Shots tore passed the freighter as it ascended into high orbit. Neil juked sideways, narrowly avoiding a spray of brightly colored plasma bolts. Saxon barred his teeth and Sven watched as impassively as ever.

“The Terrans are shooting at us?” Saxon hissed. Junebug shook her head weaky, her skin had grown very pale and she felt light headed.

“Nah, it has to be the locals, a Terran cruiser would swat this bucket without breaking a sweat,” Junebug explained.

“Neil didn’t mention local ships,” Sven pointed out. Junebug laughed bitterly, pausing to devole into a wracking cough for several seconds.

“This is an intra system tramp, I guess the captain didn’t spring for combat quality sensors,” Junebug explained. Most ships made do with very rudimentary sensor suite, radar and directed lidar for dangerous conditions. Neither of those systems were effective against fast moving targets at the kind of ranges space battles were typically fought at.

“Captan Cykali,” a voice crackled out of every speaker on the ship, rending the words in an uncomfortable stereo. Even the speaker on Saxon’s armor echoed the words. They must have been being transmitted by a tremendously powerful radio over every useable band. Smoke puffed from one of the vents and began to coil in lazy streams towards the underperforming ventilation ducts.

“Captain Cykali, this is TEF October Sky, respond at once.” Neil looked over his shoulder at her as though seeking direction. She tried to shrug but succeeded only in lolling her head to the side.

“Can’t… can’t hurt,” she whispered. Suddenly she felt immensely tired. If she could just get some sleep.

“She is crashing,” Sven observed without interest. The vessel rocked as something struck it, half the lights in the ship went out in an instant.

“This is uhhh freighter Edwardian, we have Junebug, err Captain Cyckali aboard,” Neil shouted. He shouldn’t be shouting Junebug thought sleepily, Saxon was leaning down over her shaking her shoulder.

“Is Neil Edwards with you?” the voice over the radio demanded. Neil’s response to the question was lost but a moment later he cursed.

“Holy fuck, the Terran’s just splashed everything in the air except us!” Neil shouted. Even without the sensor readouts, the sudden flurry of torpedos from the warship and the accompanying blasts, made this obvious to anyone with even a rudimentary knowledge of space warfare.Saxon was shouting something about Neil working with the Terran’s but Junebug was already slipping into unconsciousness.