More action. Hardson carries out her orders. Wreaker gets it. Cliffhanger ending. That kind of thing. :)
14.
Fire on Target
In no hurry, the Grim Wreaker continued along on it's path. It was now so close to Control Central that the site was visible to it, although just barely. It appeared as nothing more as an indistinct speck from here, but it was visible nonetheless. So the ship pressed on.
Flying over Sensible Flats, one of the last cybersites it would have to pass before reaching Control Central, the Grim Wreaker encountered trouble and slowed down to confront it. Blocking it's path was the four-seater cybercoop and an armada of J-21s. As movement in Cyberspace can be three dimensional, it would've been easy to divert and go around them, but the Wreaker did not move to change it's path.
Hardson took this as a good sign. "All stop, Digit." she told the cybird, who was piloting.
"I hope you know what you're doing, major." Lara remarked.
"Admittedly, I don't." Hardson said, looking nervous. "But I have my orders."
"They're stupid orders." Matt grumbled from where he sat. "Stupid having to kill someone for no good reason..."
Hardson shot him a glance. "You know as well as I that we all hope it won't come to that, Matt." she said sternly. "Besides, my primary orders are to negociate a peaceful solution. I'm only to begin shooting if that all fails, not before."
"Hacker's not going to go for a peaceable solution." Peter remarked flatly.
Hardson was silent for a moment. "I know." she said. "But I sure am not going to destroy that ship unless he give me no choice."
"Well, this is one of the few matters I have to agree with Peter on." Alex said, folding his arms. "Hacker will make sure he gives you no choice."
Hardson was again silent for a moment. "Let's just see how he reacts to this first, okay?" she asked. She leaned towards the radio's microphone, activating it. "Hacker, this is Major Hardson, representative for the Cyberspace Exploration and Defense Society. We are prepared to fight, but we are willing to negociate a peaceful agreement between the two of us, do you copy?"
All that replied was static. Everyone watched the Wreaker hovering outside, as if the ship would give away what Hacker planned to do.
"Repeat, we are willing to negociate a peaceful agreement." Hardson tried again. "Perhaps there is something we can give each other in trade. Please respond so we can begin."
More static followed. The Wreaker still did nothing.
"What's he doing?" Alex couldn't help but wonder.
"Knowing Hacker, nothing good." Digit replied.
"I hope Inez is alright." Matt said suddenly.
Hardson waited a moment longer, biting her lip in the process. "Hacker, do you copy?" she radioed to the Wreaker. "We are willing to give you what you want." she hesitated for a moment, then added, "We will even consider surrendering, if it means you will spare Control Central. Isn't that what you want? You want control over us. And now you can get it, so please respond!"
More static followed. The Wreaker still did not move. Finally, a reply crackled back on the radio. It was Hacker, and his message was brief.
"The rules have changed."
More silence followed, and it was uneasier than ever. Peter eyed the Wreaker for a moment, his eyes falling upon the laser cannon Hacker had altered to fire neutramatter, and suddenly got a bad feeling.
"Move." he said. "Move. Move!"
"Hardson, break formation!" Matt urged, sensing the same as Peter.
"I'm detecting a power surge coming from within the Wreaker!" Digit announced suddenly.
"Break left!" Hardson exclaimed, into the radio. "Everyone, break left! Break left!"
Quickly, the cybercoop and the fleet of J-21s started to break away, but they weren't fast enough. Hacker fired the neutramatter cannon without warning, the yellow bolt of energy slicing across Cyberspace towards the blockade of cybercraft. It destroyed one J-21, and snapped off the wing of another, rocking the rest in a shockwave. Having not met enough resistance to stop it, the bolt continued on into Cyberspace, narrowly missing Control Central as it whizzed by it.
Digit leveled out the cybercoop as the Wreaker reoriented itself. "I'm detecting another power surge on the Wreaker!" the cybird exclaimed urgently. "Hacker's getting ready to fire again!"
Hardson dove for the radio. "Attention all J-21s!" she exclaimed into the microphone. "Surround the Wreaker and fire..."
"NO!" Matt exclaimed, diving for Hardson and trying to pull her away from the radio. "You can't! Inez is still on there! You can't shoot!"
"Matt, we have no choice, we have to fight back!" Hardson said, shrugging him off and returning to the radio. "Everyone, fire on target, repeat, fire on target!"
Hacker, sitting in his recharger chair on the Wreaker's bridge, watched as the targeting computer sought out a target, and the cyborg readied to fire again, his hand hovering over the button. Several decks away, Inez sat in her cell, having no way to know what was going on, but sensed that something was happening, and she hoped it would be her friends doing the right thing.
Neither of them were quite prepared for when the first few shots fired by the squadron of J-21s's laser cannons slammed into the Wreaker's engineering deck, piercing the hull and igniting several fires on the deck. The whole ship listed to one side. Hacker struggled to remain in his seat, losing his target, and Inez was thrown from her's cell's cot and to the floor.
The pilots of the J-21s had been shown plans of the Grim Wreaker, and they knew it's layout well, and exactly what to target. After having fired upon the ship's engineering deck, a group broke away and fired at the bridge. Hacker was again nearly thrown from his chair as one side of the bridge suddenly exploded into flames, and showers of sparks rained down on him. Again, he lost sight of his intended target, and struggled with sluggish controls to regain it.
The J-21s then fired at the Wreaker's main engine, scouring several hits there. One managed to lob a shot from it's laser cannon into the Wreaker's observation deck. The shot plowed through the row of green window, shot across the room, tearing it up as it went, and slammed into the room's only door, making it explode into a shower of metal shards. In the bridge, Hacker rocked back and forth with the ship as he tried to regain control of the situation, the control panel he was working with sparking constantly as he tried to get it to obey.
Then the J-21s fired at the neutramatter cannon itself, leaving a long jagged scar on it's side. As a result, Hacker was finally thrown from his chair as the feedback short-circuited the targeting computer and weapon controls. In her cell, Inez yelped as the smaller neutramatter cannons that hung outside her cell, guarding it, short-circuited themselves, burning out in showers of sparks.
A passing J-21 fired into the Wreaker's side on a whim, and managed to score a direct hit on Hacker's lab, the room blowing itself apart as the laser energy pierced the hull. A squadron of J-21s then looped around and fired at the ship's roof, then one came about and managed to fire a shot from it's laser cannons right up the exhaust shaft of one of the Wreaker's four maneuvering thrusters, tearing the thruster apart from the inside out. Another group of J-21s fired at another maneuvering thruster, completely blowing it away.
Hacker, as he tried to get back into his seat again during all of this, was knocked back out of it as the piloting controls exploded, and the recharger chair snapped off of it's base due to the strain. In her cell, Inez was thrown into the door of her cell as the ship was rocked hard to one side.
Another shot was fired, which plowed into the Wreaker's kitchen, destroying the room completely. More shots were fired at the bridge, and the rear of the room exploded suddenly, spraying Hacker with debris. The portal generator that led to the neutramatter dimension that sat in the same room sparked and shuddered. Yet another maneuvering thruster was disabled when a shot plowed into, pretty much effectively immobilizing the Wreaker.
The J-21s came about for another run, and together they all fired at the front of the bridge. Hacker was thrown across the room when the front wall was completely blown away, taking with it the main viewscreen, and several vital control panels, exposing the room directly to Cyberspace. Hacker was thrown back into the control panel for his portal generator, was flipped over it, and heavily fell to the floor, not moving.
In Inez's cell, she yelped again, and ducked for cover when the hallway outside her cell suddenly exploded, spraying shrapnel all over and filling the room with smoke. And with that final event, silence suddenly fell. Somewhere on the Wreaker, something sparked. The ship itself listed heavily to one side, and drifted off course over Sensible Flats...
"Hold your fire!" Hardson ordered into the radio, then turned to Digit. "Didge, status report on the Wreaker."
"It's taken heavy damage." Digit reported. "It's engines are gone, save one maneuvering thruster which isn't going to do it any good now. Several hull breeches, and the bridge itself has taken very heavy damage."
"The hull surounding it has even been blown away." Lara remarked in a stunned voice, pointing at the gaping hole in the Wreaker's bridge.
"The room hasn't decompressed, which is unsurprising, seeing that this portion of Cyberspace has a breathable atmosphere." Digit went on. "Gravity is probably a little off, though. None of that in this exact spot of Cyberspace. Several leaks of kryoxide and lynitrogen as well, you can see it spraying out into Cyberspace."
"And the cannon?" Hardson inquired, pointing at the sparking neutramatter cannon.
"That, I can't tell." Digit said, checking his readings. "It's taken damage, but I don't know if it's enough to render it useless. Probably won't be firing anytime soon, though."
"Good." Hardson said with a nod. "Hacker's probably had enough by now, I imagine."
"Now wait." Matt interrupted, a little stunned himself. "I thought your orders were to destroy the Wreaker."
"Yes and no." Hardson said. "My orders where actually to offer our surrender, see if Hacker would accept, and if not, knock the ship around a bit, and cripple it, try and force Hacker into being the one to surrender. And if that didn't work, only then was I to destroy the Wreaker." she grinned. "The pilots for the J-21s had orders to avoid firing at the Wreaker's prison deck, where Inez is. It should still be almost perfectly intact, and so she'll be unharmed."
Digit nodded in agreement, having known this himself.
Matt, however, was shocked and relieved all at the same time. "Well, why didn't you tell me?" he demanded. "It would've kept me from panicking so much!"
"Maybe so." Hardson agreed. "But you still wouldn't have liked it." She turned back to the radio. "Now that we've turned the tables on Hacker, time to get Hacker to give it up. Hardson to Wreaker, you are ordered to stand down and surrender your vessel, and prepare to be boarded. Repeat, you are ordered to surrender your vessel, please respond..."