The general quarters klaxons continued blaring for an additional 30 seconds before the robotic voice of B. came on over the loudspeakers across the nearly empty cargo ship: "Repel Boarders, Repel Boarders, noncombatants to the nearest hardpoint." Inside her cabin in what used to be the Warrant Officers berthing Sera began getting ready

It wasn't uncommon for Pirates to stalk some of the more remote but still traveled drop off point systems, where ships would need to transit through the gravity field of a star in the system, shedding waste heat in real space before coming out the well on the other side to fall back into Hammerspace. What was surprising was the amount of Delta V these pirates were able to strap on to what basically amounted to a small ferry shuttle used to get VIPs around a space shuttle or hab, and the fact that they were able to approach within a minimum safe distance of the antimatter they were carrying onboard.


Sera finished putting on the outer layer of her hardened soft suit when a message flashed across her implants: CAPTAIN HERE: Try not to put any new holes in my ship. Serah smiled and unlocked the smaller of her weapons cases and retreived a handgun sized low velocity slug thrower, and a knife with an atom-thin monofilament edge. The plan they discussed was simple in its execution: they would let the boarders on board, neutralize them where they had the advantage, then press into their shuttle and neutralize anyone who could set off their makeshift antimatter bomb.

C. was already handed over to the pirates, thinking that they were in full control of the ship, as soon as the trap was sprug, M. and B. would retake control and begin countermeasures against any shipboard AI the pirates may have, and otherwise provide support they could via their Electronic Warfare packages.

Sera made her way over to a corridor junction next to the starboard airlock as she heard it depressurize, ready to put speed, surprise and violence of action to work. They would not be prepared for the figurative rug to get pulled out from under their feet. As the outer door cycled closed Sera saw in her displays that M. and B. had already started feeding false readings to the other ship, and have reassertec control locally. Sera stepped around the corner and exposed herself in the hallway, flashing a message back to the captain, a smug grin on her face: SERA HERE: We've got Hostiles.


This was a comm I picked up from  SirSpaceDragurn at the start of the month, in their signature Yoji Shinkawa inspired style. I took the option to give them some theme music and my character for the com, and I picked "We've Got Hostiles by Jooel Nielsen from the Black Mesa soundtrack. You can give it a listen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8ZCM4FuI5A

Sera is of course my character, placed in a science fiction universe of my own making, getting refined for over 18 years, that hopefully I will get around to writing a lore bible for and making something out of in the future. In the meantime, enjoy the commission!