The Maurading Duo Part Three

“Lords of Space!” Grognard swore. He stared at the tactical screen. Three squads of Star Navy fighters were coming and coming fast.

“Is there a Navy fleet nearby that I don’t know about?” Grognard asked.

No one answered.

“You know what, drek them!” Grognard said. “We have anti-aircraft guns, right? How tough can they be? Just keep firing at the merchants! Fire at will!”

The pirates embraced his orders. The Reroll and The Slapstick split their fire on both merchants. Explosions appeared on both merchant ships. It was an ugly assault of lasers and missiles. Hulls were damaged and shields were failing.

Sadly, a cargo bay on the Grand Freighter also exploded and this time, they couldn’t blame the clowns. It was The Reroll that hit it.

“Let’s board The Low Growl,” Grognard said. “It might be safer for the treasure that way.”

“We just hit the bridge of The Wray!” Isis announced. “They are surrendering!”

“Yeah, us!” Grognard said. “Send a trophy crew over ASAP! Where are those fighters?”

“Still closing, are trying to catch up to our pursuit!” Isis said.

“Ha, the battle might be won before they get here,” Grognard said. He felt a little wobbly. It had been a long fight and he had drunk a lot of rum.

The last Grand Freighter kept fleeing. They were down to one gun and it wouldn’t even scratch The Slapstick’s shields. Grognard watched as the pirates kept firing. Isis repeated reports of hull hits as they slowly chipped away at the Grand Freighter.

“Ready to board,” Red Hanna reported. They were right on top of The Low Growl.

“Commence boarding,” Grognard said. “And tell them to be quick; those fighters will get here any minute.”

The firing finally stopped. The Reroll docked with The Low Growl and the assault began.

It felt strange. There was nothing to watch on the tactical screen. There was no movement of tokens across a battle mat. All Grognard could do was wait.

Waiting sucked.

“Captain, we have a report from the boarding crew,” Blackjack said. “Putting it on speaker.”

“HE JUST RIPPED KYLE’S ARM OFF! RUN RUN RUN! Ru-Ack!”

“Drek,” Grognard said.

“Uh, not many came back sir,” Blackjack said.

“Maybe hand to hand with those monkeys was a bad idea,” Grognard said. “Drek it, blow them out of the sky!”

“Fighters are here!” Isis said.

“Keep calm and fire the anti-aircraft guns,” Grognard said.

The ship shook. Warning klaxons sounded. The damage screen on Grognard’s command chair scrolled with endless updates.

“Direct hit to decks, three, four and the engines! Hull is down to sixty percent integrity!” Donna reported. The fearsome pirate looked pale which was quite impressive for a person with brown skin.  

“Lords of Space!” Grognard swore. “What the hell are our AA guns doing?”

“They’re too fast!” Donna snapped. The ship shook and the power flickered. “Hull is down to thirty percent integrity!”

Image of the battle provided by Googley Spy Satellite #92

 

“We have destroyed one fighter squad!” Isis reported.

The ship shook again. “We just lost all our AA’s!” Donna snapped.

“That does it! Get us out of here! Prepare for jump!” Grognard snapped.

He felt the comfortable vibration of the jump engines powering up. He just prayed that the fighters didn’t finish them off.

“Jump activated!”

Grognard let out a long sigh. He sat in his chair and looked at the damage report. Holy crap, he was going to take fighters a lot more seriously in the future.