20 Seconds...
03 Mar 2020Rex-Cramer
Kayley calls out, "Hull at 80%, shields at 60%".I grunt back, "30 seconds and I've got it."
I push the thrusters all the way to ventral and try to pull off an orbit but the ship is spiraling out and away and my Gauss Cannon shots are losing effect. COVAS cries out "Heat level critical" as another high velocity salvo launches at the interceptor and I see the impact. Finally, we got the heart out.
"Hull at 70, shields at 40", Kayley says in a strained voice as the Clipper pulls incredible G's in this circle. The incoming canon fire is pinging off the hull as it punches through the shields and the angry wail of the Thargoid pierces the cockpit audio.
"20 seconds, a couple more shots and we've got the heart", I try to swing back into line to attack the heart that's begun to glow as the alien Interceptor repairs itself before our eyes.
Then time stands still. The "Incoming Missile!" alert flashes and the cockpit lights up with warning sounds and lights. Like that moment when a crash becomes inevitable and everything seems to slow down before you as you take in all the details I watch as white triangles form a solid line from the swarm position to mine and I try to pull power from the weapons to the shields. Kayley looks up with a terrified expression, "Oh Go..." is all she can get out. Then they slam into us. Missile after missile after missile and instantly our shield is offline and the hull is being ripped away faster than we can react.
I jam the boost hard and they just keep hitting. Hull at 50, hull at 40, hull at 30. Finally the boost engages and we rocket from 260m/s to over 600. Then that final terror, the emergency oxygen timer. We barely had time to throw on the helmets before the cabin was vacuum. Life support has failed. Another salvo of missiles but this time I spin hard and boost away as they launch and I take a few more hits but outrun the bulk of them.
"Kayley, whats our damage? Can we get LS back online?", I say trying to gauge distance to the interceptor and swarm.
"Kayley! Life support?", I shout into comms, as I begin canopy repairs so we don't loose that too.
"Kayley, DAMNIT......", I finally look over to see her helmet is on but she's completely limp. Her arms are hanging backwards like pendulums reading out G load. Her helmet is bobbing around from side to side with small shifts in trajectory. "Shit", is all I can mutter. Pulling up her vitals, she's alive and sealed but must have been knocked out in the 2nd boost. Something is not right with her suit locks and she's taking a beating from the boosts. Drifting forward and then slamming back over and over as I race to stay ahead of the alien craft. I have got to get out of here and I need to keep acceleration to the side to a minimum. I look at system status. It's grim. Thrusters are marginal, they could fail at any moment. The FSD is hammered shit, and the shields are not coming back. The generator is gone completely. The AFMU is gone. All external weapons are gone. All I can do is keep boosting and the oxygen is running out. Seven minutes remaining.
I retract the remains of the hard points. After my wing-mate went down it was foolish to press this attack and I wonder if we'll pay for it with an insurance claim or our lives now. Keeping barely ahead of the Thargoid I'm risking thruster failure at any moment.
"Module Malfunction", is repeated to my dismay at each retraction attempt.
"Leo, God damn you, pull the pylons in or we're freaking dead ", I shout to his unfeeling mic.
"Module Malfunction", in his monotone voice is Leo's only response. I try to activate the FSD to "Can not comply". Again. "Can not comply" in that unconcerned and flat affect. Finally with one more panic-stricken push of the weapon deployment switch the vibration of the hard points retracting rings through the ship and the bay doors close. I feel them lock shut. I jam the Hyperjump button, as our thrusters are practically in melt-down trying to stay ahead of this thing but I get "Module Malfunction".
"If I have to reboot/repair here this may be it for us", I think. "Module Malfunction", "Module Malfunction", "Module Malfunction". Six and a half minutes left.
I look over to Kayley, still passed out in her seat, arms possibly dislocated from the G's by now. "I'm sorry", I say softly into the comms, "I'm.... sorry. This was stupid". Then like an angel's voice... Leo announces "Frame Shit Drive Charging". "YES"!!!!! "YYYYYEEEEEESSSSSSS!!!!", I scream into the comms. "Come on baby, come on. DO IT", I plead with the ship. "Do it, do it, do ..."
Then the sudden jolt into hyperspace as we jump to the nearest inhabited system. It's a race now against the clock. Can we get down before the air runs out? With 40 seconds to spare we drop into the hanger of a planetary port and the atmosphere in the cabin is quickly restored as the hanger is pressurized. I jump out of my seat and pull Kayley's helmet off to get her into breathable air. Life signs are good but blood pressure is lower. "Internal bleed", I mumble. A trickle of blood is running out of her nose. Need to get her to medical ASAP. I call in emergency services and they arrive in minutes to extract her from the seat being careful of her bruised and limp arms and quickly load her into an emergency cart and speed off out of the hanger.
As she rolled out of the hanger I felt a sudden pang of pain in my chest. It was my job to keep my crew safe and I let my desire to look good soloing that interceptor override my judgement. We almost lost our lives for that one and she's going to go through a lot of pain for my pride. Not my finest moment.
I looked up a bar to stop into tonight. Don't want to do anymore thinking. Just drink myself to sleep and visit Kayley tomorrow in the Med Ward. Somehow though I didn't wind up at the bar. I was in Medical next to Kayley's bed. Wires connected to her everywhere. Arms locked into foam casts strapped to her sides. An IV drip attached to her neck. They had finished surgery to stop the bleeding from torn tissue in her shoulders and were monitoring for brain swelling due to the injury sustained to her head. The doctor I'd talked to was guarded with any prognosis but did grudgingly state that if the brain swelling was mild she was likely to recover quickly.
AX-Dragonfly landed with 21% hull remaining and only a few core systems still functional. It was basically held together by it's wires I think. It's going to cost a pretty penny to fix all that likely five times the bounty we got on the few scouts we'd killed early on. A fact that she's going to remind me of as soon as she wakes up. And that's fine... because she is going to wake up. She *IS* going to wake up.