honeydew with caramel and sprinkles
Story: Timeless { backstory | index }
Title: Victory Dance
Rating: G
Challenge: Honeydew #25: victory dance
Toppings/Extras: caramel, sprinkles
Wordcount: 655
Summary: Kenny Berkley of the Matz 2 Flying Squad does things her own way.
Notes: This future arc will become linked to my characters very soon. Also: final honeydew piece, yay!
“Kenny! How close are you?” Dax Zajaczkowski called across the comms to her from one of the control rooms of the space station, Matz 2. “I’ve lost you on the radar.”
There was a crackle over the speakers and eventually he heard Kenny Berkley respond-
“Just getting there!” she said with a gasp under her voice. “Oh hell, this bucket takes a while to warm up.”
“Steady,” Dax advised her, squinting at the screen once more. “It looks like he’s going to head over the-hey!” He had jumped slightly as the teardrop-shaped attack shuttle whisked from over the top of the screen and cannoned towards the pirate escape-pod with its rear jets blazing white. “Aren’t you gunning it a bit?”
“Not at all,” she replied, and he could hear the frisson of reckless excitement in her voice. “I’m going to give those pillocks what for!”
“Careful,” Dax replied weakly. “You’re not meant to be killing them.”
Matz 2’s facilities were ancient and finicky to say the least, and through the slightly flickering screen Dax watched as Kenny sent her small shuttle into a quick twirl and a steep nosedive towards the wayward pod. The captain had jettisoned it when they had apprehended the pirate shuttle and he was trying to get away. Escape pods were notoriously difficult to control and Dax found himself feeling a little sorry for the pirate captain as Kenny made a beeline to it.
Her hand tight on the throttle, she yanked it back as far as she dared-which was a lot-and then wrapped both fists around the joystick, delirious grin on her face as she entered another spontaneous whirl. Over the speakers, Dax heard her whooping as she bounced in the seat and the crunch of her activating the magnets.
It was against protocol for a member of the flying squad to go out without a co-pilot but Kenny always flew solo. She was an excellent pilot but even the hardiest of riders tended to suffer from severe motion sickness when she was at the controls. Besides, she didn’t need a co-pilot.
An incapacitating beam fired from the belly of her shuttle, hitting the pod square in the centre and sending a frisson of bluish electricity wavering over its metal casing. Kenny laughed, the sound ringing over the comms, and then the shuttle slowed down considerably, turning to face the space station once more. Dax could just about make out her silhouette in the windscreen.
“Dax! Check it out!” she said, and he watched the gun turrets begin to jerk up and down in time to some inaudible beat. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Matz 2 was the dump where the Solar Police Department sent all of their loose cannons, and cannons came no looser than Kenny Berkley.
His eyes widened when he noticed something in the corner of the screen.
“Kenny!” he practically shouted into the mic as one of the pirate pod’s rear cannons jerked into action somehow and began to glow, pointed directly at its target. Dax watched with his heart in his mouth as the beam fired and Kenny’s shuttle went into a quick roll, the whole thing spinning more than once as she whirled out of the path of the beam, obviously nearly out of control.
“Whoo! Close one!” she gasped over the comms and then he heard a short sharp blast from her ship. The escape pod juddered into stillness as the second hit from the incapacitation ray stilled every turret and bolt. “Cheeky little sod, this one!”
“Good grief,” Dax said weakly, leaning back into his seat. “Stop doing this to me!”
“Hey, it’s all good,” Kenny said with pride, and he watched as she fired out a magnetic rappel to attach to the escape pod. “Anyhow, I’ll just tow Captain Trigger-Happy here back to the back dock so get some officers ready, please!”
“Alright,” Dax sighed.