7 A.I. — AFTER IMPACT
—
The hunter slipped into the vast dark, a silent predator approaching its prey.
This was a dance that had been performed ever since one celled organisms tried to become many. However, this time it was being fought by creatures that had evolved to cross impossible distances through unforgivable environments in machines of their own creation.
Bast sat silently, not in the pilot's seat or even the co-pilots, but in a regular passenger seat observing the ballet being played out before her. Sek, the Second Sword of the Meow, had taken to space flight and combat surprisingly quickly. Bast thought that had more to do with the man sitting in the pilot's seat rather than a true love of flight. Bast’s stomach told her that presently her body was moving impossibly fast in an inescapable black void and that any small error would result in her untimely death.
“Engage all thrusters.” The pilot said matter of factly.
The trio was all pushed to the back of their seats. Bast gritted her teeth.
“They've spotted us, they're trying to rabbit now.” He added and flipped a handful of controls on the ship's dash.
“Sek....” he paused and watched something on a screen. “Now.” He said and a light shutter rattled the ship as the large bore round was propelled toward the hot spot that was the other vessel's power plant.
One could hear a pin drop in the small cockpit as they waited to see what would happen next.
An instant before anyone else the pilot stood up from his chair and stretched his long arms towards the ceiling.
“Another one down boss!” He said and looked over at Bast.
“Hell yea!” Sek answered and etched another line into the wall beside the gun control. Four sets of five were marked into the wall and this one made twenty-one.
“Great.” Bast answered till trying to get a hold of her stomach.
Bast stared out the center of the view port and saw the impact of the high velocity shell travel through the rear of the pilot vessel. She knew it had traveled all the way through the thin aluminum parts and had gone in one side and out the other. There was no explosion of flame and smoke, that did not happen in space. Instead, she watched as the pressure change resulted in a thousand pieces of the other ship sprayed out into the vacuum of space and with a whimper signaled the death of the other crew.
She wished she felt half as good as either of the other two standing in front of her. Bast had never imagined her little bounty syndicate would expand into space operations, but the pirates' activities had insisted on it. Also, with more than a little urging from Sek, Bast had named Tom, whose call sign was Tomcat, as the first male member of the Meow Syndicate. Now he was the Third Sword of the Meow and a trusted piece of the infrastructure.
Basts helmet announced an incoming message… It was from the Broker.
“We've got a job.”
