Commander Norton resisted the urge to wipe the sweat from his brow. A siren was buzzing in the background, but his immediate attention was focused on the GSS Intrepid filling the main screen. The GEG star destroyer was about to pulverize his vessel together with Norton and his crew.

"Main aft shields gone, commander! Secondary takin' a heavy pounding, they may fail at any moment!"

"Divert all power to the secondary shields! Now!" said Norton, in as firm and calm a voice as he could.

His hand caressed the safety of the self-destruct switch. Should he go out on a blaze of glory? With a bit of luck he might even take the Intrepid with him! That would erase all his past deeds; the half-smuggler, half-pirate would be remembered as a hero.

"How much in the aft shield?"

"Down to 23%, sir. A couple more hits and we're history!"