“Passive shielding is fully negating their attack.” Proto reported, which made anyone relax to some extent.
Alena had never stopped firing and when Robin’s racing heart calmed down, he turned his attention back on the enemy’s shield. That, too, was negating the storm of green projectiles but, different from their own, it was constantly weakening and about to fail.
“5 seconds!” Proto reported.
‘Damn, not enough time!’ Robin realized, maybe they would crack the shield, but there was too little time left to do significant damage.
Alena, noticing the same, quickly called out to Proto. “Prepare the PDS!”
The Relentless Stride was still under attack from the enemy and red projectiles flew everywhere when, with a sudden blast, the dropship’s shield finally broke.
Alena fired a few more shots at the now unprotected thruster but then her weapons turned off and went into cooldown.
Happy started to steer away from the dropship as four small but constant laser beams drew lines from the Relentless Stride directly to the enemy. Just before they were out of reach, the huge thruster was cut away from the rest of the ship. Moments later a big explosion went off inside the long ship and ripped open the hull. In a chainreaction, more explosions could be seen and even felt, when shrapnel from the ship hit the walker.
They were already on their way back into the vast void, when the dropship completely gave in and turned, with one last explosion, into just another wreck that floated on this battlefield.
Celebrations broke out on the bridge of the walker, but Proto sharply cut them off when he came up with bad news.
“Warning! Incoming Missile!”
“What?” Happy gasped and yanked one of the joysticks around to get the ship on another course.
“Incoming Missile still on course! T-20 seconds, prepare for impact!”
“Impossible” Robin and Happy shouted at the same time, “They can track us? How?”
- Analysis running…
- Checking status of the Relentless Stride…
- Calculation theories…
The strategic map changed and turned into a top-down view of the ship with a small marker rapidly closing in from behind.
“T-10 seconds, activating PDS. Prepare for impact!” Proto reported.
On the map, the approaching marker passed the 5k-distance mark and all four point defense lasers began to fire in an attempt to shoot down the missile.
Moments later, a huge jolt went through the ship when the Relentless Stride was hit by the shockwave of the intercepted missile.
For a moment everyone remained quiet, afraid that another missile might come, until Proto finally broke the silence.
“Missile destroyed. The ship is hidden again. Damage analysis is running.”
“Happy, get us a good distance away from here.” Robin said and his head snapped to a camera nearby, “Proto, what the fuck just happend?”
“While there might be ways to discover this ship if the enemy knows that we’re here and has enough time, my calculations all confirm that the natural shielding of the Relentless Stride makes it impossible for missiles to target us.” The AI began but Happy interrupted.
“I changed course, that definitely wasn’t a unguided dumbfire missile, that thing was following us!”
“It was, yes. But there is an error in your thesis about the ship’s protection against tracking. We were under heavy fire from the other ship, the armor plating had fully negated any damage but the energy within the projectiles still had to go somewhere…”
“You mean, our hull was heating up?” Alena realized.
“You’re correct and not just a little. It wouldn’t surprise me if parts of the ship had been glowing red. To any thermal sensor or heatseeking missile we were illuminated like a bright star in the dark void.” Proto explained.
“Shit…” Robin cursed, “I never considered that.”
“Does that mean we abort the mission?” Alena asked.
“Now that we know about it, we can take it into account for our next plans. But after attacking twice, the risk of them finding a counter for our third ambush was already quite high. Now the situation only became more dangerous. I’m not willing to engage in any encounter that might put us against the Corvette. We would be toast.” Robin said and switched the map back to the overview. With a finger he traced the movements of the eight remaining ships, “Let’s see what formation they are about to take. In the meantime I want to have a private talk with the Eltaran.”
Ang’Tue looked like he was about to speak up but decided against it and just nodded.
“Alena, you’ve the bridge. The rest – wait here.” Robin said and left the room. He quickly turned right and sat down at the head of the conference table. “Proto, please open a comm.”
“Sure.” The AI said, “Shall I retreat as well?”
Robin scoffed, “As if you would.”
“Of course I would! I’ve read a few articles about these ‘personal and private data’ things. And as I have data I’m not willing to share as well, I can respect your wish for privacy.” Proto said indignantly, “I can easily mute the ship’s surveillance in this section for the duration of your meeting.”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Robin looked up, his head tilted.
“That…” he scratched his stubbly beard, “Yeah, I’m not buying it. I do like you, but you’re a complete asshole in this field. No way you would turn anything off for real. That aside, I want your evaluation of the situation after the call. This isn’t a secret meeting, I just do not want Ang’Tue to feel bad if his people are trying to pressure us.”
“They are in no position to force us to do anything. We already did them a great service by taking out two of the enemy’s ships.”
“Yeah, but the Eltaran are desperate and desperate people can do stupid things.”
Proto didn’t answer and before long one of the screens turned on, showing the face of an elderly woman with long, white hair. With her pale and wrinkled skin she looked ancient to Robin, much older than even Ang’Tue, but the sharp glint in her three eyes forbade anyone to believe that she was senile.
“Robin Tulward greets the Eltaran’s Elder.” he said and nodded in greeting.
“Captain Tulward, I’ve heard many stories about you from Ang’Tue and my fellow council members.” The woman said, “I’m Mul’Jin, leader of the Limolius Colony and member of the council. I already heard the news from your crew member Proto and our latest radar scans are confirming that two enemy ships have been taken off the field.”
She paused to give him a deep bow and Proto used the moment to send him a message to his Interface.
- We made the Eltaran belief that they have been talking to a normal crew member
- Proto, specialist in tactical and military analysis
“In the name of the Eltaran, I thank you and your crew for lending us a helping hand!”
“You’re welcome.” Robin said, “Ang’Tue is one of us, of course we take care of our friends and their people. Unfortunately the enemy has unforeseen means to target our ship and retaliate. Our second ambush had been more dangerous than we had anticipated.”
Mul’Jin sighed and Robin saw her jaw quiver.
“I understand.” She said, “That gives us only more reason to thank you.”
He saw that she wanted to continue but didn’t know how.
“Councilwoman Mul’Jin,” he said, “We haven’t decided anything yet. Right now we’re waiting for the enemy to finish their formation so we know what we’re dealing with. However, they have a Corvette and we are not equipped to deal with a battleship.”
“Captain, what model is your ship anyway? Ang’Tue and Proto said they weren’t allowed to talk about it. But if we knew all the assets on the field, we could coordinate our attacks much better.”
“I’m afraid I can’t help with that.” Robin said, his tone sharp, making clear that this topic was off the table, “How about you tell me about the situation on the planet. We will see what we can do.”
The Eltaran’s eyes glinted with what could be anger, but it vanished as quickly as it came. “The waystation is under full attack by ground and air forces. Our biggest problems are the countless UAVs, they swarm us and the enemy is able to replenish their numbers quickly. You taking out one of the dropships destroyed much of their stockpile but they have set up camp outside of the valley and our scouts reported that they still have enough units for three or four waves…” she hesitated, “We won’t be able to hold out that long. With each fighter they shoot down and each vehicle they destroy our defense is dwindling… our people are dying.”
“Okay. Sorry if I sound insensible, but I have to dig deeper to get a better picture.” Robin said apologetically, “Why haven’t they just attacked the outpost directly? I heard about your shield, is it because of that? What is their goal?”
“The outpost is shielded against attacks from the air, correct. The shield is still healthy as they haven’t launched any direct attacks yet. We assume that they want to use the outposts resources to locate our colony.”
“That makes sense, but are they not afraid that you just blow up all the hardware if they manage to breach your final defenses?”
“Hardware is not the problem. But we also have a few people in there that know the location. Just four of them and while they are ready to ensure that no one would be able to extract information from them, no matter the means used, that must be our last resort.”
Robin needed a moment to understand what she meant. Then his eyes went wide.
“They would kill themselves?”
“They would sacrifice themselves for the safety of the colony, like everyone else down there.” The elder corrected.
“Shit…”
“Could we be of help if we joined the frontline with… heavy tanks?”
“You have tanks aboard?” Mul’Jin gaped in surprise.
“Well, sort of and it’s only one. But I’m positive that we could wreck some havoc at least.”
“That could work.” The Eltaran contemplated, “Our people could use the distraction to attack their camp and destroy their supply of UAVs…”
“Let’s take a deeper look into that.” Robin nodded and they quickly started working on formulating a plan.
***
“I don’t see it.” Happy huffed in annoyance.
“They are baiting us, believe me.” Proto argued, “This is too much of a coincidence.”
“I agree with him.” Alena said and Robin and Ang’Tue also nodded, “They must know that we’re here to help the Eltaran and that we would have the biggest impact on the battle, if we could take out the drone-controller. Leaving the Nova in such an unfavorable position must be to bait us.”
“Maybe, but they don’t know that we have the cannon. We could be in and out faster than they’re expecting and none of their plans would work.” Happy said.
“We don’t know that since we do not know their plan. Also, we decided to leave the risk analysis to Proto and he clearly said…” Robin paused, trying to remember the right words. His head was pulsing with constant pain by now and made it hard to concentrate sometimes.
“Threat level assessment is returning values deep in the red.” Proto helped out, “Or to put it out in simpler words: It is extremely likely that we would be fucked, if we attack the Nova.”
The eight remaining ships had formed a wide circle with the battleship in the middle. The ships were kilometers apart from each other, but missiles and smaller ships can eat those distances in seconds if needed. They still hovered in the region above Data Falls, the planet’s capital that was right next to the battle for the waystation.
As if fate was shining on them, Robin and the others noticed that the Nova they needed to destroy was in one of the best positions to sneak up upon. Its shields also were slightly damaged and maxed out at 80%. It was subtle but still too obvious of a trap.
While Robin agreed with Happy that they probably could surprise the enemy with their cannon and perhaps take the ship out, the risk was too high for something going wrong afterwards.
“We have a good plan. Let’s stick to that one and see how it goes. Maybe they will leave when they lose the camp and the battle at the frontline.” Robin said.
He too would love to see the Nova destroyed. It would greatly lessen the pressure on the defending forces and if they were lucky, losing three out of the ten remaining ships was enough for them to pack up and leave. But it was the wrong way and too dangerous.
“Happy, set course to the planet. Stay out of the red zones for as long as possible and get us to the frontlines at the valley’s entry.” Robin said and made a determined fist, “It’s time for the first ground battle of the Relentless Stride!”
He hadn’t even finished his sentence when his eyes went wide and he turned to Niu. “Please don’t tell me you have stolen this special moment from me as well…”
“No, of course not. Are you still angry because we had its first walk without you?” Happy sighed in exasperation.
“You don’t understand how important such an occasion is. That should have been a special moment for us!” He complained.
“Well, if it comforts you – I felt really special at that time.” Alena said dryly without even trying to sound convincing.
“Fuck you!” Robin cursed, “Just get us down already!”