Crisis at Garmil's Gate - 01

The Baden-Powell arrived at Garmil's Gate to find a Red Eyes pirate attack upon an incoming merchant convoy.

"This is Sir Ramsey Hennipen, Paladin of the Solar Guard. All Red Eyes vessels will heave to and surrender or be destroyed."

On the viewscreen, Sir Ramsey saw several of the squat, blocky mecha sortied by the Red Eyes pirates turn about from their dogfight with the garrison at the orbital colony of Gatewatch to intercept his ship. Then, despite extreme range, they fired upon him.

"There's your answer, Sir Ramsey."

"Sibley," Ramsey said to the elder warrior sitting adjacent to him, "signal Creton to stand by on the guns. The lad's clear to fire when they come into range."

The gray-haired sergeant-at-arms keyed into the ship's comms. "Son, stand by on the guns. Fire when they're in range."

"Aye, father!" said an eager young boy, "Ready for battle!"

Sir Ramsey focused his attention outward once more. "Saint Itano, make Creton's aim true."

He threw the throttle forward, going all-ahead full to reach combat speed. Without another word, he saw the ship's secondary guns--mounted on turrets on the dorsal hull--light up, launching rapid volleys of laser-guided plasma appearing as red bolts in the void of space at the Red Eyes mechs advancing upon them. The unit in the center of the formation took a full volley head-on and exploded in a fireball, shattering the formation and leaving a hole for the Baden-Powell to fill.

"That should relieve the fighters defending the merchant convoy." Sibley said, looking at the bigger battle before them.

Creton swung the dorsal and ventral turrets about as Sir Ramsey spun the ship on its horizontal axis, allowing the turret a full sweep of fire. The Red Eyes mechs reoriented as they broke formation, bringing their cannons to bear, but Creton struck down the one trying to fire from their starboard flank before it brought those cannons about.

With that side clear, Ramsey turned away from the other two that fired from the port flank. Creton struck the lower of the two first, and as Ramsey completed the roll Creton acquired and fired upon the last one. Its hapless pilot sat there, mouth agape as the lethal volley slammed right into his cockpit, stunned that he and his wingmen went down so easily.

In the middle of the furball fought amongst the merchant convoy, a giant humanoid robot in black-and-red with a pair of red eyes cut down a defending fighter with a beam sword. Its pilot, cocky enough to not wear a flight suit, heard an entire flight of his minions scream their death cries seconds apart. He brushed a lock of hair out of his face and smirked. "The Church sent a Paladin? House Far must be desperate."

The face of a man who seemed to have been molded by repeated hammer blows appeared on a side monitor. "Captain, primary objective is complete."

"Acknowledged, Gori." the captain said, "Recall the fighters and spin up the drive. I'll cover their retreat. We're done here."

Aboard the Baden-Powell, Sir Ramsey saw the smirking captain appear on his viewscreen.

"Greetings, Sir Ramsey. I am Dashing Jack, captain of this band, and we shall neither surrender nor be destroyed. Rather, we shall take our leave."

Sibley quickly pinpointed Jack's unit and brought it on screen in another window. "He's got a knight's mech, Sir Ramsey."

"Paladin, I recommend playing to the heroic nature of your kind and choosing not to pursue today. As I am certain you can see, I am quite capable of crippling or sinking these vessels before you can stop me. I'm certain that the garrison commander will concur that you are wise to acquiesce."

A third window opened, this time showing the face of that very man: Sir Kei, of House Far's vassal family, the Fangs. "My wing is unable to pursue, but we can escort them to port. There will be another time, Paladin."

Ramsey turned to Sibley. "Time to target."

"At this speed, three minutes."

Ramsey stared at Dashing Jack, countenance stern. Jack smirked at first, but soon it faded, replaced by nervous laughter. "Until we meet again, Paladin."

Jack cut off his comlink. "He's retreating now."

Ramsey turned that face to Sir Kei. "Thank you, Paladin." Kei said, his voice betraying his exasperation, and also cut his comlink.

Sibley keyed into the ship's comms. "Stand down son. Fun's over, for now."

"Too easy." Ramsey said, "I'm certain that The Red Eyes have something bigger at play here."

"Aye, Sir Ramsey, but what is it and who else is involved?"

"We'll find out soon enough. Resume course for Gatewatch. We'll start with Sir Kei."