The Travellers respond to the distress call of the Free Trader Samsoria. It is under attack from the 100-ton pirate scout ship, the Badger. As they approach, the crew get into position. No-Haa takes sensors and Geryen mans engineering. Esthel takes command whilst Twiggy waits in medical. Errol the pilot puts full thrusts ahead to engage.
They are a very long way apart when the Badger fires its first salvo of particle weapons. A surprising direct hit. Radiation seeps through and both Twiggy and No-haa feel its effects badly.
As the PMM Garishi tries to close the distance to get into range of its weapons, more salvos come. Errol takes a more cautious approach, performing evasive manuevres to avoid the harmful particles being sent their way. Geryen pushes the m-drive to get more thrust and shorten the wait until they are in range to return fire.
Eventually, the rescue ship’s pulse lasers are within range and Esthel scores a hit. No-Haa stops the enemy’s sensor lock and in fact, denies them any ability to return fire for a short time. Twiggy is handing out the anti-rads after treating her own radiation burns.
The Badger eventually escapes No-Haa’s sensor jamming and another salvo of particles hits the Garishi. This time its Esthel and Geryen who take the radiation hits.
Esthel is a gibbering mess as she orders the salvo of missiles to be fired. The two space craft are approaching each other fast. The crew of the Garishi watch as the missiles they launched smashes into the hull of the Badger and it explodes. It is nothing but a fast expanding debris field.
Despite their sick condition, the crew punch it to the Samsoria to render aid. They find the crew of the civilian ship in worse shape. All but the pilot Danro are dead and he is sick with radiation. The power plant of the ship is dead and Geryen can’t work out what is wrong with it. So they grapple the ship and tow it back to station.
Thankful to be alive given the close call with death, the crew spend the next few days under medical supervision, recovering from their first space battle. The ship gets much needed repairs to its drives and the grappling arm.
Barely into their third week on the job, the crew have certainly earned their pay.
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