20th August 2012
15:26 GMT
Due to their focus on speed and manoeuvrability, Alignment warships tend to skimp on armour. They're not fragile per se, as their generators are more than powerful enough to maintain a strong shield bubble as well as power their drives and weapons. However, their doctrine calls for a strategic withdrawal before their shields get anywhere near the point of collapse. Our neighbours are attempting to do that even now, but battleship-fast isn't
fast in any
absolute sense.
Which means that when our main guns turn starboard, target amidships and fire, the side of the closest battleship
melts.
External kibble evaporates, metal and ceramic plates vaporise and capacitors explode as the ship sags and shifts sideways. Hurriedly refocused sensor arrays on
our ship show systems on the opposite side of the wound from the main generators start losing power, and the bubble shield won't re-engage without the emitters that are now either molten or without power. Local generators are designed to power thrusters and point defences, so a lot of that ship is now mission killed.
Fire is coming back at us, but our shield is easily strong enough to cope with it. The main guns from the other battleships are the only things out there that can hurt us
quickly, and Lantern Xor is targeting them individually. The main threat to us is already
on this ship, in the form of the crew who are probably a bit curious about why we're shooting at an ally.
A Warhound marine detail comes through the portal next, their leader nodding to me as they split up and prepare to assault the rest of the ship. There…
I scan. Yes, that makes sense.
I send a crew summary to their personal computers. No Warhounds, just normal soldiers occupying the Warhound berths. The standard weapon for soldiers expecting to fight Warhounds is a
one point eight metre long high pressure plasma beam projector that's completely impractical for shipboard operations but is just about the only thing that isn't another Warhound they've got that can hurt them. With main internal communications under our control and the element of surprise, this isn't going to be a difficult fight.
"You have the bridge.
"
The new captain nods as the capacitors for the ship's main guns finish recharging and the guns fire again. The wound in our neighbour has now cleaved to the centre line, its primary weapons dead. I
step out
and appear on the bridge of the battleship on the port side. They were targeted by the port side weapons, but the aim there was to take the main guns off line rather than break the hull in half.
"
Lock-!"
Another barrage of orange kills the bridge crew, a moment of resistance from the internal shields being the only impediment. Alignment internal shields are designed to help marines fight off attackers, but they're not designed to fight off the sort of overwhelming power I can bring to bear. And the layout doesn't appear to be intended to help with teleport attacks.
Another portal out of subspace, and another Warhound detachment emerges.
"Sorry, they locked it all down.
" Filaments connect me to the bridge computer systems as I work to bypass the electronic aspect of the lockout.
"The crew will be-
"
The central bridge doors slam open and a group of marines stomp into the room, raising their guns and getting orange pulses through their faceplates for their trouble.
"-alert and active.
"
The leader nods.
"Understood." She hefts her gun, the other Warhounds forming up on her. "We'll clear the ship manually. There is no point trying to self-destruct if they're alert."
"Best wishes.
"
I
step out, returning to
normal space inside the bridge of the battle cruiser. Another volley of shots and another dead crew. The lockdown warning
might have been transmitted on fleetwide communications, and trying to take ships that don't have shields is a bit of a risk. I raise my left arm, a great coruscating pillar of orange leaping upwards and punching through the ceiling, through the deck above that and the deck above that until it finally exits the hull. Then I slowly move my arm anticlockwise, cutting through the ship.
Ring, internal communications.
Compliance.
"Illustres to Alignment crew. I am destroying this ship. Get to the escape pods and you will be detained for trial. Remain, and die. End.
"
Compliance.
This ship lost its force field bubble, and as far as I can tell it doesn't have a separate environmental containment shield. Air is being sucked out of the widening hole in the hull as I keep cutting. Not particularly quickly -the pressure difference is only one atmosphere- but there's nothing quite like the stuff you breathe audibly vanishing when you're not wearing a space suit to motivate a person to
move.
The ship
twists and
screams as I reach the nine o'clock position. And of course being able to see the stars out of the giant hole in the wall does something similar. At least the crew have clamps on their boots.
Six o'clock and the lights flicker as the connection to the primary generators is severed across most of the ship. I keep going though, until ring scans show that the ship is going to keep tearing itself apart with its own momentum. Then I
step out and
reappear next to Lantern Xor.
"Everything going well?
"
"The large ships-" He
charges a shot as we
fly towards where the cruisers are frantically backing away and trying to charge their faster than light drives. "-are
defeated."
The closest cruiser is struck in the front of its shield bubble which fractures and fails, the
shot carrying on and obliterating the front portion of the ship.
"Now all that remains is to
complete the destruction."
"No, wait. I need the practice.
"
He frowns as I
step out, re-emerging
at the point at which they entered the system.
I can see their lights, shifting between
fear and
discipline as they try to make this a withdrawal rather than a flight. A little deeper and I can see their motives, mostly a mixture of peer pressure and
self interest. Few psychopaths or other innately evil people. Much like I thought.
I raise my hands, pointing at the ships heading in my direction. My palms glow with orange light as I compass their ending. I reach out, orange hands forming around the two uppermost cruisers and squeezing, their shields buckling and failing moments before their hulls do the same. I move my hands down-.
The next one on the left is frantically signalling its surrender. I nod and move past it, crushing the next two ships. I move the hands again-.
Signals of surrender from all remaining ships.
"Lantern Xor, I believe that the day is won. What would you have me do?
"
"Illustres, please intercept the shots made at the colony. We will need somewhere to put these prisoners."
I nod, smiling faintly.
"On my way now.
"
Oof, set straight by the author... Guess that's what happens when I start assuming things.)
