Tevun-Krus #42 - Oh, and ANOTHER Thing...

Oh No, Not Again! - A Short Story by @krazydiamond

The ship rocked beneath their feet. Captain Daniels could feel the moment the shields caved in, a metaphysical rubber band snap against his senses. They were done for. The Ransom's Deed was one photon blast from a fiery end. The next blast would punch through their hull and start a chain reaction that would cascade through the ship unless they dropped the inner blast doors. The doors that protected the bridge...not the passenger manifest.

"What's our probability of survival?" He barked at the bloody and harried officer at the comm system, one of the only bridge crew members still conscious and on their feet. The man swiped at the cut bleeding into his eye and braced himself against the console, reading the figures. He visibly swallowed, glancing up and out the view screen to the attacking ship. Bloody space pirates intercepted the Ransom right over the colony landing site. Ambushed just out of reach of their destined safe haven. What was meant to be the new home of the thousands of settles waiting aboard the Ransom. Settlers who entrusted their lives to Daniels.

"It's not good, sir," said the bridge officer.

"Give me numbers," said Daniels. Did he really need to know how deep in the shit they were? Yes, because there was one more option, but it was a long shot that needed very specific circumstances to be considered a useful one.

A line of sickly neon green lights lit up the hull of the pirate ship as it prepared another shot. The bridge officer froze at the sight, his knuckles white as they clutched the sides of the console. Daniels snapped his fingers in front of the man's face. "Numbers, son!"

"Uh--uh, less than .0000001 chance of survival, sir," the officer stammered. The neon glow coalesced at the front of the ship, building into a starburst of energy that streaked toward the Ransom.

"Would you call it a million in one chance?" Daniels stepped in front of the young man, blocking his view of their approaching death. The man blinked, his face caught in a ghastly grimace of panic.

"Y-y-yes sir." The glow of the approaching blast grew as it split into two spinning bursts, hurling towards the defenseless Ransom.

"Good enough for me," said Captain Daniels, slamming his hand down on the console, managing to hit all the digital keys in one go. The screen shimmered and revealed a pulsing golden orb within the console.

The officer's eyes were still glued to the approaching green starbursts when Daniels calmly used his index finger and gently poked the orb. The golden orb released small blip before it pulsed and shot out a ring that rippled straight through the hull of the Ransom, intercepting the photon blasts mere feet from the ship before continuing on to slam into the pirate's ship. The photon blasts dissolved into a shower of harmless golden sparks that skittered over the view screen, blocking their field of view.

Daniels and the bridge officer both sagged in incredulous relief. The younger man gave a shaky laugh.

"It worked," breathed Daniels. "I thought that improbability nonsense was all theory." He frowned as the screen cleared. "Wait where's the other bloody ship?"

The officer looked over the readings in disbelief. "It's gone sir, just gone, not even an energy signature to show where it was."

"That's impossible!" Daniels snapped, shoving the young man aside to go over the readings himself. To his shock, there was nothing on the view screen but minute space dust, and a miniscule blip he didn't understand, already caught in the planet's gravitational pull as it plummeted into the atmosphere. He released a breath, realizing that truly had escaped with their lives.

The miniscule blip plummeted into the planet's atmosphere. If the bowl of petunias had a physical mouth it might have sighed. Honestly, it was quite fed up with this nonsense.