Free Bypass Gemini by Joseph Lallo

true. They were excellent at frontal assaults, but they were absolutely invincible at everything else. An arsenal of tracking and homing weaponry made them a sure thing in a close pursuit, and any number of long range armaments made them lethal at a distance. In a game of chicken, their homing stuff wouldn’t have enough time to lock on and get on target before they went roaring past, and the heavy stuff would be too dangerous to use without the risk of getting both ships caught in the blast radius. So it was all ahead full and see whose nerves gave out first.
    “ I would hold still if I were you. I’m supposed to disable you, but it wouldn’t break my heart if one of these shots hit life support,” crackled his voice on the com.
    The distance dropped quickly enough for Lex’s navigation system to start screaming warnings about impact danger. He ignored it, keeping his eye on the approaching ship. It was close enough now for him to make out some details on the visual scanner. It was old, one of the first model years of the DAR. There were signs of wear, but no signs of damage or repair. That implied that this guy hadn’t done a lot of fighting... or at least he hadn’t done a lot of losing. The ship was more or less stationary, taking slow, deliberate shots with its plasma cannon. They were impeccably aimed, and came heart-stoppingly close to connecting. A weapon like that wouldn’t destroy Betsy outright, but she certainly wouldn’t be going anywhere in a hurry. Unless it hit the cockpit. That would wipe out the controls and, more importantly, the pilot. Lex focused on dodging.
    “ Listen, Mister Fisk. I’m on a nice little stroll through space. If your ship just happens to be occupying some of that space, well, that’s your own fault. And my ship weighs a lot more than yours, so who do you figure comes out on top in that situation?” Lex taunted.
    When something is moving toward you at truly high speeds, it can play tricks on the eyes. Particularly in space when there isn’t anything nearby to serve as a reference point, things that are far away don’t seem to move at all, regardless of their speed. Beyond a certain distance they seem to be a speck creeping along at a leisurely pace. Then at some magical point it appears to close the remaining space in no time at all. It isn’t a well known phenomenon, since most of the people who experience it don’t survive. Lex had seen it more times than he cared to recall, so he was ready for it.
    The few hundred yards passed in a fraction of a second, but the trained reflexes of a racer stretched them out for ages. He tugged at the controls at the last possible instant, nudging the ship upward just as a final bolt of plasma launched at him. The projectile passed near enough that Lex could hear a crackle of interference as it brushed his meager shield. A tenth of a second later the enemy ship dodged downward, but Lex adjusted to follow. If he was going to have a chance at making it to the hiding spot he’d had in mind when he’d plotted this course, he would need to cut this close. Loud, urgent alarms informed him that impact was immanent. Finally he felt just the tiniest shudder of upward motion, his shields sliding across the beefier ones of the DAR. That was his cue. He punched the engines for all they were worth.
    In a roar of white-blue light and a jolt of thrust, he let Betsy do what she did best: Haul ass. The flare of the engines belched out all manner of frequencies up and down the electromagnetic spectrum in one monumental blast. It wasn’t technically a weapon, and it didn’t last long, but at point blank range the EMP created from an oversized engine revving like that was more than enough to scramble the controls of even a well shielded ship like the DAR. Lex watched the sensor screen as his ship creaked and shuddered under the acceleration. The rear camera showed Agent Fisk drifting downward and slowly twisting in an awkward direction. It was a motion