USD: One hour since the traversal wormhole for the 6th Fleet was created.
Location: ltisar System, MNS Theas Hackjob, CIC
The sll of burnt plastic filled the bridge as lights flickered, intermittently illuminating Theas face, each burst revealing a mask of concentration and frustration. Her gaze was fixed on her console, which now displayed a chaotic dance of failing systems across the moonletinterior and exterior failures ballooning in alarming numbers.
The aggressive outpouring of solar energy and gas would have been bad enough, the stations D-field was almost capable of deflecting the energy entirely, at least at the current intensity, but elents of the Ertan fleet had quickly punched through the open wormhole that had expanded to a hundred tis the desired diater.
Ten thousand kiloters was not massive on the stellar scale of things, but when you added the sudden addition of mangled physics and gravity, all bets were off.
Sensor readings flickered confusion and complained about conditions that they were never designed to deal with. Occasional high energy spikes hinted that amongst the maelstrom the broken up elents of the 6th fleet were clashing with their Ertan adversaries in the disarray.
Thea! Is the backup power still not up? Elis hissed.
The marines power armor cast two bright beams in her face as the woman turned her head.
Stop blinding . Back-up systems are coming online. Weve averted a core detonation failure and stabilized the wormhole from ripping any wider, Thea said.
Are you going to explain what happened now? Elis shot back.
Lights on the CIC flickered back into a steady state of being, lighting up the room. Small trails of smoke wafted from unmanned consoles, and loose wiring hung from the ceiling where hull plates hadnt ever been properly sealed. It was a scene that would be common across the entire installation.
The wormhole drive had a malfunction. Sohow it opened a point between the sun, our destination point, and here. Its so kind of three-way connection. Ive adjusted the stations field to deflect most of the solar energy, but I wouldnt recomnd taking a space walk on the outer hull.
Elis stared at her. What does that even an?
Thea shook her head. I honestly have no idea. I didnt know this was even possible. We probably should all be dead.
[Warning: Heavy damage sustained to primary systems. Wormhole generator compromised. Imdiate repairs required for continued D-Field operation.]
The warning from Engi was audible and Elis frown deepened. Thea shook her head and authorized the requested mobile robotic units for the efforts. That ant taking them from other areasthe Alacrity and the offensive systems were going to have to wait.
Her sub-cores were doing their best to stabilize the situation, but the damage was extensive.
The solar energy output dropped, and on the CICs now active main screen, a tactical view of the space around the moonlet began to clarify.
Ship-to-ship combat was ongoing all around them, sporadic and desperate. ltisar destroyers darted between larger vessels, railguns firing in short, controlled bursts as the sudden appearance of cruisers and battleships took them by surprise. The heavier Ertan ships were caught off guard, but shrugged off the strikes and retaliated with lethal precision.
Lasers sliced through to carve deadly lines through the smaller ships.
Thea tensed up as she finally found the location of their allies. The 6th fleets line of battle had scattered and fallen back away from the wormhole, leaving them behind. A rapidly growing cloud of Ertan ships had begun to form up nearby.
None of them had attacked MNS Theas Hackjob directly, but it was only a matter of ti. They probably believed that the station was disabled.
Well, they wouldnt be wrong, really.
Elis.
Im not blind. Were fucked, Elis stated flatly.
I need you to rally what remains of our security forces. Drones are ready to deploy. Internal point defense is online, but thats about all we can manage right now, Thea said.
You think they wont just blast us? Elis asked, raising an eyebrow.
Thea nodded, her gaze briefly eting Elis. Theyll want to investigate the station and learn what they can about the wormhole. We need to keep them away until we can bring it back online and close the rift properly.
The skeptical look on Elis face mirrored how Thea felt herself. Keep them away? You an internally? Because I dont see how we can stop a boarding if external systems are offline.
Thea sighed. Thats exactly what I an. Most systems are buried deep in the rock. Theyll still need to work their way through the structure. Thatll give us ti to bring everything online.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
The CIC shuddered again, a harsh reminder of their position. Thea glanced at the stations hull integrity readouts, as well as the asteroids estimated cohesion. The massive bulk of rock was effective at shielding them from all the energy that the D-field didnt actually block.
Weapon installations dotted the exterior, but all reported grayoffline status. Until the wormhole drive was stabilized and rebooted, and the D-field system was operating properly, bringing those online was nearly impossible.
Can we open a connection to Captain Mackey on the Alacrity? Elis asked.
Thea flipped the main screen to a visual of the primary hangar bay. The Alacrity was there, but a massive rent on its side spewed smoke and embers into the semi-pressurized bay. No connection. Either their bridge was wiped out or all their comm devices were severed. I have so low-level connections to their exterior systems, but they are fire walled to prevent electronic onboarding.
You cant override it? Elis asked.
There is a hard-break in the system, so no. Its designed that way on purpose, Thea replied.
Elis face settled into a grim line as she turned to assess the screen.
Thea continued her diagnostic algorithms at full speed, desperately seeking solutions that all clamored for the one resource they really didnt have: ti.
Im detecting small craft diverting towards our position, as well as so small warships. I believe its the boarding action, Thea declared.
Elis grunted in acknowledgent and stood up and began to head out of the CIC.
Where are you going? We can manage the defense units here as well, Thea said.
Elis paused and looked back at her. Im not one for hands-off command. Our security isnt just robots, Thea. Well give them a warm welco. She pulled her rifle to front-sling it before slapping in a fresh power cell that emitted an electric whine.
Thea stared at her for a second, then nodded. I need more ti. Ti to repair and regain control over the wormhole system and boot up the rest of the inoperable systems. Ill patch our internal defense controller over to you. We have about a thousand defense units to deploy.
Only a thousand? Elis asked.
Most are needed for engineering, Thea replied.
Im kidding. Its way more than I thought wed have, Elis said. She tapped the side of her helt. Keep updated. Im going to go brief people.
Dont get killed, Thea whispered.
A chuckle ca through the power armors speakers. Dont blow us all up.
***
Elis strode through the corridor with purpose, her power armors HUD lighting up with that status of the combat drones assigned to escort her. She could hear the whir of their servos and the soft hum of idle weaponry as she passed them, each one prid for the impending boarding.
She had already given assignnts to the human security detachnt under her command, but she had relegated them to a central defense point near the CIC. That would put them mostly out of harms way, almost unfair if you considered it would be placing all the danger on the defense drones, but
Well, human lives couldnt be replaced as easily as the drones.
A wisp of guilt from a mory tried to tell her that might not really be the case; Beeper and Booper had been
Elis suppressed the thought. The humans werent in power armor and werent going to be effective, anyway. Better to keep them closer to Thea. Maybe the NAI would be capable of protecting them.
She reached up and tapped her helt to open a comm link. Lieutenant, youre in charge of the last line of defense. If we lose contact or things go FUBAR, its up to you to hold the line. We give Thea the ti she needs.
A much-to-young sputter of, Yes, Maam, ca back at her. She clicked the channel off. She really didnt expect much of the ltisar security detachnt.
Pausing to examine the security map of the moonlet, she scanned over the primary defensive positions one last ti. The largest entry point was the hangar, with three chokepoints leading from it deeper into the stationand directly towards the CIC.
The bulk of their forces were laid out in those choke points, along with a large amount of internal defense chanisms in place. It was the obvious frontal attack point, and also the most heavily guarded.
Three other points were highly accessible, landing points on the moonlets surface that were impossible to cover without the external defense systems active. They had long corridors that led to a maze of auxiliary systems, storage, and the more vital systems such as the power plant, wormhole generator, and computronics modules.
They were poorly defended compared to the hangar, so she had delegated most of her robotic defense units to them instead.
Elis let out a sigh. She had done her part; the moonlets defense units were positions and prid for boarding action. They had already set up their mobile automated turrets, barricades, and miniature defense drones, all of which were ready to unleash their deadly potential.
The only thing left to do was a preventative venting to prevent atmospheric loss and damage from uncontrolled depressurization. Elis activated her comm. Thea, depressurization ready. Lets make things inhospitable for them.
Roger that. Sounding depressurization alarm. Two minutes, Thea replied.
It was a long ti, but they werent under attack, and Elis supposed it gave any of the personnel ti to get a breather on if they didnt already have their skinsuit secured.
The tactical screen showed a growing number of tiny craft maneuvering for them. Dozens had turned into hundreds, each probably carrying a squad or fireteam. Several larger cutters probably carried an entire boarding platoon. There were going to be plenty of hostile targets to shoot at.
A spark of confidence ignited within her. They were outnumbered, probably, but they had the ho-field advantage. She and Thea would make them pay dearly for every inch of MNS Theas Hackjob they dared to traverse.
At least until they decided to blast them with battleship grade lasers or a few AMCNs.
Then it would all be over.
She just needed to trust that Thea would get the wormhole system back online and under control before that happened.
Reviews
All reviews (0)