Free Hybrid Saga 01 - Hybrid by S M Briscoe Page B

bucket wanting desperately to fall back to the ground.
    Through his viewport, Jarred could see the pilot in the cockpit of the patrol ship across from him. He smiled to himself as he flipped a switch on his control panel, opening up the freighter’s hidden missile tubes. He switched on the targeting computer, and to his amazement and relief, it immediately responded and locked onto the enemy patrol craft.
    He saw the other pilot’s look of surprise as he pulled the trigger on his control stick, launching a missile directly into the patrol ship’s cockpit. The ship exploded instantly, Jarred simultaneously pulling up on his control yoke and punching the thrusters to maximum, trying to avoid as much of the flaming debris as possible.
    He fought to maintain the ship’s slow ascent as it was spattered by chunks of burning metal. It choked for a moment, dropping back down a few meters before the thrusters kicked in again, receiving a collective gasp from everyone on the flight deck as the wind was knocked out of them.
    “Is this heap of garbage going to stay together long enough to get us out of here?” Elora shouted.
    “Don’t worry,” Jarred reassured her, sparing her a backward glance. “The old girl’s got a few clicks left on her still. She’ll make it.”
    He hoped.
    Punching the accelerators, Jarred sent the ship roaring away from the outpost, streams of laser fire stretching out past the viewports on both sides, finding no purchase.
    The streaks of fury light soon faded as they ascended beyond their range, leaving only the empty night sky out the front viewport. The sudden peace and calm made Jarred’s stomach feel uneasy. It was always the same in places like this. Sooner or later, they swallowed up anything and anyone that dared linger too long upon their surface. He cringed as his mind flashed to all the ones left behind in the dying outpost far below them. No one would ever know, or care.
    Just another forgotten outpost, buried beneath the sand of this unforgiving rock.
     
    *     *     *
     
    “Perhaps we should retreat to a safer vantage point aboard the vessel?” Traug’s personal mech, Praxis, suggested from where they stood atop their large cargo freighter’s boarding ramp.
    Traug smirked. His mechanical assistant, which had been specially programmed to perfectly suit and mirror his own personal needs and characteristics, was of course looking out for, not only his owner’s physical well being, but his own as well. It had also been modified to match Traug’s height and stature. Though he did not see his physical dimensions as a weakness in any way, he also did not intend to have to look up to his own assistant.
    “Thank you for your concern, Praxis,” he answered, “but I’m sure we are quite safe here with the High Commander and his troops.”
    They had remained safely out of range of the insurgence taking place throughout the outpost, maintaining a position behind Durak and his soldiers, the High Commander angrily shouting orders to his subordinates. Standing there, watching the destruction, Traug couldn’t help but feel saddened by it all. It was such a waste.
    Violence had never been Traug’s strong suit. Though many facets of his employers’ enterprises included the manufacturing of a wide variety of destructive weapons and war machinery, he personally preferred to wage a different sort of war against his own enemies. One which required cunning and the use of deceit and misdirection, as opposed to brute strength. It was far more profitable to use one’s enemies than to simply destroy them. A dead foe gained one nothing. But a living enemy, carefully mislead and manipulated . . . now that was something else entirely.
    It was for these reasons that Traug felt disheartened, as he stood gazing out across the burning dock ring. What could be gained from this? He had expected a number of casualties of course, but as it was, far too many humans had been killed to make this deal