Book 2: Chapter 35: Enroute to Dedia IV

Book 2: Chapter 35: Enroute to Dedia IV

USD: One day after arriving to Nu Crateris

Location: Midpoint to Dedia IV orbit, Tears of Fire, Cargo Area

Alex reached up to wipe the sweat off her forehead, but that only ended up being the signal Elis needed to strike. A power armored fist rocketed forward at a blinding speed and Alex barely had time to raise her other fist to intercept it.

The polarized metal of Eliss fist screeched loudly as Alexs nanite-armored knuckles slammed into the wrist of the power armor. Sparks flew and Alex had no time to appreciate them as a kick came around to clip the back of her knee.

Nanites or not, she fell, but made a safe recovery just in time to slap her palm on the floor, the metal underneath Elis whisking into a thick liquid consistency.

Elis reacted instantly, jumping away from the trap, but Alex immediately reversed the nanites consistency back to a solid to trap an armored boot. It almost worked, but the nanite quicksand trap wasnt as strong as the power armors haptically controlled hydraulics and steel groaned and then gave way.

Worse, the force of the escape allowed Elis to kick the semi-solidified nanites straight toward Alex. It forced her to dissolve them into dust as small, sharp chunks of metal slammed into her, sending her active defenses into a frenzy in order to prevent her from being shredded by the semi-shrapnel nanite clumps.

The concentration required for that was enough to give Elis enough time to close the distance again, and Alex barely stepped back out of an elbow blow, only to get caught on the chin by a mighty uppercut from a steel fist that lifted her up off the ground and through the air.

Alex blinked up at the ceiling, her vision spinning.

[Notice: Avatar unconsciousness event with a duration of 5.53 seconds has been detected. A cranial concussion is currently under nanite repair. Recommend ending sparring session until repairs are complete to prevent permanent damage.]

Elis looked down at her, a hand extended in an offer to help her up, Are you alright?

Alex reached up and took it, You gave me a concussion.

You have a hard head. Well follow Namelesss advice and call it here.

Im really glad pain dampening is a thing. Alex frowned as she got back on her feet, I am getting better, arent I?

You really need to work on shifting your attributes around as needed in the middle of the fight instead of relying on the protective ones constantly. There were several times you could have benefited from more speed or capitalizing on an opening.

Alex nodded, That mixed with the active stuff is just a lot to think about when youre about to hit me.

Elis smiled, Thats what training is for.

Looking over to the messed-up cargo bay floor, Alex waved her hand and gathered up the metal nanites that shed stolen into a pile. Fixing things that she broke with them was still beyond her capabilities.Follow current novels on novelb((in).(com)

Nameless, can you send some repair bots? There is damage to fix again.

[Informative: While Avatar training is important, damage to ship is a waste of resources.]

Just melt down the deactivated nanites back into floor plates and be thankful I have it under control enough now not to melt the wiring under the floor again.

[Notice: This unit is aware of the repair process.]

Yeah, did you know how inefficient it is to complain about it being inefficient?

[Informative: This unit is learning. A list of improvements to be made to Avatar efficiency has been forwarded to your inbox.]

Alexs datapad pinged and she took it out of her pocket.

|Avatar Efficiency Improvement List|

|1045 items|

The colors tried to emphasize the text, but she couldn't help but roll her eyes, This is longer than Eliss brevity code list!

Elis laughed, I hope you studied that this time, Im going to quiz you on it. But first Im going to go get out of this armor and take a shower.

The Governor nodded, I will send you all the relevant data we have regarding the situation on the ground and see about organizing the unloading of the relief supplies.

Alex nodded and the video comm cut off. She took a deep breath and straightened her uniform and searched for her captains hat that she had so infrequently bothered to wear. Somehow, she felt like she needed to look the part for this next call.

Resettled and prepared, she indicated she was ready, Nameless, put them through.

The screen lit up with a scene from the other ships bridge. A helpful annotation on the bottom displayed the ship and captains name.

|SMS Grazhdanin |Captain Rolks Walker|

The man she assumed was the captain was standing in front of his console in an at ease position with a sneer that immediately put Alex at unease. He was dressed in a formal white uniform with black and gold trim, and more medals and aiguillettes than she ever had to worry about with her Federation uniform.

IND Tears of Fire, Captain Alex, I presume?

Yes. Would you be Captain Rolks Walker?

Indeed. I am calling because of your crews no doubt lax attentiveness to your course. You are currently on a trajectory that will bring your ship within two million kilometers of my flight group. I have had my navigator prepare an alternative course for you that gives us a proper separation.

Captain Walker, my ship is carrying urgently needed military and relief supplies from Ackman station to Dedia IV. I was talking to the Governor when you called. Im sure you are aware of the dire situation on the ground and that delaying our path would likely mean more people will die.

Captain Walkers sneer forced Alex to maintain her composure as she found her dislike of the man deepening intensely.

You think much too highly of yourself, Captain, according to spacetime laws the larger vessel has the right-of-way. If you cannot follow our recommendations, we will have no choice but to consider your ship a pirate and open fire upon you. No doubt you understand that your tramp of a ship has no chance of surviving such an encounter.

Alex had reached her limit, an absolute scathing anger burning inside of her she barely reigned in. She wanted so badly to tell this man to go fuck himself and get out of her way or she was going to slag his oversized pig of a ship.

Thank you, Captain Walker. I will take it under advisement.

He started to reply, but she quickly pressed a button to kill the call.

Taking a deep breath and centering herself, she looked up at the ceiling for grounding. Foremost in her mind was her encounter with Captain-Major Thraker and how so easily that conflict could have killed many people who didnt deserve to die because of her bullheadedness.

Even more importantly, if the Tears engaged in a fight with the super freighters, it would likely take some damage, or worse, be delayed. That would be critically bad for the Dedia IV Colonists.

Nameless, how long will Walkers course change delay our arrival?

[Informative: Proposed course change would delay arrival by approximately 36 hours.]

What? Why!

Alex punched several keys to bring up the navigational entry and cursed. The plotted course they had sent her put them traveling a good percentage of their travel in a completely wrong direction, all to give the Super Freighters a uselessly wide path.

Do we have detailed information on these Super Freighters? Armaments? Top Speed? Can we detail a maximum engagement range the Freighters could achieve?

[Correlative: Using Governor Tylers telemetry and data logs, a 98.5% confidence level of class equipment and armaments can be achieved.]

[Notice: A direct confrontation with the ships is not advised. Evasive maneuvers could cause catastrophic damage to the Tears of Fire due to damaged spinal structure. An inadequate number of missiles is available for saturation of PDC defenses. Hostile close quarters weaponry outnumbers Tear's current PDC armaments by 30-to-1. The amount of railgun ammunition required to render three Grazhdanin class ships disabled is calculated to be more than in stowage. Estimate two to three direct hits with smart munitions to disable one vessel. Current Smart munition ammo: 5 rounds.]

"Yes. I know. Fighting a capital ship sized vessel isn't a good idea right now."

Alex looked to the navigation plot.

Can we plot a course that takes us by them outside their engagement range with as little deviation from our fastest time course to Dedia IV?

[Affirmative: Plotting course now.]

Alex sighed, If they change course to attempt an intercept, dont wait for me, adjust our course as necessary to avoid them. I want to get to Dedia IV as fast as possible.