With what may come
14 Apr 2024Ryuko Ntsikana
With what may come
Colonia Region
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Ryuko sat with Tara in the ship’s galley, awaiting word on his future. Aby had transmitted the results of Ryuko’s response to a distress beacon, detailing the ambush he survived and the bounty he had gained by destroying the bandit’s reinforcement ship. Part of his supervised release and exile to the Colonia sector included a condition that he not incur any bounties against him.
Like all people, pirates varied in morality. Despite their portrayal in history and holovids, some were indeed bloodthirsty, while others carried themselves like gentlemen, or women, through the ages.
Ryuko harbored no self-pity, fear of reprisal, or doubt about his actions. All he wanted to know was how often he would need to look over his shoulder from now on, and how soon every bounty hunter in the sector might start pursuing him.
Tara sat silently beside him, watching as he contemplated countless potential scenarios when Aby emerged from the corridor.
“You are deemed free of guilt in this matter, but you are to meet with a waiting fleet carrier. Your secluded equipment and ships in the Amatsuboshi system are being collected and will be transitioned to the capital asset. Any items they refuse to relinquish will be compensated for in kind by forfeiture of their own assets. The coordinates have already been set in the navigation computer.”
Tara tilted her head in a gesture reminiscent of Aby’s inquisitive stance.
“Who will exact this toll, and what will the repercussions be?”
Aby tilted his head forward in a rare direct manner.
“As stated earlier, you are not the only one in this sector. To put it bluntly, your benefactor is furious. However, take comfort that his anger is not directed at you. You are to link up with certain assets; they will provide further instructions.”
Ryuko stood, wordless, and began striding towards the bridge. He was convinced the entire affair on the planet had been a setup. His experience told him it wasn’t aimed at anyone specifically but at whoever would respond, creating a bounty for others to collect. Since another did not appear. That meant that everyone had been set up, but who was behind it was the question he wanted answered, and he didn’t care who he would piss off to get it.
***
Ryuko struggled to keep the disabled Type-6 transport within scanner range while executing continuous high-G maneuvers to fend off one wing of ships after another. The debris of two Adders and an Eagle glittered through space as a Challenger surged in front of Ryuko’s Krait, attempting to align its weapons with Tara’s Taipan, which was rapidly depleting its shields. Ryuko had to jink to avoid a collision, losing his weapons lock on the Fer-de-Lance he was engaged with.
The Krait rocked from the impacts of unguided rockets on its shields, as a wing of three Eagles joined the fray.
Ryuko boost-flipped the Krait to get a shot off at the Eagles, giving up on the Fer-de-Lance, which was boosting out of range to reverse on the Krait.
“Screw the Challenger, get the Eagles!”
Though an android, Aby lifted his head in concern from the scanner.
“Two new contacts appearing on scanners, 8km and closing fast!”
Already pushed to the limits of his skills, Ryuko leveled the Krait, pouring all power into the engines to boost away from the bandits. Unfortunately, this maneuver would put him within range of the new contacts.
“The scanners have an ID,” Aby stated flatly. “An Imperial Cutter and its own Taipan fighter. Their weapons are armed and they're boosting towards us.”
Ryuko rotated the Krait on its edge to slip between the two oncoming crafts, preventing them from focusing their firepower on any particular part of his shielding.
“After we pass, I’m going to dump chaff. When I do, abandon the fighter.”
Neither ship fired as they flashed past his ship, nor did they attempt to turn and pursue; instead, they targeted the ships trying to catch him.
“Keep the fighter,” Ryuko yelled, flip-boosting the Krait again to reorient towards the direction they had come from.
Turreted beams from above and below the Imperial Cutter appeared, along with the huge beam and staccato tracers of the large twin multi-cannons on its upper midsection. Its Taipan fighter boosted high, targeting the Eagles.
Ryuko boosted the Krait once more, locking onto the Fer-de-Lance which was trying to maneuver on the Cutter, as Tara’s Taipan zipped past, engaging the Eagles the Cutter’s Taipan was fighting.
“What?” Aby cried out as Ryuko witnessed something unprecedented. The massive Cutter had boost-flipped, unleashing all its firepower on the approaching Fer-de-Lance, annihilating it in a fireball. The Challenger turned sharply, hammering the Cutter’s shields with everything it had, only to highlight itself as the next target.
Ryuko adjusted his trajectory to intercept the Challenger, his jaw-dropping as he watched the Cutter almost halt in place, then boost upward into the belly of the passing Challenger, ramming it out of control as every weapons station on the Cutter fired en masse, cleaving the Challenger in two.
“The Eagles are trying to flee,” Tara announced as Ryuko watched the large Cutter turn gracefully, its nose now aimed at the front of his approaching Krait.
“You must be Ryuko. The pirate whose navigation systems must be malfunctioning,” a female commander’s holographic image said, appearing in front of him, her voice coolly professional.
Ryuko knew his Krait was potentially faster, but escaping the Cutter’s range before it could open fire seemed unlikely. Still, if he was going to be destroyed, he wasn’t going to plead.
“It works just fine. Had some unfinished business.”
“I see Aby is behind you, and that must be Tara, the biomorph,” the commander observed, as Tara lifted her facepiece while still connected to the undocked Taipan.
There was a glint in the woman’s eyes as her holographic form locked eyes with Tara. “Dock your fighter and proceed to the location Aby has provided. We will talk there.”
The holographic image vanished as the huge Cutter turned gently towards the stars, a subtle marking on its nose barely noticeable as it did so. Ryuko stiffened in his seat, recognizing the symbol.
“Oh, shit.”
Tara, seething silently at their secret being exposed by a potential stranger, growled, “What?”
“That is the mark of an Imperial hunter,” Aby informed, his head tilting slightly forward.
Ryuko looked back at Aby and Tara, concern evident in his eyes.
“How many of them are out here?”
“Unknown. She would have come on the capital asset we are to rendezvous with. Accounting for hangar space, there could be a dozen, if not more. Also, remember, there are others out there whose exact numbers I do not know,” Aby explained.
“Docking the fighter,” Tara muttered, her voice still edged with a growl as Ryuko held the Krait steady.