Chapter 36 – Atlantica
Nova took a gamble, draining front shields to boost propulsion. Seeing as Iron Chancellor was falling behind, the ship had to use its forward guns in order to land shots which were increasingly difficult as Nova juked and jinxed.
More warnings blared.
"This isn't good."
Nova pointed at a display that showed a rather large number of surface vessels near where, if trajectory remained unchanged, they would appear. The only good thing came from their IFFs—not SPEAR.
Shrill noises caused even Sylvanas to cover her ears. As if the alarm storm needed yet another element, a disembodied female voice vocalized two words nobody wanted to hear: incoming torpedo. The ship then rocked violently as a detonation shockwave struck.
"Warnings are usually more helpful when they come before something bad happens" muttered Raynor, to much nodded agreement.
"So much for getting an easy ride from a ship crewed by a majority of scientists instead of trigger-happy gun nuts" added Dr. Linda. Nobody aside from Wane seemed to have noticed she'd said anything. "Must be following those orders…"
It took less than a minute before the cockpit bubble broke ocean surface. Two more torpedoes detonated aft during the journey upward, disabling one of four engines. However, such strikes were mere spite, nothing more, as their craft burst into the sunlight.
An unknown craft appearing next to a US Navy supercarrier was no small matter. The incoming vessel had been spotted on sonar, but it ascended so rapidly reaction was necessarily limited. Communications could not be established, as whether the arrival possessed the ability to parse repeated hails remained unclear. Thus, shooting first and asking questions later.
"Well, they're not very nice" griped Nova as incoming shellfire and missiles struck the craft's shields.
"Look, if you just popped up randomly on the Hyperion without warning, I wouldn't hesitate to have you thrown in the brig" countered Raynor.
"You wish" said Nova, letting more tease into her voice again. She smirked, savoring both getting under his skin and annoying Kerrigan at the same time.
"Are we going to sit here and be shot at, or are we going to do something?" asked Jaina.
Nova flipped a switch. A loud whine intruded before compensators reduced it to a dull hiss. Water cascaded down the manta-shaped hull as it rose from the sea. Pinkish jets emanated from three of four thrusters as they switched from magnetohydrodynamic mode to magnetoplasmadynamic thrust.
"This craft seems ill-suited for flight" observed Jaina. "Then again, form does not always follow function."
"My guess is those engines keep us airborne with brute force" suggested Raynor. He turned to Drs. Linda and Wane. "Either of you know anything about these?"
Both shook their heads. "This sort of knowledge was left to the engineers. Though I am versed in some parts of the system, I did not need to know anything beyond the materials-science angle" said Wane.
"We're going to have to keep an eye on the fusion reactor" said Nova, "because flying puts a lot more stress on it than submerged travel did."
The craft banked while pounding away from missiles, shells, and other ordinance spewing from Harry S. Truman and her attendant escorts. A few shots slipped past overtaxed shields, weakened significantly from the huge reactor draw of the magnetoplasmadynamic engines. Fortunately for the Heroes, they all struck the inoperative outboard starboard engine.
"So where are we going?"
Despite being very much in charge of the vessel's operation thus far, Nova had no clue what to do next.
"Time to show these people what SPEAR has been hiding from them" said Raynor, "and I think I know the best way to do it."