rifles. They fired a few bursts, gutting the two lieutenants who were charged with guarding the entrance. SshT'k grabbed one of the closest ones and threw him down the pit well. There was a wet snap and a screech. The fighting soon became too close for weapons and the claws started slashing. The bridge became a blur of arms and bodies as blood sprayed over the consoles and the deck. Chaos reigned, but the deadly combat lasted for only a few, brief moments of cruel, efficient violence and then the bridge was still. Nearly all of the mutineers were dead. Captain SshT'k had reclaimed his bridge from the traitorous insurrection. It was not so satisfying as he had imagined it would be as he stared at the ceiling with a blank confusion on his face.
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Next: "Eye to Eye"
Habby Loman? Still on the lam.
"Hilsfar & Company: Because Kryton Smokes Data."