It's A Deadly Job, But Somebody's Gotta Do It

The Dragon rocked as the first laser bolt hit the fields. A second flew within a meter of the ship, and I really wished I could have heard a whizzing sound as it passed.

I wasn't worried. Yet. The Trellix, though within weapons range, were still too far away to do any significant damage.

The console began to shake like crazy, and the whine from the engines was almost deafening. Another laser bolt hit the fields, lighting up the sky with a blue-green glow.

"Fields at twenty percent," Tempest said. "I can't get them any higher. Better hope that window opens-"

The jump window opened, obscuring the fleet; the weapons platform now filled the view from the cockpit viewport. Apparently, Tempest planned on jumping to within a hundred meters of the station. "I guess we'll find out if the Dragon's gonna frag or not," I said.

Several laser blasts hit us, seeming to come from behind the jump window. The fleet was only a few thousands meters away. In a few seconds they would pass the jump window and we'd be an easy target.

Laser bolts flew around us like crazy, sending shards of ice and rock from the moon's rings scattering in every direction.

Suddenly, the window moved and we were next to the station. I hesitated for a moment, waiting to see if our nova would generate an artificial gravity field and suck us into the platform. Then I decided it was a foolish thing to wait for and hit the throttle.

I looped around as fast as I could and locked our weapons on the base's reactor. "Get ready to activate the NOVA drive. This shouldn't take too long."

The weapons platform had a substantial arsenal of laser turrets on its surface, and they were powering up. "Tempest, raise our energy fields to full power," I shouted as I began our assault.

Space came alive with moving bolts of light as the station's lasers opened fire. I dodged nimbly, and a few shots glanced off our fields, but it was only a matter of time. If I didn't knock out the platform quickly, I'd either be hit by a lucky shot, or the fleet would get back from the moon.

I stopped dodging and headed straight for the platform. "We need a few more seconds to get a loc-" Tempest started to say, but I ignored the rest. With a flip of a switch I activated the manual control and fired all weapons at the station.

The lasers were a nice distraction, but I knew they'd never push through the weapons platform's energy fields. I was counting on the blast cannon. And maybe the missiles too.

Energy fields are tricky. They can deflect energy-based attacks or matter-based attacks, but it's tough to get them to do both at the same time. I was hoping that the defenders had adjusted the platform's fields to accommodate my laser fire. Badgers, which my Dragon looked like, generally aren't equipped with a heavy blast cannon.

If the Trellix fell for my ruse, the explosive projectiles from the blast cannon should punch through both their fields and armor.

Their lasers finally targeted me. Blasts rang off our shields repeatedly, and Tempest periodically yelled out the charge, which was falling fast.

I didn't dare pull out. This was our one shot. If it didn't work, we were dead. Or Earth was. Maybe both.

My gamble paid off. When I started firing the blast cannon, the projectiles shot through the platform's fields without slowing. A small explosion registered from the center of the platform, and the laser fire stopped almost immediately after. There was a moment of relieved silence in the cockpit, then several klaxons started going off.