Homestar Saga

Chapter 11: Suicide Run

"That is bad news," Mims agreed. "But I guess it doesn't matter how many of them there are. They'll be cut in half if we kill the portal on them. We just have to get there on time."

"That's the other bad news," Lissa told him. "They're coming through the portal a lot faster than they're supposed to. I guess they got a running start."

It was true. The Queenships were moving nearly twice the speed she'd been expecting. Once one of them got a third of its narrow bulk through the portal, it would be able to coordinate every Klaath in the system. Worse, it would be able to defend itself. A Queenship's beam weapons outpowered a Destroyers' by an order of magnitude, and it could hit a target ninety thousand kilometers away. They had no chance of stopping them once they brought their guns to bear.

Instead of having two and a half hours to stop the portal, they now had sixty seven minutes.

"We can make it." Yvian gunned her engines. The Wandering Lady leapt into the void.

"I like the way you think," the human approved. He paused. "The ring making the portal is ten Klaath Klusters across. We have to sever it completely in one go to break the portal."

"I know." She saw The Random Encounter keeping pace behind her. Troubleshooter and Longfire followed as well, but they couldn't accelerate at the same speed as the Lady.

"Our ships don't have the firepower to do that."

"I know." Yvian programmed her turrets to fire at any target that came within fifteen thousand kilometers in the direction she was flying. Her weapons would lose most of their oomph after twelve thousand kilometers, but the speed she was reaching for warranted a margin of error.

"I see," said Mims. Lines of yellow light shot past Yvian's ship. The human's beam frigates were doing what they could to clear the path ahead. They'd fall out of weapons range before she reached the portal, but she'd take all the help she could get. "I don't think we've got time to dock, but if you make a voidjump I can pick you up."

"No."

"Yvian..." Lissa started.

"It's not that I don't want to," Yvian assured her. "I can't. There's a lag time when you fly by remote."

"Eight one hundredths of a second," Mims provided. "Barely noticeable."

"Normally," Yvian agreed. "But we're accelerating way past the speed ships normally operate. We're only getting one shot at this and we don't have a margin of error. I can't risk it."

"Yvian, don't be crazy," Lissa insisted. "If you just-"

"No," Mims cut her off. He cursed softly. "She's right. Someone has to stay on board." A pause. "It doesn't have to be you, though. We could switch places."

"I can't fly the Encounter like you can," Yvian told him. "Our chances are better where we are."

"Maybe," he admitted. "I just... I don't know if you'll survive the impact."

"I know."

"Sis..." Lissa trailed off.

"It'll be alright," Yvian lied. "I know it will." She knew no such thing.

She heard the human take a deep breath, blowing it out of his nostrils. "I don't like it, but it's the best we've got. We'll back your play. Don't forget the suit."

The Wandering Lady raced through the void, weapons blazing. The Random Encounter followed in its wake. The massive cargo vessel plowed through the remains of the Klaath they killed. Yvian avoided it when she could, but the sky was littered with the things, and cargo ships didn't maneuver well. Fortunately, Raiders and the occasional Fighter were much smaller than Yvians kilometer long mega freighter, and the big ship brushed them aside with minimal shield damage. At least her turrets and the Encounter ensured it was only dead Klaath they were running into.