The heavy THOOM of the Feathered Hare's railgun washed across the hull as it unleashed its insanely huge payload out into space, causing the hull and various compartments of the ship to rattle. It sent a primal thrill through my body every time. I heard the chatter of the crew around the bridge as they coordinated maneuvering, the shields, weapons systems, countermeasures, and the hundred other things required in the chaotic dance of ship-to-ship combat in space.

  We'd been on an asteroid mining run on the edge of the system when we were violently interrupted by a bunch of pirates in a light craft carrier. They were part of the Sandpit Stompers - a pirate spacer gang that operated in this part of the gaxy - dropped into real-space 60 km away with the asteroid field as cover to hide behind while it began to unload four squadrons of attack craft.

  Five minutes ter and now I was busy operating the repair drones on the exterior of the ship to patch up the bits of damage the fighters were managing to inflict as they raked our point defence guns. I swore under my breath as the feed of the drone I was using died. At the same time, the ship shuddered painfully. A bomber had made it through the defences and nded another hit near our armour.

  The Hare’s shields were significantly better than the standard for our ship model, but the constant harassment meant it was beginning to strain under the pressure, and gaps were beginning to open in our defences. There was one specific spot they continued to assault, and they were beginning to make some progress pushing through the shield and into our armour.

  “Damn it! C'mon, I just lost another one, Josh!” I shouted to Josh, my best friend who was in charge of the ship's point defence guns and other countermeasures when we didn’t need him to be a soldier.

  “Sorry, Alex! They're zipping by so fast, I'm not used to dealing with so many little ships at once,” came my friend’s stressed reply.

  “Just so you're aware, that breach will go straight through to the mess hall if you don't keep them off me long enough for me to fix it!” I warned pointedly.

  “Fuck - my burgers!” Josh cried. “Alright, I got this!”

  “Real professional,” chimed Cara, our science officer and my girlfriend, dryly. "Keep them off us, Josh! I can only do so much with our shields while they're hitting us basically for free."

  I gnced over to where she was monitoring enemy ship movements and sensor feeds at her console. Cara, our science officer, was quick-witted and unfppable, always ready with a sharp remark, especially when she thought someone was being ridiculous. She leaned back in her chair, her fingers idly tapping against her console as she scanned the readings. Her dark eyes flicked up at me with amusement.

  “You good over there, Alex?” she asked, voice ced with sarcasm. “Or should I start calcuting the trajectory of their fire AND move your drones out of the way, too?”

  “Oh, ha ha,” I muttered, rolling my eyes as I focused back on my wonderful little bots and their repairs.

  With Josh's renewed effort to protect his food (and by extension my drones), it was much easier to repair the section of damaged armour. After a bit of focused repairs, I managed to patch the damage and evacuate my babies back to their bays.

  The Hare lurched again as the massive railgun fired once more, followed by a triumphant cry behind me from Valkyrie, our main gunner. I quickly switched my screen to her sights and saw that she’d managed to thread the needle and send a round between the asteroids. She'd punched a hole clean through their carrier!

  There was a roar of appuse from the rest of the crew as the attack crafts retreated in a panic back to their limping mothership as it began firing up its jump drive - a small but painful chain reaction of explosions bursting out from the craft around the new hole in its sides.

  “Nice shot, Valk!” I cheered along with the rest of the crew.

  A few of the annoying ships exploded satisfyingly as Josh and Kane unleashed a few st volleys from the Hare's turrets and point defences before the st of them escaped out of range. Eventually, once the pirates made their jump out of real space, a calm returned to the ship as everyone came down from the rush of the battle.

  “Alright, great work everyone,” called Shane, our captain. "How's the damage, Alex?"

  I began a full scan of the ship and set the drones to automated repair routines on the armour ptes that had been damaged. The ship's systems were the first priority, but nothing seemed to be too damaged or acting up. Other than the dents in the armour and one of the point defence guns - which I inspected closer and cursed under my breath, damn it, it needed to be repaired by hand - we were basically unscathed by the attack.

  Satisfied that my little drones could fix the armour properly on their own now that they weren't being assaulted anymore, and resigning myself to disassembling and fixing a point defence gun, I pushed my chair back from my console and spun it around to face the captain.

  "Everything's looking good!" I reported with a thumbs-up. "Systems are untouched and power is back to banced between them all. Just a damaged PD gun and a few scratches and minor damage to the armour, but nothing that can't be fixed up - and my drones are already on that."

  Shane was a big guy, with big shoulders and big arms. He'd clearly set up his character to be the buff martial type, and it showed. He had friendly bright blue eyes and red cropped hair that really lent to his massive goofball personality. He was fun and had a style of leadership that made him feel like everyone's big brother. A bulky, muscled, teddy bear. He gave me a nod and a big appreciative smile.

  "Nice, man! What about my gunners? How's our ammo?" he asked, turning to Valk, Kane, and Josh.

  Valk spun around, her long red hair fluttering about her dramatically from the fast movement. Her proud smile, crossed legs, and easy rexed posture spoke to how big her ego must have been right now. She'd made her character look every bit the feminine badass she portrayed herself as, and her charisma and self-confidence were magnetising. She was super nice under the whole untouchable badass cover, too,

  Something about her had me turning away for a second, pretending to check on something on my screens.

  "All good here, boss. I could go again a few more times," she bragged casually, a pyful look in her eyes as she milked the moment for all it was worth.

  “Gosh, we get it, you’re amazing,” Cara muttered, but there was an edge of amusement in her voice.

  Shane rolled his eyes with a chuckle. "Alright, alright," he turned to Kane and Josh. "And you two?"

  After Kane finished giving Valkyrie a pointed look as she "casually" examined her nails, he gave his report. "I'm actually kinda low... most of the ballistic turrets are at or under half capacity. Pro'lly should go restock before we do anything else to be safe."

  Kane was a quiet, focused, and down to earth type of guy. His character had grey eyes and buzz cut blonde hair and short cropped beard around a serious but kind looking face. He wasn’t much of a fighter aside from his gunnery skills, but he didn’t need to be when Josh and Shane had our muscle needs met. I wasn't very close to him to be honest, it seemed like him and Valkyrie were close, though.

  Josh gave a forlorn nod in agreement. "Same here, too... I really struggled there with how fast they were moving around and wasted a lot of ammo. Sorry, guys."

  He slumped his shoulders disappointedly and flopped into his chair.

  "All goods, buddy," I said, "You still saved the food!" I grinned pyfully with a thumbs up which earned a small chuckle from him.

  "Yeah, dude, it's no problem," Shane said comfortingly, "we haven't had that kind of fight before, we all just sorta winged it the best we could."

  "I didn't." Valk piped in with a shit eating grin.

  Shane rolled his eyes again with a sigh as the rest of us ughed.

  He nodded and stretched. "Alright, good work again, everyone. Valk, I think the nearest supply point will be Hadrow Station in Sinox IV, set a route for there, if you could, please? Everyone else, dismissed!"

  Cara shot me a look as she gathered her notes. "Try not to get any of your drones blown up next time, Alex. It’ll leave less work for you after."

  I stuck my tongue out at her as she smirked and left.

  FeyKitsune