Here they are - all laid out on the operation table: this weeks collection of drabbles.
Read them all and choose just 3 to vote for. Good luck.
1) Frank: Yah ditty DAHN DAHN! Yah ditty DAHN DAHN!...
The falsified call signals had got them this far. Their three spacecraft were approaching the pirate base. The mission was clear, clinical, and concise. Locate the prototype fighter the pirates had stolen, destroy it, and get out of there as fast as they could.
Jake looked out of his canopy at all the pirate fighters that would soon be on his tail. He was dismayed to see what they'd done to The Makarian's paint job.
It was all going to kick off soon. "Jim. You got "Ride of the Valkyries" cued up on the player? Let's start the opera tune!"
2) MarktJones: Will it be chips or jacket spuds...?
“Because it tastes so bad,” Jax said, emphasising each word with a turn of the release crank. “Desiccated high-protein carbohydrate mix so there’s a chance we’ll survive out here until we can get this fixed.”
Dee shrugged at him, punching a button on the tablet in her hand. “Still it’s a weird name.”
“That’s naval humour for you,” Jax said, putting down the crank wrench. “It’ll be weeks before this damage is fixed.”
“Well, here’s your Optimum Protein Emergency Ration for the day. Enjoy,” Dee slapped the foil pack into Jax’s chest.
“The OPE ration,” Jax mumbled. “Often puked everywhere.”
3) psykokow: Strictly Squeaking
Squeak Squeak Squeak…
Squeak!!!!
SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH
SQUEAK!!!! SQUEAK squeak!! Squeak?
Squeak!!!
Squeak??!?!?
Squeak!
Dispondent Squeak!
Squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak squeak!
Squeak squeak!
The Sidewinder lurched violently to its bow as the vipers opened a salvo of multicolour laser fire all over its hull.
Boom!
Squeeeeeeeeeaaaaak!! Squeak squeak squeak….
Boom Boom Booom Sparkle Fizz Kaboom
Three shadows floating in space amongst the wreckage keep eye contact with each other.
Squeak!! Said one wagging his finger angrily at one of the other figures.
Barry broke the radio code. “I told you this kind of Mickey Mouse Operation never works..”
4) Philip Coutts: Two Operations, One Result
She woke from the anaesthetic to be informed that the operations had been successful in every sense. The spy had infiltrated the bedrooms of the Federation and used her feminine wiles to gain information beyond value.
The Federal operation was dissected and defensive measures taken. The fracas was completely one sided and the Federation fleet devastated, surprised by the magnitude of the force that had ambushed them in this supposedly unprotected system.
She gazed into the mirror and recognised her face, finally returned to its natural Imperial beauty. Gone were the Federal features she had used to such deadly effect.
5) cassius: Medical School
Vreet laid all the necessary utensils out on the stand next to her. Strapped to the table, the writhing form squirmed against the tight bonds holding it down. This one had been found floating in space, light years from anywhere and barely alive.
She was looking forward to this, it was the first living specimen she’d dissected. The wail it made was upsetting her though. She reached for the cauterizer on the stand and ran the intense flame across its mouth, sealing it shut.
“Much better” she mused, clicking her mandibles enthusiastically. Humans were such noisy little things after all.
6) Eyota Winterwalker: No title (92 words)
Overpoint, erratic Ions, limping in.
Heatsink powered, proceeding in a covert way. I hope.
They came from no place, hypered in, surrounded, fired, died.
I took them down but nearly lost, I'm leaking steam into the cosmos.
One more AU .. (God it's freezing) but dare not run. And will not, now that I have you, name I needed.
That proves I WAS framed, that preceded.
From now, I know, heard Radio Chatter. And have your jewels and Alien matter.
Scooped from your poor (dead dead) assassins.
You're "it". When I refit.
7) Ian Phillips: Attachment
She limped in, nursed along by a worried owner.
He left her resting and gave her a comforting pat before departing with words meant to encourage.
"We'll get you fixed up. Just hang on in there, I'll be right back with help."
He glanced back, just once, as he hurried away, shaking his head at the burns on her skin.
Later he brought her in.
Comfortingly he said, “It’s OK girl, don’t worry. It’s time for your operation”
The mechanics threw each other a look behind his back as he left.
"Some pilots just get too attached to their ships!"
8) azdour: Operation Overlord
The soldiers had received a clear and simple order. Location of required target: check. Contact protocol: kill on sight. No witnesses.
With no intelligence on the enemy they were fully armed.
A quick reconnaissance identified that the target was within a building, multiple floors, surrounded by a solid fence topped with barbed wire.
After the fence they breached the building quietly. Dealing a silent death to all they met.
They entered and exited quickly. Operation complete.
It is amazing the lengths that Imperial Senator Kellar would go to in order to retrieve his daughters puppy from the public quarantine centre.
9) Scorpio: The operation (104 words)
When had Commander Kruger's obsession with the Thargoids begun?.
Was it the two years he had spent trapped in that pressurized shelter on Io?. Perhaps it was the three years he had spent in an escape capsule floating in the great belt of Orcadia?.
or was it the five years he had spent imprisoned in the organic cells of Batavia?.
Well, the Bio Technicians had done their work. Commander Kruger was revived from his sedated sleep and the surgeons monitor placed before his eyes.
The stitching was still visible, but the spined thorax and spindly two meter long legs with multiple digits were magnificent.
10) Gibbonici: Vae Victis
Imperial Mining Colony Isqueder VI/Kappa. Slave revolt. Sixth one this year. Our orders from Achenar were clear: Vae Victis.
The colony wasn't very big; six habs clustered around a drilling platform, another two adjoining the refinery. Forty crew. 213 slaves.
We landed on the platform and moved out along the transitways by squads. We killed everyone we found. Slaves. Crew. Everyone. We found the colony commander beaten and naked in Slave Hab III. A free citizen of the Empire reduced to a slave for slaves.
Two rounds later she wasn't even that.
Vae Victis. Woe to the vanquished. Message sent.
11) The Lone Gunman: A slave to debt
She waited anxiously holding her husbands hand in the private Imperial room, her little daughters complicated operation due to finish soon
Her husband looked stricken with worry
she squeezed his hand, trying to give him strength
"It should be me" he said
There was a cough from the man opposite
An Imperial doctor appeared "all fine"
The relief while great, also meant it was time
She kissed her husband goodbye and walked over to the other man
She turned "Tell our daughter I love her and will be back soon"
She then walked out the hospital with her new master
12) Rog: Normal service will resume shortly...
Expansion into this part of the galaxy had been slow, relentless.
Patrolling ragged borders had proved an uninteresting (vital... necessary...) duty. So much for being a soldier.
Duty. No matter that his soul yearned for (battle... conflict...) glory! He would perform his research role - (patiently... perfectly...) as required.
Clicks! - The ship completed 'operating' on the captive - no novel augments or capabilities. Pathetic.
Great Migration was again approaching! Once again he would be (warrior... champion...) soldier! And warmbloods would die.
Signalling his spartan craft with wafts of pheremones, he blinked out of realspace.
The broken figure, drifting against the black remained.
13) Darkoba: Successful
The enemy hordes swept through the terrain in their tens of thousands. They lived off their surroundings, consuming or destroying everything in their path, leaving a dead waste in their wake.
They met opposition. A mechanical army. Robots by the thousands stopped their advance, destroyed them one-by-one, pushed them back.
Finally, the last of the enemy was vanquished, ripped apart like the others, into small pieces of organic waste.
Clean-up robots gathered the waste, transported it to the bowel; the combat robots de-activated and drifted through to the bladder.
The doctor watched his recovering patient with satisfaction.
“Just love nano-technology!”
14) insanephoton: Crime pays
So you want to know about the operation? As you know, we're involved with a number of legal and not so legal activities. Most of them are quite lucrative, but the trick is to make all of the profit appear to be legit. We don't want to give the law an excuse to go snooping into our affairs.
The transport group is a useful cover for our smuggling operations and the security company provides a front for our more robust activities. You want to know where the casinos and strip clubs fit in? Simple, they're there to launder dirty credits.
