>>5533200>>5533199>>5533103>>5533047>>5533025>Move and Hangar option.“Direct intercept course, Ops?” You ask, dispensing with pleasantries in your haste.
“No, Sir.” The Marrok replies watching his console’s readouts, whilst snapping glances at the main viewscreen showing the remaining boarding craft quickly closing. “A spiralling course, with velocity changes at random intervals.” Frustrated, he makes an almost comically disgruntled noise. “Too close and too fast for the MASERs to accurately track. If I had time to find a pattern…”
“Time’s the one thing we don’t have, little man.” Cleo mutters consolingly as she continues furiously tapping at her navigation controls.
“I could try deflecting the bastard, Sir. Might be able to bounce him off some undamaged void plate, kinetic absorption on those is top notch when they aren’t full of holes.”
Quickly assessing your options, you decide that preserving what little reserve power your ship still possesses is paramount to the crew’s survival. Firing more MASERs in the off chance you’ll hit the evading craft might well leave your crew with no life support, gasping for air. Your navigation officer’s suggestion does have merit, though you’d like to have another card up your sleeve if possible.
“What do we have ready in the hangar?” You ask Kiro, “Anything survive the G-shock?”
The little reptile consults his holo-screen, replying promptly “Nothing we’d want to risk a pilot’s life in. Everything got shaken up pretty badly down there. The Flight Chief has grounded everything for maintenance. Although…” He taps his long chin a few times, thinking. “We could remotely pilot a decoy drone, but they’re only good for basic manoeuvres and making a lot of noise.”
“Noise might be just what we need,” you muse.
A plan begins to coalesce in your mind, but you notice one glaring issue with it.
“Lieutenant Clifton, I don’t suppose your abilities to wield ungainly voidships like racing yachts extends to precision drone piloting?” You ask the canine woman with grim formality.
“I’m probably the person on the ship to give it a try.” She replies affirmatively, to your surprise. “But if I’m doing that, who's going to make sure this guy bounces, instead of sticks? You need someone at the helm with the reflexes to angle the Pee-Dee just right as they come in.”
“But without a threat of some kind distracting them,” your Ops officer joins in, picking up on the idea, “what’s to stop them changing course last second and smashing into something less absorbent… Like us!” he exclaims, gesturing at the unarmored viewport of the observation deck before you.
