Grey Hunter

The last moments of a pirate

Wandered into this area for the first time and decided to contribute a story of a recent privateering run.

"The Gefjon system was a notorious hotspot for pirate (or 'Free Trader') activity. Nevertheless, some brave traders are still willing to risk making the run to the planets of Thror and Thrain, or try to mine the asteroid belts for opals. The pirates welcome the activity - some even repair the ships that they've plundered afterwards with a cheerful comment of "Come again soon!"

The Grey Hunter was not one of them.

Although it was not the only Pirate Carrier to wander the system, it was the best-equipped, fastest and most ruthlessly commanded in the sector. Packing the best in stolen Federation and Auroran Technology, the sight of the jet black (custom painted) carrier struck fear into the hearts of traders and Federation patrols alike.

As it moved smoothly away from Thrain where it had been raiding local supplies, the Captain laughed softly at the memory of the militia Starbridge being destroyed by a single 400mm railgun shot through the cockpit. He was brought out of his revery abruptly by a call of "Sir?" from the sensor station.

"What?" he demanded. "We're picking up a Federation Heavy Missile Destroyer entering the system," replied the sensor operator. "They're powering weapons and shields."
"Nuke it," was the terse command. EMP torpedoes were thrown towards the Federation warship, which unleashed a barrage of Hellhounds in response. The results were not even - the custom-built Storm Batteries of the Grey Hunter shredded the missiles before they could get in range, but the EMP torpedoes crippled the Destroyer. "Your orders, sir?"
The Captain (no-one knew his real name) considered this for a moment. "Kill it. Those Fed ships don't carry enough to be worth plundering."
As the carrier poured heavy railgun fire into the Destroyer, the sensor operator noted a strange disturbance, as though a ship had exited hyperspace nearby. But there was no ship; the sensors were adamant that nothing was within 10 km of the Hunter.
And then something materialised out of nowhere and moved rapidly towards the Pirate ship. The defense batteries leapt into action, but the pellets passed straight through the projectile without apparent effect. It slammed into the Hunter 's shields, knocking 15% off them instantly.
"What was that?" barked the Captain.
"I don't know, sir! Some kind of energy-based missile just appeared on our starboard side!"
"Open fire on that area!"
The carrier's Heavy blaster turrets opened up, but the energy passed through without effect. A few seconds later, another projectile was conjured directly behind the Hunter , knocking the ship down to 70% shields. The turrets reconfigured, and fired at the new location. This time the shots hit something. The energy from them washed over shields.
For a moment there was pure nothingness - a hole in space. Then the image of a massive, pincered warship appeared. Even as the pirate crew watched, the craft turned with terrifying grace, and fired a beam of pure energy at the Carrier. Warning sirens screamed as shields imploded and armour vaporised. Red-rimmed damage reports splashed onto every command console as the prized weaponry, engines and fighter bays melted into twisted arcs of metal.
And then the attacker fired again.
Gaping holes ripped themselves in the sides of the Hunter. Air screamed out and what little was intact was bent outwards by the force of decompression. The most feared ship on the northern Federation slowly ripped in two, and then exploded.

On the bridge of the Raven, the weapons officer looked up at the captain with a sheepish grin. "Oops. Fired too long a burst.""

Don't tell me that you've never done that with an over-powered ship...

This post has been edited by Chrome Falcon : 19 September 2005 - 03:50 PM

Heh. Been there. Done that. And love the sig.