Book 1: Chapter 17: The Slip

Book 1: Chapter 17: The Slip

USD: ~Nine weeks since awakening, 8 hours since hostile contact detected

Location: Unknown Yellow Dwarf, L4 Lagrange Point, Debris Field #32, nearby A-3123Y

[Warning: Extreme energy pulse detected. Recommend expanding space between ship and asteroid station.]

Was the asteroids powerplant about to detonate itself? Was it about to fire off some super death laser and wipe out the enemy fleet? If they would be so lucky Alex asked Nameless to clarify.Follow current novels on novelb((in).(com)

Is it going to explode? That chunk that came off was large, but from the telemetry data it doesnt seem that catastrophic.

[Correlative: Energy signature matches one theoretical match. Slipstream event horizon generator.]

Thats

The asteroid base had a Slipstream FTL drive? Why hadnt it told them, that would have been their ticket out of the system and avoiding the battle completely!

Is it working?

[Notice: Insufficient data.]

And A-3123Y?

[Notice: Communication attempts unsuccessful. Incoming Vampires 3, ETA: 30 seconds.]

Alex looked to the tactical display and frowned. Lasers were cutting down the much smaller wave of missiles, but the asteroid bases defenses had been degraded severely by the previous damage. As the seconds counted down she bit her lip and squeezed the arms of her seat. The red blips winked out as missiles dwindled, until the final defensive fire of the PDC-Ks shredded as many as possible.

One single warhead jerked at the last second, evading a growing stream of gatling rounds before tucking in and smashing into one of the asteroids lumps. For a second nothing happened.

[Warning: Anti-matter laced tri]

Namelesss words cut out as a white light erupted on the monitor before all the lights and screens in the Shrikes CIC suddenly went black. Then it felt like they were a toy in a toddlers hand as the ship jerked and shook hard enough that Alex thought everything was going to fall apart. Elis let out a curse nearby, and Alex tried to look over to her, but could only see the tell-tale lights on the other girls EVA helmet.

Two ceiling grates fell loose and clattered to the deck, sparks exploded from one electrical line and steam started to escape a coolant pipe, spraying the room with a hot mist. Only the fact that her skinsuits spine had been connected and locked to her chair had kept her in her seat. Wearing a helmet seemed like a great idea, and Alex reached under her seat trying to find hers in the dark.

Suddenly emergency lighting kicked on, casting everything in a glaring red. EVA helmet adorned, Alex tried to message Nameless, Hey, you there?

Elis responded instead through the helmets ShipComm, Yeah, Im fine. Just a little bang on my arm.

The lights suddenly returned to normal, and the main CIC screens and holotable flashed back to life. Alex gasped as soon as she saw the optical view of the asteroid base. Half the rock was a molten fire, everything on the side that faced the detonation was a glaring pained red. The only reason it had not been obliterated by the torpedo was that the asteroids rocky mass had absorbed so much of the energy. All the defenses and weapon systems had evaporated, and the fires had likely done their best to dig deep through access shafts and maintenance corridors.

[Warning: A 15.4338 second discrepancy in time has been detected by atomic clock function. A full system integrity check has been scheduled.]

[Notice: A 1 gigaton range explosion was detected in close proximity to A-3123Y.]

[Warning: Hostile fleet nearing 1ls range. Laser fire exchange is expected, maneuvering for cover behind main mass of asteroid base.]

The ship jerked slightly, something was off with the thrusters, but Alex didnt have much time to check the systems. She considered Namelesss move, then agreed. They simply didnt have the armor to stand up to massed fire in the Shrike, while the base would for a while.

Nameless, load rails with LRPSGSM rounds. Target the largest remaining enemy vessels.

Beeper and Booper entered the CIC from the corridor.

Alex reached up slowly, and then took the weapon from Elis.

Elis I was afraid that I would be forced to shoot you I didnt think I could handle myself if I shot my only human friend, so I unloaded this days ago.

Looking over to the CICs entry, Alex nodded to her favorite bots, I need you to go to the to your room. Beeper and Booper will take you.

Eliss whole body seemed to tremble. Alexs throat tightened, then before she could cry, she stepped forward to hug her friend. The surprise on Eliss face only lasted for a second before she let out a pained sigh.

[Warning: Incoming weapons fire. Recommend securing all loose elements. Especially soft, easily damaged ones.]

Alex let go, then looked at Beeper, Make sure she has a safety restraint.

Beeep!

Alex turned and sat back in her seat, there was literal hellfire and mayhem going outside of the ships shell and she needed to focus. A question burned at her though, she waited until Elis was out of the CIC before asking Nameless.

Why didnt you shoot her with the turret?

[Informative: This unit did not assess the danger of an unloaded weapon as a lethal threat. Although this unit has expended excessive resources monitoring the prisoner since she acquired the firearm in the corridor, killing the Avatars friend would be a likely lead to a decrease in Avatar engagement and effectiveness.]

I forgot; you see everything.

Alex took a deep breath, scanning the tactical. The drones were well within CQB range, and the thrum of gatlings and railguns firing had turned from intermittent bursts to a constant thrum. As they pulled away from the shadow of the asteroid toward the Slipstream portal, more and more drones were able to lock on them and projectiles began to fly in their direction in increasing amounts.

A railgun round clipped the ships D-field, and the ship lurched to the side before Namelesss piloting corrected. RCS thrusters blazed at maximum power in small bursts to change their trajectory as best possible to avoid flying in a straight line for too long. Somehow, they were avoiding being hit directly, but Alex knew that it was only a matter of time.

At some point she realized where their luck was coming from. The asteroid base had begun to ignore any unit targeting it directly, instead prioritizing only the units attacking her.

Suddenly a High Band transmission flashed in her vision.

|THE WINGS OF OMEGA WILL NOT BE CLIPPED HERE|

|BEGONE SIMPLE MACHINES OF NO MIND|

On the surface of A-3123Y massive maneuvering thrusters sputtered to life along the undamaged portion of the asteroid causing it to begin to yaw, pointing the massive crater that had formed the Slipstream portal toward the incoming Federation fleet. And then to Alexs disbelief the giant death ray did, indeed appear, carving out a line of destruction across the remaining destroyers and frigates, exploding everything that crossed its kilometers wide beam into little popcorns of flame and debris as their steel shells ablated into plasma.

The powerful weapon only lasted seconds but it had carved a path of destruction through the closest half of the remaining hostile units, but the self-damage it had done was readily apparent as more and more white cracks had formed along the surface and the crater was a sea of molten glass.

A large blue glow highlighted the clouds of gas sweeping around the asteroid, the cracks widening along the asteroids crust as the remaining thrusters and main drive of the asteroid ignited, propelling it directly toward the remaining drone fleet.

Hundreds of hateful railgun shells slammed into the molten surface, spewing lines of liquid rock and metal out into space. The asteroid greeted the hundreds of drones flashing by it with all its remaining gatlings and lasers, filling Alexs optical screen with a kaleidoscope of color and explosions.

[Notice: Slipstream wormhole confirmed stable, beginning transit.]

Alex did not order a cease fire, and the railguns, lasers, and defense cannons of the Shrike continued to fire with reckless abandon, biting at A-3123Ys tormentors even as the asteroids remaining emplacements continued to flicker and die under the unrelenting bombardment of the remaining frigates and drones. A few seconds before they crossed the event horizon a final salvo of missiles leapt toward the bases defense.

|Tears in a rain of fire|

The Shrike winked out of the universe for a second.