Silence. Followed by a persistent ringing in my ears.
Slowly opened my eyes to see in front of me a big ol’ pile of space rocks and nothingness.
Turned my head slowly, my whole body aching, ears ringing, only to realize I was just in front of the Yela’s asteroid belt.
Then it dawned on me. I had failed the mission to destroy the criminals hiding in the belt, last one had got me.
He’d fought very close, a true dogfight and ultimately tore the left claw of my alien ship, leaving me to spin erratically and thus getting away.
Barely had time to escape, with everything tossing and turning violently and throwing me against the walls like no tomorrow. Which at this time, I wasn’t so sure I was going to see.
Still aching, decided to EVA closer to the asteroid. At least the solid ground would provide some small moral comfort.
Time to set a beacon up and hope someone finds this unlucky mercenary.
I was fortunate. A poor soul was in the neighbourhood and took pity on me. After a quick chat on the comms, he reluctantly accepted the reward, took me in his ship and delivered my broken body to the nearest space port.
In spite of all that, enjoyed being a turret gunner once more, even if briefly.
As I put my feet back on the ground of the spaceport, the pain came back to me in all its glory. I was happy and grateful, but heavily battered. Probably a broken leg and a few ribs as well.
“Lived to see another day, John” I said to myself, limping towards the doors of Olisar.