Flash Fiction # 465 -- Raiders/15

 At first, I didn't understand why everyone got out of our way.  I suppose it helped that we looked like trouble.  Lisel had his ears back and his teeth showing in a snarl I had never seen before.  Krisin walked with a laser pistol in hand.  I almost told him to give it to me -- but that would have been petty and ruined our image.

So I just had to look tough without the teeth or the weapon.  Maybe it worked.  Brick was even slow to approach us.  He signaled his people to stay back, and that was wise.  I couldn't say I trusted them.  I barely trusted Brick.

"We need to access the Sailfor's weapon systems," I told him.  No use playing around.  "We don't need to take the ship. Just isolate the weapon's computer from their control.  We can do that from the outside, but it has to be at the bayside terminal, and that's damned close to their airlock."

"We'll keep an eye on it," Brick said.  How odd that I no longer thought of him as a bully boy.  He was one of us now.  I reached over to tap him on the arm and draw his attention back.

"Be careful," I told him.  "Don't forget your family."

He looked at me, a little shocked, I thought.  But Brick blinked and then nodded.  He looked around the bay as though hunting for some ship to steal on his own so he could get clear with his family.

Maybe I'd help him -- after we took over the Sailfor.

The crew did make an attempt to keep control, but Krisin was fast and steady.  He turned the board over to me.

"How are you going to target them if you can't see them?" Befly asked.

Krisin was already pulling a portable screen over and overriding the computer controls to turn it into a low-resolution targeting board.

It didn't need to be better.  The enemy were very close.  I checked the controls, maneuvered two small hull cannons, and fired.  The one were craft we hit disintegrated.

"That's not normal," Lisel said, his voice hinting at a growl of worry.  "That's two.  Why would -- oh hell."

"Some sort of explosives to breach the station.  And we're turning.  They're going out of range."

They were getting too close.  "Lisel, Krisin, run a weapon's check on the rest of the ships in dock.  Find me something that will give us a --" I shot another one but only wounded it -- "give us another chance at them."

Because there was yet another line of weres coming behind this one.

"Why not use the station's weapons?" Brick asked.

I looked at him with the kind of stare that made me look like an idiot.  I felt like one.  "Station weapons?"

Now he blinked.

"Look, we're ship people," Lisel said.  "We don't spend much time on stations, and station people don't often go out of their way to explain things to us."

"We're out here on the edge of nowhere," Brick said.  "There are problems.  We mostly use them to take out random debris drawn toward the station.  I don't know much about --"

"Found it," Krisin said.  A second board appeared on the screen, blanked for a moment, and then settled into something I understood.  "I suggest you change over, Tana.  These weapons are at the top and bottom of the station, and they have a 360-degree turn."

"Yeah.  Switch me over.  The Sailfor's weapons are crap."

I made a quick change, scanned from both weapon locations, checked out the power -- about the same as the fighter, but there were two of them.  If there hadn't been a station full of people at risk, I might have enjoyed this.

I wanted the fighter in my hands.

"Going back to control," Krisin said.  "Do not let us get killed."

I grunted a reply, already targeting more trouble.  "Lisel, take the lower weapon."

He stepped in beside me.  We had to share the same board, which was challenging but not impossible.  We had worked together for a long time now, and I appreciated that Lisel took his directions from what I did and worked around me.  His long, slightly furred fingers moved in around mine with quick jabs, and he took out a were craft before I did.

So I killed the next two.

Lisel just sighed.  I grinned.

But we had a hard fight.  One of the were made it through our defenses.  Krisin ordered people away from one bay area, and I heard the bulkheads dropping somewhere around the curve.

It hit.  Everything shuddered.  Alarms rang.  I wanted Krisin to cut the sound off -- but we weren't on the fighter, and the people here needed to be aware of the problem.  Civilians.  I didn't know how many lives were in our hands.  More than the ship, which I really missed right now.  I wanted to go home.

Just survive this.

Befly put a hand on my arm, startling me and almost getting a curse --

"I have an idea," she said with a hand on my arm.  "I have the robo miners -- those ships you saw.  Four of them in dock, three more attached to the station.  They're used to mine debris.  We have explosives I'm having loaded in, but I don't know what would be the best --"

"Krisin!  Did you hear?  Can you get me control --"

"Working on it."

I saw the info come up on the side of the board.  They were not powerful little craft but looked tough.  Something we could send out and detonate --

"Tana, we have a problem," Lisel warned.

I looked up.  At first, I didn't understand what I saw.  Something was messing with the scanners.  A large sector had dropped off --

No.  A large section was overlaid by a single craft.

"What in the name of the stars?" Befly whispered.

"Mother ship," I said.  "A damned were mother ship.  Okay, that's it.  Now I'm mad."