01 - Defending Honour -- by - Darren Grey
“Curse that Valerion!” gruffed Marcus as he marched to the meeting place. “Demanding we meet at this ungodly hour, all for the stupid sake of honour.”
He barely even remembered how the duel came about. He’d spilled a drink, Valerion cursed, and he’d shouted something back about abusing Valerion’s mother with gangs of libidinous slaveboys. Then Valerion ranted something about honour, sword duel at dawn, blah blah blah…
Well, Marcus cared little for such silliness, so he’d brought a laser pistol. Let’s see honour defend against that!
But his triumphant smile faded when he saw Valerion had brought a bazooka.
02 - Ringside -- by - Cathy
"Why did you invite them on board?" Frank hissed, crouched behind cargo.
Larry ducked as sparks showered. "They asked for a lift. I didn't know they were going to fight over me."
"Lucifer's balls, Larry, they're not fighting over you..."
Larry risked a peek over his canister. Something exploded. The flash and ricochet of sidearms lit up their hold.
"What's happening?" asked Frank.
"Dawn's got Bonny pinned down with a blaster. Bonny's firing her lasers at Dawn... So what are they fighting over?"
"Hello? They're pirates. Loot? Treasure map? Rum?"
Larry shrugged. "Oh." He made himself comfortable. "Pretty hot, though."
03 - For the benefit of mankind -- by - Bikky
The tight deadline was almost upon them.
The scientists had nearly cracked it.
Little by little this team had worked for the benefit of the Federation, No the species.
To secure funding for another five year’s they must present a result on being able to split hydrogen atoms, contain the molecules separated in the reaction and re-combine them, by 5pm.
Every ship will only ever need one Tonne.
They’d worked night and day for the last three days.
Dawn approached the research facility for results.
Psykokow turned on the cutting laser pointing her way.
The explosion destroyed the solar system.
04 - Revenge is a dish best served hot -- by - T.j
Merlin's dawn dew glistened daintily on the red grass as they faced each other across the field.
'I demand satisfaction, retract your scurrilous defamation Sirrah!'.
'Never!' Came the sullen reply.
Their eyes deadly slits blazed poisoned hatred as they awaited the signal.
As the Handkerchief dropped his arm rose, a violent striking whip.
The pistol's laserblast cut the damp air coursing into its target which slowly collapsed onto the unforgiving ground.
He walked casually forward placing the pistol gently into the smouldering hole that once was a chest.
'Onsies are defiantly, absolutely most certainly not girly Brookes you despicable blaggard!!!.'
05 - Overexposure -- by - Frank
Who'd have thought that a Health and Safety violation would be punishable by death? Frank's Cobra was chased by a difficult to shake off Psykokow. Frank needed some tricky terrain.
He approached a moon, large enough to eclipse the star, and rocky enough to test piloting skills. Psykokow proved a proficient pilot. Both spacecraft dodged mountains and threaded through valleys, thundering towards the moon's starlit side.
The piercing-bright diamond set in an arc of red was a vista familiar to Frank's star hardened eyes. But not Psykokow who yelled in pain at the brightness, and the certainty of his crash.
06 - Hunt -- by - Musashi
A beautiful dawn was just breaking when the sun exploded.
"Dammit!" swore Forrester.
The landscape was instantly washed out by the glare, blinding in its laser-like intensity. The heat quickly grew uncomfortable, and he knew that most of the planet's life would die out in mere days, brutally scourged by radiation and solar particles. Of course, the star had actually detonated several minutes earlier - they were only just now seeing the effects.
Not that it mattered.
Forrester gazed up at the ruined sky, and sighed wearily. Ten days of expensive simulation time wasted, and no closer to finding the bug.
07 - Dawn's ring -- by - Gavthomas
Cmdr Treleger sighed and laid back next to her partner Cmdr Dumas, and lit another cigarette. She loved their vacations in the Zebbede system, they always crammed in their 'special time' when they could, away from the bright lights and loud noises. Apart from tonight. He opened the blind and an explosion of lasers and fireworks burst into the words 'MARRY ME?' He leant over and produced a ring, 'So Dawn, will you?' She smiled and said 'I'll tell you in the morning...' He chuckled, knowing that on the twin star system of Zebbede, Dawn always comes twice a day.
08 - Dawn and quartered -- by - The Lone Gunman
Damocles shaken by yet more missiles hits as the Imperial Cruiser Nemain fired another salvo, explosions small and large erupted along its midriff
Klaxons, red lights wailed as if in pain, parts of the Damocles sealed to stop catastrophic failure
The duel had been going on for what seemed an eternity
Fighters from both sides swarmed about the two mammoth beasts
Damocles fired off its own powerful armaments, hits! Fires! The Nemain limping
Fighters gone, the beasts failing
A sudden spike, another Beast appears
The Alliance ship Dawn! The captain looks on
“Seems we have two easy targets, commence lasers!”
09 - Stick-up -- by - sjmQ
“Your weapons systems are destroyed - 200,000 Talaxian credits or your ship dies”
Thargoids, sigh.
“Sidewinder to Thargoid pirate – sorry, I am unable to comply. My comms array is down – because you shot it. Will you accept 2 kilos of Molybdonite ore instead? It’s worth a lot more than 200,000 TC.”
“Thargoid to human victim – that is acceptable. Transport the Molybdonite to my cargo bay”
“Sidewinder to Thargoid pirate – drop your shields please, transporting now”
3-2-1 boom.
Thargoids, you gotta love them. Vicious psychopaths for sure but not a working neuron amongst them.
Portable micro-torpedo, gets em every time.
10 - Silent night -- by - Ian Phillips
In space no-one can hear the explosions.
The scrap between the trader convoy and pirates pack played out in a silent light show as it travelled round the planet.
Lights briefly lit the night sky, the brightest casting fleeting shadows over the ground.
Down below dawn approached a sleeping settlement. People woke to start their morning riutals. Yawn, scratch, pad over to the windows to open the blinds and allow the rising dawn glow in to bath the room in it's warm soft ambience.
The harsh light of lasers at dawn and distant explosions invaded the sanctity of the bedroom.
11 - Hal's Woe's -- by - Luniticisi
Hal's radar showed him everything he needed to know, there he was!
He'd been tracking this ship over three systems and now he was within punching distance.
Had he been seen ... Did it really matter?.
Hal powered up his lasers and got his mark into his sights.
With one pull of the trigger his lasers fired with deadly accuracy.
To Hal's surprise his mark exploded in spectacular fashion.
"One shot?" Hal said out loud as if his ship could hear him.
"That doesn't seem right" his ship still hadn't heard him.
That was when he noticed the pirate ships.
12 - Sunny Disposition -- by - psykokow
The Turgid Turnip spun listlessly on its axis. Small gas fountains shot out from burnt holes in the hull slowing its spin.
The sun dawning on the planet below them filled the cabin with a warm orange light evaporating some of the icy frost from the cabins window.
For a second the chaos calmed, the Agent caught a glimpse of the majestic solar display and sighed.
A breif second ticked by, his respite broken with the sudden hard shake of the ship and sounds of an explosion.
He raised his pistol and placed his hand on the cockpit door controls.
13 - Career Change -- by - insanephoton
A job for life is what the advert said. Sirius Corporation meant it literally, the only way out was in a coffin. Dawn had had enough, the last straw was the security guards casually pointing lasers at her.
She made arrangements with an outside contact. With the last of the data downloaded, Dawn set up a runaway reaction in the laboratory station. Donning a crude disguise, she headed to the nearest escape pod to be rescued by a waiting ship.
Everyone thought that Dawn Smith had died in the explosion. Aurora Jenkins knew better as she started her new life.
14 - Laser explosions at dawn -- by - Darkoba
The ship had fallen out of orbit on the day-side of the planet, but finally crashed into a mountain on the night-side.
Dran had tried to turn off all systems, but the laser charging unit wouldn't switch off. The crash had destroyed the switch but left the circuit closed. To add to his troubles, the solar panels were wired to the laser charger and couldn't be disconnected, and the cockpit canopy lock was jammed.
"I wish I'd never bought this junk heap" Dran thought as he struggled with the latch.
The sun came up; too much power for the charger.
15 - Smart -- by - Scorpio
REPORT TO ZAONCE AEROSPACE AUTHORITY
Cmdr Kratz did not evidently appreciate the sophistication of the latest SMART weapon systems. From audio recording's forwarded to me from Zaonce Aerospace security corp, the late commander initiated the disaster after Referring to the sentient class ASM in unflattering terms after its launch resulting in the aforementioned device nominating Cmdr Kratz's vessel as it's primary target. The vessel was vaporised in the incident and no escape pod has been recovered. Cmdr Kratz's next of kin have been informed and protocols initiated.
Yours sincerely,
Inspector Lee Sung ( Dept of the environment ).
16 - Charbroiled Lave -- by MikeSnos
Here's a tale, I'll keep it brief
About a chap, I'll call him Keef!
Keef, from a gentle planet came,
dear old Lave is the planet's name.
Near Lave is a mahoosive Sun,
You'll know by now every planet has one!
This sun you see is rather old,
But Lave itself is rather cold.
Our hero Keef, remember him?
Kept telling all was grim.
The Sun went Nova and cooked all Lave.
The citizens screamed and yelled as one,
It's way too hot; who turned up the sun?
With a cry our hero yipped
'T'was the Sun wot dun it'!
$
