Into the Void

Chapter 32

A gauss round skipped off the dropship, sending cerulean sparks crackling over the hull as the electron barriers caught it. Pinned between the two capital ships Nate put everything he had into dodging the incoming fire. With a click of a button, he passed all weapon control over to Rowan. Dodging wildly the ship spat a laser every time it lined up with the wounded ship, slowly boiling away more of its armour. A siren blared, there were more missiles incoming. Izzy tapped furiously at the engineering console, highlighting the incoming missiles on the main display and doing her best to jam their targeting. The screen was a mess of glowing white trails of heat. Nate aimed the gunship straight for the wounded vessel and nudged the throttle, smiling as the G forces pressed him back into his seat.

The dropship sped towards the wounded vessel, weaving back and forth. Nate was sweating, heart hammering with the effort of keeping the ship alive. Despite its bulk the dropship flew with a nimble grace, rolling and spinning away from lasers and gauss rounds. The missiles were closing fast, Nate leveled out and grit his teeth, watching a burst of gauss rounds bounce off the hull. Rowan opened up with the weapons, carving blackened furrows through armour with the laser, and hammering the weakened plating with the railgun. Another section of stealth plating tore free.

The dropship’s barrier field gave out with a pop. The hull rang with the sound of repeated impacts. The alarm picked up to a fever pitch as the missiles flew dangerously close. A new alarm screamed, warning them of an imminent collision. Nate dove, breaking away from the capital ship. Weaving wildly through a storm of laser fire he passed under the ship, lasers striking down at him like bolts of crimson lightning. The missiles couldn’t keep up and dozens of missiles plowed into the enemy ship. The wounded vessel rolled, listing hard as its hull was peeled apart by the explosions. A line of detonations ran down the ship, exploding outwards. The missiles must have hit the ammunition storage. As the chain reaction blew the capital ship apart Nate sped back towards the Dauntless, weaving away from the last strings of PDC fire as they flew out of the effective range of the cannons.

An officer from the Dauntless spoke over the radio. “Dropship, we are at our heat limits. Deactivating stealth systems. Confirm all targets destroyed.”

“Negative!” said Izzy. “We are taking fire from one more ship.”

“God damn it!” The officer swore as the Dauntless revealed itself, a huge white blob of heat appearing on the main display. Hundreds of missiles leapt out of empty space, screaming towards the Dauntless. Nate wheeled the gunship around as Rowan fired everything into the space the missiles came from. The last of the railgun ammunition bounced off an electron barrier, careening off into space. Nate checked the rear camera, watching as the missiles tore the Dauntless apart. Shreds of armour exploded outwards, and huge chunks of the internal structure spun off into space.

A voice laced with static came over the radio. “Dropship, this is the Dauntless. We’re done. We’re powering down all weapons, and broadcasting a surrender. The hangar is destroyed, pull alongside and match our speed.”

Nate slowed the dropship, turned and cruised towards the Dauntless at a leisurely pace. The surrender was sent and the enemy ship seemed to be accepting it. He pulled the gunship alongside the Dauntless and slowed down, matching the damaged ship’s speed. The Dauntless was a wreck. All the armour plating had blown away, leaving the inner hull naked in the void, sparks arced out from damaged wires and several gaping holes spewed long vapor trails as the ship’s atmosphere blew out into space.

The enemy ship revealed itself, deactivating its stealth systems with a rush of vented heat. The ship was massive, easily twice the size of the Dauntless, bigger than anything humanity was capable of building. The dropship trilled a soft warning, the massive enemy ship was panning an infrared beam across the hull, looking for a communications dish. It eventually found the communications array on the Dauntless. Nate waited for a long moment, nervously wondering what kind of demands were being issued to the captain and crew.