Chapter 4 – Ignition
You have a bounty of 4,000 bolts on your head. Do not reply.
Always a good message to wake up to. Rosa managed to get that message from her newly created communication unit. Who was this person? How did he or she discover her so quickly? Why 'Do not reply'?
Rosa managed to crash near a part of Eudora with diverse industry. This planet itself is certainly not considered diverse. Good quality wood is what sets this place apart. However, it doesn't mean the planet does not have it's unique spots. Being near this place of advantage, Rosa took the opportunity to build a tolerable spaceship. Industry meant business, and business meant easy building (usually).
The ship that she built was dart shaped, making it extremely simple and easy to build (you literally need only four pieces of metal to build the body). Reinforced, highly heat resistant, double carbon-titanium plates constituted the shell. All of this was infused with red-grade (one step above blue) nanotech. This amplified the already red body when strong light was introduced. Two main weakness. First, it can't glide. It doesn't have wings. Losing all engines meant disaster. Second, her ship was so small she was forced to use thinner than usual armor-grade metal.
An assortment of engines lined the back, one for each of the five thruster exhaust ports. The biggest one in the center was super charged, the other four were standard. Seven more mini engines were present; three on the bottom, close to each of the corners and four on the sides (two on each, front and back). The bottom ones allowed for strictly vertical movement. The side ones were boosters, being able to jar the ship from side to side quickly. No need for stunts, as the barrel roll is replaced by strafing. The side boosters could also turn the ship around at zero radius.
After deciding to go back to the Polaris galaxy, she included a grav-o-metric warp drive in her arsenal. It was fairly basic. No need to have anything special when the engines offer an easy escape from most danger.
Battery cores, similar to what is used for backup in large computer manufacturing plants, made up the fuel source for this vessel. While not optimized for ship building, they offered a superior alternative to ion storage, for about the same price.
It took two days to clear her, but she finally got her eager hands on the weapons system. There were three projection barrels in total, all of them hooked up to ammunition modulators. With all of them at grade four, they are capable of pellet, explosive, and laser fire.
She had to build the shield drive herself. All of the pre-built ones were way overpriced. Rated at 24,000 points, it was about 3.5 times as strong as Aphelions. Recharging is a must for her. This can recharge at 2% per second.
A few other goodies could be found around the ship. The computer system was made from M-40 sisterboards. It was a rather moderate design, being built well, but not including all features found in a luxury ride. It had a radar system which had enhanced forward scan capabilities for her increased speed she would be traveling.
The spaceship could be considered an all-around ship. In Polaris Defense Force terms, it would be a class four custom fighter (due to the strong weapons system and shield). Just the class specification alone would value the vessel, at minimum, 275,000 bolts at retail. She built it for about 75,000 bolts. She got the money from her guardian at Fastoon (he permitted her to take the money if something happened to him).
Her decision to return to the Polaris galaxy surprised more than a few people. She wasn't sure of the judgment herself, considering that she almost got murdered there. It was unexpected that she would be warped to an entirely different galaxy, though. Perhaps other sectors in Polaris were safer.
Very little time was spent on anything else but her ship. It was well worth it. She didn't merely get on her feet again, she sprung. While casual ship builders looked the other way while she built, the true geeks were impressed with what she worked with. She wasn't joking when it came to choosing materials. Don't judge a book by it's cover. Or a ship by its body.
Her departure went dramatically smoother than her arrival. No problems whatsoever. The only issue that caught her eye was a slight drag on the shields regeneration when she entered the 'hot zone'. A theory was that the body plates were slightly thin. It would have been a major issue of the shields didn't recharge (she would have to repair or energize them every single trip).
Before the ship builder could warp, she had to fuel up. The battery was only charged to 20% when bought. Unfortunately, there were no fueling stations that would charge the battery (nothing powerful enough). Locals suggested Kerwan as the go-to place.
Quickly, as she went to Kerwan, she realized the cores held an extremely massive charge, surprising even her. Traveling to a planet this close used only 1.75% of fuel!
Metropolis was massive. Close to a billion lifeforms live compacted together. Nearing night, the whole scene was akin to an ocean with lightning bugs of all different colors, most of them fixed in position. She would have been lost without the navigation capabilities of the customized computer set.
With the unit instructing a divergence to the center to of the city, she navigated through steady but normally thin traffic. Once she saw the structure, it was blatantly obvious. She didn't know how she overlooked it. The docking station was high up, starting as high as a mini skyscraper, and extended to about as high as a standard skyscraper. With a LED-neon sign peaking over the top of the rectangular prisms surrounding it, creatures within a two mile radius would be attracted.
The fueling stations for battery-powered vehicles were right at the top. Only a couple of circular rows were devoted to them. Still, it was completely empty when Rosa arrived. Even when selecting the highest charge rate, it took all of ten minutes to "top off" the batteries.
The price per unit energy had a moderate decay as one would put more in their ship. She could swear the total price stayed in the seventies for the last third of the fueling. She paid and saw a thank you screen with an 'It's Quarktastic!' label to the bottom right. Whatever that meant.
There was no time to waste. She pressed the blue button on the steering mechanism to initiate the charging process. Considering this was a lower-end drive, she would need to repeat the process several times to get to Polaris. The drive was somewhat better than what was on the escape ship. It charges in forty seconds, and only takes an estimated 50% speed to activate.
After getting a safe distance away from the city, she started the release of energy that would take her to the Kell galaxy. That eerie feeling of weightlessness commenced once again, giving her goosebumps. Gosh, that wasn't enjoyable.
She had to repeat for the XM-4 galaxy…
...and the Bxyraa galaxy…
...and the Minel galaxy…
...and finally she got to Polaris.
The nerves subsided a little by that final teleportation. Outside, it was just a void. Other than a couple of stars, it was like someone lit a dark candle. Rosa wasn't particularly picky about where she ended up, just as long as she didn't get warped to a black hole. Not in a huge rush for time (or fuel), she set speed to low-cruise and headed to Igliak.
Rather leisurely this drive was. Probably the calmest moment she's had in some time. Nothing but the light hum of the engines, and Galactic Radio Network set to near lowest volume setting.
"Good afternoon. This is Kip Darling, your most charming news anchor. Over there is Stone Stonefield, the second most charming news anchor."
"I think you've got those lines flipped around. I'm clearly number one."
"Nope. And I've got evidence to back it up! Anyway, on to the breaking news."
Kip picked up the papers, looking less prepared than he actually was.
"The thriller continues. Our trusty journalists have miraculously interviewed a couple of Kerchu without getting assassinated. Stone, tell us what they found."
"Thanks Handsome number 1." Stone replied with a hint of sarcasm.
"We have received word that a Kerchu has seen Angela Cross walking away from the wrecked ship on Sargasso. If this is correct, we may have finally have gotten much needed information on this long mystery. However, this happened a loooong time ago. Many events have taken place during the last few years. This news man says: I need more convincing she's still alive."
"So Stone. Which is more incredible, the fact she survived, or the fact that everyone survived getting this information?"
"Well, the odds of getting your starship shot and surviving are a little lower than surviving a week in an Kerchu infested planet. So, I say the former."
"Well folks, you've heard it from the runner-up hotshot. Stay tuned, our forces are not done yet. More information surely to come."
She had no idea. Why was Angela Cross so famous? With her advanced personal communication device, she could try to find out. While the ship was not able to connect to IRIS, the smaller computer could. She picked up and started typing.
"Caution." the system alerted. Rosa's head shot up.
"A fleet of fifteen is moving to your position. Danger level: Minimal. Armor: Low. Shields: None. Weapons: All ships have dual grade one Pyrocitors."
Wait...what? Pyrocitors as weapons in space? Can they even work?
"What weapons?" Rosa asked, having the strangest look on her hidden face.
"All ships have dual grade one Pyrocitors. Maximum damage: One per second per Pyrocitor."
"Uhhh..." Rosa stuttered, confused as to the logic behind the desision.
Those flamethrowers should never be used as ammo for a fighter. In addition, a grade one Pyrocitor is supposed to be a hand weapon, and a very basic one at that.
Bzzzzzt. A robot cut in to give the not-so-suprising announcement of non-horrifying doom.
"Robots. We … have found the bounty."
These robots were nearly the same ones Dr. Nefarious used in his quest for the clock. The only stand-out difference is that these offenders have two eyes instead of one.
"Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?" She shouted.
"This is ... no joke. By orders of … Dr … Nefarious, you are to be … ignited."
She knew in an instant they took whatever orders they had way too literally.
"Fine. Have it your way."
Rosa slowed the tiny ship to a stop. The entirety of ships circled around her, evenly and symmetrically spaced.
"Thanks a bunch."
Rosa shook her head and sighed. She was already attempting to contact the any defense force there may be. It would be better to get information to a large institution rather than simply defeating them herself. Only a couple of seconds passed before she encountered the name 'Polaris Defense Force'.
They unleashed the firestorm. Thirty jets of orange and scarlet glided over the thin shell of her capable fighter. Those robots did a very good job of blinding her view, but not at damaging it.
"Is it getting hot in there?" A courageous Nefarious trooper asked.
"Toasty." Rosa remarked.
"Great."
Rosa was just putting in the number for the Polaris Defense Force through the screen on the ship. PDF. Easy enough. On the line was an Agorian, somewhat smarter than average. He was quite tired and had a pint of XX Strong coffee where his right hand rested on the table.
"Hello. This is Polaris Defense Force. What can we help you with today?" he read off the script that is given to every phone line operator.
"Yeah, there are ships belonging to Dr. Nefarious that are torching me."
Pfffffffffffft!
The coffee got ejected from his mouth faster than it came in.
"What?"
Rosa switched the display to her hand held device. She held the screen side toward the flicker show obscuring the Nefarious troopers.
"Um, You okay for a couple minutes?"
The Agorian tried not to be awkward, but he's never seen such ridiculousness.
"I'm good until they run out of fire."
"Okay, I'll get a commander on the line."
Quietness ensued briefly. Minimal draw on shield recovery was all the fire did. Do the robots realize that the vehicles are designed to handle atmospheric heating?
"So I hear Nefarious is attacking do I not?" a three mark captain simply stated.
"His robots are at least."
"Well, I can officially say he's hit a new low. How durable are the fighters?"
"Low armor, no shields."
The commander thought for a moment.
"So you're saying a bare bones ship with Pyrocitors?"
Apparently, Rosa was doing a pretty good job of making people nearly laugh of disappointment.
"Basically."
The commander had his hand over his face, which was tilted slightly downward.
"Look, the fact that Nefarious is attacking is concerning. We'll get the head master on. I'm sure you can handle a few extra minutes, since you lasted this long already?"
"I can."
"Can your system support type 1.2 connection or greater?"
"Yep."
"Good."
While the commander was busy socializing with the crowned champion, one of the robots gave the most laughable attempt at a question.
"Are you dead yet?"
Rosa was stunned more than an enemy after being hit with a Shard Reaper shell. After shortly gaining composure, she took advantage of their inability to think figuratively.
"Yep. I'm dead."
"Great. We'll send the good news to Dr … Nefarious."
She just shook her head.
"Hello. This is Talwyn from Polaris Defense Force. Who is this?"
"Rosa."
"I hear of a problem of enemies torching your ship, right?"
"Right."
"Okay Rosa, do you have radar?"
"Yes."
"Does your radar have a scan feature?"
"It does."
"Good. Can you scan the fleet and send the information to me?"
Rosa tapped the radar screen (located directly under the communication screen, facing upward) and touched the 'scan all' button. After the complete scan concluded, she sent the results to her.
"Thanks. How capable is your ship?"
"I could probably take them out in twenty seconds. I just wanted to contact someone about this."
"Nefarious again..." Talwyn mumbled to herself, reading the scan results. "Do you know any more about them?"
"Some guy named Lawrence, a commander, and Thugs 4 Less were at the Lombax ruins. They had orders to steal items, kill Zoni, and kill anyone else that got in their way. I barely escaped." Rosa explained without a hint of external sadness. Hiding for 20+ years tends to make some lifeforms a bit introverted and emotionless.
"Gosh..." Talwyn was taken aback. Her head was filled with pity for Rosa, and nightmares about what the extermination of all Zoni would mean.
"Are you okay? You're the first one other than the Zoni to be attacked." Talwyn questioned.
"I'm fine." Rosa repeated.
"Hold on, It will be just a second."
Talwyn turned and talked to the commander for only a few moments.
"Rosa, were sending a couple of destroyers your way. Stay put if you're not in imminent danger. It will make our work easier."
"Remaining stationary."
"Thanks a lot."
Talwyn disconnected. Rosa simply waited. The flowing incineration was almost like an intense sunset, just without the sun.
"Uh, Nefarious, we have connected."
"What?!" Nefarious could be heard off in the distance.
Lawrence was checking if Rosa was really dead. He had just as much trust of his workers as Nefarious.
"Hello there." Lawrence greeted with a diminishing pitch.
"What now, Lawrence?" Rosa said sternly. Her successful escape, plus the idiocy of the robots had increased her confidence modestly.
"I hear that our workers gave a dishonest service, am I right?"
"Obviously." She scowled.
"Oh dear me. Dreadfully embarrassing. Not for me, of course. Won't happen aga..."
"Enough!" Nefarious screamed, facing the assistant from the left and backhanding him.
OOF!
He took the unit, putting his dismal face too close to the screen.
"So, this is the squishy that is giving us grief. At least I think it's a squishy. Lllawrence!"
"Down here, sir."
"Confirm squishiness."
"Very sorry, but we cannot determine squishiness if the target is behind another screen, sir."
The mere sight of the doctor sent waves of vibration through her armor. His close up stare slighly paralyzed the escapee, not unlike most other innocents. She tried, however, to get the location of the call. It was encrypted. Dang.
"I saw that!"
Rosa halted. Nefarious was switching from his lunatic form to his angry form.
"Oh, you're in for it now! Lawrence, send in the Annihilation!"
"May you specify the Annihilation, sir?"
"Just send a couple of destroyers."
"Right away, sir."
"Might as well give up now, squishy. You're now high up on excessively short annihilation list! Hahahahaha!"
With a final glare of his face, he vanished. Rosa immediately contacted Talwyn. Surprisingly, she got through on the first attempt.
"Rosa! Did anything happen?"
"Nefarious is sending a couple of destroyers."
"How do you know that?"
"Nefarious said."
"Wait, you talked to Nefarious?"
"His assistant called me."
Talwyn was surprised that Nefarious would contact a seemingly low level target.
"I'm going to call off the destroyers. You need to get out of there, quickly. It's not worth a fight."
Just as Rosa was starting to descend from the ring of ignition, a familiar green ship approached, getting within one hundred feet.
"Cruiser vessel approaching. Danger level: Minimal. Armor: Medium. Shields: Low, no recharge. Weapons: Grade two blasters, two barrels." The information system alerted.
"Oh look, a spacefire! Can I join?" Captain Qwark insisted, making another epic return.
"Oh no. I'll take care of this." Talwyn said, knowing all too many times Qwark has been an inconvenience.
"Perfect timing Qwark. You need to leave."
"Why?"
"There are destroyers coming your way!"
"Never fear, Tal. I've survived endless waves of Blaargian battleships without taking a single scratch! They worship me!"
"Caution. Two destroyers approaching. Danger level: Low. Armor: High. Shields: Medium, no recharge. Weapons: One ship has a grade three piercing bullet, two barrel, the other a grade three shield ripper, single barrel. Confirmed class three custom fighters."
"You see, nothing to worry about! Low danger! This should be a piece of cake!"
"Qwark, your ship is much weaker than mine." Rosa declined. "You will be destroyed. They will drain shields, then use bullets to rip through the armor."
"No chance! … On the other hand, they look kind of scary."
The destroyers were now well within visible range. They were completely coated with mostly gray and black. Spanning more than four of Rosa's ships across, these behemoths were more scary than strong. Nevertheless, small ships would be easily destroyed.
"Captain Qwark, we meet again. Prepare to die!" One of the brutal warriors taunted.
"We will never surrender, evil creature, thing. Prepare to have the flash..."
The pilot turns the ship, single barrel aimed directly toward him.
"Ahhhhhhh! I'm sorry! Everyone, back away slowly."
"Get away Captain Qwark! Rosa, protect him!" Talwyn urgently responded.
Vroom!
One shield ripper cartridge was fired. It floated at a steady rate forward, slightly distorting visual space around it.
"Shield recovery drag detected."
The ripper wasn't strong enough to start shield destruction on Rosa's ship. Qwarks ship, a different story.
"Shields down on allied ship."
"Already?" Rosa exclaimed. That shield didn't even last five seconds! Of course, Qwark didn't even attempt to escape.
She made her way, slowly, to a point directly between the piercing bullet ship and Captain Qwark. They were stationary, head to head… er, nose to nose.
"The Captain has a bigger bounty on him. Kill him, then escape. It's not worth fighting the girl." One of the pilots explained, forgetting to kill the connection between him and Rosa.
"Agreed. Charging now."
Both destroyers surged forward. The one with the bullets swerved under the stronger ship, while the one that drains shields went straight, trying to ram Qwark.
"What kind of barbarians are they? Trying to ram ships..."Qwark reasoned, pulling forward just enough to dodge the initial charge. Rosa spun around.
"Grade four lasers activated."
"Qwark, can you just listen for once?"Talwyn stressed, sitting on a chair, flustered at the fake Captain.
"Fine. So much for a savior."
Qwark just begun increasing velocity when the ramming ship nicked him.
"Whooooooaaaa!"
His linear momentum was transferred to rotational, causing the ship to lose all stability. The opposite fighter launched five bullets into the engine of the ship causing the single thruster unit to fail. The distance between Rosa and the bullet master was linked by three beams of light yellow. They glowed like blue super-neon lights in a new building.
"Hey! Go away!"
Rosa tried to keep the lasers focused on the now swerving ship. See-sawing between her left and right, she kept her moves more reserved than his.
"Help me out here! I'm almost down!"
BANG!
T-boned by the other fighter. The crash sounded like two cars being totaled. Being one-twentieth the weight of the "bigger brother", her vessel got smashed to the right, spinning slightly as it got ejected. Her heart dropped for a split second at the impact.
"Hit detected. Shields eighty-percent."
"Rosa! You okay?!" Talwyn yelled.
She did an 180, opening fire on the nuisance. He attempted another collision, this one clipping her and tilting her slightly.
"Arrg. She does not go down easy. Send a couple bullets her way."
For the third time, she locked on to him.
"I've got a small fleet heading your way. Stay your ground for a few minutes." Talwyn suggested.
She switched to explosive weapons, sending jolt after jolt of energy into the enemy. He sent another shield ripper before slamming into her again, this time head on.
BANG!
Both fighters stuck together, being sent the direction of the heavier. All Talwyn could do was cringe. Rosa switched back to laser weapons, due to the threat of being in her own explosions. She did not let up.
Only a few more seconds were needed before a small fireball appeared on the bottom of the enemy ship.
"Enemy ship disabled."
"Hey, anyone? Celebrity hero in distress over here. No pressure, just a maniac trying to put holes in me!" Qwark yelled.
About fifteen shots were already lodged in the unprotected ship. It was Rosa's turn to charge at the destroyer. Hitting the main body would be useless. Nose pointed to the wing and lasers pointed to the body, she charged.
There was no bang. The hit instantly drained the remaining shield and tore half of the wing off. Impressively, the fighter managed spin slowly just for a couple seconds.
"Shields fifty percent." Rosa's ship reminded.
She fired her lasers a final time at the destroyed destroyer, knocking out the engines and the weapon system.
"Enemy ship disabled."
A wave of relief transmitted itself through her. She wasn't a very proficient pilot. She didn't have 'mad skills' that Ratchet had. It was the fact that 99% of ships were weaker than hers that she survived.
"Talwyn, they're both down."
"Thank goodness!" Talwyn said as she slowly got out of her chair.
"Great work people! We work well as a team!" Qwark cheered.
The last statement caused Rosa to look at Qwark's annihilated ship. Qwark is not even seeing the hole on the side of the cover!
"Uh Qwark, you should plug that hole, or put on O2 mask on. All of the air will escape."
"No way I'm wearing that ugly mask! I came here to look presentable!"
"Then plug the hole. The air compactor does not work as well without an engine running."
"Qwark… Willing to put fashion ahead of your life. This is why I worry." Talwyn scolded.
Qwark managed to plug the dime-sized hole with his thumb. Some air was still able to seep through, but at least he was able to breathe continuously.
"Talwyn, do you have any ship carriers coming?" Rosa asked.
"I have one coming. It can fit two ships. Is that enough?"
"There are three disabled out here. Two are the attackers. They are still alive from what I can tell."
"We don't need both. We can research one ship, and destroy the other, though we will detain both pilots. You're okay, right?"
"I am."
"Yello. Anyone there?" Qwark goofed impatiently.
"Patience Qwark. You will be helped soon." Talwyn responded.
"Better be. I'm already missing half of Lance and Janice. Stupid electronics don't work."
"Power button is to the right of the screen." Talwyn reminded for the fifth time.
"Right. Forgot about that. See ya!"
Talwyn sighed. Whatever.
"I see carriers and destroyers coming. Do you have any tether ships?"
Talwyn's eyes widened.
"I forgot about that! Great!"
She sighed. "We'll do this the hard way."
Her ships pushed the disabled destroyers into the carrier, detaining the pilots, and then sending one out to be destroyed. After that was Qwark's ship. He reluctantly stepped out when asked, as Lance and Janice was not done yet.
As for the ships that surrounded Rosa to begin with, they destroyed themselves. When she drifted downward, the fire could flow freely across the circle in spots, causing overheating and explosion on opposite ships.
I'm gone June 25 to Mid July. Not a great chance that I will be within internet connection. I'll keep working though.
Chapter 5 is the longest yet, and the most adventurous.
Have a Qwarktastic day!