*Backstory* Flight from Titan: Part 4

<continued from part 3>
First Officer A. Middleton stood on the bridge, watching the “routine
mop-up”. It was not going well. Ship after ship was being blown to
pieces, until only two of the first wing remained. Middleton smiled
grimly, and opened a comm. channel. “It’s all going as planned,” she
said, as Jessie entered behind her. “there’s the same number in the other
wing, you can start boarding whenever you like.”
“Sandra?” Jessie asked, uncertainly. The officer spun around guiltily,
stabbing at the button to break the connection, then relaxed when she saw
who it was. “Oh, it’s you.” Jessie sighed. Sandra had been getting more
distant lately. In fact, they’d barely spoken to each other at all for at
least the past month. “Of course it’s me, everyone else calls you
‘Officer Middleton, ma’am.’” She paused, then asked, “Who were you
talking to just then?”
Unexpectedly, the ship-to-fighter comm. system came to life, just as one
of the two remaining fighters exploded. “Four to bridge… I can’t get them
in my sights long enough to shoot ’em.” It was Nick. “It’s like they know
exactly what we can do.” Jessie’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as she
looked from Sandra’s guilty face to the comm. panel and back again.
“Sandra? Just who were you talking to?” She received no reply, but the
silence told her enough. “You were always ambitious, but I never thought
you would ever stoop this low.” Her voice was filled with scorn and
disgust. “Selling your own friends out to pirates!” It was clear that
Jessie considered pirates to be the scum of the universe.
“Four to bridge…Birdie, are you there?” “Nick?” Her fear was clearly
visible on her face as she waited for his reply. “I love you,” he said,
just before the space pirates blew his fighter into oblivion.
Jessie’s blaster was in her hand before she realised, aimed straight at
First Officer Middleton. “Jessie – don’t.” Sandra was pleading. “Don’t do
this.”
Her finger tightened on the trigger.Pirate.
Don’t do it.You killed Nick.She’s your best friend…Was.
“Jessie – please.”Pull the trigger.No.Do it.‘NO!”
Jessie turned and ran. (Sandra waited a moment to be sure that she wasn’t
coming back, then hurried towards the nearest escape pod. Traditionally,
the captain went down with his ship, but there was no requirement for the
first officer to do the same.) If she could just get to the landing bay
before the pirates did…They would board the cruiser, of that she was
certain. But she needed to get off it, preferably before the
pirates arrived.
She was so grateful to have bought the Wyvern, and even more so that she
had been able to pay for it outright. It was doubtful now that she would
ever be able to complete the payments, otherwise. It was in landing bay
two, she remembered. Left here, second right… oh smeg…
Jessie dove for the floor and rolled out of the way, as the pirates
started shooting at her. Vengefully, she noticed the bodies of the
captain, and of her fellow pilots, the second wing which never even left
the landing bay. Bloody pirates, you killed them all… She came up
firing, hit two of them, then sprinted for the Wyvern’s open airlock. She
could just make it…
She stumbled, her left leg on fire. God, that hurt. That actually
hurt. She let off a couple more shots as she collapsed… and
stopped, her fall arrested by one of the Wyvern’s landing legs, which
she’d caught on the way down.
Jessie hauled herself upright, and crumpled into the airlock, the outer
door closing just in time to collect a scorch mark from one of the
pirates’ laser weapons.
Leaving her gun in the airlock, Jessie dragged herself painfully into the
cockpit, and pulled herself to her feet, cursing the pirates as she did
so. Then, leaning heavily on the wall in an attempt to remain vertical,
the battered and betrayed girl let herself fall into the pilot’s seat.
Automatically, like she had done so often during training, Jessie took
off, the pirates still taking pot-shots at her, and switched the
autopilot on, swearing as it occurred to her that she was now on the run
for mutiny.
Then she fainted.<to be concluded...>