Book 4: Chapter 201: Maelstrom’s Edge (Pt. 1)

Book 4: Chapter 201: Maelstrom’s Edge (Pt. 1)

USD: One hour since the traversal wormhole for the 6th Fleet was created.

Location: Meltisar System, MNS Theas Hackjob, CIC

The smell 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 elements of the Ertan fleet had quickly punched through the open wormhole that had expanded to a hundred times the desired diameter.

Ten thousand kilometers 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 elements 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 me. 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. Somehow it opened a point between the sun, our destination point, and here. Its some kind of three-way connection. Ive adjusted the stations field to deflect most of the solar energy, but I wouldnt recommend taking a space walk on the outer hull.

Elis stared at her. What does that even mean?

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. Immediate 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 meant 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. Meltisar 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 time. They probably believed that the station was disabled.

Well, they wouldnt be wrong, really.

Dont get killed, Thea whispered.

A chuckle came 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 primed for the impending boarding.

She had already given assignments to the human security detachment 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 memory 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 helmet 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 time she needs.

A much-to-young sputter of, Yes, Maam, came back at her. She clicked the channel off. She really didnt expect much of the Meltisar security detachment.

Pausing to examine the security map of the moonlet, she scanned over the primary defensive positions one last time. 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 mechanisms 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 primed 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 time, but they werent under attack, and Elis supposed it gave any of the personnel time 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 home-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.