The Boy and his Ship

[Shudragon]

//This is my character's biography. Any feedback is appreciated in PMs, and thanks for reading if you do! :laugh://
(Mal – uh – kai)

Prologue:
Malachai’s head lurched as another missile impacted his hull. “****, I’m out of shield bats and these bastards have missiles out the ass.”

He touched a few dials on his console to activate his countermeasures, and then put his ship into a hard spin to try to dodge any missiles that got past. The Bounty Hunter Manta’s tried to follow his Scimitar’s spin, but their ship’s large mass wouldn’t allow them to follow for long.

“There’s the nebula,” Malachai said to himself as he saw the large green mass in front of him, “If they follow me in there I can beat them.”

Malachai’s body pushed into his seat as he activated his cruise engines and shot out of the mass of Bounty Hunters, who were astounded by his modified ship’s speed. His ship disappeared into the giant swirling mass of green gas and asteroids, and half of the Bounty Hunter contingency followed him in.

Malachai smirked. “Cut the engines and deactivate everything but thrusters and weapon control Sally.”

A female AI voice replied, “Yes darling, going hunting are we?”

“Yes Sally. Yes we are.”

The Scimitar stopped next to an asteroid, all of its lights and electronics deactivated. Malachai stood up for a moment and got a tube of synth paste out of the back. As he squeezed the plant matter into his mouth, he saw a glimpse of a grey ship as a pulse of lightning went through the ion storm inherent in the nebulae. He noted something interesting:

“I think this is cake flavored synth paste Sally.”

Malachai pressed a few buttons on his console and his thrusters fired a few short bursts, following where the Manta had just passed. Malachai could see a small red engine glow just a hundred yards in front of him. A smile crept onto his face.

“The fools didn’t cut their engines. Are they giving rookies Mantas these days Sally?”

Malachai maneuvered his ship directly behind the Bounty Hunters. He had to act fast as to not allow them to alert the others, as much as their sensors wouldn’t work in the nebula their radios would. Since his targeting systems were offline, he would have to do this the old fashioned way. He pressed a button on his console signaling all gun control, and then opened fire on the Manta’s ship. The shields went down astonishingly quickly, faster than the Bounty Hunter pilot could react to. His turret gunner, however, quickly saw the Scimitar and opened fire. Malachai swore and spun away as his hull took a few hits, red lights flashing up on his console in several places.

“Sally, activate shields please. We can’t take too many hits from these ships, I don’t care if we show up on scan. Oh, and activate some nanobots on the hull to seal that reactor breach.”

Malachai gritted his teeth as he turned around to see if the Manta was trying to follow him. It was, and its shield was still down. He cut his thrusters and flipped the Scimitar, firing a large stream of particle blasts at the ship’s hull, disintegrating its vertical wings and causing a hull breach, ejecting the pilot out of his seat and into space. The Manta spun out of control for a moment, then exploded when it hit an steroid, disintegrating the turret gunner.

Malachai let out a breath. “One down. Four to go.”

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Malachai is sleeping in a compartment on his ship, probably normally used for smuggling, but his ship is his home away from home…in fact, it is his home. He has a saying he tells everyone, taught to him by his father. “Take care of your ship, and it will take care of you.”

A slight beeping is heard coming from his console. “Malachai.”

Malachai woke up and stretched as far as the small compartment would allow him. “Yes Sally?”

“We have a transmission from the Outcasts.”

“Patch it through to my vidscreen, I’d rather not get up.” Malachai switched on the small screen over his left eye, and waited for the transmission to go through.

An image of a tan, old man appeared. He was not wearing a breathing mask as most Outcasts did, it was obvious he was a native of, and lived permanently on Planet Malta.

“Did you complete my contract Malachai?”

“Yeah old man I killed your bounty hunters. How long those guys been after you?”

“Years, Malachai. Years.”

“Right that is all well and good, so, we had a deal, right?”

“Yes. You keep the ship, and are free to go where you want. I wish you luck on your journeys. I know your time on Malta was bittersweet, but remember that the Outcasts will always accept you here if you need aid.”

“Yeah thanks old man. Can you upload the jump hole coordinates now?”

“They are encoded in the transmission. I’m sure it won’t be a problem for you. Goodbye Malachai.”

Malachai smiled, and told Sally to decode the coordinates immediately. It was time to finally get out of these hellish Omicrons where only the Outcasts and Corsairs fought, with Bounty Hunters running rampant if not dealt with.

//That's the prologue, more story to come :D//

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I like writing, space, and fantasy. Thanks for the community to do it in guys.