Raptor One – Chapter 88
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The warp, the sub dimension, also known as ‘Slipstream’ due to it’s waves and flows, always moving to some direction, always having a wave, always rippling...
10 minutes of calm and tranquil voyage inside the slipstream that passed in silence.
Watching the ship slow down along with the wave before it spits out Tenacity on a solar system with a blue dwarf at it’s center, looking around the ship camera I see no movements as Tenacity flow along the gravity lane close to the blue sun.
“Zu, how’s the situation?” I ask out making Zu lift her head out of her station.
“Nothing worth mentioning, only rock planets, there’s no activity here, I’ll keep my eyes open for pirates while training.” Zu say while looking at me and start training after I give her a nod.
“White.” Nail ask out.
“Da?” I say and look her way.
“Can I go get a feel of Selket? If I'm going to be her pilot I want to return her in one piece, don’t want to have you get my head later as I know she’s your baby, just like Sigma.” Nail say with a smile and let out a joke.
“Haha, rodzher Nail, you are clear for take off, just keep a look for potential enemies.” I say while getting up.
“Will do Captain.” She nods and walks out.
“What about you three, Shy, Peppy, Cold?” I ask out.
“Maintenance!” Peppy gives a happy reply with hands up.
“I’ll be training in navigation, I'll try to reach ‘Combat Navigation’ ‘expertise’ as soon as possible, a good navigator can help a lot in combat after all.” Cold reply with a serious nod.
“I’ll be working on my gunnery skills, maybe even get the drones worked out after I get a feel for the little guys.” Shy reply in her small voice.
“Sure, I’ll be meditating inside the Living quarters, nothing much I can do here while waiting.” I say with a bye and walk out of the bridge.
Passing the elevator area which connects the upper, middle and lower decks I reach the Reactor room after passing the thick bulkhead and it’s pair of armored pressurized doors, stopping to look at the reactor.
A simple nuclear reactor with 12 fuel ports, besides it are the voltage regulators and reactor console, on top of it lies the turbine, a simple and small ‘Thor turbine’ connected directly to the nuclear reactor, the last three free spaces lies the three water cooling towers, the reactor itself looks complex yet advanced, we made sure the reactor had a good casing and the pipes that span it’s exterior did not look ugly so it have a technological and clean look despite not being a breeder reactor.
I shake my head and continue walking, the six ejection ports clear to see with only two covered by the armored battery racks, each housing three ‘military grade’ ‘Erchius battery’ each.
Passing another set of doors and it’s thick bulkhead the scenery changes from clean high tech to homely as I walk in, the lovely sight of a lived in high tech room of avali standards make me relax a lot more than the station’s simple and flimsy looks.
Sitting before the low table after grabbing a sealed cup of Avalon wine I place it on the low table, the little magnets on the bottom grabs the table denying it from floating in zero gravity as I relax and look at the time before meditating.
Time->
Seconds:(0/60)
Minutes:(44/60)
Hour:(1/6)
Cycle:(1/4)
That’s what? 6:44AM? The ship won’t be moving until 8:00AM it seems.
Shaking the thoughts out I take a deep breath and relax...
The tense feeling, the anxiousness, the expectant reaction to the incoming pain...
They are all gone in a minute, the pain never came as I barely reach deep meditation, my mind flowing like it’s passing by wires, hitting a node and bouncing to another snaking road to another node...
The impact shook my mind, the connection failing for a moment before return to calmness as my mind drifts through and hit another node, the hit was hard just like the last one but this time it took less concentration to recover.
Another two hits and I'm pulled out from my meditation, the feeling of breakthrough close at mind as I open my eyes, the sight of Peppy was weird... Where’s her natural smile?
“What happened devochka?” I ask her while looking at the hour.
Time->
Seconds:(0/60)
Minutes:(34/60)
Hour:(2/6)
Cycle:(1/4)
7:34AM... The battery must be full, so why the strange look?
“We got enemies incoming.” Peppy say with a serious face.
“How bad?” I ask while getting up and downing the entire cup of Avalon wine.
“We got a Corvette, carrier type, two heavy bombers and two interceptors, came from our blind side but got caught by Zu before they could launch the attack.” Peppy say as we run to the Bridge.
Arrival at the bridge I see everyone in red alert, just awaiting command as I sit on my chair.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Report.” That’s the first thing I ask after getting on my chair.
“We got a Carrier Corvette, scans show‘s that it have standard integrity and houses three layers of Iron plates, it’s armed with a pair of automatic light machine guns of military grade, it have four fighters, two interceptors with light machinegun and two bombers with Heavy Kinetic Cannons.” Zu reply while keeping her eyes on the enemy ship.
“Captain, Selket and the drones are still outside and took defensive formation before they could launch the attack, we are currently awaiting orders.” Shy reply with a strong and serious tone.
“Ship’s ready to enter red alert or bail out, your call Captain.” Cold reply while adjusting the ship vector course and keeping as less exposed armor as possible.
“Enter ‘Red alert’ and get me a bounty search on that ship, I want a pair of drones on each ‘Interceptor’ while ‘Selket’ will harass both bombers.” I say with a growl and the crew start moving.
“Understood Captain.” I hear Nail’s reply from Selket.
The ship lights flash red three times before I see the ship O2 overview start going red, the camera image show the drones taking a V formation with Selket on the center as they get between Tenacity and the hostile Corvette.
“Captain, I got some news from the search log.” My radio goes online with Zu’s voice.
“Da, what’s it?” I ask back.
“They are new on the piracy, got some bounty but not much, we can get the basic 25k from it... Destroyed.” Zu finish talking and get back to watching the enemies.
I look again at the camera and see the fighters coming our way, the ship is very far due to our constant moving
“Nail, begin when the group traveled half the distance, let then think we are putting up a futile resistance while running.” I say to my pack then look at Cold. “Cold, when we start the fight I want our ship closing in on their Flagship fast, ramming speed... Remember me to build a ramming head on our ship.” I say after some thought and go silent.
“Roger Captain.” Cold reply first.
“Okay Captain.” Nail reply and follow the tactic, giving selket side figure while keeping the guns hidden.
The wait was eerie, mostly due to the lack of sound, the ship was depressurized after all.
I don’t need a expert to know the tactic worked because the ship leaved the sweet protection of it’s ‘Point defense’ and is now half way to our side, so Nail started moving their way in a very aggressive way, the drones following behind not losing in speed, less than 15 seconds later the first head on was shown it's result.
Of the five bursts of laser fire, only two hit, Selket burst fire hit a ‘Interceptor’ head on, the cockpit shred to pieces as metal, blood and gore fly all over the place, the rear end of the interceptor goes flying away, I give Shy a look which she understands and a drone separates from the fight to stop the fleeing loot.
The other shot, fired by a drone was barely dodged, the last interceptor’s cockpit started leaking air and blood could be seen, the pilot was injured in the process as he or she tries to control the now out of control interceptor.
That small pass however let the bombers get unprotected for a moment, Selket and a free drone started harassing both bombers, while the interceptor pilot tried regaining control of it’s fighter, something the pilot managed to do as the O2 inside the fighter was depleted, he tried to lay a shot but did not get the chance as both drones was on his ass.
I watch as the bombers get harassed along with the interceptor, Tenacity closing in fast on the hostile ‘Corvette’, it’s name now visible, The Taunt.
“Close the solar sails, I don’t want it damaged when we pass by it.” I say to Cold and watch the solar sails close, becoming a pair of big armor plates protecting the frontal sides of the ship.
“How viable is a ramming plate with impact dampeners close to the living quarters?” I ask out to the pack while watching Nail have fun, oh, how I miss some good ‘Vulcan Matrix’ and ‘Railgun Cannons’...
I look to the left and see Nail weaving behind the bomber, having trouble keeping up with it as it does sharp turns and sliding stops, making full use of it’s vector course to shake Nail off despite having a better ship.
The interceptor pilot did not have good luck because the moment he did a sharp turn his fighter lost control due to damage letting the chasing drone to close in and fire a burst, the other that was dealing with the loot managed to intercept just in time and shot too, two burst of laser fire traveled to it’s position and hit in a surprising way, the shot from behind hit the cockpit and shred it into molten metal and guts, the one comin from the front hit the engine block but did not cause any explosion as the last half of the ship drifts away.
“Shy, get the fighter engine block into stationary orbit too and reinforce the others, we don’t want those bombers returning to it’s ship for protection and I don’t want to get in their way and get blasted in the face.” I say seriously while looking at the situation on the bombers.
“We are being shot at!” I hear Cold say and feel the ship blasting it’s thrusters, the shot going wide above Tenacity.
“Evasive maneuver, keep their crew tense, if they try to reinforce the bombers or flee, get in their way with ramming speed.” I give orders and look at Shy. “Shy, keep the bombers from returning or we will be flanked, do you know what a shepherd is?” I say and ask Shy.
“Yes I do?” She reply and looks my way, her commands slowing down.
“Then it’s easy, shepherd those bombers away from The Taunt, with the reinforcing drones this will be easier.” I say and nod her way.
“Shepperd the bombers away...” Shy reply with a low voice. “Got it Captain!”
“Captain, I'm detecting erratic behavior on The Taunt, a check say that they are too close to the O-Class blue star, their ship is overheating.” Peppy say while giving her sister console some taps.
“Da, good news, Nail, you heard? Disengage and try to shot down those turrets, get their engine if need be.” I say and watch Selket separate and head to The Taunt, the two idle drones reinforcing the empty space on the bombers ass.
“Light flash detected!” Zu say with a high voice. “We got a full broadside burst incoming!”
“Bystro! Evasive maneuvers!” I yell out the moment I heard broadside.
The feeling of rapid direction change can be felt as Tenacity sway up and down, then left and right, a shot fly bellow the ship’s belly, another two over the upper deck, a fourth over the ship’s lower deck, the fight fly overhead but before I feel the ship change direction I feel the impact on the ship, a full impact that shove me to the arm rest of my chair, a look at the camera show the damage.
“Damage report!” I say out loud.
“Upper Deck, Module three, Plating damage! The shot angle bypassed the deflection range of the Solar sail armor bunker!” Shy reply fast to my yell.
I growl in anger at the damage but compose myself as Selket fly bellow the ship using it as protection for the assault run on The Taunt, from the two laser blasts, one goes wide overhead while the other hit the upper turret, the blast disables the turret and it’s ammo cook’s off right after but most bullets fly out dealing minimum damage to the ship.
“Good job Nail, the ship upper deck is clean, use your mobility to get it’s engine, I want it dead in the water.” I say with a growl.
“Sure that Captain!” Nail reply from selket while flying up and out of The Taunt point defense range.
With our exchange of words done I order Cold to use our ship as bait, taunting the captain with a probable ramming action, he almost act upon our act so I gave it some incentive.
“Ramming speed full ahead!” I give the order and look at the situation on the bombers with the ship camera, I look just in time to watch one of the bomber get hit by both drones, a full salvo to the engine and another to the cockpit, the engine plating was melted right off and the bomber damaged just like the cockpit, it suffered the same fate and the pilot was not that lucky as blood mist dispersed through the melted holes, he was cooked alive into mist.
“Nasty buggers...” I say while watching the now ghost fighter drifting away, the drones catching it’s damaged frame and stopping it into orbit.
A look back to The taunt show it trying to aim it’s lower deck turret at us, but failing as our ship is faster even with closed solar sails.
It’s movements left it wide for flanking it’s exposed top, Selket dived in, it’s dive was not graceful but it did the job, it’s twin military grade laser cannons finding the engine block with it’s blasts, the thick iron plating barely managing to fend off the shots as it melted to the dense heat, molten iron flying away into space as Selket fly away, The Taunt managed to adjust it’s position, it’s turret blasting off a salvo at Selket, Nail started doing evasive maneuvers the shots passing very close to Selket, one bullet passing centimeters from Selket engine block and sliding under her belly, leaving a nasty line under her lower plating.
“Those are AP bullets!” I hear Nail yell over the comms.
“Nice dodge... At least it’s not AP-Sabot rounds, it would skewer you with and without combat exoskeleton.” I say back into the comms.
“Not helping!” She yell back, making me chuckle.
“The drones finished securing the bomber.” Shy reply and look back at me.
“Reinforce the other drones, I want that bomber melted into slag chunks.” I say as I watch our ship move out of the turret firing angle, with two ships threatening it’s integrity it failed to react to Selket dive, both of it’s shots missed as it left the ship's range.
I was getting angrier and angrier as the fight dragged on, I was dragged back to the fight as Zu said announced out loud.
“They got a lock on us! Flash detected!”
“Evasive maneuvers! Nail! Dive back in!” I say out loud on the comms and Cold try to get the ship out of the bullets way and fail.
We hear the scream of the ship plates as two impacts shake us, I look at Shy and she start talking.
“Damage report! Middle deck! Module zero! Plating damage! The first outer plating on the engine block is almost shredded to pieces!” Shy reply while moving her hands on the air.
I look at the ship camera again and see the red flash's, looking closer I see four drones firing at a lone bomber, of the 9 laser flash's, 7 find the rear end of the bomber, I see Shy move her hands fast, the drones dispersing in four directions as the bomber explodes in purple light, it’s erchius tank was damaged.
“Bringing the drones to reinforce us.” Shy say as I watch Nail dive back with Selket, she manage to align the shots but can’t get a hold of the corvette engines, both shots find it’s lower deck and hit it’s hangar bay right in the front, the damage almost found the turret, I watch as the blasts melt the front of the ship and find it’s insides, a second purple explosion ensues and damage it’s insides more.
I grin and watch as the ship’s captain spray it’s turret bullets in panic while trying to flee and failing.
“Captain, the ship’s turret is dry and overheated.” Zu’s voice comes into my ears making me grin more.
“Shy, get the drones into interruption mode and take Zu’s place, Zu, Peppy And Nail will help me take the ship over.” I say with a grin.
“ROGER!” I hear the girls say as we get up and head to the hangar bay, Nail flying back to Tenacity as the drones keep triggering their warp drive collision alarm.
Let’s take their ship over...