A Regrettable Interdiction
10 Jan 2024Lukus Criitu
"We've got a pesky spacer in transit to Baydukov Landing," crackled the voice over the radio. "Coming from a combat zone."Xavier grunted. "I see it. Let's show him a thing or two, hey Hog?"
"Roger that, X. Moving to interdict."
The ship locked onto the target. Xavier half acknowledged the readout on the Alliance Chieftain. Lukus Criitu, Utopian. This hippie rat wasn't going to interfere with things.
As per usual, Hog interdicted the spacer without difficulty. Xavier dropped out of supercruise and engaged the target. After a few moments, the heavily damaged Chieftain slipped out of firing range and low-waked out.
Hog yanked him back out again, and the Chieftain was destroyed without much trouble. The blinking escape pod slipped off the edge of radar.
Xavier couldn't resist a taunt. He flicked to local frequency. "Now you know what Kumo Crew is capable of, space hippie."
"You just made a mistake, lads," came the reply. "I was only here to run an errand for a local faction, but now you've lit a fire. I'm going to make your lives miserable in this system."
Xavier laughed. He'd let this spacer have the last word for the moment. Retribution would come soon enough.
---
Over lunch at von Bellinghausen Port, Xavier scrolled through the intel he'd pulled on Lukus Criitu. It seemed the hippie was an exobiologist and explorer who had made a small fortune running silver. Former Alliance, former Federation. This bloke just couldn't stay put, could he?
"Hey X," came a voice over his earpiece, "We've got a Frontline Solutions Vulture heading towards Yoon Armament. First one today. Any bets this is our rat?"
"On my way." Xavier abandoned his Happy Haulers Hog Roast, which tasted entirely too much of trumble anyway, and made his way to the main lifts. In a few moments, he had boarded his own Federal Corvette.
Within a few minutes, he'd dropped out of glide above Yoon Armament. He cranked up the shields and landed the Corvette right in the middle of the compound. Soldiers scrambled to get clear. Xavier disembarked, his Karma AR 50 at the ready.
Ducking behind a crate, he checked the AR for his target. Sure enough, Criitu was here, holding Delta in the adjacent building. "What in the void is an exobiologist doing in a combat zone?" he grumbled to himself. "He's got a devil of a savior complex, no doubt."
As Xavier approached the door leading to control point Delta, gun at the ready, his earpiece crackled to life again. "X, don't touch down at Yoon!"
The Manticore Executioner shot whizzed toward him, blinding him for a moment. "Shields offline," chirped the suit's onboard computer. Xavier could see a red icon in Delta, but Criitu was out of his line of sight. "Why?" he shouted back at his squadron mate.
"Criitu's an assassin. You're going to get yourself killed."
Another plasma round struck his chest. He stumbled backward. The shadowed figure, illuminated by the fires consuming the power complex, adjusted his aim.
The third shot ripped through the suit, putting Xavier flat out on the ground. His vision blacked out at the rapid depressurization. The voice over the earpiece deepened and slowed. "Get...out...of...there..."
---
Six hours later, Xavier brooded at the helm of his Mamba, just outside of von Bellinghausen Port. He'd learned from the rescue medic that the Mafia of Dread had been losing all day, and a disproportionate number of casualties had been injured by plasma weaponry. Xavier didn't need to be a genius to figure out that Criitu had been busy.
Thankfully, there was more than one way to skin a rat. That's what he'd told his squadron mates earlier in the lounge. They'd tried to stop him from coming out here, said he'd had five too many, but who cared? He was going to finish this fight if it was the last thing he did.
The Frontlines Solution Vulture dropped into normal space and began docking approach. Xavier grinned and moved his Mamba in front of the mail slot. If he couldn't stop Criitu on the battlefield, he'd just stop him from getting into the station.
"Attention Zorgon Xray Sierra Lima," warned the traffic controller. "Do not obstruct the flow of traffic."
"Or what?" Xavier grumbled to himself. "You wanna come out here and make me move, lady?"
Still the Vulture waited. Why didn't they get the signal? They weren't going to dock here. Kumo Crew had spoken. Xavier decided a show of force was in order. He deployed his hardpoints.
"Zorgon Xray Sierra Lima, stow your weapons immediately," came the stern command.
Xavier opened fire on the Vulture.
Within moments, the cockpit was illuminated with the brilliant white beams of the station defenses. The deafening roar of modules exploding filled the atmosphere. The canopy blew in, and everything went silent.