the Alpha ship thirty seconds rather than three to tear the Lazarus apart in a head to head confrontation. There was no need to share this with the young man though. He was proud of how Valnor was carrying himself after his meltdown earlier.
Hastelloy paged Tomal. “Have you been able to complete the torpedo modifications yet? An Alpha ship just appeared in system; we might need them shortly.”
“Yes sir. Both torpedoes are ready for launch, but I have serious misgivings about their effectiveness. The energy dispersal of the first projectile won’t even damage their ship, and the last torpedo doesn’t have enough destructive power to penetrate their shields,” Tomal challenged with a not so subtle hint of insubordination in his voice.
“Noted L ieutenant,” Hastelloy responded giving particular emphasis to his subordinates rank. “Please return to the bridge and bring Gallono with you. I need you both up here right away.” The stern reprimand Tomal had coming could wait.
“Captain,” Valnor exclaimed. “It looks like the Alpha ship has picked up our ion trail. They’re slowly tracking along the exact path I took into the asteroid belt. They’ll be at our location in five minutes. I have the ship hidden in the magnetic pole of this asteroid, but it’s rotating slowly and will bring us around into their view in about ten minutes.
Tomal and Gallono entered the bridge and took their seats. Clearly the hour spent apart was not nearly enough time to calm their feud as Gallono shouldered his way past Tomal on the way to his workstation. In turn, Tomal’s stare could have burnt a hole through the back of Gallono’s head.
“Tomal, get ready to fire those torpedoes on my command.” Hastelloy ordered. “It might not be needed since we still could get lucky and they move away before we come into their view, but I am not getting my hopes up. Timing will be everything here.”
The minutes slowly ticked by and the Alpha ship only drew closer to the asteroid hiding the Lazarus.
“They just started a standard search grid of the immediate area, centered around the spot where I shut down the ion engines to coast into our polar orbit of the asteroid. If they continue the pattern, they’ll spot us in 90 seconds,” Valnor reported.
“Yes, but we are going to hit them before then,” Hastelloy cut in. “Twenty seconds from now they’ll pass within 50 miles of our position. Tomal, link the torpedo firing sequence to Valnor’s station and have the computer fire them half a second after we come into their view. Valnor, once the torpedoes launch take us away from the enemy ship at a perpendicular angle towards the closest planet; on your mark.”
Valnor counted down to one and then executed the attack pattern. The Lazarus sprung up from behind the asteroid, fired its two fusion torpedoes in rapid succession and took off towards the third planet. Before the projectiles could hit their mark, the Alpha vessel pummeled the helpless collector class ship with its wave blasters and started giving chase when the torpedoes finally connected.
The first torpedo impacted the Alpha ship’s shields and delivered a focused disruption blast that temporarily paralyzed the shielding in that location. With the perfect timing Hastelloy’s firing sequence provided, the second torpedo flew through the shield gap moments before the field was reestablished and detonated on impact with the engineering compartment. A spectacular blast sheered off the back third of the Alpha ship which took with it the vessel’s engines and power source.
“What’s our status?” Hastelloy asked his first officer.
“Shields, propulsion and communication are completely fried, but we still have power. Our momentum will carry us to the third planet in about two days.” Gallono reported.
“Well thank goodness, because here I thought we might be in a bit of trouble,” Tomal stated
Hastelloy paged Tomal. “Have you been able to complete the torpedo modifications yet? An Alpha ship just appeared in system; we might need them shortly.”
“Yes sir. Both torpedoes are ready for launch, but I have serious misgivings about their effectiveness. The energy dispersal of the first projectile won’t even damage their ship, and the last torpedo doesn’t have enough destructive power to penetrate their shields,” Tomal challenged with a not so subtle hint of insubordination in his voice.
“Noted L ieutenant,” Hastelloy responded giving particular emphasis to his subordinates rank. “Please return to the bridge and bring Gallono with you. I need you both up here right away.” The stern reprimand Tomal had coming could wait.
“Captain,” Valnor exclaimed. “It looks like the Alpha ship has picked up our ion trail. They’re slowly tracking along the exact path I took into the asteroid belt. They’ll be at our location in five minutes. I have the ship hidden in the magnetic pole of this asteroid, but it’s rotating slowly and will bring us around into their view in about ten minutes.
Tomal and Gallono entered the bridge and took their seats. Clearly the hour spent apart was not nearly enough time to calm their feud as Gallono shouldered his way past Tomal on the way to his workstation. In turn, Tomal’s stare could have burnt a hole through the back of Gallono’s head.
“Tomal, get ready to fire those torpedoes on my command.” Hastelloy ordered. “It might not be needed since we still could get lucky and they move away before we come into their view, but I am not getting my hopes up. Timing will be everything here.”
The minutes slowly ticked by and the Alpha ship only drew closer to the asteroid hiding the Lazarus.
“They just started a standard search grid of the immediate area, centered around the spot where I shut down the ion engines to coast into our polar orbit of the asteroid. If they continue the pattern, they’ll spot us in 90 seconds,” Valnor reported.
“Yes, but we are going to hit them before then,” Hastelloy cut in. “Twenty seconds from now they’ll pass within 50 miles of our position. Tomal, link the torpedo firing sequence to Valnor’s station and have the computer fire them half a second after we come into their view. Valnor, once the torpedoes launch take us away from the enemy ship at a perpendicular angle towards the closest planet; on your mark.”
Valnor counted down to one and then executed the attack pattern. The Lazarus sprung up from behind the asteroid, fired its two fusion torpedoes in rapid succession and took off towards the third planet. Before the projectiles could hit their mark, the Alpha vessel pummeled the helpless collector class ship with its wave blasters and started giving chase when the torpedoes finally connected.
The first torpedo impacted the Alpha ship’s shields and delivered a focused disruption blast that temporarily paralyzed the shielding in that location. With the perfect timing Hastelloy’s firing sequence provided, the second torpedo flew through the shield gap moments before the field was reestablished and detonated on impact with the engineering compartment. A spectacular blast sheered off the back third of the Alpha ship which took with it the vessel’s engines and power source.
“What’s our status?” Hastelloy asked his first officer.
“Shields, propulsion and communication are completely fried, but we still have power. Our momentum will carry us to the third planet in about two days.” Gallono reported.
“Well thank goodness, because here I thought we might be in a bit of trouble,” Tomal stated
Similar Books
