Star Knights

Prologue

Star Knights

By Aero-Foxy

Prologue

******

*ALERT! ALERT!*

Heart pumping, palms sweating; blood rushing and missiles chasing. It was needless to say I was in hot water. And by hot water - I mean boiling, skin-scarring hot water. But it wasn't the first time I had my ears assaulted by the sensors within my ship, all-the-while being chased by automated missiles!

Such was the life of a Scavenger... well. "Galactic Explorer" being the correct term.

*ALERT! ALERT!*

"For goodness sake, I know!" slamming my furry palm down onto the 'mute' button, I tossed the steering wheel to the left hastily as the radar ahead of me picked up the projectiles coming towards me at speed; not that it mattered, as they were on my tail.

Upon seeing the missiles disappear from my radar gave me some hope. That was, of course, until more appeared, flashing red as they closed in onto my shuttle. Out of ammo and almost out of fuel, I was probably a dead fox by this point. And while it was a great idea to get my crew off with the many escape pods we had; at the same time I was beginning to wish I had jumped ship too.

But on top of all of that, I was just wishing the others were okay - wherever they ended up.

"You ain't giving up, are ya' Vexx?!" Throwing the shuttle into a maneuver once more, I glanced as I saw the missiles roam into no-man's land with a sharp grin. "You should, though!"

Even though deep down, I knew he wouldn't; Vexx was no quitter. The years he spent chasing me, even in the farthest reaches of Acallaris - he never gave up. Nor did the Knights of his own; the Elduin Knights.

*INCOMING TRANSMISSION*

"Wait!" Maneuvering once more, panting for breath as sweat rolled down my forehead like silk, I gritted my teeth as I fought for my life. With my heart pounding against my chest, my body shook with adrenaline as I waited for the next attack

*INCOMING TRANSMISSION!!*

With a roll of my eyes and a growl, I slammed my fist against the radio button as I tried to keep my concentration. On the other end was a voice I never wanted to hear in a situation like this...

Veronica...

"A-Aero!" her voice, cut off my static, called. "Where the hell are you?!"

"Oh, hey V!" panting hard, I responded. "I've just... got a little business to take care of!" With another shift of the shuttle, I felt the air get taken out of my lungs with force as my body began to give up.

"You said you would follow us out!" Oh great, lecture time. Always was the case with her.

"I said that?!" clearly trying my best to lie (not that I was a good liar or anything), I wrestled with the steering wheel in a panic as my gaze halted at the fuel gauge. "Look, V. I'll be there soon, okay?! I'm kinda' trying to not die to... you know who."

"Ugh!" Veronica hissed on the other end of the broken transmission. "Just make sure you come back, okay? Preferably in one piece."

"Oh come on! The more pieces I'm in, the more of me there is to go around!" The transmission was dead. "Veronica? Damn it..." This always happened. Every time I'd say one of my award winning jokes, the line would suddenly die. Either technology knows when to fail, or she just couldn't handle my sense of humour.

The missiles stopped in the meantime; were they retreating? My radar still detected their ships hot on my tail, but no attacks were being given. Was there peace? Silence? Finally after all of these years of constant combat between us with every single scavenging mission we tried?