ITO: Unidentified vessel, this is your final warning. Turn back, or we will open fire. You have ten seconds to respond. Mr. Janfada, begin a countdown sequence and transmit in binary.
JANFADA: Aye sir.
[Ten Second Pause]
REED: No change in speed or heading.
ITO: Very well. Signal all ships. Tell them to launch missile barrage.
JANFADA: Aye sir.
CHANG: Mr. Fulitov, open fire all missiles.
FULITOV: Yes, Captain.
CHANG: Mr. Boyega, turn missile keys in three, two, one, now.
FULITOV: Tactical warhead launched.
ITO: Mr. Reed, display radar map on main viewer.
REED: Aye sir. Missiles will reach target in approximately forty seconds. [ten second pause] Thirty seconds. [ten second pause] Twenty seconds. [ten second pause]. Ten seconds. Wait...
CHANG: Where'd it go?
REED: I don't know sir, it just disappeared.
FULITOV: Missiles are veering off course.
ITO: Detonate all missiles. We'll drop them like depth charges.
FULITOV: Missiles detonating.
REED: I'm sensing nothing in the area of detonation. We missed it, sir.
ITO: Prepare a second volley, including nuclear launch. It can't have gone far.
JANFADA: Sir, I have a transmission from the Hangzhou. It's appeared again 15º by 45º 400 meters off their bow.
REED: Confirmed. I'm getting massive heat readings from both the Hangzhou and the alien.
ITO: It's too close to attack. Is the Hangzhou firing?
REED: Yes, but her deck guns are having no effect.
ITO: Signal the Shaolin. I want a full fighter squadron on that black ship.
REED: The Hangzhou is taking heavy damage. She's venting fuel from two engines and... there's a breach in her habitat ring.
JANFADA: The Orangutan and the Invincible are moving to intercept. I've lost communication with the Hangzhou.
REED: The black ship is breaking away from the Hangzhou and moving to intercept the Orangutan and the Invincible. I've got a squadron of fighters en route.
ITO: Signal the Washington and the Shaolin. We're going to take its flanks.
CHANG: Helm, set new course, -93º by 0º.
ESTEVEZ: Yes sir.
REED: Multiple missiles have hit the black ship. No apparent change in mass. Heat signatures detected again.
ITO: Just show me, Lieutenant.
REED: Switching to main viewer.
[Pause]
CHANG: The Orangutan and the Invincible are just dead.
JANFADA: The Shaolin reports that she's losing fighters. Ten gone... thirteen... twenty... twenty-five...thirty fighters destroyed, sir.
CHANG: Open fire on that ship, full conventional missile barrage. Don't bother with volleys, either; I want a continuous barrage, don't let them recover.
YOU ARE READING
2175 C.E.
Science FictionIn the year 2175, a Hegemony science vessel was detached to an uninhabited exoplanet in orbit of star RN-06 in neutral space. What they awakened there became known to Terran and Grushan worlds as the Black Ship. This archive compiles firsthand and...
III: Task Force 6
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