Chapter 26: Chapter 26: Bigger Guns

"Yvian, have the Paradigm Shift change course," Captain Mims ordered. "Plot a heading that will pass that mining station at a distance of ninety thousand kilometers."

"Plotting course," Yvian acknowledged. "Uh, why that distance?"

"Because that's the max range of her beam weapons," the human told her. "Keep her at max acceleration, but program some evasives. The Vrrl can hit her if they predict her course."

"On it." Yvian plotted minor course changes at timed intervals, in what she hoped was an unpredictable pattern.

"Lissa, I need you to pilot the Encounter for a bit." Mims stood up. "I've got her following the Paradigm, but I need you to shift our course just a little every eight seconds. Keep us moving in the same general direction, but do not let them predict where we'll be next. And keep an eye on those cruisers. There's no telling what they might throw at us."

"On it," Lissa pulled flight controls up on her station. "Where are you going to be?"

"The armory," he said, striding off the bridge. "Keep the comms open and let me know if anything happens."

The Captain had been gone for fifteen minutes when light flooded through the viewports. A solid beam, over thirty meters in diameter, flashed past the Random Encounter. The beam passed by for three seconds, at a distance of barely half a kilometer. The sensor readings showed an enormous amount of energy, more than she'd ever seen produced. A second beam lashed out from the other battlecruiser. This one was aimed at the Paradigm Shift. Sensors showed the beam scything through the space the Paradigm had been a few seconds ago.

"Bright Lady," Lissa swore.

"What in The Crunch was that?" Yvian wanted to know. Lissa shared a look with her. She couldn't see her face through the visor, but her eyes must be as wide as Yvian's were.

The question had been rhetorical, but to her surprise the Captain answered. She'd forgotten he was listening to their comms. "That," he told her, "Is the reason we're doing evasives. Ion Roarcannons. The Vrrl use them to strip the shields of capitol ships and large stations."

"What happens if it hits us?"

"We fucking die." Footsteps heralded the Captain's arrival on the bridge. He was carrying a very large crate. "The Roarcannons pack enough punch to shred our shields, fry every system on the ship, and turn the three of us into charcoal." He let out a grunt of effort as he set the crate down. "The good news is Roarcannons take a long time to charge. They should only be able to shoot at us every twenty minutes or so."

"What's in the crate?" Lissa asked.

"Guns."

"We're already carrying guns," Lissa pointed out.

"These are bigger guns," he told her. "You don't want to fight the Vrrl without bigger guns." He strode back off the bridge. "Keep dodging. I've got more stuff to bring up."

Eight minutes later, the Captain brought another crate onto the bridge. Light flooded through the viewports as Roarcannon fire swept passed. This one wasn't as close as the last, but it still sent a bolt of fear shooting up Yvian's legs. A second Roarcannon beam followed, on its way to the Paradigm Shift. That one would miss, as well.

"I thought you said they could only fire that thing every twenty minutes," Lissa accused.

"That's exactly what I said," agreed the human.

Lissa pointed out the viewport, nonplussed. "Well now what do you think?"

He shrugged. "I think I was wrong." He walked off the bridge again.

The Captain returned and deposited a third, even larger crate. A massive beam of ionic energy flashed by as he took his seat. A second beam followed. Neither would hit their mark. He tsked. "That's no good. They're missing for now, and we've got enough distance to dodge if we have to, but they'll hit the Paradigm eventually." He pulled up sensors. "I don't suppose those cruisers are traveling in a straight line, are they?"

"No," Lissa informed him. "They're shifting course every few seconds just like we are."

"Figures," The Captain griped. "I hate when they're competent. Lissa, I'm taking over flight controls. I guess we'll have to do this the hard way." He turned the ship around. "Engaging intercept course."

"In the Encounter?" Yvian was dubious. "Shouldn't we link up with the Paradigm Shift first?"

"If we don't take out those Roarcannons, the Paradigm won't last long enough to do us any good." The Captain turned the ship around. "Speaking of which, keep an eye on that mine. I don't want those fighters breaking off to take us from the rear."

"Ok..." Yvian was still dubious. "But how are we going to take out their cannons?"

"MACdriver." Mims shrugged. "It's the only edge we've got."

The Encounter accelerated at it's usual impressive rate. Or slowed down, rather. They'd been running away from the battlecruisers at extreme speeds, and it would take a while to undo that momentum. The cruisers, for their part, were still accelerating towards them. The Vrrl capitol ships appeared to be increasing speed by nearly a hundred meters per second every second, a terrifying display of acceleration for a two kilometer long battleship. Yvian's shoulders clenched as she took a closer look at the enemy vessels.

Her sensor display identified the ships as Bloodwing class battlecruisers. The Bloodwings were built to resemble an adult Vrrl leaping into the attack, complete with stylized heads and three glowing green eyes. The mechanized arms were similar to those on the Clawwings, but much larger. The mouths were opened as if the ships were roaring into the void, and their fanged maws were the source of the Ion Roarcannons. While the front halves were shaped in the image of their creators, the back half of each Bloodwing was a long block covered in engines and weapons turrets. The cruisers each had a hundred and forty four turrets of various sizes, as well as eighteen missiles launchers.

The Random Encounter charged. The Captains used its omnidirectional movement system to change position every few seconds while sacrificing as little speed as possible. The Bloodwings took note. Now both of them aimed their Roarcannons at the human ship. With Mims at the helm, Yvian doubted they could land a hit, but her butt clenched every time the massive beams screamed by.

The Vrrl fired six times before the Encounter reached combat range. One Bloodwing would fire, then the other would shoot in the direction the Encounter dodged. The Captain had to swerve the ship again each time, avoiding death by a much slimmer margin than Yvian was comfortable with. The margin got slimmer each time.

"And now for a brief history lesson," the Captain said as he primed the MACdriver. "Kinetic weapons have been around for thousands of years, and most species start out using them. They usually stop once they figure out how to make shields. Shields are good at deflecting chunks of metal, and a railgun just doesn't damage the things the way energy weapons can. Humans were no different until about twenty years ago."

"What happened twenty years ago?" Yvian prompted.

"SHIELDBREACH technology." The human typed into his console as he spoke, preparing a firing solution. "Some scientist figured out a way to disrupt energy fields. The effect doesn't last long, and doesn't do any real damage, but it lets you bypass another ship's shields. Once we figured that out, it didn't take long to start making weapons like the MACdriver and the BFSR4. Unlike plasma weapons, you can use them at any range, and the sheer penetrating force of them makes armor an impractical defense. You'd need ten meters of tungsten to stop a MACdriver. Any ship carrying that much armor isn't going anywhere fast."

"If the MACdriver's that good," Yvian asked. "Why'd we bother running in the first place?"

"If they were Confed cruisers, we wouldn't." Mims explained. "The Vrrl are different. They're used to fighting humans, and their systems are decentralized with multiple redundant backups. I can't disable them with a few well placed shots." He finished typing and placed both hands on flight control. "I can take out their main cannons, though."

Yvian watched the Roarcannons charge. When they were almost ready to fire, Mims jerked the ship downwards. The thrumming vibration of the MACdriver coursed through the ship. The first ion beam roared towards them thirty seconds later. The Captain cursed as he dodged it. The second ion beam did not fire. The Roarcannon exploded instead. Sensors showed the Bloodwing battlecruiser go into a spin, all systems down.

"Damn." The Captain hauled on the flight controls, bringing the Encounter into a sideways strafe as it streaked towards the Vrrl. "Misjudged the timing on that one."

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"What The Crunch did you do?" Yvian asked.

"Damaged the cannon while they were trying to shoot." Mims kept strafing as he targeted the still active Bloodwing. "Caused a misfire. The backlash fried every system on the ship. She's dead in the void." Red and yellow bolts of plasma formed a wall around the cruiser, reaching for the human ship. "Can't use that trick twice. They'll keep the cannon powered down after that. I'm gonna put some holes in it just to make sure."

The Random Encounter was still moving too fast for a proper engagement. The Vrrl compensated by filling the void with plasma fire in the direction the human ship was flying. The MACdriver thrummed. Half a second later the ship shook violently. The human cursed. He had not been able to maneuver fast enough to avoid all the weapon fire. Their shields dropped to six percent as they flashed past, tumbling and off course from the impact of the heavy guns.

Mims continued to curse as he righted the ship. Weapons fire followed them, but the Encounter was moving too fast for the plasma to keep up. A string of missiles followed the plasma. The missiles accelerated rapidly, closing the distance the plasma had failed to bridge. The Encounter's anti-missile turrets activated, beams lancing out to destroy the projectiles. A few seconds later, the Vrrl ceased fire.

Mims slumped back in his chair. His stream of profanity trailed off. He looked through a sensor display, assessing the damage he had done to the cruiser. He asked Lissa for a damage report.

"That last hit stressed our inertial dampeners," she reported. "Damage is minor. We've got minor damage to shield generators, but they're still operating at ninety six percent capacity. Autorepair is active, and we should be fully functional in an hour or so."

"Can we still maneuver at speed?" the Captain asked.

"I think so," Lissa told him, "But another impact like that might turn us into pancakes."

"Duly noted." The Captain started decelerating the ship. "We'll give the Vrrl a wide berth on our way to the Paradigm."

"Did we take out the cannon?" Yvian asked.

"For now." Mims confirmed. "I put a dozen holes through it. The Vrrl might be able to repair the thing, but not anytime soon. I hit the engines as well. They'll probably fix those in an hour or two, but their acceleration's been stopped and we should be able to make it to the Paradigm before they do."

"Then what?" Yvian asked. "That Bloodwing's got more firepower than I've ever seen. Can the Paradigm Shift really stand up to it?"

"It'll be dicey," the human admitted. "But it can be done. Carriers are usually a little weaker than cruisers, but the Paradigm's been heavily modified. She'll be a match for a destroyer if Migo did his job right."

Forty minutes later, the Paradigm Shift entered firing range of the besieged mining station. Eight beam weapons lashed out from the carrier, locking on to a Hissith class fighter. It's attempts at dodging were useless against a weapon that neared light speed, and it was destroyed in fourteen seconds. The other fighters attacking the station scattered, trying to circle the mine and put its bulk between them and the carrier. The Paradigm Shift destroyed six more ships before they could escape its line of fire.

"Why are we targeting the Hissiths first?" asked Yvian. "The Clawwings have twice as much firepower."

"They also have more shields," the Captain pointed out. "We couldn't have destroyed as many of them. And Clawwings are slower. The Hissiths are a bigger problem if we have to fight them in the Encounter."

"We're not planning on doing that, are we?" Yvian remembered how close the fight with five Vrrl fighters had been. A full dozen of them would be suicide. "Shouldn't the Paradigm be able to pick them off?"

"Sure," Mims shrugged. "But you should always grab as many advantages as you can in a fight. Nine times out of ten little things like this won't matter, but when they do they're the difference between life and death."

Half an hour later, the Bloodwing cruiser started accelerating again. Lissa seemed impressed at the speed they fixed their engines. The Captain merely shrugged. The Vrrl ship hadn't lost any speed when they damaged it, and was still moving faster than the Paradigm Shift when the engines came online. The carriers max acceleration was barely a fifth of what the Vrrl could do, and a fifteenth of the Random Encounter's. Yvian estimated they would dock with the ship a mere twenty eight minutes before the Vrrl entered firing range.

Twenty minutes later the fighters that had been attacking the mine broke off their attack. They set an intercept course for the Random Encounter. Instead of charging the human ship directly, they accelerated away from it towards the Paradigm. Mims would not be able to blow past them as he had done with the cruiser.

"Assholes," the Captain muttered. "They timed it so they'll be outside the Paradigm's range. We'll be exposed for half a minute before we get past them."

"And we can't stop and fight or the cruiser will catch us," Lissa added.

"We could slow down the Paradigm," Yvian suggested. "Have its guns cover us?"

"That's what they're hoping for," Mims told her. "The slower she's going, the less time the Paradigm has to use beam weapons before the Bloodwing gets close. We're just going to have to dodge and hope for the best."

The Random Encounter opened up with its guns as the Vrrl entered combat range. The enemy returned the favor. The fighters didn't bother trying to hit Mims directly. Instead they placed a wide arc of coordinated fire in the human ship's path. Mims strafed and dodged as best he could, but plasma still struck the ship. The Encounter had regenerated most of its shielding since the fight with the cruiser, but went back down to sixteen percent by the time they were out of firing range. Mims had damaged the shields of single Hissith, but hadn't quite broken through.

Yvian kept her sensors on the Bloodwing as they finally reached the Paradigm Shift. Twice the cruiser had attempted to cycle power into their Ion Roarcannon. So far, they had not been successful. Yvian worried they soon would be. Upgraded or not, she didn't think the Paradigm Shift could stand up to a weapon like that.

Mims programmed the Paradigm to fire on the cruiser as soon as it came in range. He dropped the carrier's shields so they could dock. The second the Encounter landed, he raised them again. "Everyone grab a crate," he ordered. "We're going to the bridge."

Yvian didn't know why he wanted to make for the bridge of a carrier they could control remotely. She shared a look with Lissa, who shrugged. The Captain had already grabbed a crate and was walking briskly off the bridge. Yvian decided there would be time for questions later.

The crate was too heavy for Yvian to lift on her own. She keyed the enhancements in her voidarmor to lift it. Lissa did the same with hers. They hustled after the Captain.

The Paradigm Shift had already engaged the Bloodwing by the time they got to the bridge. Eight yellow beams crashed against the Vrrl's shields. The fighters had ceased following them, and were now heading for the East Gate.

"Lissa, systems check," ordered the Captain. "Yvian, calculate how long we have til those fighters reach the Gate, then subtract fifteen minutes. That's how much time we have to deal with the cruiser."

Yvian checked their acceleration speed and did the math. "We've got three hours, thirty seven minutes."

"Acknowledged," said Mims. "Lissa, what's our status?"

Lissa was typing furiously into her console. "Working on it."

"Working on what?" the Captain insisted. "Status report."

"Status report is we're fucked," she told him. "Main weapons systems are off line. As far as I can tell, the cannons aren't connected to the power grid. Beam arrays are all we've got."

Yvian checked the sensors again. The Paradigm's beam weapons were ticking down the shields of the cruiser, but very slowly. The Bloodwing would only be down to ninety percent by the time it got close enough to return fire. They had no hope of defeating it without their main cannons.

The Captain swore. The string of profanity went on for several seconds. He switched on the comms and hailed Migo at the shipyard.

"Migo, you fuck! Where the fuck are my big guns!?"

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