“Right, I feel a lot safer now! Let’s go to Nopileos’ Memorial and finally see what the asteroid hides.”
Arox guided the Barracuda out of the Equipment Dock in Cloudbase South East. Elegantly it glided through the docking tunnel into the void. Equipped with a jumpdrive and a cargo hold full of Energy Cells, Val felt relieved of the burden of a slow ship with no chance of escape. She pointed the nose of the Barracuda towards the North gate and pushed the thrusters to max. The distance was short enough to travel conventionally. They had made it half way when Arox interrupted the peaceful quiescence.
“We are being followed. There is a Paranid Pegasus that followed us since President’s End. It stays out of reach of Triplex scanners, which implies the pilot uses the stationary commercial or military scanners to track us.”
“How do you know? And most of all, why did you not mention it earlier?”
“Our improved Triplex scanners slightly exceed the reach of stationary military scanners. So there is virtually nothing that sees us while we don’t see it. The reason for not mentioning it any earlier is that it could have been coincidental, just somebody going to CBSE. But the ship stays on parallel course.”
“Not good, we can’t easily rid us of it and can’t destroy it because it is too fast. Any chance we can mask a jump?”
“Positive, on activation of the gate we can make use of the jumpdrive without somebody picking it up.”
“Great, let’s do it then.”
30 mizuras later the Barracuda crossed the gate activation zone and appeared at the East gate of Nopileos’ Memorial. Val turned straight north and after one stazura they considered themselves out of reach of the commercial scanners that the stations had built-in and changed the bearing towards the mysterious asteroid.
After tiresome five stazuras they reached their destination.
“So what now? Do your scanners pick up anything at all?”
“Unfortunately not. You will need to get out there and investigate it yourself.”
“Me? Did I not tell you that my last space walk had satisfied my desire for the next 50 jazuras?”
“I can, of course, start the jump sequence and we are out of here.”
“Ok, ok, on my way.” Val moved to the back of the cockpit, pulled her space suit out of the locker and donned it.
‘I can do this! I can do this!’ She fought hard to rid herself of the anxiety she felt. Slowly she pushed off the ship and approached the body in front of her. Now that she saw it with the naked eye it no longer looked like an asteroid. The surface appeared to be pulsing slowly. Slowly Val tried to manoeuvre around it. The body had almost the shape of a sphere. Still, the hand scanner did not pick up any energy signature. Val moved closer and only when she almost touched the surface could she get readings.
“I am coming back. You see what you can do with that.”
Arox teleported Val back into the cockpit and started analysing the data as soon as the hand scanner had been connected.
“The data does unfortunately not get us any further. You need to get closer.”
“But I have been almost touching it already! What do you want me to do, get inside it?”
“This idea is not so stupid. You can take a micro sensor and attach it to the surface.”
Grumbling Val left the ship and approached the body again. When she was only a couple of metres away she threw the sensor. Instead of sticking to the surface of whatever this was the sensor vanished inside.
“Where did it go?”
“I lost it. Shortly after entrance the signal faded.”
“Shortly after? So you did get readings? What were they?”
“The readings were very similar to jump gate signatures. That, however, means that you don’t want to find out in your space suit.” With these words she teleported Val back into the cockpit.
After getting out of her suit Val sat down. “So what do you propose, take the ship in?”
“This is indeed the only way to find out.”
“What if we get stuck?”
“Win some, lose some.”
For a moment Val looked perplexed. Then she grinned and fastened her seat belt.
“Right, in we go.”
Slowly the heavy fighter approached the pulsing surface, then the nose slowly vanished. The front camera now clearly showed the image of a gate. It was smaller than the usual ones and would only give room for fighters and corvettes. Soon the whole ship was inside the energy field. Val stopped the engine and looked in awe at the swirling blue light. It was breathtaking. After several mizuras she shook her head as to make sure what she saw was real.
“Wow, that is so beautiful. I wonder where it leads. Is there any indication of the target gate?”
“Negative. Entering the gate will bear a high risk.”
“Well, we have got a jumpdrive. Can you lock onto a gate so we can jump out if we have to?”
“I can pre-empt an emergency jump but we still may not have enough time to charge the singularity engine. The Xenon, e.g. don’t wait for their prey to charge their weapons, even less a jumpdrive.”
“I know but why always assume the worst? Let’s go, I am dying to find out what is on the other side!”
“Entering unknown sector. Ships inbound. Jump tunnel opening at 3 o’clock.”
“Have the jumpdrive ready, I’ll try to get some distance so we can have a look.”
Suddenly purple beams reached out for the Barracuda and the shields started to drop rapidly under the enemy’s fire and missiles. Val twisted and turned the yoke and snapped a few shots when the small triangular ships crossed her path. Five fell to her guns and her shields started to regenerate slowly. Thought there were still four missiles at her tail. She headed towards the last enemy ship in close proximity. Three purple beams burnt away the energy of her shields and when Val finally managed to get behind it her indicators were at ten percent. She crossed the flight path of the large triangle and one of the missiles slammed into its shields. To her utter displeasure Val had to register that the missile did not make anywhere near as much of an impression on its shields as they had done on hers. Circling closely around her enemy, trying to stay out of the line of fire, sweat was running in streams down Val’s body.
Tugging close behind the other ship was not easy. The erratic pattern of evasive manoeuvres reminded Val of her desperate fight in Ore Belt. With trembling fingers she pulled the trigger. She drained the energy of her lasers and only with the very last shot did the triangle disintegrate.
“Cloak, now!” Val almost screamed it and turned the ship to a different heading. This had been close. For the next encounter she needed a different strategy. The beam weapons of these ships, particularly of the large ones were too powerful to risk another head-on attack. Slowly only her heartbeat returned to normal.
Soon she saw more of the small ships approach the battle area. Two huge spider-like ships were also headed for her last location. It appeared as though they were unable to see her.
In the far distance the cameras picked up another fight. Probably more than 40 of the small ships and several capital ships were gathered around another ship. Val was not quite able to make out details. But there did not appear to be any weapons fire.
“Arox, can you capture that with your cameras?”
A screen flicked up and what Val then saw made her choke. Feverishly she charged the jumpdrive and let out a sigh of relieve when the ship materialised at the West gate of Home of Light. What to do? Was this what the old man had been looking for?
While she pondered over what she had witnessed a message arrived. On screen appeared a rather distressed Bola Ti.
“I urgently need your help. Pirates have again raided our research station. Somebody must have dealt them the new coordinates. Only just did I manage to escape in an Octopus. The ship was fast enough so they could not catch me. However, I am stuck in Atreus Clouds with nowhere to go and ships are chasing me. Please help. Sending coordinates.”
The transmission suddenly ended with static filling the screen. Val looked shocked.
“What happened, did they shoot him down? Charge the jumpdrive and target the gate closest to his last position. “
A short while later the Barracuda materialised at the South gate of Atreus Clouds. The situation was clear. Pirates had barricaded the gates and sent out fast small fighters to get hold of Bola Ti. And, as if expecting trouble from incoming ships they instantly opened fire. Val hit the boost and accelerated away from the gate. A quick glance at the gravidar revealed that she had to face three Orinocos and four Bayamons. The odds were not exactly great but there was little or no choice. It did not take long to realise that she could not out-run the medium fighters. Somebody had not spared any expenses and maximised their speed. She rolled the ship around its axis and then turned sharply in perpendicular direction and back, which brought her right behind one of her enemies. The weak shields of her opponent did not last long and she paced through the detritus of the pirate fighter.
In the meantime the other three Bayamons had taken up position behind her and started to rake her shields with plasma. An intense fight that required all of Val’s ability commenced. Her main aim had to be staying out of firing range of the heavy fighters and her opponents made it anything but easy. A barrage of four Wasp missiles hit her shields and reduced them to 60%. A wide barrel roll brought her behind her closest enemy. However, for a moment too long she paid sole attention to her target, stripping the shields with an elongated burst of her BHEPT’s.
“Shields at 15%. You care moving out of the line of fire?”
Arox’ announcement brought Val back to reality. A sharp turn to the right and up got her to temporary safety. The pink plasma of the BPAC’s seared past her and destroyed the engines of her prior target. The explosion saw the closest Bayamon spin uncontrolled to the side. Val took the chance and sprayed what was left of its shields with hot green plasma. Shooting through the debris she turned to finish off the last of the fast medium fighters. The pilot turned and ran for the heavy fighters and Val broke the attack off.
There was no time to take on the heavy fighters at this point; she had to get Bola Ti out of here. Val located his ship, following a rather chaotic trajectory, trying to avoid incoming fire. At maximum speed the Barracuda headed towards the melee. Bola Ti must have noticed her as he now changed his bearing to come closer.
The first two Octopi disintegrated at the head-on pass. Val landed a number of lucky rather than well-aimed hits but the shields of the small scout ships collapsed immediately. The remaining four M5’s changed their tactic and started hit and run manoeuvres. But it did not take too long and they too were destroyed.
Suddenly Bola Ti materialised next to Val and she saw his ship explode at the same time as her Barracuda shook under the impact of enemy fire. There was no time for chatter as the tedious fight with the scout ships had allowed the heavy fighters to catch up and enter the battle. Four Orinocos now raked her shields with plasma.
It took only a few sezuras to take in the whole situation. Her opponents appeared to be well trained. They attacked in wingman pairs and that made it very difficult to have one in the line of fire for long enough to cause decent damage. It was now Val’s turn to execute hit and run manoeuvres but there was no real gain in it. Soon she had to realise that this way she could not win this battle. For once she wished back the times in her Jaguar. The Mass Drivers would have dealt out a good amount of damage despite the shields.
“We can’t fight them like that. I will abort and we jump out. Where shall I take you?”
Bola Ti looked still like he was about to die. With a trembling voice he replied: “We must destroy them. One of the ships has the plans of the beam weapon onboard and I don’t know which.”
“Would you not think they had transmitted this information already? I’d say it is too late to keep it a secret!”
“No, it is encrypted on a chip. They don’t have access to it yet. I hope…”
“Ok, I am open to suggestions. We have neither missiles nor do the sector patrol ships appear very interested in this fight.”
“Perhaps you can mount this one. You fly a Boron ship and this weapon has been developed for our ships. I managed to rescue it and teleport it to your ship when I abandoned mine.”
“Is that what I think it is?”
“This is the prototype of our new weapon. The plans are now with the pirates and we must destroy them. But this is the actual weapon.”
“Arox, can we mount it? Any chance we get it online?” And facing Bola Ti again Val continued. “I guess we will now find out just how well this baby works.”
“Weapon online and charged in right mount.”
After Arox’ confirmation Val turned the ship around and headed straight for her nearest pursuer. At two km she pulled the trigger and one km later used the strafe drive to get out of the line of fire. The effect of the new weapon was amazing, though limited in range. They could literally see how the energy of the shields of their opponent drained. Soon the hull took significant damage from the single Beta High Energy Plasma Thrower. Before the other ships got into fire range the Orinoco exploded.
Val did not have time to celebrate, green bolts of plasma streamed by her cockpit. The ship rocked under the impact but the shields withstood the beating. She locked on to the nearest target and pulled the trigger. Again the beam reached out and started to leach the energy from her target’s shields. With the help of the BHEPT the hull soon took damage. However, before she managed to destroy her target, Val had to abort the attack when the other two Orinocos took her into cross fire. The shields of her Barracuda quickly dropped to 30% and Bola Ti was clicking in terror. The universal translator did not have the words to translate his emotions and Val did not want to know.
In a wide barrel roll she managed to get out of the line of fire and looked around to re-acquire her target. The ship was trailing the others. She must have inflicted damage to the drive system. In a swift turn she headed straight for the damaged Orinoco and opened fire just before weapons range. By the time the pilot returned fire it was too late. The ship exploded in a ball of fire.
Discouraged by the destruction they witnessed the remaining two heavy pirate fighters decided to curb it and run. However, they realised too late that the fight was not over. To Val’s amazement the Boron beam weapon locked on to both ships. When one of them exploded the other pilot ejected. Val would have liked to ask some questions but the zap of the beam weapon had killed him. A scan of the captured heavy fighter indicated that they had managed to recover the chip.
With more pirates guarding the North gate Val could not just send her new acquisition to the Dry Dock in Rolk’s Fate. She had to escort it all the way, nothing to look forward to. The slow speed meant it’d take almost a whole tazura to get there; that was if they did not encounter any more trouble.
Red Glow - Chapter 8 (11.12.2005)
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KiwiNZ
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Red Glow - Chapter 8 (11.12.2005)
Last edited by KiwiNZ on Tue, 13. Dec 05, 00:44, edited 1 time in total.
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Mastermue
- Posts: 614
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Hi KiwiNZ,
Cool battle sequences, khaak, Pirates, who else will Val and Arox have to fight to survive.
Nice twist with the asteriod/mini gate!
Just one very small, miniscule point - "She pointed the nose the Barracuda towards the North gate"
I think there's an 'of' missing - that's it though.
Bloody great mate!!!!
Cool battle sequences, khaak, Pirates, who else will Val and Arox have to fight to survive.
Nice twist with the asteriod/mini gate!
Just one very small, miniscule point - "She pointed the nose the Barracuda towards the North gate"
I think there's an 'of' missing - that's it though.
Bloody great mate!!!!
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KiwiNZ
- Posts: 3512
- Joined: Wed, 6. Nov 02, 20:31
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Mastermue
- Posts: 614
- Joined: Thu, 11. Mar 04, 23:02
-
KiwiNZ
- Posts: 3512
- Joined: Wed, 6. Nov 02, 20:31