This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.
The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Muzolf on 2025-06-30 11:22:31+00:00.
“Damage report! What the hell happened just now Mark? I thought we were better then this?!”
More Alarms were going off. The explosion knocked out sensors, communications. Most of their instruments were designed to be EMP resistant, but that did not mean they were immune to a bomb going off in their face, to speak nothing of the missiles that did impact the hull. Automated resets went off in futile attempts to restore functionality to parts that were just not there anymore, ship systems trying to re-route to reserves which themselves were not in great shape.
The weapons officer resisted the urge to react to the last part. “Need a moment, Sir! But weaponry is not the main concern i believe.” Reminding the captain that this was hardly his department, except maybe one particular piece of it. “If communications are down as the monitors say, we cannot order the drones back to defend us.”
“I have no intention on going on the defensive on this one. Even if they were of any use in point defense.”
“Not necessarily what i meant!”
“Contact! We got a faint signal, accelerating away from the hulks debris field!” Both men turned to Miss Blair.
“Towards us, or away from us?” Garland barked. “Away!” Came the answer with the tactical display now showing a blinking little point trying to put some distance between itself and both the debris field and the Troyan. The Captains expression turned into an ugly grin, one that no one in this crew has ever seen before.
“We have them!” He half-whispered. He would have retribution for this blemish on his record. “Communications! Restore our link to the drones with whatever you can! I don`t care if someone has to climb out the hull with an antenna, just do it! Weapons, i want whatever missiles ready we can still fire. Everyone else, damage control!”
Markus felt something nagging at the back of his mind. He would not be running if he had the kind of firepower and capabilities they just faced, nor would he have assumed that it was enough to cripple his enemy enough for him to safely withdraw. But he was not going to argue until he had something to argue with. The old man ordered weapons, he could do two things at once.
“Most of the pods are still responding, reloading right now, we will have 80% of a full spread in a minute. Targeting systems…” He hesitated. “Give me a second here.” Figured that the optical sensors would be gone, they were the most fragile, least protected. The designers seemed to have not cared for them much, as in most situations they would have been of marginal use.
“Miss Blair, what kind of signal are we picking up?”
“Faint bluespace, active sensors or a hyperspace relay probably.”
“Would our big missile not have burned out all of their bluespace instruments?”
“Maybe its a trace remnant of their hyperdrive then?”
“You two can speculate about what it was once we are analysing their burned wreckage, where are my weapons Mark?” The Captain sounded both irritated and impatient.
“Sir, i don`t like this! Optics are out so i cannot confirm what is or is not there. Why would this signal turn up now, when we picked up nothing of them before? For all we know, they might have tossed their broken hyperspace radio or whatever out an airlock.”
“No, this has to be an active component, and its accelerating.” Miss Blair chimed it. Mark turned to the science officer, giving her a Dont give him that!` look.
The Captain just sighed in resignation. “I don`t need to hear your excuses Markus, if you cannot set up targeting for a weak bluespace signature, say that! Nobody expects miracles of you.” After a brief pause he added. “Certainly not after today. Communications, can we reach the drones yet? We will use them if the missiles are not a reliable option.”
“Not even remotely what i am trying to say.” the weapons officer grumbled between his teeth, but by now he was convinced whatever he said would just make the stubborn old mule double down. But at least at this moment, his commanding officer seemed more interested in turning and chastising the communications officer, why it took that long to bring the backups online. He seized the initiative. Gave instructions to his own team, seemingly to prepare for just another missile strike. He prepped the Troyans own missiles as well, just not for going after that signal. And then for good measure, he ordered hangar 2 to be evacuated through his console, to stop the repair crew from interfering, or being there if he had to re-launch the damaged drone. The onboard diagnostics showed it should be mostly fine, hull integrity in the green, armor somewhat dented, safety protocols could be engaged without stopping it from firing if it had to.
-x-
-x-
“They are just sitting there, doing nothing.”
“One would think they would tend to their carrier seeing what we just did to it? But i take it.”
The chatter on the bridge was interrupted by an amused rumble coming from the commander. And then an outright laughing hiss.
“Of course! I should have guessed. These things have no crews! They are controlled remotely, and we likely just knocked out their motherships comm relay. Think about it, would you put living beings on them with weaponry that is as much a threat to them as their enemies, and a cloak that drives you insane if it does not kill you outright?” She shook her head. “Not even the humans are that reckless and uncaring for their own kind.”
“Am i the only one in the dark about what we are talking about? The what now? Cloak that causes insanitiy or death?” The Nav officer flopped her crest sideways in confusion.
“Ask Hikar about about the detailed effects of phase shifting on living beings sometime. Or non-living, considering how it does the same to AI. High command will be happy to hear that almost all of these newest fancy toys they got are just more dead ends.” Suspiciously familiar ones she mentally noted. “But we need to stay alive to tell them. Keep an eye on these in case they do respond.” Kaba pointed at the trio of corvettes on the screen. “We might just have this one run at their mothership, lets make it count.” She signaled for everyone to make ready. They were almost close enough now. She looked over to the weapons officers station.
“Target shows no sign of evasion, lining up for torpedo run.” He hissed, subconsciously taking up the stance of a predator ready to jump, as if there was a human in front of his seat.
Kaba sighed at this display. “This better work, it is the last of our ordinance.” A fact, she reminded herself, was the only reason she agreed to this plan, as the slow and cumbersome anti-capital torpedoes were anything but the tool of her choice right now.