Seraph’s Gambit- Episode 34

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Olivia

After a few minutes, Olivia felt satisfied she had set up a new boot file that would do the job she wanted on the disabled droneship.

 “I must warn you, if you trigger that file, I cannot be sure I will be able to maintain control of this ship,” Mesu warned.

A smile crossed Olivia’s face, “You won’t. But I will. As it should be.”

She executed the file. The sensor data coming from the drone-ship ceased as the ship’s systems rebooted. It took only a few seconds to load, and suddenly Olivia found herself with access to the drone’s systems.

Feeling smug, Olivia accessed the sensor systems and started an active scan. Almost immediately she got a reading on every heat signature within a hundred thousand kilometers. A quick filter narrowed the results down to two possible objects.

“Cap, Mesu just ported back to the ship,” Noah announced.

“Mesu, why did you return to the ship?” Ariana demanded.

“I wished to avoid being destroyed when the drone-ship self-destructed.”

“Self-destructed? What did you do?”

“Olivia attempted to reboot the ship and gain control. She was not successful.”

“On the contrary, you prissy little…” Olivia started, but her link with the drone-ship suddenly went dead. She brought up Seraph’s sensors and saw an explosion where the drone-ship had once been, “Oh fuck.”

“Please tell me you found Vlasa,” Ariana said, her tone flat.

“Yes!” Olivia blurted, “I narrowed things down to two possible heat signatures that could be Vlasa and Serene. They could have been separated, or one might be the ion bomb. I didn’t have a chance to refine the scan more before…uh…”

“Are either of those targets in danger from the debris wave?”

Olivia checked the expanding wave of shrapnel and energy radiating away from the former drone-ship, “Both.”

“Give Noah the coordinates. Bring the closest one aboard.”

Olivia did as ordered and waited fretfully. Finally, Noah said, “Can’t Cap. They are both out of range.”

“Olivia…” Ariana started.

“On it!” Olivia said and engaged the engines, “Captain, the debris field is between us and the closest object. We can’t outrun the explosion, not from a relative stand still.”

“Our shields will hold,” Squee said confidently.

“Maybe, but I’m going to have to put the engines toward the wave if we’re going to keep the functioning sensors toward the object,” Olivia explained. The shields around the engines were always the weakest due to the engine exhaust.

“Do it,” Ariana ordered without any hesitation.

The next minute passed slowly. Olivia had a death grip on her controls, glancing between her readouts and the approaching shockwave. As they approached teleporter range, she rotated the ship and lost track of the wave. But the heat signature came into focus.

“I’ve got them!” Noah shouted, “Both of them!”

Reacting instantly, Olivia fired the thrusters and started the ship on a rapid rotation. Within seconds the vulnerable engines were no longer exposed to the approaching wave of debris and energy. She barely noticed the impact that followed a second later.

“Shields held.” Squee reported, “Only minimal damage.”

Olivia leaned back in her chair, tension easing out of her. She closed her eyes for a moment, letting herself relax. When she opened them again, the tension immediately returned as an alert from the sensors sounded.

“Unfortunately, the derelict didn’t fare so well. It’s been shattered.”

Continue to Episode 35

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