In one of the less dangerous bars in the spaceport of Huron, shayborg and Starkiller sat at a quiet booth swapping stories of their smuggling days. Suddenly, the holovid, tastefully quiet until now, started screaming hysterically, interspersed by static from damaged communication satellites on the transmitting end. "... ... Governor ... Iothe speaking. ... are ... attack, ... under attack by ... ... pirate force! ... ... assistance!" The view of the governor's office cut to a hazy image of what was obviously a pitched battle in space.
As they watched, horrified, a clearly modified UE Destroyer started launching a seemingly inexhaustible supply of missiles from overloaded launchers in every direction. (This action is a desperation tactic used by many ship commanders under extreme threats. Missiles are fired from launchers before they are cleared of remnants of fuel and metal from the last launch (which normally causes the delay in "reloading"). The excess heat from the friction from debris in the launchers causes the missiles to overheat and explode before hitting anything, creating a much larger blast radius, but also running the huge risk of the missiles detonating before exiting the launch tube, which would definitely destroy the launcher and could possibly destroy the ship.) "What are they doing!" Starkiller shouted at the unheeding destroyer. "They're committing suicide!" As the shocked denizens in the bar watched, the destroyer rapidly took down the freight-couriers attacking it. The destroyer succeeded in taking down, singlehandedly, two dozen renegade vessels. Then, the inevitable occurred -- one of the launchers jammed, right under the engines. The destroyer's engines cut out as an automatic safety measure. They would never have a chance to override the shutdown in time, and the captain knew it. Shayborg and Starkiller watched as the destroyer self-destructed spectacularly, taking out two-thirds of the surprised renegade fleet with it.
The remaining UE ships had meanwhile retreated to the edge of the system to regroup, but they were outmatched. The two friends looked at each other back on Huron and nodded, both understanding that they needed to assist here to gain the UE's gratitude. Then they ran out of the bar to collect the ragtag members of the Spacer's Association -- Starkiller's navy.
In thirty minutes, they had left the surface of Huron. By overloading their hyperdrives, their 10 scoutships, 6 transporters, 12 shuttles, 2 modified freighters, 4 helians, and 2 freight-couriers jumped into Iothe in record time. Jumping in, they proceed to attack the remains of the renegades, with the assistance of the UE brigade, overjoyed at this sudden deus ex machina. Demoralized and unorganized, the renegades fled from the new threat.
From his "command vessel" (OOC: I'm not sure what type it is, so I won't put it in here), OctoberFost fumed. His attack had been profitable, but only for those few who survived, and getting in touch with them again would be very difficult now that they'd already gotten a significant amount of loot. Also, they would likely never want to stick their necks out for OF after this debacle. He had claimed some plunder on behalf of the "renegades", but not nearly enough to pay for the prototypes. Disgusted, he barked at his lieutenant, "Let's get out of here. It's over."
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