Read Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework for Free Online

fighter model. Make sure your ship checks out,
we’ll be in for a fight until orbital defence can engage.”
    “Almost done,” Quiz replied. “I have a
question for you, though.”
    “I hope it’s a short one,” Minh replied.
    “Yeah, why are we rushing to the defence? I
thought we were just being paid to patrol?”
    “You didn’t read the entire contract, did
you?” Minh asked with a sigh.
    “Who reads those things? I mean, they go on
forever.”
    “Well, since we’ve got about forty one
seconds, I’ll explain it. We get paid a flat rate if we’re helping
with patrols. If we catch something on scanners, we’re expected to
assist with the defence. We get damage, trauma, and danger pay if
there’s a firefight.”
    “Oh."
    Minh watched as the engine pods of their
Uriel fighters rotated one hundred eighty degrees and fired as hard
as they did during the acceleration phase of their transit. It
wouldn’t be long before they were in immediate range of Skydock.
“Right now, I’m just looking forward to shooting something.” He
used the counting clock as a focal point as he breathed deeply,
releasing frustration, tension, and doubt with every exhale. “A
frenzied mind sees, a tranquil mind comprehends.”
    “So this means a big pile of cash,” Quiz
said.
    “Yes, but try to forget about everything but
surviving the next few minutes,” Minh replied during a long exhale.
“Get ready, we’re coming out.”
    They emerged from the wormhole to see
Skydock. The traffic around it was dissipating as civilian ships
followed navnet directions to the opposite side of Kambis, the
massive, canyon-ridden planet ahead.
    Skydock was a many-segmented station that
had been built on for centuries. The outer segments of its fifty
six kilometre length and forty eight kilometre girth were more
gracefully designed with smooth curves and complimentary angles.
The interior was a mix of square, utilitarian sections with
hundreds of docking bays and thousands of large transparesteel
windows. Minh had heard the view on the opposite side, facing the
planet, was incredible. Tamber, the moon Minh and the remaining
Triton crewmembers had come to call home, was on the opposite side
of Kambis, far from where the fighting would begin.
    “This is Skydock to Ronin,” a port officer
addressed through Minh’s communicator.
    “Ronin here,” Minh-Chu Buu replied. “Did you
receive our alert?”
    “Yes, fighters are scrambling now, and we
have four destroyers ready to intercept. Advise on best position of
pulse barrier, please.”
    Minh was surprised, the pulse barrier was
the most powerful weapon the station had at their disposal. “If
you’re asking me where to point that thing, I’d say right behind
us, just give us ten seconds to get out of the way,” Minh
replied.
    “That’s in line with our thinking, you have
fourteen seconds to leave the target area.”
    Minh plotted a course before navnet could
send him a similar route and he set his thrusters to maximum. Quiz
was less than a second behind.
    “Are we about to see a light show, Ronin?”
Quiz asked. He sounded almost giddy.
    “I think so, I didn’t think they had that
thing working, but I guess we get lucky today.” As soon as they
were clear, Minh turned his attention to the station and the area
of space the Eden ships would arrive in. Seventy metre long
emitters running along the oldest part of the station, at its
centre, began to glow red then flashed to white.
    The Eden vessels emerged from the wormhole,
their engines flaring brightly as they decelerated. Several
missiles launched from the main, shining oval ship at the
centre.
    Minh targeted the missiles with six of his
own mini-rockets and fired six at each. After a brief moment they
were moving too fast to see with the naked eye. His computer
registered five hits less than four seconds later. He’d destroyed
their missiles.
    “Are they going to fire that thing or what?”
Quiz asked.
    “That pulse weapon is a