Chapter 15p4 – Extra Power

“We’ve gotta restore power to our shields,” said the curator, as Tic strapped back in.

“Wait,” said Tic.

The curator glared. “Think you know better than I do, son?”

“Of course not, sir. But they tore through us like paper before, and we couldn’t even scratch them.”

“We weren’t cloaked before,” pointed out the curator.

“Exactly,” said Tic. “So let’s make that our defense. Forget the shielding: put the extra power into the blasters.”

“You know, that’s not bad,” mused the curator. He grabbed his handset and relayed the plan.

Tic took the flight controls back. “Now,” he said, grimly, “let’s go hunting…” He pulled the Pelican up into a higher altitude. Searching visually, he spotted the Liberati ships doing confused circles below. “This one’s for Pelly,” he muttered, then swooped.

The vacuum generators churned out pockets of negative pressure and the curator bombarded the area with heavy laser fire. One of the Liberati ships lost a wing and went spiralling into the ground.

“Whoo!” shouted the curator gleefully.

The other enemy ship sent return fire ripping through the air where the Pelican had been, but Tic had already changed course. He brought the ship around in a tight arc, placing the second enemy directly in the crosshairs.

A blinking red alert popped up on the viewscreen. “Um,” said Tic. “What’s that?”

“Missile detection!” said Jeffries. “Cloak-breaker, headed our way!”

“Shoot it down!” roared the curator. He hammered the trigger control, and the air filled with lasers. The other enemy ship took several scattered hits and spun away, in flames.

The missile kept coming.

Tic slammed the control stick left to dodge.

“FULL POWER TO SHIELDS!” shouted the curator into his handset.

The missile hit.

About Tim Sevenhuysen

Tim Sevenhuysen writes sci-fi and other genre fiction. He is a microfiction expert, having written over 600 fifty-word stories. He is also a noncertifiable lunatic.

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