Human for Hire (12) -- Earth Blood: (Collateral Damage Included) by T.R. Harris

Author:T.R. Harris [Harris, T.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Harris Creations, LLC
Published: 2024-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

9

Inos Savin was the commander of the Faxorian-built Model 4 starship designated the F-334. He was ensconced in his command seat near the rear of the bridge, watching the screens as four alien starships closed on his position. A tiny part of him was nervous, even though he’d been assured that the upgraded weapons that had been installed in his ship could repel anything short of a Juirean Class-4 cruiser. And these ships were anything but. They appeared to be commercial transport ships, although he knew they had a fair amount of firepower aboard, for use against pirates or cartel raiders. Normally, four against one would have been too much for Inos to resist. But the yellow-skinned alien standing next to him on the bridge assured him they would be no match for the weapon’s upgrades.

Inos was about to find out.

The weapons station had been turned over to one of the other aliens from the group that had hired Inos’ ship. They were supposedly experts in the armament. Inos was paid a handsome fee for the use of his ship and told that he could keep the upgrades as a bonus when the job was complete. Since he was used to hauling contraband across half the galaxy, it sounded like a fair deal. He and his crew would make decent credits and end up with a formidable weapons upgrade that would pay even greater benefits later on.

But in spite of all he’d been promised, Inos had yet to see the weapons in action. And now the fate of his ship and crew rested in the hands of these … aliens.

The comm crackled and a high-pitched voice blared from the speakers. “Attention, you have been ordered under the authority of Unidor Security to drop from light speed and allow your ship to be boarded for inspection. The authorization documents have been transmitted. You have thirty seconds to comply or we will deploy a dampening field and stop you by force. Confirm your intentions now.”

For confirmation, Inos ordered his ship to drop from the gravity well and back into normal space. This pacified the enemy vessels as they cautiously moved closer, with one in particular taking lead. That was where the boarding party would come from.

“Very good,” came the voice again. “Now maintain course and speed. We are maneuvering to deploy a docking tube.”

Unfortunately for the approaching starship, all their maneuvering did was bring them into even closer range, and as they moved to within ten miles of the F-334, a wave distortion shot out from Inos’ ship, causing the outside view to become distorted, as if the stars were riding over a cresting wave on an ocean. The pulse hit the closest ship and threw it backward several feet, countering its relative momentum. Antenna and other spindly parts flew off the hull, and a moment later, a sizeable chunk of the portside hull flew away as internal air pressure blew open a hole in the hull, seams having been weakened by the gravity pulse.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.