Sweat pouring down his face, Jorah Plantell maeuvered his ship through the asteroid field and towards open space. His rickety mining craft lurched and strained as he pushed it to its limits in an effort to outrun the pirates which had only minutes ago, accosted him for his precious cargo.

Survival was forefront on his mind as he drove. He had heard stories of what these plastic pirates would do to miners who defined their demands and it did not sit well with him.

CRASH

Brought out of his musings by a medium size chunk of astro-cobalt ricocheting off his hull, he shook his head to clear these thoughts and redoubled his focus on flying. "Veteran miners like me should not be making these kinds of rookie mistakes," he thought.

He was not about to let the last 8 months of work spent mining and refining plastic ore from the rings of saturn to go to waste. Checking his hold readout, he saw it showed 2.45 metric tons of raw plastic ore. On the open market that could be enough credits to pay for a years vacation on earth and he could definitely use the rest.

CRASH

"STAY FOCUSED!" He cursed under his breath as the pirates drew closer. Up ahead he could see a particularly treacherous area of asteroids. The high density of rock ahead was a hazard few could negotiate due to the unpredictability of ricochet trajectories. Checking his scanner, he could see they would soon catch him, it was now or never.

Swearing under his breath he gunned the throttle and aimed for an open section, praying for good luck. At first the patter of rocks against his craft sounded like rain but it quickly turned into a downpour and beyond. With a hellish squeal, he narrowly scraped by the largest of the bunch and miraculaously avoided certain doom.

Looking down at his scanner, he saw the pirates breaking off pursuit in search of easier prey. He breathed a sigh of relief. His poor ship was definitely in need of a paint job but he was alive! As he exited the asteroid field and plotted in the warp jump, he leaned back in his chair. That vacation could not come soon enough...

See also:

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