The asteroid ‘AR-gamah’, unidentified space between Mars and Earth’s orbit. August 1. 1000 Solar Era.
Starship Oneiroi had jumped to a safe area close to the asteroid’s trajectory and proceeded to approach it. Their goal was to nudge it towards Earth. The terrans should be able to handle this elongated asteroid a few hundred meters in length. At least, Enine himself believed that there should be no loss of life. Their goal is only to draw the Earth Feds’ attention to the asteroid and sneak a few members down to Earth using the distraction.
-
On Starship Atlas.
“Sir! We sense the energy of a ship exiting jump close by!”
James MacLeod opened his eyes wide and dropped the fork spiked with spaghetti bolognese strands to his plate with a clang. Who would be approaching the asteroid ‘AR-gamah’? It must be another group of terrorists!
Yet, that made no sense. This asteroid was of a large size and thus was closely tracked by the Earth Feds for many years. Even if ‘AR-gamah’ were to be stealth-cloaked, the sudden disappearance of the asteroid would send alarm bells ringing. And if un-stealthed, the asteroid would be taken down, even if the process might require fine-handling by the Earth Feds.
It would be far more effective to use asteroids less observed. Granted, that might take significantly longer based on where said asteroid is sourced from.
Yet, to appear close to this area. They must have come for the asteroid ‘AR-gamah’. There was no other reason for the enemy to show up in this empty patch of space!
James MacLeod banished these thoughts to the back of his mind. The Earth Feds were already informed of his plan, and had not indicated that another vessel would appear. Thus, this must be the enemy, and must be engaged.
He cleaned his lips with a paper towel and tapped his neuro circlet.
“Attention crew. Enemy is approaching. To battle stations. Nexarm units are to begin spreading your neuro devices. Ensure they remain hidden behind the asteroid from the direction of enemy approach. Prepare an ambush. We will simultaneously strike at the same time.”
The dining hall clattered as many of the crew enjoying their printed meals here discarded their half-finished plates in an orderly fashion.
“Sir,” Vargas, a long-time veteran of the EFSF placed in charge of coordinating the A-class starship’s systems, questioned, “Should we prepare our mega-particle beam cannon?”
“No,” James rejected. “We are too close in range, and will be sensed the moment we charge up such a large energy source. It will be easily dodged. Also, we must ensure that the asteroid does not veer off path. We have yet to reach the point where we can give the necessary nudge to send it towards the belt and function as our camouflage.” He was concerned that the particle beam might set off a chain reaction and send the asteroid in the wrong direction.
He himself went to the hangar of the A-class starship to lead the other six nexarm pilots.
The pilots were all nervous, but Levy’s statement assured their hearts.
“To think the martian group would once again use asteroids to terrorize us terrans. God is certainly on our side, that much is certain!” Levy stated.
Amiri nodded in agreement, his eyes narrowing in focus.
“NSF. Begin launch!” ordered James.
-
On Starship Oneiroi.
“Grand Elder. We are approaching ‘AR-gamah’.“
“Thank you, Asix.”
Enine activated his neuro circlet comms. “Nexarm unit. Prepare to connect the drones. The navigational team has already sent the data on where to place your drones to give the asteroid ‘AR-gamah’ the right push.”
“Yes, grand elder.” That was Senior Zseven’s voice. Enine grimaced, but his father had insisted on calling him grand elder.
“Got it.” That was Bone’s voice.
“Let’s go already!” Yfour’s enthusiasm.
There was no word from Xeight.
“Xeight?” Enine queried, dreading the answer.
“He wants to take a nap. Connecting the drones to the right points on the asteroid as per the navigation team’s direction is boringly easy, he said. He’s always like this…” Yfour explained, very much frustrated by Xeight’s disinterest in their task.
Enine sighed. “Just head out.”
“Wait! Enemy detected!” shouted Asix.
At that very moment, Starship Oneiroi and its crew was caught completely by surprise as another A-class starship appeared from behind the asteroid ‘AR-gamah’ alongside a hundred plus floating neuro weapons.
Both the enemy ship and the floating weapon devices simultaneously fired.
“Rotate ship to decrease cross-section! Fire all laser defenses!” Asix had gotten quite comfortable in his role and immediately responded to the developing crisis.
Starship Oneiroi immediately shifted such that only the head of its decagonal barrel faced the enemy ship. The laser systems on the nose then created a continuous high heat zone in front of the barrel that served to melt any incoming kinetic rounds.
“Was our mission leaked…?” muttered Enine. It seemed rather unlikely. He had kept a close eye on all outbound communications. Not even the full details of their mission were discussed with most of the crew.
“Father! I’m setting off to place the drones to accelerate the asteroid!” Bone declared through his comms.
“Bone, the situation has changed! Do not--”
“Nexarm Skull, launching!”
“Nexarm Eel, launch!”
“Grand Elder. I will protect them. Nexarm Bull, launching!” Zseven assured Enine.
This was going to be a completely open battlefield. The area around the asteroid ‘AR-gamah’ was open space with no debris of small asteroids to hide behind.
“Grand Elder. Should we set a blind like we did at Vesta?” Asix had been rather impressed by that strategy.
“No…” muttered Enine. “I do not believe that to be useful here. The enemy is prepared and have their many devices spread so they should be able to circumvent the blind, while we have yet to deploy any.”
But, this wasn’t up to Enine, for at this very moment, the enemy had placed up the blind themselves.
“EFSF!” Enine yelled. The EFSF soldier, Commander Zulu was sent back to the EFSF in a prisoner exchange, and must have informed the Earth Feds of how Vesta fell.
-
On EFSF’s side.
“Sir. As ordered, we have set up the blind.” Starship Atlas repeatedly fired a laser into the diffraction cloud, causing the area in between the two ships to constantly flash and disrupt any information from across the blind However, the EFNSF had long deployed their devices, and many of their sensory swarms had already been sent forward past the blind, thus providing Starship Atlas with the necessary aiming data.
“Continue fire.”
Starship Atlas, too, had the head of its barrel-shaped vessel pointed to their enemy, and many hatches opened on its surfaces. The ten railguns mounted around its circumference continuously fired as the ship rotated along its longitudinal axis, along with the hundred artillery guns designed to pelt the enemy with multiple smaller rounds. These served to grind down the enemy’s x-alloy plate defenses over time.
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“Sir!” Athena had a swarm of devices monitoring the enemy starship’s motion on the other side of the blind. “They’re laterally drifting their ship to escape the blind! Also, three nexarm units are traveling towards the asteroid! The unit leading has the insignia of a skull!”
“This is the T3ST unit! Ignore those three nexarms! They are unable to siege our starship with just three! Focus on the enemy’s starship! We destroy their starship and the war might even be over!” With the T3ST unit before them, they no longer needed to redirect the asteroid to the belt as a camouflage for their search for this unit!
Despite the EFSF’s initiation advantage, their enemy starship seemed to have steadied the situation, and had yet to sustain any significant damage.
-
Although blinded by the EFSF’s ship position, Starship Oneiroi decided to waste energy on their laser systems to completely blanket the area in front of their nose with an intense heat field that minimized the effect of any projectiles.
“Grand Elder. Our laser defense point systems are going to overheat and our e-cube energy store is down by seven percent.” Their double jumps to the asteroid had already used up twenty-two percent of their energy. The battle had just started. It would be disastrous if they were to continue using their laser defense system in such a carpet-defense manner
“Continue the lateral drift. Once the blind is no longer in front of us, the stress on the laser defense system will decrease,” Enine explained. He exhaled and those in the bridge could hear the quivering volcano barely kept in check within his voice. “Someone go. And drag Xeight out of his bed!”
-
Back on the EFSF side.
James MacLeod recognized that the method of using the blind was not quite so effective if the target had the ability to move around said blind. Vesta’s military command center did not have that ability and was thus made toothless by the T3ST unit’s strategy.
“Swarm them,” ordered James with a frown.
“Yes, sir!” A cacophonous six voices acknowledged.
The many swarms that were initially used to observe Starship Oneiroi began attempting to approach Starship Oneiroi.
It needed to be said that this was a rather daunting sight to any who would see this scene. The NSF members each controlled five swarms of spherical automatons each, and each swarm had thirty-six units. Thus, those on Starship Oneiroi were quite literally being approached by thirty of these swarms that were locusts during harvest season.
Asix kept his calm and coordinated with those manning the artillery guns on Starship Oneiroi. The T3ST unit continued wasting precious energy to protect its front through a blanket laser defense system, while its artillery guns began pelting the approaching swarms with pinpoint accuracy.
Automations simply weren’t of the size that allowed them to have thick X-alloy defenses. The rapid fire rounds of a hundred artillery guns on Starship Oneiroi quickly began disabling all the chasing swarm spherical automatons. Each automaton struck became a deadwood floating down a stream.
“Sir! I’ve lost two swarms already. The other three are being cut in half as we speak!”
James furrowed his brows, attempting to find a better method to deal with the enemy starship. He considered using the other weapon systems, yet he knew the starship would handle those weapons just fine. In the battle at Euler Station, the martian ship was capable of countering those neuro weapons, and over time, even had a materiel advantage. And, at Euler Station, those weapons systems even had much debris to hide behind. Not here.
The main difference was the open space this battle was being conducted in. A starship had layered x-alloy plate defenses along with ten railguns, a hundred artillery weapons, and a laser defense system consisting of another hundred synced lasers, all manned by a ship’s crew.
Without a debris field, the nexarm devices do not have the benefit of being able to move and avoid detection. Thus, an ambush by these devices in open space was… well… not much of an ambush.
Starship Oneiroi slightly rotated its ship as it laterally drifted, and eventually cleared the obstruction as they ended up on the same side of the blind as Starship Atlas. They were just in time to cease the usage of their laser systems and prevent permanent damage.
At this time, a somewhat bleary-eyed Xeight appeared on the bridge.
“Xeight! You rascal!” Enine only had time to growl at his son for a split second, his attention much more focused on their battle.
“Laser defense system down! Ten seconds rest required, grand elder,” Asix informed Enine.
“Damn. Fire all weapons and side-roll!” Ten seconds might not be much, but that could be the difference. Their enemy starship had full function of their laser defense system.
Both starships thought the same. They saw each other clearly in their sights and began firing all their weapons. Starship Oneiroi had no choice but to shift its position in space to minimize their chances of getting hit while without their laser defense system. Starship Atlas simply employed its laser defense system and held its position.
“Fire the mega-particle beam. Just minimal charge. Short burst.” Xeight scrunched his eyes to dispel his weariness.
“Do it.” Enine only took half a second to understand his son’s intention.
Mega-particle beam cannon firing in three…
These ten seconds were short, but if unhindered, could be the difference between life and death.
The whole crew knew they were having a brush with death as they heard a shearing noise that vibrated their eardrums!
“Damage report!” Enine ordered.
Two…
“We lost a surface plate on the left-frontal area to a concentrated row of railgun rounds! Some of their smaller rounds from artillery guns penetrated this compartment!”
One
-
On Starship Atlas.
“Sir. They’ve overtaxed their laser defense system. We’ve got them!” Vargas informed James MacLeod.
Smirnov began cackling through the comms. “Hah! They are just grasping at straws!”
“All nexarm units. Full-on assault!” James ordered. Their many weapons devices and swarms that had lagged behind due to the enemy ship’s movement caught up and began their assault. The many weapon devices needed to waste more energy stabilizing themselves with their thrusters in empty space. Some of the less robust devices were quickly disabled by the enemy ship’s artillery kinetic rounds.
“Sir! Beam cannon charging detected!” Vargas warned.
“What?” James MacLeod couldn’t believe his ears. It was impossible for the enemy to accurately strike anything with the beam cannon while under fire. Then, it dawned on him.
His sensory systems were blinded at the energy release of the enemy’s beam cannon. At the same time, all rounds that had been fired at the enemy ship from Starship Atlas were vaporized into atoms. That paused the battle for a few precious seconds
-.
On Starship Oneiroi.
“Grand Elder. Laser defense system has recovered. As long as we do not generate a high heat field as defense and use them in the proper manner, they will remain functional for many hours.”
“Has the breach been repaired?”
“Nanobots have already started the repair process.”
“Good. Asix. Coordinate with the members operating the laser defense system and ensure they understand to cover that breach as priority.”
“Yes, Grand Elder.”
“Father.” Xeight interjected, his voice slow but certain. “We should target their nexarms. Their central core units have nothing to hide behind in this open space. They will be far easier to disable than the enemy starship.”
“Asix. Do we have their nexarm positions? Find one target and focus fire!”
“Yes. Grand Elder!”
-
On the EFSF side.
“Sir! We should retreat!” The very moment that the enemy had used their mega-particle beam as defense, Athena began having a bad feeling in her gut. Her senses indicated that the enemy had overcome any initial disadvantage.
“Sir! Continuing barrage!” Vargas announced through the comms.
To their astonishment, the enemy starship did not return fire, only using their recovered laser defense systems to accurately intercept all the different missiles and rounds fired at them.
All of a sudden, the railgun and artillery guns on the enemy ship simultaneously turned in a singular direction and fired a barrage.
None of the EFSF knew where or who these weapons targeted, except one person-- Smirnov, who could tell that all these weapons were targeted at him!
“Говно,” Smirnov swore in his mother tongue. “I’m targeted! Falling back!” He suddenly wished he thought more cautiously, like Athena.
It was too late. The very moment he activated his thrusters in a bid to escape the zone, he was struck by a shower of kinetic rounds that weakened his plates. One second later, a second wave, and then a third.
Plate integrity at two percent.
It was pointless for him to even use the lasers attached to his unit to defend himself. With many of his devices currently spread out to cover the battlefield, he could do nothing when faced with a hundred plus rounds fired into his zone.
“Sacrificing neuro swarms and devices!” At the brink of death, Smirnov heard Athena’s yell. The fourth wave did not come, and he zigzagged his way back towards Starship Atlas.
Athena had chosen to place her neuro swarms and devices in the direction of the enemy’s ship’s weapons aim. She knew that these weapons weren’t just aiming at empty space! The swarm she controlled blocked the fourth wave and became space junk in a matter of seconds. These still served to block much of the fifth wave.
“Fall back! Replenish your number of attached swarms and devices!” James had become aware that the nexarms were not designed to deal with a hundred plus weapons simultaneously in open space. Their central core control units would be taken out one-by-one at this rate.
The seven terran nexarms sent to control the T3ST unit immediately returned back towards Starhip Atlas, at the same time, shifting their remaining swarm and weapon devices to surround Starship Atlas in defense instead.
James MacLeod’s mind raced-- they had the enemy starship on the brink and yet the T3ST unit had recovered. Trying to destroy the enemy starship now would be far more difficult.
Indeed, they could set up another blind and repeat the strategy, but the surprise factor would be gone. Even now, he could already see that the T3ST unit had activated fifteen swarm groups themselves in preparation for a potential second blind.
This was Xeight, who had gotten into Nexarm Chimera and opted to only attach and activate swarm groups. He did not leave the hangar, and opted to control the swarms with his central nexarm command unit safely within the starship.
He could have activated more swarms with his total motor channel numbered at twenty-one. However, he wanted to keep a few device channels free in case of an emergency.
“That must be their fourth nexarm…” muttered James Macleod when he saw the swarms’ appearance. “Xeight… I wonder… is that you?”
Then, his expression hardened. “But I must do my duty as a terran.’
“Smirnov. Retire for now. Rest of the NSF. Replenish your number of neuro swarms and weapons, and we go and hunt the three enemy nexarm units that approached the asteroid ‘AR-gamah’! Vargas! Simply hold back the enemy ship!”
Starships are just too difficult to disable! Thus, James MacLeod set his sights on the three somewhat stranded enemy nexarms!