construction nanites. They were programmed to tear apart any physical matter they ran into. In this case they would be tearing apart fifty-three metric tons of water and methane ice. The asteroid in question had been pushed into a path that would shortly place it between the attacking ship and the Bluefin .
A slowly expanding cloud of dust slowly moved between the two combatants. The plasma beams had no trouble punching through the wispy vapor. Cat smiled. The intent was not so much to stop the beams as to destroy their cohesion. The result was a dramatic fall off in the beam intensity. There was an immediate and dramatic decrease in the ship's shuddering.
Captain Running Stream noticed immediately. "Sensor tea m— analysis! Have they scaled back their attack?"
"Negative, Sir. There seems to be a bit of interstellar dust between us and the dreadnaught. It's dispersing the beam a little."
"Navigation, plot a course and apply lateral thrusters. Try to get more of the cloud between us and them."
"Aye, Captain" Cat said as she punched in the coordinates she had already calculated.
Slowly the Bluefin shifted in space. Between the movement of the dust cloud and the now slightly lateral movement of the Modos slaver, the energy dissipated against the transit shield fell by another 10 percent. Cat estimated this bought the rapidly disintegrating shield another three minutes of useful life. It had already been six minutes since the attack had begun.
Cat was reluctant to tip her hand by having either Ken and/or Ricky intervene. Either of their ships could be a game-changer given the hybrid Human/Heshe technology employed by both of them. Fortunately she was spared this choice. Just as she had decided to instruct them to extend their shields the light on her panel indicating a functional hyperdrive flashed violet, which was the Modos equivalent of 'Green.'
"Captain, we are 'go' on hyperdrive!"
"Lieutenant Sassi does our computer have a set of jump parameters for us?"
"Negative, Captain. The computer is still offline. I've manually calculated a set of jump coordinates that will move us eleven light years towards the galactic core."
"Manually?" Running Stream looked at Cat as if to confirm he had heard correctly. She smiled and nodded her head.
"Why eleven light years?"
Sassi turned in his seat to face the Bearephant. "Eleven seemed like a nice even number."
Running Stream shook his head and turned towards Cat. He had previously confirmed that she knew how to engage the engines for a hyperjump. He nodded to her now.
"Jump us, Commander."
"Yes, Captain. They will, of course, follow us," Cat said as she engaged the hyperfold engines. Mentally she sent the new coordinates to the Honey Dipper . Ken's pinnace, being attached to the Bluefin like a lamprey would come along for the ride regardless.
"True," Running Stream acknowledged. "But it will take them time to reacquire a targeting solution. Time that we can use for repairs."
The stars changed as the Bluefin reemerged in normal space. Ricky confirmed from his vantage point on the Honey Dipper that the Dreadnaught engaged its hyperjump engines and followed the Bluefin in its own hyperfold.
"Shields up!" Running Stream yelled as soon as the jump was complete.
Ken relayed sensor data that showed the big ship had jumped into their region of space a good .25 parsecs father away. Clearly the level of tech was not as advanced as the GCP. That having been said, the beast still packed one hell of a wallop.
Cat looked at her available sensors on the Bluefin navigation board. Surely there would be some way of detecting a hyperfold event in the mass of sensors available on this board. Most, unfortunately, seemed to be geared toward detecting gravity waves. Cat supposed this was critical for a ship that used supermassive black holes to travel between parallel universes.
Captain Modos
A slowly expanding cloud of dust slowly moved between the two combatants. The plasma beams had no trouble punching through the wispy vapor. Cat smiled. The intent was not so much to stop the beams as to destroy their cohesion. The result was a dramatic fall off in the beam intensity. There was an immediate and dramatic decrease in the ship's shuddering.
Captain Running Stream noticed immediately. "Sensor tea m— analysis! Have they scaled back their attack?"
"Negative, Sir. There seems to be a bit of interstellar dust between us and the dreadnaught. It's dispersing the beam a little."
"Navigation, plot a course and apply lateral thrusters. Try to get more of the cloud between us and them."
"Aye, Captain" Cat said as she punched in the coordinates she had already calculated.
Slowly the Bluefin shifted in space. Between the movement of the dust cloud and the now slightly lateral movement of the Modos slaver, the energy dissipated against the transit shield fell by another 10 percent. Cat estimated this bought the rapidly disintegrating shield another three minutes of useful life. It had already been six minutes since the attack had begun.
Cat was reluctant to tip her hand by having either Ken and/or Ricky intervene. Either of their ships could be a game-changer given the hybrid Human/Heshe technology employed by both of them. Fortunately she was spared this choice. Just as she had decided to instruct them to extend their shields the light on her panel indicating a functional hyperdrive flashed violet, which was the Modos equivalent of 'Green.'
"Captain, we are 'go' on hyperdrive!"
"Lieutenant Sassi does our computer have a set of jump parameters for us?"
"Negative, Captain. The computer is still offline. I've manually calculated a set of jump coordinates that will move us eleven light years towards the galactic core."
"Manually?" Running Stream looked at Cat as if to confirm he had heard correctly. She smiled and nodded her head.
"Why eleven light years?"
Sassi turned in his seat to face the Bearephant. "Eleven seemed like a nice even number."
Running Stream shook his head and turned towards Cat. He had previously confirmed that she knew how to engage the engines for a hyperjump. He nodded to her now.
"Jump us, Commander."
"Yes, Captain. They will, of course, follow us," Cat said as she engaged the hyperfold engines. Mentally she sent the new coordinates to the Honey Dipper . Ken's pinnace, being attached to the Bluefin like a lamprey would come along for the ride regardless.
"True," Running Stream acknowledged. "But it will take them time to reacquire a targeting solution. Time that we can use for repairs."
The stars changed as the Bluefin reemerged in normal space. Ricky confirmed from his vantage point on the Honey Dipper that the Dreadnaught engaged its hyperjump engines and followed the Bluefin in its own hyperfold.
"Shields up!" Running Stream yelled as soon as the jump was complete.
Ken relayed sensor data that showed the big ship had jumped into their region of space a good .25 parsecs father away. Clearly the level of tech was not as advanced as the GCP. That having been said, the beast still packed one hell of a wallop.
Cat looked at her available sensors on the Bluefin navigation board. Surely there would be some way of detecting a hyperfold event in the mass of sensors available on this board. Most, unfortunately, seemed to be geared toward detecting gravity waves. Cat supposed this was critical for a ship that used supermassive black holes to travel between parallel universes.
Captain Modos
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