text: Ion drives set to eighty-percent. Shields set to ten-percent. Auxiliary and weapons set to minimal power. All systems are green across the board. "This is it." I said to myself as I pressed down on the throttle. The engines roared to life, sending debris raining over the viewscreen. The sound of tiny pieces of metal clanking against the hull made me smile. I had cleared the system and auto-pilot kicked in. I let go of the controls and sat back in my seat. If only raiding convoys was this easy, I thought to myself. I managed to raid a small trader ship protected by two mercenary ships. I use mercenary lightly here; they were rookies at best, to call them mercenary would be an insult to my trade. I was a mercenary by trade and a bandit by night. This was my night or it should have been. My ship rocked to wailing alarms and red alert lights flashing everywhere. This startled me so much my headset almost fell off. I regained my composure, fixing my headset. Autopilot disengaged, speed dropping out of warp. I soon realised what was happening. That stupid trader, he must have sent out a distress call before I disabled his ship. A Mantis-class frigate dropped out of warp and opened fire. "Shields to full!" I screamed as I turned my ship a hard ninety-degrees downward to evade the blasts. Red beams of light narrowly shooting past my ship. I only have a Talon-class assault fighter, if those blasts hit me I'd be done for. The thing about Mantis-class frigates is they're meant to be supported. It's protected by a dome of thick frontal armor bristling with heavy laser turrets. Its weakness is very thin rear armor protected by a single light laser turret. You might have gotten the jump on me but this show is over. "It's my turn. Computer, play favourites and engines max power." "Playing favourites. Engines set to maximum power." said the computer in a monotone female voice. I grabbed the throttle as Faint by Linkin Park starts playing. The pursuing Mantis now coming within range. "He should start firing in... Three... Two... One..." I said and punched the throttle as soon as the electric guitar started shredding. I had engines on full power which gave me an edge against those heavy laser turrets. They're powerful but have slow tracking. Red beams of light whizzing past my ship. Left, then right, then left again, up, down, hard right, one-eighty stop, hard right, full throttle, and down again. Dodging those laser blasts was like a dance and I was having the time of my life. As fun as this was, I was doing it for a reason; I was now almost on top of him. "You're mine!" I yelled victoriously. I punched the turbo button, I was saving it for this crucial maneuver. My ship's engine burning a bright blue as opposed to the usual yellow. Aiming my nose directly at him then turned harder than I ever turned before. "Port shields at ten percent. Turbo fuel depleted." said the computer. I was now directly behind him. Smiling, I opened a channel. "Any last words before I turn you into space junk?" I said in a smug tone. "Your mom's space junk!" a gruff thirty-ish year old male voice said over comms. My eyebrows raising in amused disappointment. "Fair enough. Computer, weapons max power." I said as I activated my targeting display. At this, a Shadow-class recon fighter decloaked on my port side. Remember when I mentioned these frigates are usually supported? I was right and at this moment, I hated being right. "Computer! Shields-" The Shadow let loose a firestorm of light lasers. Normally not powerful enough to pierce my shields but powerful enough to pierce just ten percent. My ship exploded spectacularly, sending my hard-earned cargo flying in all directions. "Thanks for the free loot, noob!" said the frigate over comms. I take off my headset, press Alt-F4, take a deep breath, and close my eyes.