“You’re trying to duplicate another part of the Valent framework conditions,” Hampon said with a grin.
“I think it’s the missing piece.”
“When will you be able to demonstrate the process?”
“Everything will be ready soon.”
Chapter 3
"Get us under control Ashley," Oz calmly ordered as he watched the Triton spin through space at an incredible speed on the tactical display. The battlecruisers were firing bursts of super heated particles and scoring hits across the hull of the ship, draining the little energy they had left in their shielding.
"She's got control, we just don't have the power to slow our spin quickly with only half our main engines," Larry replied for her.
Ashley concentrated hard on opposing their spin with all the thrust the Triton could exert. "We'll be stable enough in about ten seconds and that's a fricken miracle. Sir."
"Commander, we have injury reports coming in from all across the ship. The only place that didn't lose gravity was the command deck," Oz heard from over his shoulder.
It was the Operations and Safety Officer, who he hadn't bothered to introduce himself to.
Oz brought the casualty summary up in front of the command seating. "What am I looking at here? Almost all the injuries are in the manufacturing area and they're all minor. Half of these are being treated right now by vacsuit emergency systems and we have three who are already on their way to medical."
"Well sir-"
"Just because your display turns yellow and starts feeding you more information than you're used to doesn't mean you can slow everyone down with it. Take another look at your station," Oz said quietly and insistently as he stood and looked at the three Operations and Safety Officers.
One stared back at him, open mouthed and shocked. The other two looked back to their station, turning red. They were all young, two of them were men, and one was a young woman, possibly younger than Ashley.
"What do you see?"
"Well, it looks like-" he hesitated for a moment. "They're turning green," he concluded.
"Meaning there's no real emergency there." Oz looked back to the tactical display. Triton was finally about to stabilize. "Now let's see if we can bloody their noses. All weapon emplacements fire. I want our heaviest munitions available to focus on the lead battlecruiser, their port side if possible.”
“Maybe once we stop spinning like a top,” came Gunnery Chief Frost’s reply.
“When you’ve got a shot, Chief.” The gunnery deck and aft torpedo room was showing heat damage to the hull and Oz shook his head. "Laura, at least get refractive shielding up."
"The emitters in that section are damaged, I'm trying to bridge fields from around it," Laura replied with a controlled, even tone. "Considering we came out with shields at about five percent it's a miracle we have anything at all. We’ve also burned out inertial dampeners across the ship. I’m going to try to have the ship light up dead spots so the crew can avoid them."
“Now that’s a problem,” Oz said, looking at the tactical display at the centre of the bridge. The carrier was stable, but still turning much faster than he was comfortable with. "Ashley," Oz started as he looked to the navigational indicators on one side of the tactical display and realized that she was already turning the ship so the port side shields would take hits instead of the aft section. "Keep doing what you're doing," he finished.
The tactical representation of the Triton lit up as every torpedo port, missile and railgun turret began firing at the lead battlecruiser. It was a medium distance fight at a range of one hundred eighty eight thousand kilometres. He couldn't help but notice the ships were keeping their distance. "What are they doing? Their particle beams are less than ten percent effective at this range." He asked himself as he sat down in the Captain's chair. He tracked the munitions headed towards the lead vessel, glancing at the Triton’s shield status. Gravitational, energy barrier and refractive shielding were all charging, they were taking less damage by the second.
"Maybe they're waiting for something?" Jason offered from the secondary command seat beside him.
The first of the projectiles closed to within ten thousand kilometres of the bulky, thick hulled battlecruisers and a large explosion flashed. The core of it was superheated and a powerful electromagnetic surge surrounded it for tens of thousands of kilometres. The first wave of the Triton’s attack was vaporized and anything behind it was deflected or disabled by the dissipating energy field.
"Was that what I think it was?" Jason asked Oz quietly.
"I need to know for sure, sending a copy of that to you, Chief Grady. Helm, plot a hyperspace course to the nearest obstruction. Asteroid belt, planetoid, nebula, I don't care as long as it's uninhabited."
"Aye, I have a planetoid pair in a small nebula, only a few million klicks across, lots of asteroids in there too, at least that's what the hazard note says," Larry replied as he set the computer to start calculating a safe route.
"Can all our people navigate it?"
"Panloo or Darris could do it easy with their navigators," Ashley replied.
"All right, that's where we're headed."
"Commander McPatrick, is this the source of the energy readings we just got down here?" Engineering Chief Grady asked as his full sized avatar appeared in Oz's left hand command seat.
"It is."
"Then get us as close as you can so they can't do it again."
"So that was an antimatter enhanced nuke?"
"Yes. It's a smaller version of one I've seen used to excite a brown star. At range they'll be able to do terrible damage without disrupting their own systems."
"Ready to begin acceleration if field control can confirm hull coverage," Larry announced.
"Say the word and I'll charge the hull," Laura replied hurriedly.
"Hang on Chief, we're about to remove ourselves from the equation." Oz's tactical screen flashed red, marking several projectiles with antimatter detection warnings. "Frost! Take out those torpedoes!" he ordered.
The Triton’s weapons were just beginning to penetrate the lead battlecruiser's shields, doing severe damage. That came to an end as all the rail cannons changed their focus towards the incoming torpedoes. Several were destroyed in the first few seconds.
"Secure torpedo rooms, abandon the most damaged sections of the ship," he ordered as he highlighted the decks that had been breached as they left the Ossimi belt. "Get us out of here Ash." Oz watched as three of the torpedoes drew nearer, within ten thousand kilometres. They started moving towards them faster.
The Triton’s hull began to charge with the energized particles that would alter the space the ship occupied so they could accelerate at many times the normal rate and Ashley almost had the ship in position.
“All right, all the decks will mark areas under the influence of damaged inertial dampeners by turning the floor lighting red,” Laura announced from her field control station.
Oz watched in horror as several sections of the floor turned red. Most of the bridge was compromised, glowing faintly red, but there were dead spots. The communications terminal, engineering and the floor under the pilot seat were all unprotected. "Stand clear!” was all he had time to say.
Two of the torpedoes closed to within five hundred kilometres and exploded simultaneously. In one instant the lights went out, ears popped, and everyone aboard was thrown dangerously hard.
There was nothing he could do. He tried to hold the arms of the command seat but the force of the collision ripped him free and he swore he felt his shoulder graze the ceiling. His vacsuit had just enough time to cushion his landing as he struck the floor in front of the captain's char.