couple of dozen people, but I didn't think that was likely since there was no launch point close to Colony 40.
My patience was rewarded and I saw two figures outside the ship. They appeared alert, albeit bored.
Colony 40 had a sheriff's department, but they wouldn't be a match for the turret on top of that ship. Even worse, Sheriff Blaen Xid or one of his deputies had probably been in the control tower when the attack occurred.
A plan formed and I knew what we needed to do next. We couldn't possibly approach the ship with those two guys hanging around. Plus, there had to be at least one more in the ship to man the slug-throwing turret. The turret was top mounted and it was unlikely that it would be able to target anything closer than thirty meters, which was why the guard had been posted. If someone breached that perimeter, the guards needed to deal with them.
There was little chance of any sort of organized resistance occurring anytime soon. Breaching the main dome had effectively shut off everyone in the main station. The station had gone into lockdown because of the large breach. The failure of the foam sealant was lucky for us, otherwise we would have been locked down in the station, too. I have heard it said that fortune favors the bold and it certainly seemed like the pirates had proven the truth of that.
As I thought out the process, it seemed they had made one critical error. It remained to be proven whether we could take advantage of that mistake. I met back up with Tabby and Nick, who had both found AGBs and were hunkered down by my sled.
"Good news and bad news," I started off, sounding like we were on the pod-ball court and not preparing to assault heavily armed pirates who were already responsible for the deaths of many today. "Bad news first. They have an armed ship sitting at the base of the security station tether." I went on to describe the turret and missile launchers. "Also, there are two goons hanging around the entry hatch. I didn't see guns but I think it's a fair assumption they're armed."
" The good news is, I have a plan." I grinned, feeling excited and a bit terrified. As I explained my plan, Tabby's face took on the same grin I had. Nick was expressing nothing but dread. To his credit, he didn't once suggest we should back down, but I could see he understood how serious this was about to get. They both offered adjustments to the plan and within a few minutes we were settled. We spent the next twenty minutes moving equipment around and then we were ready to execute.
I crept to the side of the James' rental yard so nothing was between me and the ship. Nothing had changed. The two pirates were sitting next to the entry hatch and no one else was in view. I thought I could make out movement in the cockpit, but I was at the wrong angle to be sure. I had brought several tools, each massing a kilogram, from the rental yard. I braced my back leg against a container and started tossing tools at the pirates as hard as I could. At a hundred meters if they didn't move, I would likely hit at least one of them. I had three heavy tools flying directly at each pirate and was ready for phase two. Much of our plan relied on this next sequence working correctly. Although every step in the plan was pretty brittle, I hoped luck would favor us. Once the lead tool was within ten meters, the pirate's suit must have alerted him to an imminent collision, because he jerked backwards to get out of the way. His partner wasn't nearly so lucky, because he dodged one tool only to jump into the path of another. I had thrown them hard. I'd been hit plenty of times in pod-ball and knew the feeling well. The suit would prevent permanent damage but he was going to have a nice shiny bruise to show to his other pirate friends. It was my only hit and I hoped it would be enough. Point Hoffen.
I fired up my arc-jets and scooted around the end of the stack of containers behind me. Just before I made it, I felt a burning in my thigh.
My patience was rewarded and I saw two figures outside the ship. They appeared alert, albeit bored.
Colony 40 had a sheriff's department, but they wouldn't be a match for the turret on top of that ship. Even worse, Sheriff Blaen Xid or one of his deputies had probably been in the control tower when the attack occurred.
A plan formed and I knew what we needed to do next. We couldn't possibly approach the ship with those two guys hanging around. Plus, there had to be at least one more in the ship to man the slug-throwing turret. The turret was top mounted and it was unlikely that it would be able to target anything closer than thirty meters, which was why the guard had been posted. If someone breached that perimeter, the guards needed to deal with them.
There was little chance of any sort of organized resistance occurring anytime soon. Breaching the main dome had effectively shut off everyone in the main station. The station had gone into lockdown because of the large breach. The failure of the foam sealant was lucky for us, otherwise we would have been locked down in the station, too. I have heard it said that fortune favors the bold and it certainly seemed like the pirates had proven the truth of that.
As I thought out the process, it seemed they had made one critical error. It remained to be proven whether we could take advantage of that mistake. I met back up with Tabby and Nick, who had both found AGBs and were hunkered down by my sled.
"Good news and bad news," I started off, sounding like we were on the pod-ball court and not preparing to assault heavily armed pirates who were already responsible for the deaths of many today. "Bad news first. They have an armed ship sitting at the base of the security station tether." I went on to describe the turret and missile launchers. "Also, there are two goons hanging around the entry hatch. I didn't see guns but I think it's a fair assumption they're armed."
" The good news is, I have a plan." I grinned, feeling excited and a bit terrified. As I explained my plan, Tabby's face took on the same grin I had. Nick was expressing nothing but dread. To his credit, he didn't once suggest we should back down, but I could see he understood how serious this was about to get. They both offered adjustments to the plan and within a few minutes we were settled. We spent the next twenty minutes moving equipment around and then we were ready to execute.
I crept to the side of the James' rental yard so nothing was between me and the ship. Nothing had changed. The two pirates were sitting next to the entry hatch and no one else was in view. I thought I could make out movement in the cockpit, but I was at the wrong angle to be sure. I had brought several tools, each massing a kilogram, from the rental yard. I braced my back leg against a container and started tossing tools at the pirates as hard as I could. At a hundred meters if they didn't move, I would likely hit at least one of them. I had three heavy tools flying directly at each pirate and was ready for phase two. Much of our plan relied on this next sequence working correctly. Although every step in the plan was pretty brittle, I hoped luck would favor us. Once the lead tool was within ten meters, the pirate's suit must have alerted him to an imminent collision, because he jerked backwards to get out of the way. His partner wasn't nearly so lucky, because he dodged one tool only to jump into the path of another. I had thrown them hard. I'd been hit plenty of times in pod-ball and knew the feeling well. The suit would prevent permanent damage but he was going to have a nice shiny bruise to show to his other pirate friends. It was my only hit and I hoped it would be enough. Point Hoffen.
I fired up my arc-jets and scooted around the end of the stack of containers behind me. Just before I made it, I felt a burning in my thigh.
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