01 "Shonen Knife" by Daddyhoggy
The Captain swung out of his bunk, shivering. His cabin was icy cold. He put his feet down and found them pressing into a few inches of crisp white powder. He grabbed his spare red overalls and his black boots and stomped off towards the bridge, wondering what sabotage had befallen his beautiful old Python. The lighting system had been seriously damaged too, filling the corridors with flickering reds and blues, reflecting off more of the white powder lining the floor. Ruddy cheeked, he pushed open the bridge door and the crew turned as one and cheered “Merry Christmas Captain!”
02 "Eddy`s last sip" by W4rSkuLL
The Federation saboteur creeps gently into the smugglers Lavehtian Brandy stock.
He had been given strict orders to use stealth and agility, and blast the alcohol sky high.
The only problem remains, that old Eddy is a tanned alcoholic.
Eddy trembles at the thought of blowing up the fine Brandy.
"Just a little taste, one sip".
He arms the bomb while he enjoys the first bottle.
The next day a smuggler patrols the warehouse. There are empty bottles around.
He opens .....BOOOOOM.
The warehouse explodes with the saboteur, luxury brandy and an old Sidewinder.
Eddy dies dead drunk and happy.
03 "Hippocrates Be Damned" by Frank
The guard lay dead by the hospital bed. The nurse's throat had a blaster to it. Grasping her from behind her stood Charcoalbeard, the most evil space pirate ever captured.
The doctor was surprised when he walked through the door. He leaned forward to talk to the fugitive. "There are two of the best men ever to become Galcops on the other side of the door, half a kilometre to your impounded ship, and a massive warship in orbit. Exciting! Isn't it?"
Charcoalbeard's eyes widened. He dropped the nurse and clutched at his chest as he fell to the ground.
04 "Superglue Sabotage" by Philip Coutts
Psykokow had experienced better mornings, he woke by peeling his face off the sticky table in the Thargoid and Fer-De-Lance and groaning softly to himself. He couldn’t remember passing out but it must have been some time after the third bottle of Janx. Worse than the impending hangover, was the recollection of a very disturbing dream. A large man with a beard had loomed over him as he slept. Shuddering he realised he needed to pee badly, he staggered into the toilets and it was at this point he realised that the zip on his onsie had been superglued shut….
05 "A form of protest" by Darren Grey
INDUSTRIOUSNESS
EFFICIENCY
The giant letters loomed over thousands of Sirius factory employees.
LOYALTY
OBEDIENCE
Josie sweated over the cutting machines. If she didn’t move fast enough she’d get sliced.
FOCUS
CONTROL
Her arm ached from yesterday’s accident. The manager had docked her three week’s pay, accusing her of deliberate sabotage. Now she’d need to work harder to earn her rent.
RELIABILITY
DISCIPLINE
She stared despondently ahead, the machine shearing another metal sheet.
Sabotage…
Josie flung herself forward. Blood sprayed in all directions, bones shattered in screeching metal, guts grinding through the machines.
The factory came to a sudden, expensive halt.
06 "Friends in the Forge." by Riedquat (98 words but it's his first effort)
“Do something!”, the co-pilot yelled as Daro sat with his arms folded, pretending not to notice the angry missile hurtling towards their ship.
“For God’s sake!”, she yelled again, “hit the Ecm!”.
Daro turned and looked at his visibly shaken companion and laughed, “Relax Rena”, he said playfully, then turned and started whistling.
As if on cue, the missile slowed and turned full circle, its tail glowing furiously as it sped back towards its owner’s ship.
Daro grabbed the handrail as the cockpit around him shook from the far off explosion, “Yep… that was definitely one of mine”.
07 "Inside Job" by Gibbonici
The corpse rotated slowly. Frozen spheres of blood orbited around it. Valard scanned it without making eye contact.
Haslef, Deiter R., Engineer, Imperial Battleship Corvus. He didn't read the personal details. He tagged it with a recovery beacon and continued through the wreckage.
"Valard, it's Orten," his comlink crackled. "I'm at the primary reactor site. Think I've located the cause."
"Yeah?"
"A bomb. Classic burst pattern," Orten said. "Inside job for sure."
Another ruptured body loomed out of the dark. Valard activated his scanner.
Massari, Anna F., Lieutenant.
He felt sick. The Federation wasn't paying him enough for this mission.
08 "Wrong One" by Bikky
Fed up of always being left behind in the stakes, the hacker spent his evening's working his way through firewalls, into the heart of the Elite Federation databases.
Many days and nights, carefully covering his tracks and gently stepping around pitfalls. Then once in came the data trawling, slowly does it not to arouse attention. Then he finds it. The database where his dreams will come true.
Scanning through the tables he finds the entry he's looking for. Plus one here, then plus two later. Break a while then another.
Then the results. 'Damn!' yells Psykokow, 'I've added to Cathy's!'
09 "Play dirty" by Scorpio
Mac the nano-bot tumbled wildly in the warm light brown liquid. At last he stopped as pincers found the lining of the stomach and dug there teeth into the tissue. DNA analysis confirmed that he had successfully acquired entry into his primary target. The shot of prussic acid was quickly released and disappeared into the swirling mass.
Admiral Kohl felt a familiar twinge in his stomach.
'Gentlemen,' he said nervously, as a hundred eyes watched him.
'A most unexpected situation has arose. I must be excused.'
The Admiral arose, dropped his coffee cup ,and dashed to the door marked GENTLEMEN.
10 "The Emperor's New Speech" by insanephoton
People across the Empire gathered around screens in anticipation of the Emperor's speech.
It began as usual with the Imperial anthem and the Emperor at his desk talking to camera. As he continued, the image changed to a pre-recorded video. Nothing unusual in that, but this year it was different. Instead of the usual dull video of the Imperial year, it appeared to show him getting very intimate with the servants. Somebody had substituted the original with a clip from the adult video 'Imperial Pleasures'.
Felicia smiled, she'd managed to escape from Imperial space before her handiwork had been discovered.
11 "Cultural differences" by Ian Phillips
The stage was set. Lighting rig all set up, checked and ready. The sound check had been done and the bands instruments were all in position.
The buzz of conversation wafted up into the scaffolding far above the stage, muted by distance and the mask worn by a dark-clad figure crouched in the shadows. He held a remote control device, waiting for the right moment.
Lights dimmed and the curtain began to rise, revealing dancers. It was followed by a crescendo of sound as Susan Boils strutted onto stage.
A button was pressed and all the pyrotechnics erupted at once.
*salutes*
