(part 3)
"Wait, you mean to tell me that I killed an extremely dangerous menace to society, yet Imperial Society hires criminals like that to do their work and when those criminals get canned... you go after the hunters?" Corium asked in a frenzy as the two officers lifted him from the chair, he fought for a moment before pulling his arms free, " I've got legs.. I can walk." The three left the office but not before Corium grabbed the AI tablet. Walking down the halls, they past bay after bay of docked ships, heading towards a Imperial Clipper with the Imperial Society's logo painted on one of the doors. The Clipper was huge, but it wasn't a beauty to Corium like his viper was.. then he realized that his viper was docked only one bay past the clipper.
" So, what's on the agenda, you going to arrest me and send me to the senator to hash out a deal or something?" Corium asked before they got to the hallway that led to the docked clipper.
" No Commander, you'll be arrested, stripped of your Pilot's Federation affiliation and sent to the Sorbago mines as a slave," The tone of the man's voice was level and serious... there was no joking going on here.
Corium's eyes bulged for a moment at the thought of the Sorbago system, it was best not to mention that he was one of the pilots that brought heat on the Imperial capital ships in that system when the rebellion was alive. His feet felt heavy as his eyes lowered to the two guard's hips, and then their feet... counting the steps. The idea of slavery was never something he'd get used to... let alone HIM being the slave, so with a quick whip of his hand he nabs the left officers firearm and discharges it into the imperial man's leg leading into a heavy handed smack to the forehead on the other guard using the firearm as a blunt weapon. The second guard collapsed instantly to the ground as his internal clock got punched and the first fell to his ass in pain as he grabbed his leg. A stun baton was damn near in his hand which forced the commander to make the second shot fatal.
The two shots were loud enough to alert the station's own guard. Corium dropped the firearm and sprinted past the Clipper's docking passage to the hallway of his viper. His feet slipped a bit before he regained his balance and continued down the hallway, pushing past two mechanics on their way to fix the ship," Hey pal, watch it... that ship's not even ready to go yet!" one of the mechanics yelled.
" Does it have fuel and working engines?" Corium blurted as he continued running towards his ship.
" Well... yeah, but the hull is still shot to shit," the mechanic screamed down the hall only to have Corium scream back," Sounds good to me!"
The ramp to the door was already down, perfect. His feet carried him quickly as another passing guard tilted his head to listen to his shouldered radio. Corium's ass was up and in the viper within seconds, navigating the corridors that led him past the cargo hold, engine room, and the armory where he only stopped to check that the power relay to the shielding matrix was active and charged. Falling over the edge of the pilot's chair and whirled about and corrected himself, strapping into the chair quickly as the yelling guard outside could be heard through the open ramp and hallway, " Get out of there Commander, you're under arrest!"
The sound of brass trumpets called home as the power to the ship cranked on and the loading ramp slowly lifted, the chunky guard trying to leap up to grab it before it latched shut. Trumpets that led into the voice of Johnny Cash's Ring of Fire played loudly though the cockpit as Corium smirked, " Good timing Johnny." he joked as the blue hue of the shielding generator did its job and coated the Viper in a protective shell. The Guard screamed into his radio, " LOCK BAY 4 DOWN NOW! HE'S LEAVING!"
" No time to play ring around the rosey ladies and gentlemen, here comes an unofficial Buckeyball run!" Corium laughed out as he released the landing clamps and slapped the vertical thrusters into a fierce burst of energy, the ship shuddered as it left the magnetic landing pad, " My Own ring of fire, shall me Johnny?" Corium asked his Viper as the engine purred and he eyeballed the scanner, several small Imperial fighters flooding through the docking bay doors. Jerking the ship off towards the next pad, Corium put as much into the engines as he could, the dual lions at the back of his ship roaring loudly as he wrapped around the inside of the station in a loop-de-loop fashion, three of the small imperial fighters taking careful shots at his shields. " Better make the goal before the ref gets mad," he spits out as his eyes catch the inner turrets of the station coming to life. A quick flip of the flight assistance switch leaves him spiraling through one of the support arms of the station's back side as he puts all power into his shielding and prays that the hull doesn't break in half as he twists the nose of the Viper to the side, catching the incoming railing. The shield blazes blue as it encounters the thick metal railing and catapults the Viper towards the center of the stations docking threshold. Dimming down the blue hue fades away to show the station's docking bay door in clear sight. Flight assist gets turned back on and the engines boost towards the stations docking slot, a small sidewinder being the only obstacle.
The sidewinder's pilots flails in his cockpit as the viper's superior shields simply knock him aside, causing the sidewinder to bounce off the letterbox wall and place him wide to an oncoming Imperial fighter which quickly turns into a kinetic missiles, causing the fighter and the sidewinder to burst into flames and explode. Corium's Viper is well outside the station by the time the station's guns lock and begin shooting. The shields hold well even against a few of the stations massive rounds that pound into it, however the smaller Imperial fighter's lasers are stressing it. Flicking assist off one more time, the viper twirls about and levels out with a fighter for only a moment before a hot ball of plasma collides with the smaller ship, turning it into vapors while twin beams cut the pylons off the last fighter. Assist on, align, and the Viper's gone.
The Imperial systems seem so far now, hundreds of light years away... yet the repercussions of that day still sit within the computer of the Corium's Viper. Beforehand, he considered himself an enemy to the Federation, but now... he was truly an enemy of the Empire.