Chromium

13.7

"Reyes!" Dia shouted, and he finally looked up at her.

"Not now, Dia." He said, canting his head toward his pilot. "Mitchell, is it possible to go to 110% on the reactor?"

"Calculating the reactor's meltdown temperatures..."

Reyes' lips compressed. "Mitchell!"

"...it's possible, captain, but not recommended."

Apparently, that was enough for him. "Full speed ahead!" He glanced at Fanning. "Ensign, remove the safety from the torpedoes! Set a ten-second timer!"

"Captain." For the first time, Mitchell showed some kind of emotion on her face: surprise. "Doing this will put the Nostromus on a collision course with the enemy cruiser."

"I know, just do it!" He said, irritably.

Mitchell twisted her mouth, on her face a human-like expression that looked a lot like annoyance. "Roger, captain."

"You're heading directly toward them." Dia sounded shocked.

"That's right." Reyes admitted, the smile tugging at his lips a bit forced. "Buckle your seatbelt, Squirrel. It's going to be a bumpy ride."

Dia didn't question his words this time. There was an edge in his voice, a trace of fear hidden underneath his banter. She sat down, fastened her seatbelt and prayed.

"Impact in fifteen seconds." Mitchell said.

"Redirect all power to the shields!" Reyes ordered. "Engine room, 110% on the reactor!"

Those words threw the crew into a frenzy.

The pirates' movement turned frantic, and shouts filled the air when Mitchell said: "Impact in three, two, one...Impact now."

Dia closed her eyes shut, squeezing the armrest until the metal frame warped inward. The Nostromus wobbled a little when the torpedos skimmed along the ship's shields, but the detonation Dia had expected never happened.

"What the hell..." Dia whispered, her mouth falling open when she understood what happened.

We are too close.

Reyes had reduced the distance between them and the imperial cruiser, and doing so, the torpedoes' safety mechanism prevented them from detonating. The obvious downside was that the Nostromus was now an easy target.

That's when Mitchell had her chance to shine. She performed every type of evasive maneuvers, showing such skill it was enough to put every imperial ace to shame. In her hands, the Nostromus looked like a fighter, nimble and fast as it whizzed around laser beams and energy bursts.

Yet, even with Mitchell's skills, it was impossible to avoid that barrage for long. The battlecruiser's main cannons were powerful but slow, designed for bigger targets than the Nostromus, and posed no threat to them. However, the smaller turrets were another matter altogether. The Nostrumus had just done a displacement roll when an energy burst reached them.

"The shields are down." Mitchell dutifully informed them. "Collision in ten seconds."

The battlecruiser, of course, didn't change course. Its shields were still up, and that meant that the Nostromus was like a glorified tin can compared to that behemoth of metal.

"Five seconds...four...three..."

Dia closed her eyes, perspiration shining on her brow as she waited for the inevitable.

That's when Reyes shouted, "Drop torpedoes! Hard to starboard!"

The Nostromus steered, the overhead light dimming a fraction as the hull grated against the cruiser's shield like a car skimming along a guardrail. Then they whizzed past it. At the same time, the cruiser's lower hull rammed against the torpedoes. That blue light was enveloping the enemy ship when the main screen went black. Dia saw sparks flying off the power cables running along the metal ceiling and then the bridge went dark. The lights came back on a moment later, but most of the stations and systems were still inactive.