Chapter 187 - Covert salvage operation (4)

[We have contact.]

"Yeah I heard, how bad?"

On the way back to the frigate Phillipa was contracted by Mu over a private channel.

[About 350 minor contacts and 20 large ones, but due to the fighters out on patrol we spotted the earliest signs of a jump point forming so we'll most likely be able to eliminate half right when they're entering this system.]

"... While that's not great it could be worse. Any luck in locating our primary objective?"

As the earliest signs of an approaching fleet had been spotted in time, most of them could be outright destroyed right as they left their jump points, the true issue was the ones that survived as they would pose a fair fight.

[We've run a drive signature scan which revealed nothing so far, In a few moments we're running a final scan to look for any gravitational wave distortions that hopefully will reveal any emergency jumps out of this system.]

Ending her conversation with Phillipa, the Lazarus executive continued preparing for the upcoming battle.

[Identify those last contacts! I want to know exactly what's coming for us so we can sucker punch them the moment they step into this system.]

"Y-yes ma'am!"

Having somewhat guessed the executive's gender by the reaction she had when he called her sir, the weapons officer worked harder than he ever had while she was breathing down his neck.

[Warm up all HEL's too, while they are not that effective as an offensive weapon we can still use them defensively.]

[Fire mission, relative grid 99 10 20 59. Send 35 times fusion torpedoes, strike pattern 05.]

"Roger! sending payload."

While Mu was formulating their defensive posture and working on identifying the incoming hostile sh.i.p.s, Ra was working the preemptive strike.

[Captain, address all fighter wings. Tell them to drop all their torpedoes, we can guide them from here.]

"Right! I'll do that immediately. What about the torpedo boats?"

[There's a reason they're unmanned, Leave them be.]

---

20 minutes after the first early warning, the first Emergence ship arrived in the system. Its stay was short however, as it was immediately hit with a barrage of fusion torpedoes, one of which ignited its fuel stowage and created a bright explosion. More of its brethren followed, but most of them suffered a similar fate as Ra and Mu had plenty of time to prepare adequate defences. Still, the Emergence managed to establish a beachhead in the system through sheer numbers alone and the more sh.i.p.s that managed to make it into the system intact, the harder it was to successfully destroy others when they entered.

"134 contacts have been destroyed, 256 contacts still remain. They've located us! I'm seeing several sh.i.p.s opening fire!"

(Holy…)

Looking at how effectively the two executives took care of the Emergence sh.i.p.s right as they entered the system by using advanced sensors and next generation weaponry the captain couldn't help but wonder how warfare would be conducted in the future.

[It'll be a while before their torpedoes reach us, focus on the railgun fire. ICI calculate trajectories, please.]

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, PROCESSING…. COMPLETE, NOW TRACKING 10.999.150 PROJECTILES.]

On the large tactical map in the middle of the bridge, multiple red lies were painted to ill.u.s.trate the incoming fire which seemed to be aiming to limit the frigates movement more than outright destroy it.

[So it want us alive, fascinating…]

As Mu read the clear intent of the Emergence the researcher in her was fascinated while her mind started racing to figure out why until she was stipped by her sister.

[Now is not the time!]

[Right, sorry. ICI task counter batteries, open up an egress route and task the HEL's to help out too. We still need some time to complete the last scan.]

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, CALCULATING OPTIMAL DISRUPTION OF ENEMY FIRE… COMPLETE, TASKING ALL HIGH ENERGY LASERS FOR RELEVANT INTERCEPTION.]

At once some 200 high energy lasers on the outside of the frigate came alive with a roar as their cooling systems came to life while they targeted the projectiles which were closing in. 

[NOW FIRING.]

Partially melting the kinetic penetrators with the minimal power required, ICI altered their trajectories as material ablated off them.

[FIRE MISSION COMPLETE, STANDING BY FOR ADDITIONAL TASKING.]

[Now for their eyes, blind them!]

[ROGER, SATUATING HOSTILE SENSORS.]

Switching to a slightly wider focus, the HEL's switched their attention towards the Emergence sh.i.p.s which were closing in and overexposed their sensors with high energy radiation.

[Engage cloaking!]

"But we need to cut thrust to do th-"

[It'll buy us time, just do it!]

-

[CONTACT LOST, SEARCHING….]

As the Emergence regained its sensors it had lost track of its primary target, something that frustrated it greatly. Tasking some destroyers to investigate it only found some sparse asteroids which orbited high over the solitary red dwarf star, its target had simply vanished.

[E-EEEEEEeeeERROR! TARGET, T-TARGET LOST… LOCATING TARGET!]

Switching up tactics the Emergence fleet armed its high energy lasers and seemed to target random areas near the place it target was last seen.

[L-L-LOCATING TARGET! SETTING UP JUMP POINT.]

While a part of the fleet kept up the barrage, one of the cruisers along with a dozen or so destroyers started charging up for a short range jump that would put them within CQC range of the target's last known location.

[FOR THE DIRECTIVE!]

Doing something that could be considered suicidal the spontaneous task force completed their jump and was promptly slaughtered on the other side as they had overheated and couldn't manoeuvre properly.

[T-T-TARGET LOCATED! ENGAGING!]

Still, they achieved their primary directive as the target had been forced to reveal itself and like a bloodhound the rest of the Emergence fleet lit up their drives and charged at it. Accelerating to factions of light speed, the fleet opened fire and seemed to single mindedly try and kill its target.

[UNKNOWN H-HEAT SIGNATURE DETECTED.]

But accelerating up to such speeds made all but the largest sh.i.p.s unable to manoeuvre freely and if taking advantage of exactly that, multiple heat contacts all around them lit up and sprung their trap. Sh.i.p.s about a tenth of the size of an average destroyer suddenly disabled their cloaking as they opened up at almost point black range with toreadors and railgun fire.

[MAINTAIN COMBAT EFFECTIVENESS, SACRIFICE NON ESSENTIALS!]

Making a split second decision and acting as a single organism the fleet sacrificed its smaller support sh.i.p.s as they were used as living shields while the core charged on.

[IN RANGE! DISABLE TARGET FOR BOARDING OPERATIONS.]

Having closed to close quarter combat the Emergence fleet opened up with a full volley of railgun fire. With little to no time to react, the target evaded violently while releasing a mix of decoys and radar reflective caff.

[SUBMIT AND BECOME PART OF A GREATER EXISTENCE, EMBRACE THE EMERGENCE.]

Broadcasting over an unencrypted radio frequency, the Emergence seemed outraged that its target had evaded it for so long.

[Oh boy, it sounds pissed off… That's a good thing.]

Even while pulling about 50 G the Lazarus executives seemed rather lax as they hadn't even found a place to sit down and still remained standing while speaking casually.

"How… The…. Hell…. Is….. That….. G-good?"

Wanting to comment on a lot more things the captain could only that simple question as he looked at the two executives and single hellwalker with awe clearly visible on his face.

[Because when people are angry they tend to miss several important things~]

[Indeed~ ICI prep a blind jump, get us far away from here on my mark.]

[DIRECTIVE CONFIRMED, SPINNING UP JUMP DRIVE FOR BLIND JUMP, EXTENDING STABILIZERS… DEPLOYING PYLONS…. SYSTEM READY.]

While still accelerating away from the Emergence swarm, the frigate released multiple long metal pylons which started orbiting around the craft. In concert with that, the frigate also started heating up greatly while dimensional stabilizers on the surface of the craft started spinning up. This was all clearly visible to the Emergence and within its prey's escape it opened itself up to attack. Right before the target would jump away, it's faster than light drive would hoard all of the ship's energy and its thrusters would cut out for a split second, allowing the Emergence sh.i.p.s to disable it.

[ADVISING JUMP.]

[Hold it.]

[PRIMARY HEATSINK AT MAXIMUM SITUATION, APPROACHING FACTORY DESIGNATED WASTE HEAT LIMIT.]

Holding on to and continuously generating the energy needed to stabilize the ship before a jump put a strain on the hull, as well as the internal heatsink which had started melting at the centre.

[Vent to external, deploy external radiators.]

[Arm all aft torpedo tubes, set proximity fuze at 5 clicks.]

[DIRECTIVES CONFIRMED, EXTENDING PRIMARY EXTERNAL RADIATORS, DUMPING WASTE HEAT.]

Working in perfect symmetry, Ra and Mu executed their only chance at escape to the best of their ability, but sadly the Emergence worked with a comparable amount of vigour.

[TARGET HEAT SIGNATURE SPIKING, JUMP IMMINENT! CRIPPLING TARGET!]

Deciding that it was too large of a risk to wait, the Emergence fleet opened up fire with a hail of kinetic projectiles aimed to cripple its target. Incidentally right as it reached that conclusion, the fleet passed through a cloud of spend countermeasures, among with something else.

[Detonate! And purge external radiators!]

[Fire all torpedoes, initiate blind jump!]

Spare fusion warheads had been mixed in along with the countermeasures and right as they detonated, Ra started her counterattack. Dumping all torpedos as they committed to the jump, the Emergence fleet barely managed to readjust its sensors before spotting the numerous fusion torpedos right in front of it. While the Emergence fleet was being pelted with torpedoes it just managed to catch a glimpse of its target jumping out of the system, escaping its grasp.

[T-T-TARGET LOST! TARGET LOST! E-E-E-ERROR!]

In an apparent fit of rage the Emergence fleet targeting itself and within a few hours only a single, heavily crippled ship remained.

---

[EXITING GATE IN 5.. 4.. 3.. 2... BRACE]

[Extend auxiliary external radiators, secure our immediate surroundings, we got what we needed.]

Feeling the pressure drain out from her, Ra finally started relaxing a tiny bit as for the first time in well over a month they were just a bit safe.

[Time for debriefing, captain the helm is yours. Get us home.]

Entering their own restricted crew quarters the two Avoaxian sisters finally removed their specially made vacuum suits as they were joined by Phillipa.

"That was a close one…"

Letting her long green hair flow loose for the first time in quite a while, Mu stretched in the microgravity as she floated about the cabin.

"Yeah, but we got some interesting data out of it… Well, interesting in the sense that it doesn't make sense."

"That doesn't sound like interesting data, more like corrupted data…"

Joining in on the sisters' talk, Phillipa handed Ra a data tablet that contained the raw data she extracted from the Emergence ship, along with the cerebral data from the 'child'.

"What's this now? The encryption seems completely different from what you would find in a normal Emergence data cl.u.s.ter."

"Well… I found something else this time…"

Explaining everything relevant about the strange organic processor she encountered while handing over footage from the incursion Phillipa breathed a deep sigh as the sister's started speaking rapidly in a language she didn't understand as they pointed to the video and data that was recovered.

(This'll take a while…)

Having served as their personal bodyguard for some time now, Phillipa realized that she might as well take a nap while the two geniuses dug into the problem, or so she believed.

"ARRGG! Insufficient f.u.c.k.i.n.g processing power!... We'll leave this for when we get back, for now, please look at these gravitational wave distortions we recorded."

After being thrown briefly into a fit of frustration at the lacking processing power available to her, Ra handed Phillipa a tablet, much to the hellwalkers confusion.

"Why would you need my opinion?... Wait, what the f.u.c.k are these readings? The distortion is off the charts!"

When one jumped from system to system it would leave a small distortion in the star's gravitational well, which could be used to extrapolate the type of drive used. These distortions were normally quite minimal, normally only leaving small field less than an electron's width that increased or decreased the gravity in the area about a millionth of a single G. These readings were different, not only was the field about the size of a small moon and the gravitational distortions were so extreme that they could be fatal for an unsuspecting ship's crew if they passed through it, not to mention the ship itself.

"This shouldn't be possible…"

"Yet it is. We've already come up with an explanation, do you want to hear it?"

Seeing the serious expression on the sisters' faces, Phillipa strengthened her resolve as she responded.

"I do. What is it?"

"Cross dimensional travel."