For the first time in the engagement, the asteroid is on the defensive. Recognizing the danger to its starboard hull, it does everything in its power to present its port broadside, or take the brunt of any attacks with its reinforced dorsal and ventral hull.
But Jolt Squadron keeps up the pressure. They fight like men and women possessed. Emboldened by the damage inflicted, they push their interceptors to the breaking point, swooping and flying with almost reckless abandon.
It takes another two runs for the killing blow to be dealt. It falls to the pair of Jolt-Four and -Five, engines blazing as they streak towards the asteroid’s cooling vane. The <span class="mu-i">Albatross</span> and the escort blast at the exposed starboard, forcing it to turn and bring its (relatively) undamaged ventral hull to bear…
…exposing the cooling vane for a direct attack.
The tell-tale tone of an electronic lock sounds over the line. Jolt-Five shouts, “I’ve got a lock!”
Jolt-Four’s answer is an inarticulate scream as he fires his payload and barely pulls back in time.
>>90When the smoke clears and the sensors cease derezzing, there’s no mistaking that the asteroid’s been defeated. Whether or not debris had fallen into the crevasse or if the proton torpedoes hit something critical, the asteroid is completely and utterly dead in the water. The damned rock’s been nearly split in half, held together by only the thinnest and barest structural connections of coral.
The tension over the comm snaps like a fraying wire. Whoops and cheers of joy break out from not only the survivors of Jolt-Squadron, but the convoy and the <span class="mu-i">Albatross</span> proper. Suzel’s screaming and whooping like a maniac, and off in the distance, Elba’s triumphant roars echo up and down the ship’s corridors.
“All hands…” Convoy-Lead’s voice cracks, “…well done. But we’ve got pilots who need rescuing. Let’s get them back safely…”
You tune him out, turning your attention back to your console. With much of its exterior blown away, the <span class="mu-i">Albatross’</span> sensors can perform a more in-depth scan of the asteroid. There are pockets of an oxygenated atmosphere, even if most of its being vented into space out of hundreds of holes or the burning cooling vane. A cursory scan reveals more than a few pockets of oxygen that hadn’t been exposed to space.
Out of curiosity, you flip the IF/thermal sensor to a bioscan to locate any survivors…only to frown at what you find. “…what the hell?”
“Something wrong?” Ceyla’s a little more than green at the gills, but she can wobble her way to you.
…you can’t find any individual survivors because the ship appears as one, big green blob on the bio scanner.
<span class="mu-i">The ship is alive.</span>
>>What do you wish to do?>Accompany the convoy to Ulsind. Finish your job and complete the mission you took.>Stay behind to secure the asteroid. Whatever…this was hadn’t been on any intel report. <span class="mu-s">[VOTE OPEN FOR SEVEN HOURS]</span>
