ShipCore

USD: Around the same time

Location: Nu Crateris, Dedia IV, Geostationary Orbit, Tears of Fire

Alex had set up the life support systems on the freighters, despite not knowing whether or not she was going to use them. The resource cost wasn’t that heavy, and she had enough to do so with what they had on hand. More concerningly, H32 did not want to leave the planet.

Nameless had suggested that she could force it to obey, but forcing anyone to do anything against its will was something that Alex did not want to do. Especially when it was making an informed decision.

H32 knew that if the fleet attacked, that the NAI could be destroyed. Alex had made sure that it understood the differences between the IHMC, the civilians, the government, the Solarians, and the corporate fleet in orbit, Starlight Revolution and their relationships between each other, as she understood them.

The subcore was franticly creating its avatar and rushing new ground to orbit defenses as it learned and came to understand the threat from orbit wasn’t limited to just the colonists’ new construction there.

Alex wasn’t really sure it could manage anything that would be effective in the short term. She had suggested it dig deeper and somehow hide as the best solution. There was serious doubt about whether any bombardment from orbit could effectively locate and destroy anything deep enough underground, especially if it could remain mobile.

The tunnel network was spreading out like a tangle of worms digging deep enough that even the Rexxor couldn’t survive the heat. H32 had begun to develop geothermal power reactors that ran on steam turbines rather than continuing the build out of new fusion reactors.

A chime interrupted Alex’s musing and she answered a call from the Governor’s office. Rather than speaking with the Governor himself, an aide appeared.

“Hello Captain Myers, the Governor and military have come to an agreement to allow your freighters to dock with the colony’s elevator. We have prepared lists of prepared refugees awaiting a berth out of the system. They have been sorted by fees offered minus the percentage due to the government for taxes.”

Alex couldn’t respond immediately, finally nodding and thanking the employee.

As soon as the connection was over, she browsed the list. The first few entries included high-ranking professionals who had offered almost fifteen million credits to be at the top. And she was sure that she was getting the list after all the other ships had made their picks.

It was… not an unexpected way of picking who to ‘save’ from what she had seen.

She clicked the sort button on the top of the fee column, flipping the list upside down. Family of five, zero credits. Family of six, zero credits. Alex smiled; the list was complete at least.

“Nameless, could you please organize the list for me? Sort the list with the intention of maximizing the number of young children under the age of ten, making sure there is at least one adult or older child for every two young ones. Don’t factor in gender, profession, or offered fee. If there are any with identical criteria, assign them a random allotment.”

[Affirmative: Please specify the number of available berths.]

“Just use the projected capacity for the two freighters. We won’t be taking on passengers aboard the Tears.”

Elis entered the CIC just as she finished confirming Nameless’s selection matched her intentions.

“Hey, Daniel just noted that the Corpos mainly seem to be moving toward Nucrateris Station, do you have any updated data from the sensors?”

“Let’s check.”

Alex waved her hand and Nameless blanked and reset the monitors to display the solar system maps. It was becoming easier for her to manipulate those. She no longer had to fool with the annoying controls on the console to pan and zoom where she wanted.

Rotating was still annoying, but mostly because she sometimes made herself dizzy if she messed up.

“One cruiser and four destroyers/frigates remained in a picket formation around the jump point. The rest of the fleet is moving together toward Nucrateri Station. They seem to be lingering. Not sure why?”

“Thanks, I will update him. I think it would be best if he remains around Hades.”

Alex nodded. “Agreed. It’s still so small they probably won’t take notice of it.”

USD: A few hours later

Location: 92 Pegasi, Ackman Orbit, Asteroid Belt, SRS A3123-Y

Amy was having difficulty reading all the different reports and analysis. Realizing it likely required a professional with naval warfare training to make sense of, she blocked it out and focused on the big picture, relying on Abbey to call out anything that really needed attention.

The young NAI’s voice chimed as if on cue. “Corporate light elements have advanced ahead of the cruisers. Denoting difference in one light ship, tentatively upgrading its class to destroyer! ELINT has correlated optical data from Ackman Station public data to confirm!”

Amy’s eyes looked at the gap forming between the enemy fleet. So far, her plan was working and all the ships involved were hurtling around the belt away from their old operation area and Ackman Station.

The Corpo detachment had grown restless at the slow chase up their stern, and the lighter ships had finally broken off following their curve to cut inside the orbit for a faster intercept.

That would have been ideal if Amy and A31 had been trying to escape.

“Abbey, once the frigates have cut their acceleration to flip, we’ll burn toward them and engage them before the cruisers can catch up. It’s obvious they don’t think we are armed.”

“Affirmative! Designating Frigates 1 and 2 as Bandit 1 and 2! Destroyer as Bandit 3! Cruisers 1 and 2 as Turtle 1 and 2!”

Amy blinked. She remembered reading somewhere about tactical designations in a military context but… “Turtle? Why turtle?”

“Analysis reveals T1 and T2 are big, armored, and slow!”

A sudden vibration on the bridge had Amy click her seat clamp down tightly. “What the heck was that? They can’t be shooting at us yet!”

“Ah…” Abbey closed her eyes for a moment, then a frown appeared.

“Hexes 3 and 7 are suffering integrity failure because of sustained g-forces from acceleration. A structural design defect in station schematics has been corrected. These sections have lost power.”

“Those are the habitation module and the industrial drydock modules. Setting up drone repair teams to secure the arms and restore power,” Logan replied.

“Hex 3 and 7 represent approximately 1/8th of A3123-Y weapon power. Do your best, Logan!” Abbey said.

Amy shook her head, not understanding how the NAI could sound cheerful at the bad news.

As Logan worked to repair the station’s wharf modules, she had run out of things to do but wait. Time seemed to tick forever as she watched the navigational plot.

Finally, the Bandits passed a small black line.

Abbey stood up and held out her arm. “Threshold crossed! Going to full burn! Intercept course plotted!”

Amy grabbed her EVA helmet, “Logan.”

“Eh, what? Oh.” He followed her example, and they both secured themselves in their vacuum safe suits.

Amy frowned, looking at Abbey. “Where is your helmet?”

“It wouldn’t be cool to wear one…”

Amy felt alarm and went to search the locker attached to the bridge. Sure enough, there was a child sized EVA suit in one of them. Grabbing the helmet, she returned and put it on Abbey’s head, despite the weak protest.

“I don’t need it! I’m perfectly safe!”

“No buts. You need to wear your helmet. Safety is important, and what if we lose atmosphere?”

“Awhh…” Abbey reached up and clicked the helmet into her skin suit that was hidden under her admiral costume.

Feeling a bit exasperated, she looked over to make sure Logan wasn’t doing anything childish as well. Thankfully, he seemed absorbed in the damage control action. Amy put her finger on top of Abbey’s head and gently pushed her back to sitting in the command chair.

“And stay seated and clamped in! You could get thrown across the room!”

“You’re killing the fun.” Abbey looked up at her pitifully before blowing a stray hair out of her face from inside her helmet. “Fine…”

Amy returned to her seat and clamped in as well. “Any update on ETA to weapon range?”

Abbey’s eyes rolled and then spoke in a monotone voice, “I have no constructive analysis for Corporate theoretical missile ranges. All PDC weaponry is standing by. Primary weapon offline.”

Amy swallowed. The girl could switch so quickly from adorably cheery to robotic fast enough to be uncanny, especially when dealing with the station’s functions. “We’ll use it after we confirm our PDCK can handle the missiles.”

“Bandits 1 through 3 have changed course! Full reversal. Corporate Task-group is moving for the fastest time rendezvous.”

“They’re running. I guess they aren’t so confident now that we’re not running away.”

Abbey smiled. “Silly little fly!”

USD: Thirty minutes later

Location: 92 Pegasi, Ackman Orbit, Asteroid Belt, CSS DD Hostile Takeover

Corporate Captain Yalof watched the navigational plot, his eyes narrowing as he calculated the ship’s courses in his head.

The orbital platform had surprised the squadron leader, and he had immediately dispatched the Destroyer Hostile Takeover and the Frigates Opportunity and Acumen to chase.

Captain Yalof had embraced the chance for an independent command, as small and brief as it might be. There were rarely chances to show one’s ability in the Corporate Navy anymore. A border war flaring up was a rare opportunity to raise one’s economic status.

As they had burned after the station, he had grown more and more wary. Yalof had positioned his destroyer behind the two frigates in a traditional reverse wedge, allowing the two frigates to provide more point defense and sensor coverage.

The asteroid belt was throwing up a constant wave of pings as the ship’s sensors attempted to discern what was important and what was inert rock. There was nowhere for the Starlight Revolution station to hide, but as they continued to flee, he suspected they were attempting to lure them into a stern chase to drop something unfriendly in their path.

That was a common enough trick aspiring officers learned to counter quickly, or they found themselves kicked out of the Corporate Naval Academy. That was the end of any prospect for advanced placement and almost certainly a sentence to drudgery in an inferior profession.

Captain Yalof had been one of the top students of his class and cut their course across the orbit.

A sudden course change by the orbital had spooked the squadron commander, and they had been ordered to reverse course. The older Captain had seniority and command, but Yalof tsked in annoyance. The idiot had waited until it was much too late for the order to be effective.

They would have to kill all of their velocity to return to the cruisers. It was a horrendous waste of propellant, but at least it wasn’t his ass that would roll for wasting resources.

His superior had not done the math, either. They would end up within engagement range. He glared at the orbital’s marker on the map. No orbital had any business moving as fast as it was displaying. He couldn’t imagine the amount of people that would be harmed and killed as loose items throughout the station that were not secured by inertial dampeners would turn themselves into missiles.

Engaging warships with a civilian station… Starlight Revolution was obviously not a real Corporation. If they had any sense, they’d attempt to fight the takeover in the courts where they had a real chance to recover their property and damages. Fighting back would make it trivial for the service to categorize them as pirates and terrorists.

The clock ticked down, and the ships came ever closer. Yalof decided on his course of action.

“Signal the Opportunity and Acumen. Tell them to prepare to coordinate a max range missile salvo.”

His comm officer nodded and relayed the message. The distance before they entered range was rapidly dwindling.

He might get a reprimand later for needlessly destroying something that might have been a valuable prize ship, but at this moment, he decided caution was warranted. Whoever was commanding the orbital had to know they were throwing their lives away, and in his experience that wasn’t done without some expectation of something.

“Squadron reports ready salvo status, Captain.”

“Program for volley launch, Primary target: SRS A3123Y.”

The squadron’s missiles were wire guided as usual, but they were also advanced enough to possess their own simple AI chip that could take over in the event of connection loss. The CS-MIS-11-Havoc-2 was the most advanced missile deployed by the Corporate States outside of the Core systems. It was on par with all the other faction’s outer system missile systems.

The hostile orbital crossed an invisible line drawn by the CSS DD Hostile Takeover’s computer systems and a launch of eight missiles was joined by four more from each of the frigates. The sixteen birds arced forward, the Corporate ships having just halted their orbital momentum and began to claw their way back to the cruisers.

Yalof and his bridge crew watched stoically as the death sentence streaked toward the station.

“Sir! High powered EM pulses are lighting up on the orbital! Dozens, uh, hundreds!”

Yalof’s eyes narrowed. That was not normal. The only ships that carried that many sensors were…

“Helm! Adjust course full burn direct sunward! Comms: Transmit to squadron: full disengage and avoid target at all costs!”

The helmsman didn’t question the order. The ship groaned as the RCS burned at full military power to reorient the ship. The main drive lit off seconds later. Yalof noted with satisfaction that the other ships responded quickly.

“Sir! Enemy EWAR has cut our connection to our birds, they are on self-guidance!”

“Comms, get me the Captain of the CSS CVA Argent.”

The order was superfluous as the comm officer accepted a communication from their detachment’s flagship.

Yalof’s superior appeared. “What are you doing , Captain? Return your squadron to formation at once.”

“Sir, we can’t return to you, the station is almost on top of us, and we likely won’t be able to escape engagement.”

‘That is your fault.’ Yalof wanted to spit, but a lifetime of catering to superiors had taught him enough to hold it back. “The orbital is demonstrating high EM signatures in line with a FedTech or NAI warship, doctrine calls for evasion and escalation from a Core command.”

“Captain you will return at once. Has your distance from the Core eroded your sense? If you are going to lose your nerve and see ghosts fighting an unarmed—”

“Sir! Birds 1-16 are gone, enemy PDCL detected, calling it 320+ 8cm beam signatures!”

Yalof felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He jabbed a finger onto a key that killed the comms link with the imbecile in command of the flagship. Mind racing, he tried to find a way for them to escape. No matter what direction they picked, they were going to end up passing by the orbital at close range, and it had a treaty capital ship’s worth of lasers!

“SigINT, what are they? Can you not tell me what they are yet?” Did it even matter? FedTech or Nannie, they were dead men facing a monster they were ill prepared to tangle with.

“Sorry sir, we have no real idea other than its advanced tech!”

Yalof cursed out loud again. “EWAR, transmit omicron override codes and disarm signal.”

“Sir—”

“Just do it!”

The officer turned and complied, a moment later he turned back to the captain, “Sir no acknowledgement or resp—”

A voice of a young girl cut across the bridge’s comms; Yalof felt the color drain from his face.

|Little Fly|

|Glitter Glitter|

|In the Dark|