REM

Boarding Party

Our star system was full of bounty hunters. It wasn't uncommon for us to get boarded by raiders and pirates like the rest, but I hated it any time it would happen. Like my partner and I had nothing else better to do with our time than to fight off people trying to steal our cargo, or commandeer our ship.

The latest of attacks was no surprise, but the way it happened made me laugh it off since we had just cashed in a bounty and upgraded a few things before heading out from port. I was standing in the main corridor when a raider appeared through a wall and started firing a laser gun at me. Rolling out of the way and into a storage room, I pulled my gun from its holster and fired back, disabling him with an electroshock pod.

"Dumb fuck," I muttered as the raider's suit was rendered useless. Bending down I drove my titanium blade through his throat sealing his fate.

Green fluid squirted out as I withdrew my blade and wiped it off on my pants before putting it away. I was surprised to not see blue, but I suppose that was due to being in the P2-D9 district for too long.

My partner came running around a corner and into the main corridor, seeing the disabled raider lying next to me. He exhaled in relief.

"Good, I see you took care of the other one."

I narrowed my eyes as I turned to look at him. "There were only two?" I questioned, thinking it was strange to only have a two-man boarding party from raiders.

"Yeah, why?" Jack furled his brow as if he was missing something.

As we stared at one another, an electroshock blast hit me square in the chest. I heard the energy being absorbed by my newly upgraded armour, realizing it had just saved my life.

My jaw dropped open to see another raider in a black suit, a red stripe running along its entire body.

"You motherfucker." I was pissed to say the least as he shot me in the chest again, clearly testing my equipment again like an idiot instead of blasting my head off.

Firing back at him I began to shuffle to the side as Jack fired off a few shots as well.

"Remi! Run!" He barked from behind me.

"No! You! I have the upgrade!"

Jack didn't stick around to argue as he fled down a connecting corridor. I followed him as well, jumping back into the fueling station as the raider followed. We hid behind some cargo containers as the raider ran by us, allowing us to get back on board.

"What a dumb ass," commented Jack as he headed for the control room while I sealed the ship off and punched in the sequence code to detach from the station.

I joined him a minute later as the ship moved to the left, taking my seat in the chair to his right slightly behind him. The raider was stuck on the station since our shield was engaged, ensuring I wouldn't have my throat slashed before we jumped into hyper travel.

"Any suggestions?" Asked Jack.

"How about a proper station with some food," I advised. "I'm tired of living off fueling stations that only have dry rations. We don't even have any water left."

"Well, I guess it's settled then." Jack punched in coordinates and then pushed the levers forward as I buckled up just in time.

The stars blurred as we jumped to another star system, coming out of the hyper jump near a large communal station. Many of the docks were in use, but we managed to find a small one for ourselves.

"You know, you really need to remember we're shorthanded," I reminded Jack as I took off my seat harness and stood up, heading toward the exit of the control room.