VC Chapter 3-Informal Introductions

Sector 1500

Planet 1516

January 14, 2052

NB Bandit shook viciously as the pulse rays from the spectral shields absorbed the incoming energy rounds. The tip of the ship was up in flames as projectiles bypassed the shield and tore through its iridium armour plating. The ship wasn't going to last any longer as the shields turned into a faint yellow indicating a low shield strength.

“Shields at 5% Captain! We're losing her.” the shielding officer flipped some switches on his console in a dire attempt to hold the ship's fragile shields.

Suddenly, another projectile bypassed the shield and slammed into the dead centre of the cruiser creating a massive hole through the ship. The gaping hole created a vacuum and sucked out the internals of the ship. Preez's crew, supplies, and most importantly, the main scatter missile gun was sucked out into the empty space.

“Status report Lieutenant!” Preez grabbed onto a handrail as the ship's gravity generator went offline.

“Hull integrity at 25% sir. Main guns are out and the gravity generator has overheated.” a Lieutenant beside Preez quickly strapped himself into his seat.

“What about the secondary guns?” Preez slowly drifted back into his command chair grabbing the handrails to guide him back.

“Disruptor rays are active, but the enemies are not in range.” the Lieutenant looked at his weapons radar.

“Screw it. I want forward thrusters at maximum speed to ram Yale's Exodus down. If I am going down, so is he!” Preez strapped himself to his seat and eyed Yale's ship dead ahead.

“Sir! Incoming ships!” an officer shouted as he caught a glimpse of a fleet coming adjacent to Yale's fleet.

Six Exodus cruisers emerged from the side of NB Bandit and formed a “V” formation blitzing into the VEGA fleet. The cruisers were loaded with a mix of heavy weapons ranging from disruptor rays to hex missiles to gauss drivers. All the ships fired simultaneously at the Rancor blocking his path and annihilated it into oblivion.

Preez watched from the bridge as Yale's fleet turned to engage the new threat of ships. To his surprise, Yale's cruiser was turning away from battle and leaving his other ships behind to flank his retreat.

“After them!” Preez pointed as Yale's cruiser exited the battle arena.

“Sir, the Rancor and Exodus is blocking our advance. If we go near it, we won't make it with our ship's condition.” the Lieutenant assessed the situation.

“Damn it then.” Preez clenched his teeth as he knew that he would have to fight Yale again another day.

As Yale's Exodus reached clear space, space warped around his ship and jumped out of the battle leaving the remaining VEGA ships to fend on their own without a commander. As the fleet of Exodus reinforcements passed by Preez's ship, the words “NB Gaven” was painted clearly in the centre of the ships. The VEGA Exodus was peppered with fire and exploded as its hull integrity was lost to a wide variety of heavy weapons. The Rancor, on the hand, was fairing a bit of damage. It launched a barrage of railgun projectiles at the lead Exodus and tore its armour like paper. The lead Exodus halted to a stop in heavy smoke as the other cruisers flew around it towards the remaning Rancor.

“Lieutenant Stein.” Preez chuckled as he remembered the commander of NB Gaven.

 In a split second, the overly powerful Rancor was blitzed head on and smoked by heavy disruptor rays. The VEGA fleet was no more and everything seemed quiet again on planet 1516.