A clever idea for an ambush of sorts, but I just felt this lacked some kind of depth – I think it needs to be more overtly melodramatic, or appeal to some other aspect of space opera to be more successful…

A good idea for a story, but I’d like to see some editing to make it a better space opera. MH :)

Wow, heck of an opening. You really crammed a whole lot into one little ficly, and it doesn’t even feel rushed. Color me impressed.

Oh, i forgot. If someone would like to make a sequel, there is one rule: ship’s serial number. It’s only given for large ships and goes like this: psPN-DAT-SSN-D, where:
ps – planetary system (so = Solar, ar – no idea yet)
PN – planet number (which planet in the system)
DAT – Universal date when the ship was built, the first digit is is base 60, other in decimal
SSN – ship’s serial number
D – check digit, which is calculated like this: (sum of (digit * digit’s place)) mod 11. Planetary system’s code is considered one digit (so is 3, ar is 17). If the answer is 10, X is used (just like in ISBN).
Hope that cleared things up a bit, if it didn’t, my fault for creating such a ridiculously complicated system.