The torpedoes swept towards the oncoming pirate vessel like the darts of a cuttlefish, streaking a trail of ionized plasma through space as their fuel cells burned in what was only differentiated from an explosion by degrees. The pirate captain must have realised that he had made a mistake, all he had seen was a fat merchant freighter without any sort of convoy or escort. Sayeeda imagined that he checked his records and discovered that she was a new ship, without a history, perhaps with an inexperienced crew. The pirate must be regretting his over confidence now. Surprised or not he tried manfully to avoid the missles, venting plasma at levels that would have bent the frame even at lower speeds, but Issac Newton was not a merciful god. The cruiser had put on too much speed and lateral motion just took more thrust than the could muster.

The first missile smashed into the shield at a a third of a C. The explosive warhead only added color to what the mass of the metal achieved. The pirate had a defensive shield, a small thing for dealing with space junk in all likely hood and the thing shattered like an egg. Second order explosions blossomed from the sides of the ship as the shield generators themselves went super critcal from the feedback. A heart beat later the second missile struck bow on, vaporizing everything the bow half way back to the midship frame in a spray of subliming metal and burning gasses. The vessel tumbled away spinning on more axis than Sayeeda cared to imagine. Those crew that survived the blast would surely have been whipped to pieces by the radical changes in acceleration.

She let out a long sigh as she watch the image replay in slow motion. A dead enemy was a good enemy in her books.

"I take it you have some space combat experience? Perhaps gained in some millitary?" she asked, her voice deceptively mild.

[@POOHEAD189]