Engagement part 1 by Ronald Faltus

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Aswaud knew that every second longer that it took them to get there could be the difference between the hauler's crew surviving or getting blown to pieces.

For the past few weeks Aswaud and his crew had chased across the sector, jumping at every report of pirate activity was broadcast. Each time the distance had been too great, always not arriving soon enough. When they arrived, all that remained were clouds of debris, signaling the death of another ship. He didn't follow the politics of this particular group, but it was apparent that they were determined to disrupt all commercial transport in this region. And it was working, as loses began to mount; the GPS was contracted by a few of the larger companies to dispose of the threat.

The attacks seemed to follow a pattern though, they all involved ships entering or leaving the commercial hub of Eifrinti. In each case, the bandits would hit the cargo ships at the directional waypoints, places in space where the ships would have to slow so as to alter their course for the next leg of their journey. But with hundreds of different approaches to the planet, and because the Azorean Grey was the only ship assigned to this sector, Aswaud had decided to keep her orbiting Eifrinti. If you can't be everywhere at once, best bet is to be positioned so you can get everywhere quickly. Now he hoped that there was enough time before the Sable and her crew were destroyed.

Looking down at the counter on his command station, he watched the seconds tick away. Mentally figuring out how long it too the Grey to get there added to the time it took the distress call to reach them in the first place, Aswaud figured the Sable had been under attack for over twenty two minuets now. More than enough time for her to be turned into a charred hulk of battered metal. His only hope that the hauler's captain had some skill and was able to hold out till the Grey got there.

"On my mark cut in the breaking drives. Three, two..."

Before he could reach ‘one', the cruiser suddenly jerked, coming to an abrupt halt, almost like crashing into an invisible barrier in space. The ships inertial compensators strained to keep the ship in one piece due to the sudden deceleration, but wasn't strong enough to prevent everyone on the bridge sprawling forward. Aswaud was thrown into his command display, bashing his abdomen into its hard metal edge. Cringing in pain, he grabbed his side, feeling for the fractured ribs he was sure to have. "Report!"

Lieutenant Myers, was on her knees, a thin stream of blood trickling down her scalp. The sudden stop had thrown her hard against the bridge's steel floor plating. Instantly shaking off the blow, she was climbing back to her station. "Emergency gravimetric reversion sir. Planetary mass detected straight ahead."

Aswaud stabilized himself, gritting his teeth as he stood straight. The Gray's flight computers were programmed to stop the ship instantly when it detected an object in its path. It was a safety measure to keep form crashing into galactic bodies, such as planets and stars.