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Saffron watches in a
fascinated horror as first the gray prow emerges, and then the gracefully
arced bow-section comes out with the red-lit bridge glowing in an angry
red-lighting.
Saffron gasps as she can see the engines start to fire
through the diffuse of the debris-feild.
And then the squared, armored dorsal surface appears, and only
as the outrigger launchbays begin to emerge, Saffron can finally speak,
"Chet," she warns.
"Not Now," the grotesque voice retorts, "I'm into
my Spiel."
Time nearly freezes as Saffron watches the Battlestar emerge,
the debris-field scatters as the electronic-belts reach full intensity,
"Check behind you," Saffron tries warning again.
Chet pulls back from the phone and coms back, "The name's
Chet."
Exasperated, Saffron says as slowly as she can risk,
"Check, Behind You."
"The name's," Chet takes a quicklook behind his
Backer, and then, "Oh Jumpin-Frigds-" and doesn't finish as he puts
his Backer into emergency-acceleration and shoots out of there for all that
he is worth.
Chet follows Saffron out, as she has already pivotted and is
making a run for it, away from the Imperiled Vessel.
The powerful drive-systems of the Battlestar Galactica come
online as she passes over the Launch.
Starbuck is watching on his moniter and ducks instinctively.
Flames shoot from the launch-ports as Vipers are sent out to
join in the pursuit of the fugitive Backers.
Captain Apollo has adjusted his moniter, "Battlestar
Galactica, this is Civil Launch Chi-Zeta-Chi Radii requesting emergency
clearance to.." Apollo doesn't bother to finish as he sees the
Battlestar building to Flank and disappearing into distant space.
Captain Gunn had approached the inversion-field on a drifting
course.
A fortunate patch of associated ambient ice was an oppurtunity
for a useful vantage-point.
The StarScout's systems were somewhat clouded, but they easily
picked up the lumbering launch trying to make it accross open space to the
debris-field. He also was able to detect the two Backers following in
slow-pursuit.
Gunn shifted his moustache. Saffron and Chek had followed a
different lead to reach this same point.
Captain Gunn considered no criticism of Saffron's decision not
to apprehend or destroy the Launch-packet vessel. It's destination in the
middle of this forsaken, abandoned space had to be of more value than the
miniscule craft.
At last events had precipitated themselves.
When Chek had leaped forward to take-in the random Launch,
Gunn's own instruments went off the charts with rapidly rising power-levels
coming from within the debris-field.
Gunn made his own adjustments, and prepared every trick at his
disposal to survive the next phase.
The Battlestar increased her momentum as she had closed in on
the unsuspecting Chek.
Gunn had barely noticed when Chek had done an emergency pivot
and acceleration to follow Saffron away from the scene.
What he did notice was the swirling debris of ice-shrapnel. Gunn
deftly slipped the StarScout sideways through the
window left by the wake of the rampaging Battlestar.
Gunn staid in the wake only briefly, for surely the afterthrust
of the Battlestar would have incinerated the Backer-Scout.
But the opening had been enough for the Backer to slip by the
ice and out into the open.
And there before Gunn, sat a fat, slow, juicey target; the
Wallowing Launch.
Captain Gunn overshoots the target as he comes from the debris
to avoid the ice-shrapnel.
But as he comes around, his flashing scanner-sights pick up the
Launch squarely.
The hum of charged lasers sounds. Gunn will take out the Luanch
on this pass.
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