Spaceflights of Fancy Ch. 04

Mimi yawned she poked her head into the galley fridge for the fifth time, hope springing eternal for the tigress hoping to find something appetizing. Despite the fact their fridge was fully stocked with food, including some of her favorites, she yet again came up empty handed. Nothing seemed to look very yummy, and Mimi sighed deeply as she prepared to close the fridge. It was then, just as she stood up and stepped away from the fridge, Mimi was suddenly startled by her boyfriend's sudden appearance.

"You aren't hungry, you are bored." Damien scolded, carrying a coffee cup and seemingly popping out of thin air. "Don't be a fat ass and close the fridge." Mimi jumped about a foot into the air over the unexpected arrival in the galley.

She had thought Damien was much to busy flying the ship to get up from the helm. At a glance, the flying Damien was doing wasn't particularly difficult. They were flying straight as an arrow through space, no perilous black holes to circumnavigate, no difficult routes carefully charted past planets, or space stations with over zealous security. Nor was there seemingly any place for danger to hide in the great vastness of space. Yet, there was always danger in space. Nothingness, when there was this much of it, could be a good place to hide. Pirates liked to operate in these desolate areas of space, where help for their victims was likely too far way to intervene and spaceship crews seemed to be at their most vulnerable, tired from the long grind of space flight. So, while starship crews might start to get bored, stir crazy, or simply crosseyed from the never ending parade of stars flying past the ship they had to remain vigilant. Mimi and Damien knew this and, having heard of a sharp increase in pirate interdictions as of late, were both on high alert and in this secluded section of space without any signs of life for lightyears in any direction,

Angry, Mimi wheeled around to face Damien, the tigress' tail swishing dangerously in aggravation. It was all empty bluster, however, for Mimi knew she really didn't have any cause to be angry with her boyfriend. It was the sort of thing he never would have said to her, expect she had explicitly asked him to. She was tired of gaining anywhere from five to ten pounds just from snacking whenever they went on one of these long, monotonous flights. Still, Mimi couldn't help but feel embarrassed, her hang caught in the cookie jar like a child. It wasn't a boast or hyperbole when Mimi claimed to love the stars. She really did love flying through space more than anything. Yet, that didn't stop the tigress from getting a more than a little stir crazy at times. As much as she loved The Black for its infinite vastness and the seemingly limitless potential that promise there where certainly times she wished space was just a little bit smaller. Days of expensive traveling with no guarantee for reward could be very grating on one's nerves. She just wanted to make it to the asteroid so they could start in on their jobs, their passion and explore it.

"Yes, dear." She said snidely before angrily closing the fridge with a heavy slam and marching across the room with heavy footsteps that showed her frustration, sitting down at the table in a huff.

Damien ignored the outburst, whistling jauntily as he refilled his cup from the coffee pot, although he could feel her angry stare boring into his back as she watched him poor a steaming mug of coffee. The folf didn't take his pouting girlfriend to heart. He both understood and could relate to her frustration. He was eager yet also anxious over their expedition. Exploring was a real 'feast or famine' type of business. You could easily make a million credits seemingly in an instant, but just as easily go broke all in the blink of an eye. The uncertainty of their fortunes, plus the constant vigilance against pirates, made for a lot of long, stressful days and sleepless nights.

"Oh, come on." He said, sitting down next to his girlfriend and bringing her into a comforting embrace. "We're almost there!"

For a moment Mimi didn't seem to want to recognize the warm embrace of her boyfriend. She remained stiff as a board and as cold as a corpse until finally even she could not fight off his charming advances. "I know." Mimi said with a quiet sigh.

Damien sat with Mimi at the table for a long time when suddenly the whir of the engines started to slow down and alarms could be heard from the bridge.

"Oh fuck!" Damien cursed, jumping up from the table and running back to his command chair as fast as he could. Mimi followed him, the boredom of space travel instantly fading in exchange for terror. The spacefaring couple both jumped into their seats and started intently reading their monitors.

"Looks like we're being interdicted!" Mimi called out in surprise as she quickly read the danger codes from her computer monitor.

"No shit." He snarled while pushing the stick forwards trying to urge the ship forward to evade the interdiction.

For most ships interdictions were a common threat out in the black, but Mimi and Damien, while wary of the risk, generally didn't worry to much about them. A interdiction is effectively a road block, in space, used by both criminals and government agents like to bring ship out of hyper space in an attempt to forcibly board them. Security officers, generally, were looking for contraband or criminals aboard ships. Since Mimi and Damien made a point to fly within the confines of the law the worst they feared was a corrupt cop looking for a bribe. Pirates were more dangerous, but generally didn't fuck with them. Not only did they carry the reputation of Black Wing on their hull with the ship's name, the BW-69 showed up as sufficiently dangerous on most scans that pirates didn't want to risk messing with them. Particularly at the moment, when the weight of the ship made it clear they were completely unloaded, and there was only one reason Damien could think of to try and interdict an empty ship.

Mimi was surprised at the way Damien snapped at her. He generally wasn't the type to get short with his girlfriend and it was a sign he was very tense. "What's wrong?" She whispered, noticing how tightly he was clutching the ship's stick.

"We don't have anything aboard the ship, so what do we have that's worth stealing?"

Mimi was quiet for a moment, uncertain what her mate was getting at. She was starting to feel stupid, and she didn't like feeling stupid. "Um... nothing?"

"The ship itself."

Mimi fell silent and swallowed nervously as she realized that Damien was correct, and the implications of what he had said. But before she could process that the ship's scanners lit up with more information. Mimi, who was in charge of the ship's weapons and defensive systems, read off the new intel. "Five ships approaching from five different directions, looks like they are all moderately powerful. Nothing compared to us, but there are you know... five of them."

Damien nodded coolly and Mimi began to ready the ships weapons, but before she could the folf stopped her. "Mimi, we are kinda fucked here. With a full crew we could probably fight 'em off, but as good as you are you're only one woman. Can't outrun them either, we're way to slow."

"So what are you suggesting, we just give up and die?" Mimi blustered indignantly. Dark thoughts started to form in her head... *I'd always known you are just some soft rich kid.*

"No, listen. They won't shoot up the ship, they want to capture it intact. So that means we get to set the pace of the battle."

Mimi understood the point, but wasn't sure where Damien was going with this. "So what are you suggesting?"

"If we can't take them in the air we take them where we can, the cargo hold."

"What makes you think we can take them in the cargo hold?" Mimi said, but her inner tactician was already starting to mull over the opportunities. Not only would they have home felid advantage, they would effectively trap the opposing force in an environment where they had total control. They could turn gravity on or off to suit them, supply or deny oxygen, control the lights... with a little luck it could be just like shooting fish in a barrel.

"I think you already know the answer to that question." Damien smiled with a grin on his face. "The only problem is you'll need to be up her with all the weapons systems you can operate solo. Assuming we repel the attack no telling what any survivors outside the ship will do."

At first Mimi nodded agreeably, then did a double take. "Wait, you want to take on a whole boarding party by yourself?"

"Well, want is a pretty strong word." Damien said without a moment's hesitation. "But I'm running out of options here."

Mimi thought she could've kissed her folf right there on the spot, looking to him proudly. Truthfully she had never expected this kind of bravery from him, perhaps she wouldn't if they were still on planet. But it was neither the time nor the place for a steamy make out session. Mimi would just have to make sure they survived the encounter so they would have time for that later. Instead she simply nodded while Damien stood up to head to the armory. He grabbed a few guns, ammo, and of some combat armor quickly throwing it on while he continued to scheme.

"When they hail us, just tell their captain we're transporting an empty ship, that our weapons system is down the hold is empty and we have no desire or ability to fight. Maybe we'll be lucky and they'll buzz off. If not, agree to surrender the ship on the condition that we're allowed the live."

Mimi said nothing, her mind racing to see if she could come up with a better plan. She didn't like this one bit, but had to concede she had no better ideas as she watched her mate suit up. She had to try hard not to cry, wanting to fill her folf with confidence. "All right, I'll buy you as much time as I can." Damien, his combat gear and weapons hastily slapped on, turned to go but Mimi stopped him. "Damien... I love you. Don't die down there."

Damien smiled. "I would never dream of it, you still owe me inflation sex!"

With that the folf was gone, leaving his tigress to stew in her anxiety, but Mimi didn't sit around for very long. Ill content with just sitting around and waiting for something to happen Mimi took action. Fearing they may have to make a very quick getaway from the ship she ran to the captain's quarters. At first she grabbed her entire purse, out of convince, but decided better of it. She didn't trust the invading pirates to decide to help themselves to anything valuable no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. While her purse might make it convient for her to carry her things it around it would also make her things easier to steal!

She quickly pulled out all the cash that was inside, along with a credit card, her ID, and a photo of her grandmother. As she was tucking her most important and valued pocket sized items she noticed the pendant that Damien had bought her from Armstrong. She smiled as she looked at it, now in the face of death every memory with Damien was a cherished moment. She decided to take the neckless, quickly putting it around her neck and hiding it from view. As she put the pendant on, however, a sudden feeling of calm fell over her. It was as if she'd been filled with the knowledge that everything was going to be OK. Even though she really had no reason to believe that.

Next, Mimi headed to the closet. It was were she keep her laser pistol when they were aboard the ship. She loaded a fresh fusion core and pocketed two spares before heading back to the bridge. Reflexively she went to sit in her normal, co captain's chair but decided it would be best to sit in the actually captain's chair. She figured it would make her feel more authoritative when dealing with the pirates. No sooner had her ass hit the chair when the coms' light, singaling an incoming call, brightly illuminated: filling the dark bridge with an unsettling red glow. Mimi waited a few beeps, trying to draw out every second she could, before hitting the button to accept the call and a face appeared on the screen.

"Good evening." The opposing captain said in a raspy voice, as if this was just a friendly 'getting to know you' conversation and he hadn't just interdicted them from hyperspace.

"Good evening," Mimi responded with the same feign of courtesy.

For a long moment there was silence between the two, seemingly sizing each other up.

The first thing Mimi had instantly noticed was the man's heft, as he appeared to be both short and at least a hundred pounds overweight. His spacesuit clearly stretched to the point of bursting. Fat space hands very rarely made it out in The Black, even as a captain. The work and the environment was just too demanding for anyone expect the absolutely most physically fit. For that matter lots of space hands didn't have the spare resources to become fat in the first place! Mimi also noticed he was an older man as well, while his fur was well kept the signs of age were still encroaching. What was sure had been a lush coat of thick black fur in his youth was starting to look a little thin and grey. Given his appearance, Mimi assumed that he was a cagey veteran of The Black to have made this long. Bad space pilots rarely make it to old age.

"I'll make this simple, my pretty little tiger lass." The wolf finally said. "I already have scanned your ship and realize that your hold is empty. The only thing you have to offer is your empty hull. The only question is are you willing to trade your lives for it?" A sinister smile began to curl on the grizzly old wolf's muzzle.

Mimi bit her lower lip and said nothing for a moment, as if she was weighing her options. In reality she was eying the monitor that displayed the ship's interior cameras. She could watch as Damien, now in full tactical gear, running down from the upper levels of the ship to the cargo bay where he hoped to spring their attack. She could see an old world shotgun and rifle strapped to his back with his trusty hand cannon his paw. Mimi wanted to roll her eyes in exasperation, one of the most cutting edge spaceships among the stars and he still wanted to rely on gun power and projectiles! However, she knew she needed to keep her best poker face on and returned her attention to the video monitor.

"To tell you the truth we genuinely lack the ability or frankly desire to fight, so as long as you promise our safety we'll happy surrender our ship."

The wolf laughed. "I was hoping to add your beautiful pelt to my wall, but I suppose that's an agreeable arrangement."

The comment caused a flair of anger inside Mimi, but she let the comment go without retort. Instead she responded dryly, "I'll open the hold doors and you can land your craft right inside if you so desire." And quickly terminated the call.

"Did that fucker actually say he wanted you as a pelt on his wall?" Damien asked, the anger etched into ever syllable.

"Yes."

"I'm going to kill that piece of shit."

Mimi smirked, torn between a desire to defend herself and happy that Damien wanted so badly to defend her. "Ready to 'welcome' our guests?"

Damien was just outside the cargo hold, armed to the tooth and ready to fuck shit up in the same corridor he'd submissively crawled like a docile fuck pet on a leash and collar just days earlier. Was that ironic? Mimi wasn't sure. "Ready."

Most men Mimi would have second guessed their ability to fight off an entire pirate army, but there was a note of conviction in her mate's voice that made her believe him. Besides if any man was up to the task she was sure it was Damien. Mimi hit a big red button that was labeled CARGO BAY and hit the button again, confirming she wanted the bay doors open, when the computer flashed a warning detecting a lack of atmosphere outside of the ship. An alarm sounded and a clang seemed to echo around the entire ship as airlock doors snapped shut to try and protect the occupants from the vacuum of space. Then the ship doors slowly cracked open, a loud hissing sound that reminded Mimi of static coming across the feed as air raced out into space.

The BW-69 was so large and the pirate ships so small one of their vessels could easily fly through the cargo bay doors and land in their hold. Mimi watched as the pirate ships began to take formation outside the cargo bay doors, preparing to invade. Finally everyone was in position and the largest, grandest looking of the armada began to fly directly into the hold.

"Damien, I think you're going to get your chance with the big bad wolf." Mimi said, uncertain why she was whispering into the mic. From his hiding place Damien could see little and relying on her running commentary to know what was going on.

Damien totally trusted his girlfriend, but his eyes still widened in surprise while his brow rose in mistrust. "He's not really dumb enough to fly his actual ship in her isn't he? I mean, there's leading a charge and just being fucking stupid!" Damien asked in disbelief, shifting his grip on his gun nervously. Was something up?

"It looks like it." Mimi said, growing nervous listening to Damien's uncertainty. She continued to watch as the rival spacecraft entered their hold. Silently sliding inside before deploying it's landing gear and landing on the deck. Mimi waited a minute, figuring if she was too quick to close the bay doors it might betray their plans. Acting causal was the name to hiding in plain sight.

Finally, after feeling she'd waited an appropriate amount of time, Mimi hit the button again, closing the massive hatch that lead to The Black. The powerful hydroucals seemed to shake the entire ship again, machinery grinding as it closed the heavy door, made of literal tons of steel. Like anything that heavy, the doors were slow moving, but it seemed to take even longer than usual, as the tension was so thick Mimi thought you could cut it with a knife. Had the other side considered if this was some sort of trap? Were they just as ready for combat? They'd only know once the shooting started, Mimi supposed. After about five minutes the all clear alarm sounded, the cargo hatch was closed and air had returned to the hold, it was safe to enter. Yet nothing happened, more time went by with an aginzongly slow pace, each second passing like hours.

Suddenly the hatch on the rival ship seemed to fly open, two men stepping out and standing atop their vessel, they were armed and ready for combat it seemed carrying long laser pistols wearing suits that appeared to supply oxygen. They looked around nervously, before disembarking from their ship. It was so small and low to the ground they could simply jump to the deck, making room for two more of their friends to exit behind them.

Damien watched through the scope of his old world as the boarding party, six men in total, left their ship and started fanning out across the hull. Just as Mimi wondered what he was waiting for it happened.

CRACK.

The shot occurred so suddenly that even Mimi, watching through the monitor, was startled by it. The sound of the gun shot was muted across the feed, but unmistakable and Mimi smiled as she saw a fine mist of blood appear from one other men.

CRACK

Damien didn't wait long to take his next shot, and another man dropped like a sack of potatoes, sparks from the bullet appearing from behind him as it struck the steel door. CRACK, CRACK. Two more reports from Damien's gun, two more bodies hit the floor before a tense silence yet again filled the hold.

"What's going on outside?" Damien whispered.

"Oh shit..." Mimi cursed, to herself not across the feed, and quickly turned her attention to the outside view. The four warships that had accompanied the flagship had all suddenly turned to face the cargo door as if wanting to attack and back up their friends but unsure how. "Looks like they are staging for an attack."