ShipCore

USD: 2 Days Since Comm Failure

Location: Nu Crateris, Outer System, Hades Interior, Near Alpha Site

The ship shuddered. Lavigne’s safety attachment in the spine of his suit magnetized, locking him to the seat. Under normal circumstances, the A-Grav field would protect the ship’s internals from inertia; however, the damage had clearly compromised systems as the main railgun fired and the recoil resounded throughout the ship.

“Damage control!” Lavigne yelled, but Morrison and the engineering crewman were already collaborating with the rest of the ship’s crew to reroute resources and information through the damaged section.

No return fire came their way; the large bio-organic blob was incapable of firing again in rapid succession.

The SR Hot Rescue plunged deeper into the darkness below, toward the Alpha Site platform attached to the tunnel’s side, its railgun roaring in retaliation against the blob’s attack. The shell tore through the thin atmosphere, producing a deafening crack and boom that reverberated through the air.

The shell pierced the blob, inflicting minimal damage as it cleaved through organic matter. However, upon striking the solid metal surface of the reactor room’s wall, its impact intensified. The shell deformed before compressing into a molten pancake while refusing to pierce or deform any further due to the tremendous kinetic energy of the projectile.

The molten pancake exploded, breaking into thousands of tiny pieces of hot metal that flew backward in a circular blast wave through the blob’s body. A growing cloud of searing shrapnel gouged thousands of minuscule holes into its insides.

Daniel quickly commanded the ship’s PDC-Ls to strike as well. Invisible beams of coherent light set organic mass ablaze on contact with the creature’s surface.

Morrison gave him a damage control report. “Captain, we’ve got damage in multiple compartments, but hull integrity remains intact. We’ve lost some power, but the emergency power systems are keeping essential systems operational.”

Lavigne’s eyes remained fixed on the main screen, observing the SR Hot Pursuit’s weapons do their best to fry the assaulting organism. “Logan, any updates on the bio-organic mass?”

Logan’s fingers raced across his console while he analyzed incoming data. “The lasers are inflicting damage, but it isn’t… dying fast enough. It seems stunned, though.”

“Fucking hit it with a railgun and turned it into a light show, and it’s only fucking stunned?” Morrison exclaimed.

Lavigne gritted his teeth, his mind racing through possible strategies. “We need to find a way to deal with it.”

Morrison had an idea. “If we get close enough, we could cook it… with the ship’s thrusters or main drive.”

Lavigne considered the idea for a moment before nodding. “Do it. Logan, keep monitoring the situation and adjust our weapons’ targeting as needed.”

Daniel frowned. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? The others seemed explosive.”

Lavigne and Morrison exchanged glances at Daniel’s breach of bridge etiquette. ‘Not the military; Not a formal bridge,’ Lavigne reminded himself.

“I think it’s a risk we need to take. We aren’t getting answers if that thing is alive on our destination. The rest have been cleared out,” Lavigne responded.

Morrison and his engineering team set to work modifying the LDS (Linear Drive System) while Lavigne closely monitored the ongoing battle displayed on the screen. The organism writhed under the assault; but it wasn’t dying.

As the ship finally reached the local area, the helm steered them dangerously close to nearby buildings. Morrison reported they were ready. “Maneuver plotted, sir. We’ll drift by and light off the main torch as we come around.”

Taking a deep breath, Lavigne felt the weight of the decision on his shoulders. “Do it.”

“Modifying D-Field parameters for a major explosion. Won’t do too much, but it might baffle some of the force if it explodes like the others,” Daniel commented.

Lavigne nodded and watched the screen intently, his heart pounding in his chest as the moment of truth drew near.

The ship flashed by the massive blob, lurching in midair as its powerful thrusters spun it around like a toy. The main Linear drive system unleashed a stream of energetic mass in a heavy flare that flung the ship back the way it came. A-Grav systems strained to prevent the crew from turning into meat paste.

The bio-organic mass writhed, shrieking in pain, before suddenly exploding into a colossal fireball lit off by the super-heated plasma. The ensuing shockwave buffeted SR Hot Rescue from behind, and moments later, they spun around again to come to a halt within the tunnel.

Smoke seeped off molten metal and burned components on the ship’s outer hull while compartments inside filled with smoke faster than life-support systems could handle due to punctured components.

The organism had been reduced to a charred, blackened husk by its own explosion.

Exhaling with relief, Lavigne listened as Logan confirmed no more hostiles were in range. “Now, let’s find out what happened before our ‘friends’ are back.”

The ship limped to a hovering position near the Heaven’s Fire. Lavigne ordered the drones to drop to the surface, unwilling to land the ship under the circumstances.

“Daniel, deploy all combat drone units,” Lavigne ordered firmly. “We can’t know when they will be back. And I want to keep us nimble.”

“There are some of the smaller ones coming out of the buildings near the Alpha site.” Logan said.

Lavigne grunted, checking his feed. He nodded to Daniel to proceed, regardless. If the drones got overwhelmed, the rescue expedition would likely need to return empty-handed. But he didn’t see any alternative than to deploy all ten thousand of the combat units and search the buildings and ship. If there were any survivors, they would be there.

Daniel initiated the deployment process, ordering the drones in drop pods toward the power building to clear out the globs. The SR Hot Rescue’s internal mechanisms whirred to life as it began to launch the pods. Magnetic launchers on the ship’s starboard and port sides flung the pods into space one by one, the vehicle’s thrusters flaring to life after they cleared the ship and directing them toward their designated landing zones.

The drop pods entered a controlled descent, guided by their onboard thrusters that adjusted their trajectory toward the ground below over halfway to the Alpha site buildings. As they touched down, dust and debris kicked up into the air before settling once more.

The deployed drones released themselves from their drop pods, unfolding from compact discs and dropping to the ground as an intricate series of mechanical locks disengaged their magnetic contacts. Freed from their constraints, they assembled into organized units on the ground and commenced their clearing operations.

Lavigne turned to Morrison. “I want you to take a group of shipboard combat drones and search Heaven’s Fire.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” Morrison replied.

Morrison felt a numb sense of detachment as he moved to the ship’s weapon locker. He was used to dealing with FUBAR situations; this didn’t quite qualify, but it was moving toward it in his opinion.

The heavy bulkhead door that sealed the ship’s personal weapons and tactical gear whirred open for his biometrics. Inside were rows of armored suits and weapons. He grabbed a belt of grenades and attached them to his power armor. An MK1-12C pulse assault rifle beeped happily as it integrated with his suit’s systems, adding to his HUD the weapon’s power charge and remaining magazine capacity.

He pushed down his sense of concern. He was better geared and armed than a fucking Solarian Commissar’s Special Services janissary. The fucking civvies in Starlight Revolution were better armed than the most elite units. Strapping the rifle on a front sling, he hurried towards his ride.

As the boat bay compartment door slid open, several rows of GAI-controlled drones were waiting for him in well-dressed lines, rifles on their back. He felt uncomfortable as their heads swiveled in unison to monitor his progress toward the shuttle’s ramp. Half of them turned on their heels and marched into the vehicle behind him. The other half dispersed to jump and leap onto the outer hull of the shuttle, finding steel hand hold grips and other things to cling to.

Strapping into the co-pilot seat, Morrison gave the order and the shuttle pilot ignited the thrusters. The drone in the pilot seat didn’t even bother to pretend to touch the controls, and the two sat in what felt was an uneasy silence. The main screen replicated a cockpit window view, granting him an optical overview of the drone division landing below the SR Hot Rescue.

The drone army looked like something out of an old war holovid as it deployed nearly ten thousand drones emerging from their pods in unison to form dressed ranks and move as units in a fast jog toward the buildings.

His suit comm chimed. “Morrison, your camera feed is online; we can see what you see.”

He acknowledged as the shuttle reached one of the Heaven Fire’s intact dorsal hull plates. Before they touched down, dozens of the drones clinging to the outer hull of the shuttle jumped free. They landed with metallic thumps and immediately brandished their pulse rifles, as they cleared the area in search of hostiles.

As soon as Morrison came down the ramp, his HUD flashed with direction from the GAI that was controlling the drones, directing him to a hull hatch that was sealed. Morrison deployed his suit connector, and the hatch lit up with power as his suit fed it energy locally. Computers tossed each other a challenge and reply, and the SR codes turned the lock from red to green.

The hatch popped open as the hydraulic bolts retracted. “We’re in.” Morrison relayed.

The drones jumped down first without using the ladder, their sensors scanning the area. One of them beeped to signal that the corridor was clear, prompting Morrison to follow. The group began to make their way toward the CIC.

They made quick progress. “This place is a mess. Looks like those things went through the ship; guessing they’re slightly acidic.”

“They melted through the fucking hull plates; ‘slightly’ my ass,” Logan retorted.

Morrison could hear Lavigne grunt on the comms channel. “Stay alert and keep moving.”

“On it, sir. Almost to the CIC.” Morrison said. “Nothing alive so far.”

The CIC was sealed shut. It didn’t like his suit energy and remained locked. He pointed toward the hinges and nodded to one of the bots. “Cut it.”

The drone complied, folding up its assault rifle and moving up close to the door. Its forearm folded backwards revealing a laser cutter. It aimed; a flare of light began to burn at the hinges. Morrison moved back, and a half dozen other drones joined to speed the process up.

“Fucking dystopian.” Morrison muttered.

A few moments later, the team was pulling the bulkhead door away, and waiting drones flooded inside. There was no one there, and they filtered out to allow Morrison to investigate. The Rexxor’s bridge was cramped and claustrophobic and the single command seat was surrounded by a dozen control monitors that would have taken half a bridge control to manage. A few seats near the back were more like passenger seats for people along for a ride.

Morrison homed in on a glowing panel, the first sign of anything online since they’d breached the ship.

“There’s a screen with a message here, lit up. Not sure where it is getting power.”

“What does it say?” Lavigne said.

Morrison’s HUD zoomed in for him, then displayed the message: “Press when safe.”

His eyes dipped to the large red button below the screen. There was even a sticky note with an arrow pointing toward it.

“Could be a trap.” Logan said. Morrison suppressed the desire to thump the boy when he got back to the ship.

“Press it. We need answers.” Lavigne ordered.

Morrison moved forward and then thumped it with his fist. A hiss erupted above, and the ceiling panel crashed to the floor. Combat bots dashed towards the space, leaping up to grab the ceiling and poke their heads into the compartment. A female scream filled the air.

Morrison scrambled to stand below the hole as the combat drops released their grips; returning to their overwatch of the corridor outside without a word. Looking down at him, Amy had a surprised look on her face, her arms wrapped around a Rexxor Nestling that was growling at him.

“Found the manager and her pet, boss.” Morrison sent back to the ship.

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