Read Spinward Fringe Broadcast 7: Framework for Free Online Page A

little old,” Minh
replied. “It might have a pretty short range.” He watched the enemy
fleet approach the base, closing to ten thousand kilometres.
    “A few drones are heading for us,” Quiz
said.
    “Go evasive,” Minh ordered. “Split right.”
He locked on to the nearest drone with mini-missiles and
rapid-fired half a pod, twenty eight shots. Several beams swept
across his shields as he strafed. As the first drone was struck and
destroyed by his barrage of missiles, a second crossed in front of
him, and he fired his pulse guns. The little machine’s shields
shrugged the damage off, then it changed direction so quickly Minh
lost sight of it for a moment.
    Minh-Chu set his guns to autofire; they
would react faster than he could to the drone if it crossed into
his firing arc. He spun his fighter around and tried to get a
missile lock, but the drone was too close, and closing quickly. He
barely had time to begin thrusting in reverse before the drone
struck him hard enough to completely deplete his forward shields
and pepper his fighter with shrapnel as it exploded.
    The drone was gone. He’d taken minor damage,
but there was a bigger problem. The three remaining drones turned
on Quiz, and he was firing at one with his guns, letting himself be
guided into a slow figure eight. Two Uriel fighters emerged from
their wormholes - it was Slick and Joyboy.
    “Holy hell!” shouted Slick. “You’re being
lured! Break and evade!”
    “You’re gonna get slagged, man!” Joyboy
added. “Get outta there!”
    In the time it took for them to comment on
the situation and start closing, Minh was able to get a missile
lock on the two drones that were positioning themselves out of
Quiz’s sight. Their cutting beams began focusing on his shields,
and if Minh’s guess was right, Quiz only had a few seconds.
    Minh engaged all his thrusters, pushing them
to the limit and, when he was sure of his missile lock, he fired,
hoping the added speed from his craft’s thrust would help close the
gap faster. He changed direction to get a better angle on the
drones for guns and they autofired solid rounds as well as energy
pulses. Something under his seat started rattling, resonating with
the rattling of his solid round gun pod. “Analyze that, please,” he
told the computer as he guided his ship closer to Quiz and his
pursuers.
    “Interior sensors are disabled,” replied the
passive computer voice.
    The cockpit began to heat up, and Minh shut
down his guns. He’d have to make do with missiles. A collision
alarm went off, and he looked up in time to see the drone Quiz was
following had turned so his fighter was thrusting directly at
Minh.
    Minh-Chu barely avoided a lethal collision
with Quiz, but one of the other drones following him slammed into
his ship from the port side. His shields began recharging from
reserve power immediately, and Minh adjusted for the damage to a
port side engine pod as he tried to get his fighter under
control.
    “Sorry!” Quiz offered lamely. “I’ve almost
got this guy!”
    To Minh’s relief, one of the drones Minh
targeted with his missiles exploded in a fury of shrapnel. The
other was struck by a couple of his missiles, but kept after Quiz,
staying behind him, away from his main guns.
    Slick and Joyboy entered combat range and
began firing on the target Quiz chased as well as the one that
sought to pierce his shields using an intense beam. Minh stopped
his fighter from spinning just in time to see Skydock station’s
pulse weapon activate. The Eden ship and hundreds of drones were
slammed by a barrier of light and force that struck at half the
speed of light. Most of the drones were unrecognisable, while the
main ship had split into several sections that lazily drifted and
rotated away from the station.
    Quiz finished off the drone he’d been
chasing for almost two minutes as Slick obliterated the one that
had been drilling into his shields.
    “Not a bad day’s work, huh guys?” Quiz
asked.
    Minh