《Aegis》Chapter 52: Why did you Have to say That?
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It only takes one look at Olaf's face to decide that the fecal matter has well and truly hit the rotary air impeller. Still and all, it galls you to not make some sort of profit out of the whole affair, so your brain goes into planning overdrive mode, "Jace, can we get the Terra Incarnadine moving?"
Jace pauses, "not with any kind of finesse, and obviously it is unable to enter the Warp in its incomplete state..."
You roll your eyes and cut off his techno-babble stream, "just far enough to get it clear of the station when we blow it to hell somehow."
Olaf eyes narrow in thought, "you want to salvage this hulk?"
Jace emits that hash of noise that you have come to know as a laugh, "Compared to the Aegis when she first pulled into port? Salvaging the Terra Incarnadine would be easy. She has a resource collection / processing unit, a microforge, and power. If I don't have to tools I need to fix her, I can make them. While it would be possible to fire the main drive from the Eningseering spaces, the Auxiliary Bridge is only a few hundred feet aft. Its open to the void, but all of the control runs are in place and functional."
You nod, "that's our destination, let’s move." You tap your microbead as Jace leads the way, "Tristan to Zheeves, Get the Aegis undocked and clearing a path for the Terra Incarnadine through the debris field. Don't worry about the micro-shrapnel, just the stuff big enough to give us problems."
As Zheeves responds in the affirmative, you overhear Olaf notifying the Deathwatch of the change in plans. You can hear the gunfire over the open channel: the barking roar of bolters, the thunder of Rubicon’s autocannon, and the hissing crackle of some kind of energy weapon.
As you seal your voidsuit and enter the half-finished auxiliary bridge, Jace is already working on the maneuvering controls. With everyone in a helmet, everything is over an open communications channel, as speaking is rather difficult in a vacuum. You point to the sensors and navigation plot, "Yasha, I'm going to need you to pick us a path out of here. I know Frank or Simo handles this normally, but your here and they aren't."
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Yasha rolls her neck as much as she can inside her voidsuit, "heck, I taught them a few things. Now lets see, structural integrity is going to be all but gone, so..."
You leave her to it, "Elena, organize the armsmen. Your call if you want to defend here or try and help the Deathwatch."
Elena looks around, glancing at the now-sealed hatch you entered from, and the starry expanse overhead, "buggered if we go, fucked if we stay. Leroy! Jenkins! cover the hatch! Adam, take the rest and watch the holes in the roof in case something decides to come crawling in!"
You take a seat at the helm controls as Jace heads for the weapons station, muttering something. "Yasha, when you have that course, pass it to me on the helm here. This thing might be a bit bigger than a cargo shuttle, but..."
Lord Pyrus chimes in, "We are aboard the Terra Incarnadine. blowing the docking arms now.”
You feel the deckplates give an ever so slight twitch, and you start applying some thrust, "Yasha, any time now would be good..."
Yasha starts feeding you helm orders, rolling your path along past the chunks of station too big for the Aegis to vaporize. You glance off a few of the smaller ones, gutting what few half-completed guns the Terra Incarnadine had. Finally the Aegis and the Terra Incarnadine are clear of the debris field. You lean back in the chair, you hands shaking and your face drenched in sweat that you can't mop away. At some point during your escape, the Deathwatch Marines have joined you on the Auxilary Bridge. You swallow, "alright, now for part two. Anyone have any idea how to turn Gibli into so much scrap?"
Direwolf shrugs, "overloading her plasma reactor might do the trick. Or detonate her hydrogen bunkers, if we have anything that can punch that deep."
Jace's head cocks sideways, and you get the impression that he would be grinning like a madman if you could see his face. "I think we do. Simo, divert power to the Damocles. Authorization code beta-five-seven-omega-sigma-zero. Targeting coordinates incoming."
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You check on the Deathwatch now that you have time to breath and Jace gets whatever the Damocles is going. Direwolf's armor is badly damaged, his augmetic left arm shot away at the wrist. Rubicon is in better shape, but every single bandoleer and pouch is empty of munitions. Lord Pyrus just looks drained, leaning against the bulkhead as if he is falling asleep on his feet.
Simo comes in, cutting off your speculative thoughts, "Target coordinates received Jace. Damocles is requesting final firing confirmation."
Jace pulls up a view of the station on the largest screen in the room, "you are going to want to watch this, gentlemen and lady. Simo, firing authorization is 'skyfall'. You may fire when ready."
Aside from the rasp of various people breathing, everything is silent. The Aegis, belly-on to Gibli, actually recoils; its kilometer and a half, six megaton hull pushed by whatever it just fired. You can't see the projectile, but its effects are evident. Gibli station is wreathed in fire for a long moment, before the hydrogen bunkers let go in a cataclysmic runaway chain-detonation incident. Roughly two-thirds of the shipyard is briefly engulfed in the heart of a newborn star, before the remnants are bathed in the heat of that same star's fiery death.
Inquisitor Olaf is suitably impressed, "Master Von Sebastion, I had no idea that the Aegis was such a capable ship."
You shake your head, "neither did I. Jace?"
Jace blasts you with his laugh again, "like I said Sir, I got bored. Damocles is a kinetic strike system that offsets its low projectile mass with ultra-high velocity and a thermobaric secondary charge. On its own, it can probably wreck a standard city block or three. Targeting it on a hydrogen bunker magnified the effect a few thousand times."
Direwolf nods, "impressive. I guess the mission couldn't have gone any worse overall. Gibli destroyed, with no chance of reconstruction, and no way of retrieving any of the technical data in its stores."
Mu'randa is in your ear, her voice tight with tension, "Warp signature detected form Gibli. Sir I think..."
You never find out what she thinks. A new voice cuts in over your microbead, "a most impressive feat, mortal. This round goes to you, but I shalt return. You will rue the day that you crossed Kamas the Technomancer."
Mu'randa's voice returns, "...arp signature gone. Was that a teleportation event?"
You stare at Direwolf, "You had to go and say it didn't you."
Direwolf can only shrug and toss up his remaining hand in a 'who, me?' gesture.
You roll your eyes, "ok, part three. Getting everyone back to Dagda. Inquisitor Ironsides, I purpose that Jace get the Terra Incarnadine Warp-ready. At least enough for one trip to port. We'll use Yasha as her navigator, she has pulled a similar feat with the Aegis. I'll transfer over Mu'randa for communications and Frank for the helm. Zheeves will be in command of the Aegis, but she will need a navigator. If you have one to spare...?"
Olaf turns to look at Lord Pyrus, who just shrugs before responding, "I'm assuming the repairs will take several days, perhaps even a week or more? If that is the case, I can at least guide the Mavros well enough. I'm no Navigator, but I am powerful enough to track one, at least at short ranges, which would free up her Navigator for the Aegis. Inquisitor, I recommend you take passage on the Aegis for the trip however, as it will be the safest ship. I'm dispatching Rubicon and Direwolf to her, with all of the data we managed to collect and our reports.”
Olaf turns to look at you, "and what are your plans past that point?"
You start ticking off fingers, "in no particular order, start the repairs of the Terra Incarnadine, Check up on the Outbound trade route, and track down this Kamas fellow, probably to blow its head apart. But let's get home first."
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