Jenny was bored.
Her small shuttle was weaving its way through a densely packed asteroid field, the giant glittering rocks dwarfing her ship and casting cold shadows over the viewport. Jenny had set the shuttle on autopilot, trusting the guidance system to navigate between the ever-shifting rocks faster and with more precision than she could ever hope to achieve.
Since leaving her home planet of Messaline, Jenny had come to the conclusion that space travel would not be as glamorous as she had envisioned it. Outer space was just mostly that; empty space filled with dust and rocks and gas and-
"Scorpions?" Jenny said aloud, sitting forward in her chair. "Giant space scorpions?"
The shuttle's sensors, a modest technology at best, suddenly picked up a vessel flying in hot on a parallel course. Jenny was able to make out a vague arthropodal configuration and aft weapons fully charged. "Well what's this, then?"
Close behind the insectoid ship was another vessel, this one with a more industrial design; a boxy, gunmetal hull with rows of exhaust pipes belching a violet-hued radiation in putrid clouds. One massive cannon was perched atop the prow of the pursuing ship and its muzzle was red-hot.
With a great concussive force, the cannon launched a gigantic spherical ammunition that, upon reaching the first layer of the asteroid belt, split into hundreds of small bladed gyros. The fragments began to spin at incredible speeds, the blades shining an electric blue. Jenny watched in fascination as the ammunition cut through the asteroids in seconds, slashing a path for the radioactive ship.
Jenny slapped at the autopilot switch and sat at full attention, already plotting an exit strategy. She took the shuttle higher, hoping she would be mistaken for a stray asteroid propelled by solar winds. With the two ships engaged in battle, Jenny hoped she could evade detection until she was clear of the field.
From her sensors, Jenny saw the scorpion ship open fire, but the pulses never hit their mark. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the radiation pouring out of the pursuing vessel was obstructing targeting scanners.
The scorpion ship was weaving through the asteroids with practiced ease, denoting a familiarity with the environment.
"Some sort of natural defense system?" Jenny wondered aloud.
On sensors, Jenny detected a transmission of some kind emanating from the lead ship. "Calling for reinforcements are ya?" the soldier asked, her young face tightening. "I don't think I'd like to be here when the cyclone comes."
Jenny's console rang out an alarm. Scrutinizing her board, Jenny saw the asteroids flare with an energy buildup. "Okay, maybe not so natural a defense system."
Through her viewport, the young woman saw several hundred of the larger asteroids glowing with a yellow crackle of energy. Within seconds, the stored power burst from hidden emitters and began to link up with the other asteroids, creating a latticework of light. Monitoring her sensor readout, Jenny witnessed the small gyros being burnt to nothing as they encountered the field. The industrial vessel altered course to outrun the connective field, but within moments it would be caught in the lethal grid.
Being small and infinitely more mobile, Jenny maintained a parallel course with the scorpion ship, hoping it knew how to keep ahead of the belt's incendiary network.
Behind the shuttle, the massive ship tried to veer its course to avoid the grid, but its aft starboard section collided with the field, eliciting a blossom of heat and energy. Bulkheads, cabling, and indeterminable debris spiraled out into space before they too were vaporized to atomic dust. The vessel teetered precariously before smashing into an asteroid, the hull crushed into a third of its size.
The destruction of the ship ignited the exhaust and an explosion knocked Jenny off her course, putting her into the path of the scorpion ship. Jenny struggled with the controls, tried to regain altitude, but the communications array assured her it was too late.
"You are trespassing into Imperial Kal territory." A vicious, hissing voice informed her. "Power down your shuttle and prepare to be towed to Military Outpost Alpha."
"Listen, as much as I'd love to drop in for tea, I really should get going. But leave me your communications frequency and we'll arrange a proper date."
"Power down your shuttle. This is your final warning!"
From the ship's aft, a maglock launcher emerged and fired a blunt, harpoon-like projectile that latched onto Jenny's shuttle. Jenny poured every bit of the small ship's power into the thrusters, but the spear reacted with a discharge of energy that shut down the shuttle's primary systems.
"You and your vessel are now properties of the Kal Empire." The snakelike voice informed her as he pulled Jenny out of the asteroid field and towards a massive moon fragment.
"Oh bollocks," Jenny whined as she kicked up her feet onto the console. At the very least, Jenny was happy to find that she had been wrong about the uneventfulness of space travel.