It always seemed colder in Serco space - as if the absence of humanity and love somehow drained the warmth from her bones. While her little green Vulture MkIII was a capable combat ship, it provided little in the way of human comfort in the harsh depths of space - even with the new heated pilot's seat The Viper Guild had salvaged from a destroyed Corvus Greyhound that had picked the wrong convoy to pirate. Having grown bored of running procurement missions for her less-then-gracious cyborg hosts, Ami decided to climb back into the cockpit of the Vulture she'd flown in with and test out the new Neutron Blasters she'd picked up back in Odia. Her fingers flicking fluently through the array of switches and blinking dials that adorned the console of the small short range fighter, she impressed even herself with how quickly she'd become comfortable in this ship. Thinking back to how many times she'd rammed Behemoth's loaded with trade goods into the sides of stations in Nyrius, she smiled - her inner monologue giving her a pat on the back for picking up on the intricacies of piloting lighter, faster ships so easily.

Suddenly, a scream let out over the radio as a Hivebot atomized another Serco Military hopeful, instantly vaporizing the poor boy and snapping Amirella back into reality. Can't let these daydreams get the best of me she thought, Got to stay focused, got to stay aware. She was determined not to die here in Serco Space. She despised the violent, competitive culture that the red systems harbored and resented the deliberate strides they took to further themselves from their own humanity. Never the less, she knew the best place for her to practice her combat piloting and hone her skills was in Dantia fighting Hivebots, and if the Itani were ever going to allow her to purchase their signature fighters, she'd have to prove she could handle it.

As she jumped into Dantia G-5 her ship was immediately immersed in a blue cloud with bright blue particles whizzing by her view-port God damn Serco man-bot-pig! she thought back to the particularly ugly snub nosed brute who'd sent her on this mission Looks like pig boy forgot to mention the ion storm in this sector. Before she could finish cursing the cybernetic suidae from Dantia K-6, an energy blast ripped across her stern, violently rattling the small ship. "Madre puco!" she exclaimed, seizing the controls and and flipping her ship first twice horizontally, and then once vertically to come face to face with her attacker. The lifeless blue reflective glare of the guardian drone stared back at her through her view-port - almost mockingly confident as it went about its autonomous attack programming - alternating blasting Flechette cannon shots and energy blasts from the Gauss cannon. Ami smiled, skillfully dodging these mindless attacks with ease - soft touches on the controls sending her nimble Vulture MkIII careening from starboard to port and back as the Guardian Drone's attacks sizzled through the point in space her ship had been moments before. Her ship bounced up, down, and around with elegant grace as she danced around the larger, slower bot until suddenly it ceased firing all together. Now I've got you She thought to her self, her slender supple fingers squeezing the trigger, sending Neutron blasts into it's hull until it exploded in a fiery ball, giving her ship another violent rattle and further compromising the hull.

Smoke now poured out from the engine and the console lights flickered on off and off intermittently. Hear me baby hold together Ami prayed, limping her badly damaged ship toward the jump point. "Two thousand meters, fifteen hundred.. a thousand.." counting down the distance to the jump point she could barley hear herself think over the sound of straining metal and damaged turbines. Peering through the smoke now permeating out from the dashboard console, she read over the warnings now flashing across the computer screen. Hull Integrity at 12.122% Fusion Cell operating at 75% thrust capability. Warning: Destruction Imminent. Proceed to nearest repair station. Warning Warning Warning Warning Warning Warning. "Shut the fuck up!" Ami screamed as she smashed her boot heel though the computer screen, silencing the alarm. Gritting her teeth she pushed the ship as hard as she could, urging the dying vessel onward toward the indicator on her heads up display which represented the jump point. seven fifty, six seventy five, six hundo she muttered under her breath, continuing her countdown to freedom as if she didn't just put her foot through her instrument panel and ignoring the blood trickling down her heel.

Almost there... almost there.... come on.... she whispered as if praying to divines she didn't believe in. She was so close now she could see it - the minor irregularity above and below her point of escape. She could see the minor warping of space time around the point in the storm where the interference didn't stop her jump engines from functioning. She could see the way the little blue sparks of energy which danced through the storm like snow swooped in circles around a single point in space. five fifty, five hundo, four fifty... almost there her engines screamed now, the frame of her MkIII Vulture visibly torqued from the force the immense pressure space exerted on the now compromised hull of her vessel. It was almost too late when she saw it - yoking back on the control stick she smashed the throttle so far forward the handle snapped off in her hand, sending her ship spiraling upwards out of control. The shreaking sound of grinding metal as her wing tip graised the massive asteroid, sent a frisson of fear descending down her spine which only dissipated when she'd cleared the giant rock. An asteroid - dead center of the jump point. How's that possible? she thought. If ion storms are the result of an interaction between the solid material in asteroids and the radiation put off when a jump engine fires, how can a solid mass exist dead center of the weakest point of the storm? She'd have to save the pseudoscientific babbling for later, as just as she rounded the backside of the asteroid and prepared for fire her jump engines she found three Siepos Assaults firing on her. Swooping down and to the left she bobbed and weaved around the jump point, trying to find a moment to escape when one of the bots finally landed a shot. TWAP! Her ship shaking violently again - she knew at any moment it would blow. "Hey there, mind if I do some botting with you?" a voice crackled in over the radio as a fully loaded Ragnarok zoomed in from behind the bots and with a single swarm of rockets sent them all to hell in one giant fiery blaze.

Name's Remang the voice crackled again. Mind if I tag along? For the next few standard days Amirella and Remang fought valiantly against the hive bot scourge, earning several new vehicle licenses and making the universe a better safer place for all. As the sun appeared from behind Dantia III, a new dawn also appeared in the hearts of mankind - for in the future, the world would be a brighter place for traders, and pirates would have the face the forces of light.

TBC when I get home.... Bored time at work is now over. : )

Excellent

very good:)

Thanks everyone. Maybe ill continue someday...