I finished scanning the briefing. “...Get the job done, or it goes to someone that can.” 

I jabbed my finger at the “Accept” button, then spun. My plans had just changed. I raced for my hangar, pushing through the throngs of people that crowded the Riker Memorial Spaceport in Area 18, the capital of ArcCorp. The clock was ticking and I wasn’t even on my ship yet. Red carpet and smooth gray walls plastered with advertisements flew past, the smells of beings from across the solar system and beyond, vending machine noodles, coffee, and engine exhaust permeated everything- I didn’t have time for any of it.  

Somewhere in my head I was already counting my credits, the thousands I’d get if I pulled this off, but it’d be a close thing at best. 

I stabbed in my keycode to the hangar door and got it wrong twice I was in so much of a hurry, cursing my fumbling fingers. 

I left a trail of clothes between the door and my lockers, stripping as I hobbled toward them, tugging off my boots as I hopped on one foot, never taking my eyes off the objective- I wouldn’t have a chance to rest until this was all over. Dressing quickly in a flight suit I punched the frame of the locker next to my suit locker to pop it open (the frame had long ago taken an impact and no longer opened properly) and snagged a trusty P8 SMG from the rack I’d installed in it. I didn’t expect to get into any shooting trouble with a firearm, but I’d been in trouble often enough to come prepared despite the precious seconds such preparation ate up. A few extra magazines, some emergency medical supplies, and a multitool with a tractorbeam meant I was good to go. I swiveled on my heel and sprinted for my ship.  

There it stood, half in and half out of shadow, perching like a predator about to strike. The F8C Lightning was, in the words of those with far more authority on the subject than I, “a beast.” In my own mind it was the apex predator of the skies, and I had somehow, for my sins, lucked my way into (mostly) owning one. Through adventure, hard work, and a great deal of good fortune I’d stumbled my way into an opportunity to trade in the Drake Buccaneer that Mister Fields had purchased for me as a down payment, and was now the proud title holder of the most fearsome fighter the UEE fielded, at least, that civilians could legally get their hands on. Designed to counter the heaviest fighters the Vanduul were throwing at us, I’d first grown accustomed to how it flew, then (naturally) got to work tweaking the flight profile to my own liking, customizing every component I could get my hands on piece by piece until it was roughly as upgraded as my Cutlass Black. Most importantly, all the weapons had been swapped out for the NDB line from MaxOx- they performed best at the mid ranges that most of my engagements tended to happen at, looked and sounded amazing, and ultimately gave me 6 mid sized guns and 2 smaller guns to unload on my enemies at once- a staggering amount of forward facing firepower, more than any other fighter bar the military version of the same ship, the F8A. 

I sprinted across my hangar and slapped the Canopy Release button, slipping into the cockpit with a practiced ease. The power-on sequence was mercifully swift, and I hailed Air Traffic Control before my engines even finished spinning up. Above me the great hangar doors split open to reveal a bright, sunny day yawning to welcome me. I didn’t even allow the doors to open fully before I was shooting up between them, earning me a harsh admonition from ATC, but I didn’t care- I was already pointed up 90° and blasting away at full throttle, afterburners at max, powering up through the atmosphere toward that magic line where the air grew thin enough to allow quantum jumps. 

My quantum drive spun up as I centered my crosshairs on the HUD’s indicator for Crusader, the planetary system my targets all had last been seen in. As soon as it had fully spooled up and calibrated I punched it, sending space ripping past in an oil-slick display of warping stars and nebulas. Only then did I relax, checking the time left on my bounty- less than half an hour at that point to travel across the solar system, travel to three different locations around a planetary system, engage with three different enemies, and get out of it in one piece. This wasn’t like my earlier experiences bounty hunting, where I’d just be facing a single small ship with my own fighter in open space without any limitations- the intel on these guys indicated that I’d be facing significant resistance, each of them at least having several wingmen and quite possibly other defenses as well. I obviously wouldn’t have time to restock or repair between the engagements, so I was going to have to get them right from the beginning, no room for error at all. 

The creamsicle gas giant of Crusader slammed into existence in front of me with a bit more than 20 minutes left on the timer and I immediately began to spin, looking for my first target- there. Cellin. 

Andre Barq’s last known position hovered roughly over the same marker as Cellin, so I quickly plotted my path to Cellin and jumped, this time only taking a few seconds, then repeating the process to jump to Andre’s last known position on the dark side of the moon, landing me within 40 kilometers. A quick glance assured me that my SCM limiter was still set to maximum, so I threw my throttle all the way forward and blasted forward into the nearly non-existent atmosphere toward the marker on my HUD, keeping my own crosshairs well above that marker to keep my altitude up and ensure that I’d have the advantage of attacking from above at the merge. 

The moonscape flew by underneath me invisibly in the blackness, only the occasional radar ping lighting up the cratered landscape in an eerie, ephemeral blue glow for just a moment before it passed, leaving me once again in darkness with only my instruments to guide me. 

30 kilometers… I considered slowing my ship but decided I didn’t have the time and didn’t yet need to. 

20 kilometers… still no contacts, and I was going over 800 meters per second, far too fast to be effective in combat… but I still had ground to cover…

At 15 kilometers I dropped my SCM limiter to 400 m/s, the deceleration slamming me into the webbing holding me into my seat, the kilometers still flying by underneath me extremely quickly. A moment later the last known position marker blinked out, only to be replaced a few seconds later with a “Neutralize” marker just a little ways away from that last known position- Andre hadn’t gone far. 

Around 8 kilometers out from that marker a small red chevron blinked into existence on my HUD and a voice in my cockpit announced, “Bogie.” I grinned. The hunt was well and truly on now. 

I flicked a finger forward and pressed the “lock target” button, just to see what it was I’d be facing, just as two more chevrons appeared and the voice repeated itself twice more. A Cutlass Black appeared on one of my MFDs in wireframe, slowly spinning, its shields at maximum, from what I could tell, gaining altitude in a hurry. I put myself on an intercept course and pushed up my SCM a bit, urging the Lightning on a bit faster. “Bogie.” read out the voice for a fourth time as yet another chevron flared to life. 

I flicked through the targets ahead of me rapidly to see what else I’d be facing- aside from the Cutlass Black climbing away I had a Drake Buccaneer, an Anvil Arrow, and an Aegis Gladius- the Buccaneer and Gladius seemed to turn to react to me while the Arrow began to shoot upwards to escort the Black. I smiled- these were each dangerous, light, maneuverable fighters, but I would have the advantage coming into any fight with them while their advantage would lie in a prolonged, tight turning fight. I knew how to press my advantage here and had every intention of tilting this 4v1 fight in my favor as much as I could. 

I switched my locked target back to the nearest target, charging directly at me, the Drake Buccaneer, roughly 5 kilometers out at that point, and sent out one more radar ping to get another view of the ground below before tangling with them. As I did, alarms began to blare and a yellow warning flared on my instrument panel: incoming missiles! I rolled hard to port and dumped three flares, easily dodging the missiles, finishing the full barrel roll to come back around and finish right side up just as I came into range of the Buccaneer, right on target. A flick with my left thumb threw all auxiliary power to my weapons, just as my PIP went green. I squeezed the trigger and grinned as all 8 laser repeaters opened up, sending a hail of white-purple bolts streaking ahead of me at the ship foolish enough not to run at first contact, as inaccurate orange streaks answered back. 

“Shields hit.” The voice in my cockpit announced as one or two glancing blows bounced off my forward deflectors, but before more accurate fire could find its mark my overwhelming volley of fire melted through the enemy’s shields and shredded their ship, exploding it into a ball of blue plasma. Before I could reach the explosion I’d already switched my targeting computer to the Gladius, about a kilometer behind the Buccaneer, and as I passed the falling carcass of the Buccaneer I opened up on the Gladius. The short break between combatants gave my capacitors a chance to recharge, giving me just enough shots to tear through the shields and damage the hull, but not enough to finish them off before the merge. As soon as I realized we were going to merge with each other I rolled hard to port and pulled up, turning as rapidly as the F8C can turn. 

While the Gladius can out turn the Lightning on any given day I started my turn before we crossed paths and long before they started theirs, and consequently got my PIP back on target well before they came around. Their shields were still down, so a quick burst from bow to stern ripped the Gladius apart violently, sending it into another burst of azure plasma. I continued my turn, bringing me back around to face my remaining foes- the Arrow and my actual target, the Cutlass Black, still climbing away. 

I threw my SCM limiter back up and pressed forward on my throttle, accelerating rapidly toward my marks. Each turned to face me at that point, while they should have rightfully kept running- if they’d pressed their original plan and kept running they might have gotten away, jumping to quantum and getting beyond my reach- at least before the time limit ran out, at which point I’d have no more motivation to hunt them. 

Instead, the Arrow shot ahead of the Cutlass, making a streak through the night sky as it beamed toward me, though the Cutlass wasn’t far behind. I targeted the Arrow and raced forward, eager to engage, and toggled my radar quickly again while I had a moment to- the ground was far closer than expected! 

Keeping an eye on your altimeter was a vital part of flying, and something you learned on day 1. While I’d been doing exactly that, there was nothing saying the ground had to start at “0.” Elevation changed. Mountains rose. Craters fell. I resolved to gain altitude as I fought. 

I kept my PIP on the target, still about a kilometer out of range, while adding vertical thrusters, adding a significant amount of lift to my flight model. As the Aarrow came into range I barely had to make any adjustments, just squeezing the trigger and watching it melt before me before moving on to the Black right behind it. 

The Black proved to be a more challenging target, but nothing the Lightning couldn’t handle. A full load from the guns fully depleted the shields and tore into the starboard engine, but not enough to disable it, while the significant firepower blasting back from the Black forced me to roll to the side and start pushing hard to get to their rear or underneath them. Another burst severed that engine from the fuselage, sending the Cutlass spinning uncontrollably. I watched it all the way down as it slammed into Cellin, exploding into its own small crater on the surface of the moon, one among millions. 

I didn’t permit myself to celebrate, instead glancing at my timer- 14 minutes left. I had to hurry! 

My next target turned out to be lurking in the asteroid belt around Yela, a dense and dangerous environment populated by spinning space rocks ranging in size from a clenched fist to just-too-small to qualify as a celestial body of its own, all roaming and swirling about each other in a deadly dance that mostly served to trap and crush ships like mine. I avoided it at the best of times, and now I’d have to fight in it. 

I swallowed my fear and toggled my quantum drive as I oriented my ship toward Yela, trying not to overthink it as I watched the spooling and calibration meters fill. When complete I didn’t hesitate- I punched it again and was sent racing across the cosmos for several seconds, right up until everything slammed to a halt with the moon of Yela hanging in the sky motionless before me. 

Not wishing to waste any time I didn’t bother navigating the usual way- traveling to either the North or South Pole of the moon in order to come at the belt of asteroids from the greatest perpendicular angle, minimizing the time spent actually transiting the asteroid field since it ringed the equator. Instead I flipped my fighter, pointed directly at Chase Layet’s last known position, let the calibration complete, and jumped directly for it, coming to a rest roughly 35 kilometers away from my destination. I glanced over at the timer- 12 and a half minutes left. 

I couldn’t repeat my strategy from earlier, simply blasting ahead at full throttle, having to dodge and weave between the asteroids, but I still kept the SCM limiter set at about 400 meters per second and continually hit my radar to get returns on where exactly the asteroids were hiding in the darkness. Momentary glimpses came back, giving me just enough of a hint to dodge them, but it was still a terrifying process with close call after close call. It felt like it took forever to close in on Chase, flying as slowly as I was and compared to the previous fight, but eventually the same sequence repeated itself- the “Last Known Position” marker winked out of existence to be replaced a few seconds later with a “Neutralize” marker, and as I closed in under 10 kilometers, hostile contacts began to appear on my radar display and HUD. 

I selected the first and locked it- an F7C Hornet, the predecessor of my own ship, and not my bounty. Strictly speaking I didn’t need to tangle with anyone but the targets I’d been hired to neutralize, but eliminating their escorts was often not optional in practice. The four remaining targets were cycled through quickly- a MISC Freelancer MAX, an Origin 325a, an Aegis Retaliator, and my actual target, an Aegis Vanguard Harbinger. Knowing what a Retaliator’s torpedoes would do to me if it even managed to land a single shot, it instantly became my highest priority. I didn’t dare lower my throttle until I was too close for the great missiles. 

I spun and pulled hard to avoid a large asteroid, knowing that as I came around it I’d be in range of those torpedoes and without cover, then pressed my SCM limiter a bit higher- I didn’t dare open it up all the way but I had to give myself every advantage I could, and that meant limiting my time out of cover. I kept the Retaliator locked and raced forward, hearing the whooping alarm of being radar locked myself as I closed in, followed directly by that familiar missile warning- though as far as I could tell, the F7C had opened up on me, not the Retaliator. 

I started to pull to port and dump flares, as before, but realized a split second later that an asteroid would prevent me from finishing my roll, so I veered back to starboard and attempted to roll that way instead. A great shudder shook my ship’s frame as a missile slammed into it and exploded, the shields absorbing most of the damage but at least some of the kinetic energy penetrating them and tearing into my forward left wing extension, the impact throwing me into my harness and nearly ripping my hands off the controls. 

I didn’t have time to worry. I just continued forward, checking over my ship’s diagnostic readout as rapidly as I could as I raced into battle. The forward port section was showing red, clearly damaged, but the rest of it honestly seemed fine- while warnings flashed and an all-caps “MAJOR TORQUE IMBALANCE” read out across the top of my cockpit’s HUD it still seemed to handle more or less the same as it had previously and none of my weapons had been destroyed, so I could still fight with the same effectiveness. 

With that I passed within 3 kilometers of the Retaliator and breathed a sigh of relief, toggling my SCM limiter over to a more reasonable speed and grunting as the g forces slammed me once again into the webbing holding me into the seat. I swept past at a high rate of speed, peppering the Retaliator’s shields as I went, but I wasn’t overly concerned- the Retaliator was no Buccaneer or Gladius, there was no way I could take down its shields with a single load from my weapons, it would take several cycles of filling and emptying my capacitors into it before I would make a dent into the overly sturdy ship- during which the rest of the combatants would be all over me and I’d have to continually dodge asteroids. 

I gave myself extra lift from my vertical thrusters and began to spin slowly, orbiting the Retaliator in a spiraling motion that’s damn hard to hit from any angle unless you’ve already got a bead on me and are similarly orbiting me- but this orbit would take extra care due to the asteroids littering the battlespace. I once again threw all auxiliary power to my weapons (I had relegated it to thrusters for travel) and emptied my laser repeaters directly into the Retaliator’s mass as laser bolts streaked all around me, missing me by what felt like millimeters. When the capacitors ran out I maintained my orbit, letting them recharge, then repeated the process, first picking apart the shields, then slowly hammering away at the ship itself, taking it apart piece by piece, watching components being blasted off the hull as my laser projectiles slammed into it. From time to time I spared a glance at my targeting MFD to see the Retaliator’s status- and was happy to see that the majority of the ship, from bow to stern, was in the red, extremely damaged. I pressed my attack, firing directly into the engines until I was rewarded with a tremendous explosion of blue and white flame that shook my ship, then I pulled hard to try to acquire my next target- the 325a. 

More maneuverable than I, the 325a was already in position behind me and was taking full advantage of it, sending fire above, below, and on either side of me, occasionally striking my rear shield when I didn’t dodge well enough. I tried and tried to turn to fight them but there was nothing that could be done in a straightforward turning fight- as soon as that was apparent I threw my thrusters into reverse to halt my momentum and spun on the spot, finally managing to catch them by surprise. They swam before me, weaving in and out of my assessment window as I struggled to get my PIP on target, until I took a deep breath, focused, and got the job done with determination. The PIP turned green as my crosshairs passed into it and I squeezed the trigger, maneuvering carefully to maintain their position, and within moments the 325a followed the Retaliator… after which I had to pull hard to dodge an asteroid. 

The F7C Hornet had been making jousting, diving passes at me, and I was only too happy to oblige- I knew I’d win in that fight. Sure they might be slightly more maneuverable, but I was confident in my ability to predict when the turn needed to happen by that point, and knew I was a better shot with more firepower and better shields to absorb any hits I had to eat in that process. 

Sure enough, they maintained their strategy and I destroyed them in two turns, first taking down their shields on the initial pass, then taking down most of their hull’s armor, then finishing the job with a quick burst on the final second turn.   

That left, by my count, a Freelancer MAX lumbering about and a Vanguard Harbinger, which I was slightly  more concerned about- but the MAX was in my sights, so the MAX was going to die. It charged at me in what can only be described as suicidal defiance, attempting to ram into me. I maintained my course dead on with them until the last moment, firing as I went, then pulled up and gave myself full vertical thrusters, easily missing their kamikaze attempt. I came around well before they could make the turn and unloaded on them, dodging their turret fire without exposing myself to their forward facing guns. Another full capacitor load or two from my repeaters and it exploded in that familiar ball of plasma without getting a shot on me. 

Which left… where was that Vanguard? I scanned around with my eyes first, then, not seeing any obvious enemy, glanced at my radar- they were behind me and to my starboard, heading directly away from me, a little red triangle. I immediately threw my ship into a roll and pulled to face them, locking them as my target as I did so. 

My targeting information read out 3.6 km away and ticked up  to 3.7 as I watched, leaving rapidly. I pushed my throttle to about as high as I dared in the asteroid field and began to close the distance, but the Vanguard seemed to realize what I was doing and more than matched my speed, once again widening the gap. 

I glanced at my timer. 4 minutes and 34 seconds left. I didn’t have time for this at all. The asteroids and the health of the Retaliator had eaten up much of the clock. I still had to eliminate Chase Layet, then get to Daymar and deal with my enemy there before time ran out. 

My brow furrowed as an idea occurred to me. This was a heavy fighter, meant primarily to deal with enemies with its guns, and I’d purposefully replaced its ballistic gattlings with laser repeaters so that I wouldn’t run out of ammunition on extended engagements like this. But… that didn’t mean it didn’t carry any missiles…

I toggled over to my missiles and was thrilled to see my targeting immediately lock onto Chase, tapping the “increase” button three times to launch the maximum number of 4 missiles at once. I had no intention of dragging this out. The red circle around my quarry slowly filled in and then turned green with a solid lock- as soon as it did I pushed the firing stud and held on as the ship rocked, launching the missiles one after the other. Brilliant orbs of fire from the engines on the missiles lit the night sky as they streaked across between myself and Chase, designated by blue triangles on my HUD. One after the other they slammed into the Vanguard Harbinger, one minor explosion after another, until a large explosion capped the whole show off and the radar contact winked out of existence.

“Congratulations, target destroyed.” Read out the voice in my cockpit.  

I sighed in relief and immediately toggled my quantum drive, spinning and looking for Daymar, where my last target, one James Erickson had last been seen. I had 4 minutes and 15 seconds to get the job done and I wasn’t even in the orbit of the correct moon. 

I acquired Daymar in my sights and finished calibrating and spooling, then jumped to it and then toward Jame’s last known location. By the time I finished the jump and was the typical 38 kilometers or so out I had three and a half minutes left to wrap this whole thing up. 

I powered forward at maximum, not a moment to lose, the brilliantly lit sands and canyons of Daymar zipping by below me at hundreds of meters per second. Before me the targeting indicator ticked down the distance unacceptably slowly, despite flying as fast as I could. This time I maintained my high speeds even as the indicator switched from “Last Known Location” to “Neutralize.” Only as I closed to under 10 kilometers did I drop my SCM limiter to combat speeds, throwing myself forward against my harness and nearly blacking out, fighting to maintain consciousness and control of the ship. 

“Bogie.” “Bogie.” “Bogie.” Bogie.” read out the ship’s computer as I came within range of all of them at once, then in just a moment I got large red letters plastered all over my cockpit’s viewscreen: “NINE TAILS CONTROLLED TERRITORY. TURN BACK OR RISK PROSECUTION.” I snorted despite myself. Prosecution was the last thing I was worried about from the 9 Tails. However… if this was a 9 Tails stronghold… there could be other complications to worry about. 

I put the thought from my mind as I was already upon the mass of ships, just lifting off from the outpost. I didn’t have time to wipe out the escorts this time, I needed to go straight for James, strategy and tactics be damned. 

I targeted him and was just lining up my shot when the computer read out, “Shields hit.” followed very shortly by “Shields critical.” in a maddeningly calm tone. Impacts slammed into my ship from behind and below as red-orange bolts shot up all around me. 

I spun away, gaining altitude as I watched the diagnostic indicator of my ship’s rear flash red- my shields were gone and I was getting hit. 

I boosted away using my afterburners and inverted to get a better look for just a moment, and finally understood- four anti-air turrets defended the outpost the ships were lifting off from, three ringing it in a perimeter and one mounted on top of the primary building for better coverage. While the ships hadn’t had time to react to me and come around to line up a shot on me, the turrets had tracked me on my way in and had opened up on me as soon as I was within range- and they were alarmingly accurate. 

I threw power over to my shields for just a moment to allow them to recharge, then moved it over to weapons for the fight. 

I knew their range and at first had the thought to fight my enemies outside the range of the turrets, but they remained inside their anti-air bubble of defense- a wise strategy. I didn’t have time to wait them out.  

I glanced at my timer. 1:43. I needed to get this done. 

I quickly glanced at my targeting MFD and my heart sank a little- James was in an Aegis Redeemer. Bristling with guns, packing the shields of a much larger ship, and weighed down with absurd amounts of armor, the Redeemer was best thought of as a highly maneuverable space-tank. It wasn’t maneuverable compared to most spaceships, but compared to tanks? It was great. And more to the point, it would be difficult to kill like the Retaliator was, but with the added complication that it would be shooting back- a LOT- and the ground would be as well. I’d have to be moving, dodging, and weaving a lot more, so I’d be landing a lot fewer shots and doing a lot less damage to it. 

His compatriots rose around him in a defensive formation, each locking me. 

I glanced at the timer again. It wasn’t good news. 

Nothing for it but to do it.

I accelerated a bit further than I was comfortable with, beyond normal combat speeds, and charged ahead at the Redeemer, opening up as soon as I was within range, then spiraling into a corkscrew maneuver as a storm of laser fire reached out to greet me from ahead and below from the ground. As I closed with the Redeemer I slipped into a tight sideways loop around him, maintaining a steady angle and unloading my capacitors into their shields as I could, then varying my angle constantly as I had to recharge. Lasers sizzled through the air all around me, some inevitably slamming into my shields, but infrequently enough that they held. A Mirai Razor flashed by with a hair to spare. 

I spared a quick glance away from my target- first at my timer (just over a minute left), then at my targeting MFD- the Redeemer’s shields were down and it was just starting to take some damage from me. I glanced back just in time to recover from a bad orbit that would have slammed me into the Redeemer and kept pushing my offense- it was really my only option. 

Slowly but surely the Redeemer flashed from green to red as the clock ticked down and I continued to attempt to dodge laser fire while giving it everything I had. Streams of my laser bolts cut into the Redeemer and sliced through the tail, severing the twin V stabilizers on the rear. As the tail fell away the Redeemer pitched forward and spun, but the pilot quickly recovered- clearly they were talented- and attempted to bring their nose back around to face me. I didn’t let them, continuing my orbit to their rear, then underneath them, giving a final full load of laser bolts into their exposed belly and finally turning them into a burning ball of plasma. 

My wrist vibrated as my MobiGlass chimed “Mission Complete.”  

I breathed a sigh of relief as I glanced at my timer- less than 45 seconds left. I’d barely made it. 

My relief was short lived however, as I still had three enemies in the air and four turrets on the ground attempting to kill me. I didn’t stop moving. 

A MISC Reliant Tana turned before me, attempting to keep moving, get a line on me, and stay within its air defense bubble at once. I charged toward it, locking onto it and flipping upside down, “falling” toward the sky as I approached, repeaters blasting as fast as they’d go. I shredded its shields and after the next turn, killed it with a full burst. 

This brought me just too high for the turrets to reach, but still within range of the other ships. I locked onto the first one I could- an Esperia Glaive- and nodded to myself. The initial fights against the Buccaneer and Gladius were won easily because they never got close and never got to get into a turning fight with me- but the Glaive and Razor were extremely competitive at turning compared to those ships and we were already in a turning fight. This was going to be a challenge at best. 

I yanked hard on my stick and boosted around the corner to try to pull my PIP around faster, and it worked- I managed to line up a shot on the Glaive, which hadn’t been expecting the sudden maneuver out of me. The upside of the Glaive is its extreme maneuverability. The downside is that it falls to pieces if you glance at it sideways. In Mister Fields’ words, I “munched” it without difficulty, not even getting a full capacitor load into it before it exploded. 

That left me alone with the Mirai Razor, a dedicated racing ship that happens to have two laser repeaters strapped onto it, and can easily out turn, out accelerate, and outrun my F8C. The only thing it can’t do is outshoot it. 

As I turned to acquire it, the ship buzzed me again, barely missing me- I wasn’t sure that they weren't trying to ram me- then they were on the other side of me and partly behind me. I expected them to be long gone and to have to deal with them via missiles like Chase Layet, but when I turned again they were already charging back at me, firing as they came. I shrugged and opened up myself, each of us charging headlong at the other, firing full out, eating the damage and trying to kill the other before it built up enough to matter… which was an odd strategy for them to take, but I wasn’t complaining and certainly wasn’t going to dissuade them from. 

The Razor exploded before me in a brilliant disk of blue and white, and I pulled up just in time to only get the rattles and smacks of small pieces of debris impacting my hull as I flew through the upper edges of it. 

As I continued to pull up and headed toward space, ignoring the turrets behind me, my comms crackled to life. A man in armor, wearing a black mask with a brilliant pink symbol painted on it standing before a concrete wall appeared on my MFD. 

“Do you have any idea who you just picked a fight with?” his voice dripped with barely restrained fury. 

I glanced over, still powering upwards. “9 Tails, right?” I responded cheerfully. 

The man was silent for a second. “Hope that payout was enough for a decent funeral. You’re going to need it.” Then the screen went black. 

I laughed. “Good luck buddy, good luck.”