Drifter

Eli pushed his way into the upper atmosphere. He was slowly but surely gaining on the organic ship. He remembered the derringer he had taken, so he slipped it into place between two control consoles.

Another craft was vectoring toward it. He guessed that this was Jiraa. There was no sign of Gami, but it was certain that she wasn’t far behind.

He called Chiron again, “We’ve got another player on the board, something in an armored pod that floats around.”

Chiron’s tone was dead serious, “Bohoat Mog. Eli, I won’t hold it against you if you bow out of this one. This guy is a killing machine. Rumor has it, the Skoga made him submit to a medical check when he renewed his bounty hunting license. They were worried that he was really a robot.”

“But he is organic? There’s a living being somewhere in that suit?”

“Yes. The medic has kept his silence about the specifics, citing patient privacy. I can’t begin to tell you what species he is or where his seat of consciousness or vital organs would be located. If you do decide to take him on, bring heavy ordnance.”

“Thanks for the tip. Hopefully, the next time I contact you, it will be about sending you your fee.”

Eli shut the com off. He had reached low orbit. The scanner readout was a lightshow. Freighters of all shapes and sizes moved around. They docked with stations and latched onto cargo containers. Shuttles ferried personnel around. Bohoat Mog’s ship charged headlong into the controlled chaos. Eli and Jiraa followed.

Eli checked the targeting computer. Bohoat Mog’s craft wasn’t broadcasting an ID. The computer identified it as having been manufactured by the Zarak, a species that grew or perhaps bred ships and other technology.

Jiraa’s ship was a military personnel shuttle, functional and brutish with an ugly face and a flat profile. Wings ran the length of it. It sported several sets of forward mounted guns and a missile pod. Its transponder gave the name Hatchet.

They reached weapons range. The organic ship dove in close to a gargantuan ore hauler. The pair stuck with him, skimming along the surface of the vessel, even as the captain shouted over the com for them to abort.

Bohoat Mog suddenly pulled away from the freighter, straight into a convoy. Eli kept on his tail, weaving his way through the long line of ships, swerving to the side, barely missing an oncoming shuttle.

A sudden turn sent the organic ship through a hangar bay. Eli copied the stunt, maneuvering around crane systems and over parked craft. Workers looked on in horror or instinctively ducked down. He shot out the other side, immediately veering back into the convoy so that he could keep on Bohoat Mog’s tail.

A ship appeared out of nowhere, a sleek vessel. Gami must have had a stealth system on her ship as well. She opened fire, discharging pulse weapons and emptying a pair of rocket pods. The organic ship and its two pursuers were forced to take evasive action.

A pulse struck his ship, stealing a precious shield charge. A rocket passed so close in front of the cockpit that Eli caught a glimpse of a serial number.

Jiraa must have taken a hit from a rocket, because the side of his ship now had a large hole blasted in it. He turned in the direction of Gami’s ship, which disappeared. The pink furred thing still fired, spraying the general area with plasma, before returning to the pursuit.

Eli pointed the nose of his ship at Bohoat Mog, who was making a beeline for a massive tanker. Jiraa and Eli flew alongside each other. They took pot shots at Bohoat Mog. The pair would randomly hit the reverse thrusters so that they could momentarily bring their guns to bare on one another.

Eli opened up the hidden panel that contained the controls for the mine launcher. Jiraa got behind him, bringing his guns to bare. Eli deployed a mine. Jiraa only just managed to avoid it.

“Should have let me get closer!” the pink furred bounty hunter taunted over the com.

The dance went on. Pausing briefly when Gami made another appearance. They drove her away and continued. They only stopped shooting when the tanker was close, filling up most of the forward viewscreen. Eli saw that the organic ship was going to try to thread the needle between the two fuel pods. Eli vectored in to follow.

The thing that piloted the organic vessel only just missed one support, then clipped another. He cleared the final obstacle, skirted along the side of one of the tanks. As he shot out of the space between the tanks an object seemed to fall off or perhaps out of his ship.

Eli caught sight of it, a fleeting glint of light. He swerved away, the bright paint of the fuel pod filling the viewscreen. It suddenly turned to the black of the void when he cleared it. Eli didn’t feel relief, because he knew what was about to happen. He gunned it, going full throttle away from the tanker.

The explosive charge that Bohoat Mog had deployed went off. It ignited the fuel tanks. The fireball expanded outward. Other explosions joined it, until the entire ship was turned into flaming debris.