🚀 go-pugleaf

                  ====   A Worthy Loophole ====
                  (part 1 of... ohh, maybe 3. Depends.)
				A Worthy Loophole
	
	
"Who are you that flies so good? Are you insane?"

           --Anonymous space pirate



	
	"Prepare to die, McGuire!" Max Kroen's voice crackled over the intercom. 
Seth checked all his systems-- tachyon guns at full charge, all missiles 
armed, afterburners at optimum output.
	"Better back off, Kroen," Seth yelled into his intercom. "One klick 
closer and you're a dead man. I don't know why you're after me so hot, it 
can't be that little scuffle on Tau Ceti III, but if you push me you're 
toast!"
	"Don't dodge me, McGuire! I'd kill you just for Tau Ceti III, but you 
did far worse than that. You went to the feds!"
	"You've been breathing too much exhaust, Kroen! The feds would kill me 
as quick as you!"
	"Oh yeah? Then how did Insystem Security find my asteroid base? You're 
the only person outside my gang who knew about it!"
	Seth laughed at Kroen's stupidity.  "Fool! And you don't think any of 
your lackeys would ever betray you? You idiot! All right, take me if you 
can, but right now I envy the stoolie who's relaxing on Riga right now, 
lapping up the reward money for your pathetic hide."
	"You've stalled long enough! Die!"
	Seth checked his radar. Kroen was advancing, fast. Seth would grant 
Kroen's modified Epee that-- it was as fast as they come. Kroen was 
advancing at one thousand five hundred kilometers per second and 
accelerating. Seth poured on full engine power and rushed Kroen. He knew 
he'd win at a game of chicken, with his ship's heavier armor and guns. He 
heard a soft pinging sound as his computer gained a targeting lock on 
Kroen's ship. Kroen was a hundred thousand kilometers out... sixty 
thousand... thirty thousand...Kroen was finally in visible range, just a 
silver dot now, but advancing terribly fast... Seth fired a spread of 
missiles and broke right, anticipating Kroen's first move. Kroen cut 
thrust and broke left, avoiding the missiles, but placing him right in 
Seth's path, just as Seth had expected him to. He'd done the same at Tau 
Ceti III. 
	Seth edged right and opened fire, tachyon bolts glancing off Kroen's 
shields. The shields became visible as a matrix of blue sparks as they 
struggled to dissipate the load. Seth shot past Kroen and turned tail, 
firing three plasma balls from his rear turret. It only took one of the 
powerful projectiles against Kroen's weakened shields to short them out 
completely with a red flash.
	At the same time, two of Seth's missiles regained their lock and swung 
back around to seek out Kroen. Kroen put his Epee through a tight loop, 
shaking one of the missiles, but the other was too close. Seth watched 
with satisfaction as his missile neared the point of impact. "Damn you, 
McGuire! Damn you to hell!" Kroen's ship went up in a golden flash. Seth 
watched the wreckage to see if Kroen had ejected. Yes... there was the 
distress transponder symbol. Seth wondered whether he should pick Kroen 
up and try selling him to one of Kroen's many enemies, or whether it 
would be more satisfying to just shoot him out of space.
	In the end, he didn't have to make that decision. A new voice came over 
his hailing channel: "Unidentified Centurion-class singleship-- broadcast 
authorized ID codes now. You are in violation of federal regulation 
fourteen thirty-two, section 3B, prohibiting insystem combat between 
private interests, and various regulations regarding allowable private 
armaments and modifications. Broadcast ID now or be arrested."
	Seth cursed, checking his radar. Yep, three blue dots. ISS, nominally 
friendly or at least neutral-- Seth had a feeling they wouldn't be either,
 at least until the statute of limitations ran out for that incident in 
the Tingerhoff system. He decided to let ISS deal with Kroen while he ran 
for the nearest jump point. The ISS were probably following Kroen from 
his base anyway, if Kroen had been raided by the Confeds. He sent out a 
targeting sweep, got a partial lock. The ISS goons were still too far out 
for Seth's targeting computer to get a solid fix, and of course they were 
far beyond visual range, but the incomplete targeting data showed that 
the ISS patrol was in Talon-class patrol craft, ships a good deal faster 
than Seth's gun-heavy Centurion.
	Seth kicked in his afterburners, shooting for a jump point that would 
take him into Kilrathi space. Those ISS jellyfish wouldn't dare chase him 
there, but they'd do their best to disable him before he could jump out. 
Fortunately, the power-draining Leech missiles ISS Talons carried needed 
a long time to lock on. Seth's illegal signature scrambler would keep the 
Leeches from locking on at such long range.
	Seth glanced at his radar. The Talons were closing rapidly. A stern 
chase is a long chase, but not when the pursuers are a hundred kilometers 
per second faster. He activated some of the more illicit and dangerous 
power sources of his ship, squeezing more speed out of his already 
redlined thrusters. He actually began to feel some of the fifteen Gs of 
acceleration he was applying, despite his inertial dampers. The jump 
point was only two hundred thousand kilometers distant, but the three 
Talons were getting uncomfortably close-- within thirty thousand klicks 
and gaining. Another ten thousand klicks and he'd have to engage, and 
killing ISS would bring down more heat than he could afford right now.
	A high-pitched tone rang in his ears. The enemy had him locked! How 
could a Leech get tone so quickly? Seth glanced at his radar in time to 
see a spread of yellow dots leap out from the blips on his radar; the 
Talons now showed up in "probable threat" red. "Nice going, computer, you 
figured it out," Seth muttered. He'd have to upgrade that combat computer 
next time he hit port. He pushed a button and got a readout on the 
missiles-- they were Intelligent Friend or Foe missiles, guaranteed to 
lock onto anything not registering an allied transponder code. Seth swore.
 He didn't have a trick for evading IFFs... what the hell were ISS doing 
with lethal missiles? They must have assumed that Seth was with Kroen if 
they were shooting with such prejudice. Or else they had recognized Seth 
himself... Seth was wanted dead or alive in at least five systems. 
	Seth hit the jump point and immediately slammed down the jump switch. He 
prayed that he'd execute the jump before the missiles hit him. As the 
world began to shine blue around him, and space cracked open into a wild 
lightningscape before him, he felt two massive jolts. Despite the 
disorientation of the impending jump, he howled in rage as the first took 
down his shields, and the second.... With a crisp crackling rush, the 
jump took effect.



Seth's ship floated through space. Inside it was Seth McGuire, aka 
"Lensman," privateer extraordinaire, renowned pirate, hotshot pilot, 
cunning smuggler, kicker of much ass both human and Kilrathi, and 
currently about as lost as a human in a jump-capable singleship can get.
	"Blood and ashes!" Seth cursed, thumping his nav computer as if his 
anger would repair it. The second missile had jinxed him threefold, 
hitting his nav computer, his repair droid, and his jump drive. Seth had 
jumped randomly, spinning sideways through space to pop out in this blank 
and empty system, with no navigational data and no sense of direction. 
Fortunately all his other systems were intact, and without the repair 
droid he'd still been able to patch up the jump drive, but that didn't 
erase his basic problem.
	He was alone and clueless in a system that really could be anywhere, in 
any area of space.
	Seth had been scanning the system for half an hour, trying to gain a 
clue as to his location. He was in a yellow dwarf system, with only one 
planet. This one registered on his long-range scanners as Earthlike, 
meaning that it was just right for colonization by all the known species. 
And yet he'd picked up no energy sources anywhere insystem. Probably too 
far out of the way of humans or Kilrathi to bother with. Seth was low on 
food-- perhaps he should land on the planet and try to find something he 
could preserve and take with him, if he was going to be lost for a while. 
Seth was an urban pilot though-- a smuggler and pirate doesn't need 
wilderness survival skills. Seth realized that despite his fair physical 
form and back-alley fighting skills, he'd be finger food for any large 
predators planetside, and he wouldn't know what was good to eat anyway if 
it didn't come in a self-heating labeled package. There was nothing 
useful in Seth's hold, unless he planned on nuking his dinner-- he was 
carrying a load of obsolete nuclear weapons for a would-be dictator on 
Unzervalt.
	So. Not much left to do. He'd have to try one of the three jump points 
at the edge of the system. He decided to drop down for a quick orbit of 
the planet first, just in case he'd missed a settlement.
	The planet was mostly deep jungle, with a few mountain ranges that 
appeared to consist mostly of active volcanoes. No large bodies of water, 
but a lot of small lakes and rivers. A planet more homelike to Kilrathi 
or Firekkans than humans, Seth decided. But still... this might be a good 
place to build another hideout. The heat in his usual haunts had grown to 
the point where he would do better to lie low in some backwater system 
for a while.
	Seth was shaken from his thoughts by a sudden alarm from his combat 
computer. Two waves of fighters were rising from the mouth of the nearest 
volcano, and they were of distinct Kilrathi design, all fang and claw 
shapes, bristling with weapons. Seth got a sinking feeling that he'd 
stumbled across a Kilrathi outpost. The fighters were already up into the 
exosphere-- it was too late to cut and run. He'd have to engage. He hated 
atmospheric combat, even in the very top of the stratosphere, but he had 
no choice.
	Seth banked his ship away from the planet, hoping to lure the Kilrathi 
into breaking formation at the sight of fleeing prey. The Kilrathi, 
though a race as technologically advanced as mankind, still retained most 
of the instincts of their feline ancestors, a fact that many humans 
before Seth had used to great advantage in combat.
	True to form, the three craft in the first wave broke formation, going 
to afterburners in hopes of scoring an easy kill. Seth had guessed right--
 boring duty on a frontier outpost had made the Kilrathi eager for all 
the blood they could get. He tuned his radio to a Kilrathi combat channel,
 and hissed in passable Kilrathi, "The Emperor fornicates with thavach!"
	A snarling feline face appeared on his vidcom, yelling in Terran, "You 
cannot defeat the Drakhai! I shall clean my claws on your corpse!"
	Seth started to worry. What were the elite Imperial Guard doing in such 
a remote area? Of course... Seth had hit something big. A secret 
construction project? A listening post? Seth had no love for Confeds or 
Kilrathi, but if he had to make a choice....
	The first wave of fighters, lightly-armed Drakhri-class mediums, got 
within range of Seth's rear turret guns. With a warlike yowl he fired his 
plasma guns at full charge, turning the lead fighter into a fireball with 
three hits. The other two broke, one left, one right, as Seth sprayed 
more plasma balls across their paths. Seth executed a kickstop, let the 
Drakhri shoot past him, fired a pair of heat-seekers, then spun and shot 
off toward the other three fighters.
	The second wave of Kilrathi were of a design he'd never seen before. 
They were truly the most stylish-looking fighter craft he'd ever seen, 
irregular swept-forward wings, forward-pointing blade-wings sticking up 
and down from each main wing, and three side-by-side hull sections, one 
for the cockpit, the other two mounted with heavy guns and engines. 
Apparently a heavy assault fighter, each one looking like more than a 
match for Seth's Centurion. Seth weighed his chances if he engaged... 
then weighed his chances of escape. He decided to attack.

As he fired his tachyon cannons at the lead heavy fighter, he was 
gratified to see in his radar that one of his missiles had destroyed a 
Drakhri, and the other missile had damaged its target, which was now 
spinning out of control toward the planet, explosions sparking across its 
stern. Seth had only the heavy fighters to deal with until the volcano 
base could launch another wing.
	Seth pulled up short of his attack run as a massive return volley barely 
missed him. "Don't play too rough, now," he muttered, and then, in 
Kilrathi, "Cubs shouldn't play with dangerous toys."
	"Honorless ape. Your pathetic ship is no match for our Vaktoths. Your 
head shall hang in my trophy hall."
	Vaktoths? Seth tried to shake off the feeling that the Kilrathi was 
right as he continued his maneuver into a tight loop, coming up behind 
the Kilrathi fighters. He fired off a tachyon burst, weakening the rear 
shields of the middle Kilrathi, the wingleader. Kill the wingleader, Seth 
surmised, and their tactics go kaput. The ship he was tailing fired 
several shots from a rear turret-- meson blasts. Seth's shields could 
take that for long enough to destroy the enemy, Seth decided, 
nevertheless jinking to throw off the enemy's aim. Seth saw the two 
wingmen break off, one to the right and one to the left, and realized 
that they were pulling a standard tactic-- and the oldest trick in the 
book. Let the prey attack one target, and get behind him while he's 
distracted.
	Well, Seth wasn't about to fall for that trick. He fired a few tachyon 
rounds at the wingleader, aiming above and below the ship to keep it 
pinned, and at the same time armed one of the small laser mines he'd 
gotten from a weapons heist in Rigel. These deadly little weapons 
exploded just like normal mines, but also used the power of the blast to 
fire a hard X-ray laser-- the most violent type of light in the spectrum. 
This laser gun was destroyed in the mine blast, but in the few 
milliseconds it endured, it fired an overload-charge beam at the innards 
of the nearest target. The laser mine had been dismissed by Confed as 
being useless against capital ships and too inaccurate for fighter craft 
combat, but just this once Seth was glad he'd packed them, because this 
was the perfect setup.
	He dropped the mine just as the two... "Vaktoths"... dropped into an 
attack angle behind him, and then pulled up sharply to let another volley 
of the wingleader's meson blasts pass under him. He hated to break his 
lock, but the meson blasts might confuse the tailing cats so that they'd 
even less chance of avoiding the mine. He glanced behind him and was 
gratified to see one Vaktoth ram straight into the mine, disappearing in 
the flash of the explosion. The second was in the process of veering away 
when the blast singed him, taking down port shields... and a split-second 
later, an intense green beam shot from the explosion to lance into the 
port side of the second Vaktoth, punching a crippling hole right through 
it. Seth started to exult, but stopped cold. The Vaktoth that had hit the 
mine was still operational, though in bad shape. Seth fired his turreted 
plasma gun at the damaged Vaktoth, requiring three solid plasma hits to 
destroy it. Seth began to realize what he was dealing with; the new 
Vaktoths were at least twice as tough as their predecessor craft, the 
Gothri.
	Seth turned his attention back to his single remaining foe, who was 
jetting away on afterburners. Seth shouted in victory. "I spit on you!" 
he shouted over the intercom.
	Then he saw where the remaining Kilrathi was headed. The Kilrathi wing 
commander was headed for the volcano base. Seth wondered why another wing 
of fighters hadn't scrambled yet. If the volcano was a secret 
construction facility for those new Vaktoths, as Seth suspected, wouldn't 
they have more firepower than just three Drakhris and three prototype 
Vaktoths? He turned to the Kilrathi combat channel as he chased the 
fleeing Kilrathi.
	He wished he'd studied more Kilrathi in his day-- all he could make out 
was  "...Terran invader... kill... launch Kamekh Has Ikh'tar." Though the 
rest was just incomprehensible screams and snarls, that was enough. They 
were launching a Kamekh-class corvette after him. A full-scale light 
gunboat, just to take out one little intruder. "A little bit overkill, 
don't you think?" Seth muttered, ignoring the time he'd used anti-matter 
warheads to destroy an unarmored Tarsus.
	Seth considered flight, but realized that if the Kamekh used its tractor 
beams on full power, only a long tug-of-war would get Seth out, leaving 
him a sitting duck for that remaining Vaktoth. But if he stayed... 
whichever ship he attacked, the other would be able to hit him from 
behind. Unless... he saw it.


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to be continued.....
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Please report any inconsistencies, stupidities, or other loopholes... or,

write and tell me if you liked it.
I move around a lot, so e-mail me at both

<TLG...@prodigy.com>

AND 

<mmacd...@mail.millikin.edu>

if you want me to actually see what you wrote.


                                              Alan "insert nickname here" 
MacDougall
                                                --insert sigfile here--
                                                

(This sigfile is under destruction.)