Spaceflights of Fancy Ch. 04

"You know the plan, beat 'em to the punch."

Mimi nodded in agreement, even though her communications with Damien were audio only.

Quickly, before the enemy could regroup and launch a attack, she slid from the captains chair to her own. Each turret had its own command station on the bridge, but Mimi was able to control them all from her co-captain's chair. The limitation in one person controlling all the turrets at once was human, not technological, in nature. As quickly as she could Mimi activated each turret, took careful aim at each enemy ship, and once all her guns were locked and loaded unleashed a devastating barrage of fire. BOOM, BOOM. Two ships scored direct hits to their engine bays and instantaneously exploded, the third's lights flickered and dimmed. The ship incapacitated and the crew presumably doomed. The last ship scored a glancing blow, but while it was still technically in the fight it's crew apparently decided to cut their loses and fled the scene before they could be the next causality of war.

Aboard the BW-69 the explosions had a minimal impact, the vacuum of space softening most of the impact. From the bridge all Mimi heard was the pelting of small chunks of debris that reminded her of hail. Now unconcerned about the enemy from outside Mimi turned her attention back to the cargo hold, panic gripping her chest when Damien didn't appear on her screen where she expected.

"DAMIEN!" She screamed into her headset, desperately searching for his location when suddenly the coms light illuminated. Now the last man standing, their rival commander was trying to hail the bridge again.

For a brief moment Mimi debated accepting the call, what could the wolf really say at this point? But she decided it was better safe than sorry. She hit the button to accept his call, and yet again the screen filled with his chubby face. Only this time he looked much less confident. "What the fuck is this shit!" He demanded angrily, but before Mimi could even answer she noticed Damien, coming down through the open hatch and into the bridge of the enemy ship. He racked his shotgun, although this was mostly for effect and Mimi could see the still live round ejected from the gun.

"It's about re-negotiating the terms of surrender, your surrender."

Mimi was sure that Damien felt like an action hero as he delivered the line, although privately she thought it could have used an editing pass or two. But she supposed he was sufficiently badass in taking out an entire invading army practically by herself. Mimi didn't want to see anymore, and turned off the coms just as the blast of both shotgun barrels echoed into the bridge.

---

For a long time after the battle, or at least what felt like a long time, Mimi sat in silence on the bridge waiting for the return of her folf. She wished he'd hurried up, eager to get out of there even though she knew they'd never out run the violence. Conflicting emotions were running through Mimi all at the same time. A sense of elation, thankful to be both alive and victorious, perhaps even a tickle of arousal with adrenaline still coursing through her veins. Yet, she also felt a feeling of sadness as she thought about the men that had just been killed. Not for the men who'd died, they'd chosen this fight not them, but the weight she knew this would put on Damien. He'd been forced to kill before and and never been the same since. Justifiable or not, the killing of another person weighed on the mind. Mimi couldn't be with a man who didn't feel something after taking a life.

Finally, she heard a knocking on the door that led to the bridge. Mimi jumped, startled out of her revelry, suddenly remembering she needed to unlock the door to let the folf back inside. She did so, the heavy metallic clunk of the super duty lock disengaging echoing through the hull. Mimi turned to watch Damien enter the bridge, the happy smile that he usually wore on his face a scowl weighted down by the weight of what had just happened. He sat at the helm still in his blood spattered combat armor, just as eager to leave as his girlfriend, and began to refire the ships engines. Before returning to hyper speed though he jettisoned the abandoned pirate ships from the cargo hold. While such a ship was worth thousands in credits it would be impossible to sell and more importantly like a poison to the ship. As the ship's engines spooled and they quickly began to pull away Mimi watched as the abandoned ship started to drift towards the nearby gas giant, pulled in by its gravitational pull. Soon the fiery planet would erase any memory of the pirate caption who'd tried to murder them.

---

by unspoken agreement

elation over being alive and victorious, perhaps even a tickle of arousal as adrenaline still ran though her veins.

... elation over being alive, sadness over death,

For a long time, or at least what felt like a long time, Mimi sat in silence on the bridge waiting for the return of her folf, wishing he'd hurry up so they could get out of there. A series of complex emotions filled the tigress all at the same time, elation over being alive, regrets, and stoic understanding. She didn't like what had happened aboard the pirate ship, she felt bad not for the men who'd been killed: they had chosen their line of work but rather the weight she knew this would put on Damien. He'd killed before and had never quite been the same since... none ever was.

Finally, she heard the sharp knocking on the doors and realized with a start that she needed to open the door to the bridge to let her mate in. She did so and wordlessly watched as Damien came in with his blood splattered combat armor and sat down at the helm.