RUN!!!!!

"Captain, the Vampire is closing fast. They'll be in range in 7 minutes." Sarenia, the tactical officer was nervous. This wasn't the first time she had seen a Vampire ship, but it was the first time one this big had been hot on their heels.

The Vampire ship was a 25,000 ton heavy frigate and was 5 times their size. The Thunderchild wasn't a bad ship herself but she was just an armored freighter. At least the captain had maintained her with a loving care that no other captain seemed to have for their ships. The ship was also fairly well armed for a freighter. Technically she would have been classed as a paramilitary vessel but these days no one was really keeping track of those things.

"Monkey Boy, are we able to hyper out of this system yet?" The captain seemed to be as calm as ever as he talked with the engineer over the comm unit.

"Give me another 10 minutes captain. I almost have it fixed." The captain could tell that the engineer was a bit flustered.

"You have 6 minutes before the Vampire is in firing range and 5 minutes before I get upset with you. If they get too close they're going to be able to track us and be waiting at the other end of the jump so I suggest you hurry." The captain even smiled slightly as he said it.

"This would be a lot easier if you would either get me some help or leave me alone to do my job!" the engineer shot back.

"I'll get you some help in the next system. Assuming we make it there."

"Have I ever let you down before captain?" asked Monkey Boy.

"Sure, several times, but I won't hold them against you. Just get that drive fixed."

"You got it sir."

The captain cut the signal and then looked back at the tactical officer. "Warm up the defenses."

Captain Kyler was suddenly wishing that he hadn’t tangled with that smaller Vampire escort two days ago. It had gotten one lucky hit to the drive systems and damaged the hyperspace drive. Of course he did get some good parts out of the salvage. Monkey Boy was very excited to see the parts. One can never have too many spare parts out here in the frontier.

Kyler sat back in his seat and quietly thought about the stories of his great grandfather and some of the hairy situations he had managed to get out of over his career. All he could do here was put his faith in his crew and lead them as he always did with a calm demeanor.
Suddenly the bridge lights went red and the alarms began to sound. Kyler looked quickly at the tactical repeater to his right. It showed several angry red streaks heading toward his ship. The Vampire had launched a group of missiles at him. This Vampire wasn’t going to try and capture him as many did. This one just wanted him dead. Now things were going to get interesting.

“Twenty incoming missiles sir” Sarenia tried to remain calm but she could tell her voice was a bit shaky.

“Hmm, they appear to have some long range missiles. I guess we’re going to have to work a bit harder to get out of this system. Sarenia, jam them as best possible. Slave the salvo cannons to aid in point defense and set the gatlings to automatic.” The captain swung his chair to the right and looked at his gunner. “Deadeye, I’m going to need you to limit their firing options as quickly as possible.”

The cat looked back at the captain with his one good eye and nodded. He was not known for his conversation skills but he was one of the best gunners money could buy. Deadeye was from a long line of mercenaries. His clan was among the most sought after in the galaxy several centuries ago. Some groups were still working as fleets or ground units. However most were now scattered about space picking up jobs where they could. Deadeye had been shunned from his clan due to his injury. Among his people anything that restricted ones ability to fight was cause to retire them. That was a lucky break for Kyler and his crew though.

The missiles continued to close on the Thunderchild as Sarenia worked her magic with the counter missile systems. As she did some of the missiles veered off course, losing their lock. After a few seconds she had defeated seven of them. The rest now moved into range of the salvo cannons. The floor vibrated as the cannons opened up. From the weapons blisters on the hull the small jets of exhaust appeared bleeding off the excess heat from the weapon. Eight more missiles were destroyed. Now the gatling turbo-lasers opened fire killing 4 more. But that left one missile to get through. When it detonated the flash was so intense that the main view screen blanked for a moment. The ship heaved to port as the blast hit her. Warning lights flared to life as the damage mounted. Radiation warnings sounded as well.

“Sheesh, they sure don’t like us.” The captain was straightening himself in his chair. “They’re using straight, old fashioned nukes on us”

“Two minutes to energy weapon range sir” Sarenia looked shaken but in control.

The captain comm unit chirped at him. “We have a hull breach in the cargo deck sir”

“Just depressurize it for now Angel, we’ll tend to it later.” He cut the link and turned to Deadeye who was staring intently at his console.

“Take THAT!” Deadeye pressed a series of commands on his console and the captain felt the familiar vibration of the Pulsar cannon letting loose.

“Aren’t we a bit far for that Deadeye?” asked the captain.

The Cat just smiled. On the main view screen 2 explosions were seen on the hull of the frigate, one from the port side wing and another on the belly of the ship. With this size pulsar the shields of the frigate were useless.

“Sorry sir, I missed with one shot.” The cat never let his eyes stray from the targeting string. He sent the command again and this time both rounds hit the same spot. There was a secondary explosion from the Vampire’s belly from where the shots had hit.

Kyler grinned as he saw the damage appear. His smile faded at what he saw next. The Vampire fired again, this time, releasing over one hundred missiles. Kyler stabbed the comm unit. “Monkey Boy, we are out of time.” There was no answer from the unit.

Sarenia was visibly shaking as she continued her work to thwart the new missile threat heading toward them.

Another alarm sounded on the bridge and the ship lurched. “Sir! We have lost power in the starboard thrusters. Our speed is falling off fast.” Zephra informed the captain over her shoulder.

Duncan the navigator shouted “We have hyperdrive captain!”

“Then get us out of here.” The captain replied.

The screen went gray as the ship entered hyperspace. The bridge crew let out a collective sigh as they realized they were safe.

“Do you think they can track us sir?" Sarenia asked.

“I doubt it” replied Duncan. “They needed at least another minute to get a good fix on us.”

“Good job all of you.” The captain was proud of them. They still needed a bit of work but he would get them working better than any military crew around. He hit the comm button again. “Monkey Boy, what did you do to my ship?”

“I borrowed a few parts from the one system to get the other working. Sorry if I worried you up there.” The voice almost sounded a bit sheepish.

“Just try to warn me if you’re going to do something like that again, will ya?”

“Sure thing captain”

Kyler killed the connection and sat back in his seat. He slowly examined the damage reports that Angel and Bruno were tending to. “I hope the sale of these parts will cover the damage.” He said to himself. “Ah well, at least we live another day.”