The Hickman Affair

Part 4 - Power Armor

Tick fired a set of thrusters on his pack and pushed himself forward. Ajax felt a low humming vibration as he went past. His massive chain sword spinning up to full speed as he pushed down the corridor. Coner and Ryan fell in behind him. Both pulling long viberswords from slits in their combat armor. This was what the Six Points were know for and the four combatants stood little chance against these hardened warriors.

The three men lived up to their squad names. They used every inch of the corridor as they engaged the enemy. Pushing off every wall they used the zero-g environment to their full extent.

The pirates moved as a single group. Each oriented with their feet pointing at what most would feel was down or the bottom of the corridor. Most creatures did this from their years growing up on terrestrial planets. Their evolved minds holding onto centuries of learned instincts. But the Six Points had trained to overcome those feelings and used it to their advantage. As their name implied they used all six points of a 3 dimensional compass. Forward, back, left, right, up and down.

As they moved down the hall they spread out. Coner and Ryan keeping behind Ticks more massive power armor. But they oriented their feet towards both outside walls. Coner moving right and Ryan moving left. Tick made sure that he came in at the same orientation as the pirates.

All three lined up targets the second they rounded a corner and the pirates came into view. Even though their primary weapons were not all the effective against the heavier combat armor, that didn't stop them from putting a few slugs from their rail guns into their chest plates. It was enough to cause the pirates to duck for cover. Each moving into door hatches to gain what little cover was available.

Tick, with his chain sword in his off hand fired of a few rounds from his plasma cannon. A line of glowing balls of fire rocketed down the corridor and struck one of the pirates mid chest. The plasma quickly melted the chest plate and fired the pirate from the inside out.

Tick's plasma canon was made for tight ship combat. It didn't pack enough of a punch to blast through walls, but the intense heat was enough to melt through most combat armor. If it did strike a wall, it would melt through a deck or two at most before quickly cooling into a heap of slag. The perfect weapon for taking out pirates. The major drawback was the power consumption was massive. So only power armor with their own nuclear power sources could use them.

The team continued to fire down the corridor at the pirates. Ticks plasma melted into another of the pirates.

The two remaining pirates returned fire. Their light weapons bullets just bounced off Ticks thick armor plating, it was more of an announces then any real threat.

The three men from the Six Points made one last push and were quickly within hand to hand combat range. The pirate power armor moved forward to meet Tick. It pulled out a long and thick vibrosword and dropped its weak rifle.

Tick's Plasma cannon rotated into its arm housing and he moved his chain sword to his right hand. The sword spinning so fast it was just a blur of white light.

A moment before engaging the pirates power armor he fired a set of small thrusters and spun his body up to the ceiling. Giving him a much different arch with his chain sword. The pirate wasn't ready for it and Tick's first strike glanced off the helmet of the pirate. Cutting a deep groove into the plating.

Tick swung again, this time the pirate tried to parry the blow with his sword. The teeth of the chain sword bit into the blade and tried to rip it from the hand of the make shift power armor. A set of hydraulics burst in the wrist of the pirates power armor as the hand tried to hold onto the sword.

Tick fired another set of thrusters and spun around, effectively moving himself behind the pirate. He thrust his sword forward and up. Impelling the armor from behind. The unit going slack a second later.