[dcs_p]Looking to the command center Joanna noticed the green smoke was now
clearing. She also noticed her captain, Michael Farraday, laying on the ground in
a stooped over heap. Anxiously she began to run to him. She would wake him
from his unfortunate slumber and he could help her to kill these pirates.
Reaching Michael, she turned him over onto his back. His face looked peaceful,
and there were no signs of gunshot wounds or blood. Smiling she gently slapped
the side of his face, calling his name. “Michael, Michael. Get up. We have to kill
this bastard. He’s taken control of the ship!” Nervously she looked up, trying to
stay alert in case the pirate chose to open the command hatchway and try to kill
her. But she could see no sign of him inside the smoky room.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]”Michael, come on Michael.” Joanna carefully looked him over, fearing the worst.
Then she saw what her mind had warned her of, a small hole in the right side of
Michael’s chest. He had been shot by a laser pistol, probably the pistol she now
held in her hands. The heat had cauterized the wound but savaged Michael’s
insides. He had probably bled to death, the wound leaking blood into his chest
cavities while sealing it off from the outside world. Joanna checked his pulse.
Michael, her captain, was dead. His panic attacks had left him vulnerable. When
the situation finally arose, Michael had lost control and been rendered
defenseless.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]She stood up slowly. Looking with rage to the command room, Joanna stood
perfectly still. Pointing her laser pistol to the left edge of the ferroglass, she fired
3 times. The shots hit one after another, with the third clearing a path through the
extremely strong glass and even punching a hole into one of the dropship’s
control boards within. She stepped over to the smoldering glass, using her gun to
widen the hole as the hot, viscous glass began to cool. Smoke began leaking
from the hole, and Joanna stepped back from the hatchway. The pirate now
knew someone was fighting back.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]Joanna curiously looked around the corridor. “So much blood, so many lives…”
she thought to herself. Dobs’s body lay just to her left. His still form was only a
reminder that Michael was now dead. Fighting back emotional pain, she realized
that Dobs’s battered body might conceal a firearm of some sort. She knelt,
keeping an eye on the command center, and began to search Dobs’s jacket.
“BINGO!” Though only a slugthrower, Dobs’s pistol gave her new hope. She rose
to her feet, and shot a single bullet through the hole in the ferroglass. A muffled
ricochet could be heard inside the enclosed room. Now Joanna held SOME
power.[/dcs_p]
[dcs_p]”Get out of the command center!” she cried out. She hoped the pirate would
listen. If he didn’t surrender, she could continue to destroy the command center
with ricochet shells. She might even kill the pirate. If he did surrender, Joanna
might be able to keep her dropship as well as her life. Carefully watching the
door, she repeated her demand. “GET OUT of the command center!” Fearing to
even blink, she waited for the pirate to make a move. But nothing happened.
Looking into the hole, Joanna could still see very little. The smoke clouded the
room even yet. Suddenly a voice came to life, followed by a body slamming
against the hole in the ferroglass. It was the pirate’s body, but it was his back
side now against the window.[/dcs_p]