Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Vandread, which you all know.
Author's note: Thanks for everyone's reviews. Keep them coming, please!
Chapter 4: Ambush
Paiway was seated at a small table in the 'living room', which also doubled as an impromptu kitchen and dining room. She was puzzling over a medical book Duero had lent her, but having little success in understanding it. Sighing hugely, she glanced up, looking out of the small porthole in front of her as they passed a floating asteroid. Her eyes widened slightly as she saw something glinting inside a crater… something that looked oddly like a…
"Cannon!"
Gascogne and Barnette glanced up, surprised by Paiway's shout. The ship suddenly rocked violently as a storm of tracers spiraled about it. Reacting quickly, Gascogne spun and slapped at a control, activating the ship's shields. It was just in time, as a series of missiles impacted on the energy field, sending up flashes of light and energy. The ship shook again under the impact, hurling people randomly across the floor. Gascogne glanced at flashing screens.
"Damn this! The signal's disappeared!"
Barnette unstrapped herself from the chair, reaching for the space suit hanging beside her on a peg.
"I'm going to my Dread!"
Hibiki and Dita stumbled in as the ship shook again.
"What's going on?"
Gascogne grinned.
"They chose a good place for this- the asteroids are going to make it difficult to dodge. But there's two ways that can go!"
She gunned the engines, narrowly dodging more fire. As far as she could tell, the shooting was coming from all directions, so she flew straight, in an attempt to break out of the ring surrounding them, flying around asteroids and using them as cover for the ship.
"Not good enough, sir! The vessel's energy field is enough to deflect the ordnance we've been using!"
Renard cursed silently. While the vulcan cannons and burst missiles he'd ordered to be fired were relatively weak, they also had the best chance of scoring repeated hits.
"No choice then. All weapons platforms- switch to munitions order 3!"
"Yes, sir!"
In the various gun emplacements set up over the asteroids, hisses of hydraulic machinery began as the platforms began to switch over. Each one was designed primarily as a static defense platform used to support infantry with heavy fire, as well as shield them with moveable armored plates attached to their bases. All had multiple weapons points that could be replaced with a few hours of work, enabling them to be outfitted to deal with any situation. Munitions order 3 was basically the heaviest gun or ordnance the platform carried- 1 was light, and 2 was medium.
Vulcans slid aside and plasma cannons coasted into position on the revolving 'platform', their coils crackling with energy as the gunners powered them up. Heavy defense lasers or a different form of missile replaced missile pods.
"All gunners report weapons replacement complete. Target is already out of sight of platforms 1 to 3, and reaching the maximum LOS of platforms 4 to 6. Platforms 7 to 9 report a clear view."
"Open fire."
"Orders received."
Gascogne grinned- enemy fire had ceased, and a fully armed Dread was flying beside them.
"We just might make it out of this ye-"
The sensors beeped urgently as they detected massive energy discharges and multiple missile exhaust behind them.
"Damn, Barnette, MOVE!"
Both ships twisted out of their formation as massed firepower exploded around them. Missiles punched into asteroids, smashing into solid rock before detonating, sending splinters flying everywhere as the asteroids burst apart. Lasers burned holes clean through anything in the way, ripping around their targets in a blaze of ruby light. Plasma blasts tore ravenously into obstacles, melting the frozen chunks of space debris with the heat of a star.
Gascogne gritted her teeth as a defense laser hit the shields, puncturing them easily and scoring over her ship's hull, sending sparks everywhere and leaving metal twisted and molten. The weakened field protecting the ship fell under pounding blows from flying asteroid chunks, and the crew were thrown about like rag dolls as more impacts hammered it, spinning the craft almost in a full circle and leaving it hanging in space, dented and battered.
Barnette didn't fare any better. A plasma blast cut into the Dread, overloading the shields and shearing into the armor on its rear quarter. The fighter was thrown into a mad spiral, red screens and warnings showering Barnette as she fought desperately to keep control. She just managed to wrench it back into a straight course when she realized she was flying head on into a floating hunk of rock.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
She yanked on the controls, barely managing to turn the Dread's nose away. A little… a little more… she cursed violently as she struggled with the sluggish response caused by the damage of the plasma blast. In the end, inertia defeated her. Even as the engines began to flare, the machine carried on and slammed into the hulking asteroid. The impact slammed Barnette back into her seat, stunning her and driving her breath out of her lungs. A rocky outcropping sank deep within the molten armor in the Dread's rear, more or less sticking it to the asteroid. The force of the crash also began making the asteroid spin backwards, carrying the Dread and its hapless pilot further away from the battle zone.
"Captain, the main ship has ceased moving, but we can't sight the fighter that was accompanying it. Orders?"
Renard frowned. He was sure that both craft had been hit… at any rate, he wasn't going to simply shoot a helpless vessel down.
"Send out Corbulo's party and have them secure anyone still alive on the ship."
"Acknowledged."
Gascogne pushed herself off the controls, wishing she'd found the time to strap herself in. Groggily, she looked out the viewport. Why were there so many lines over it? She suddenly snapped alert. Cracks!
If she didn't act fast, they could break up into real holes and kill everyone onboard by depressurization. Reaching down into a small pouch under her chair, she came out with what looked like an aerosol can that was filled with a fast-drying synthetic plastic. She quickly began to trace the cracks with the plastic, being careful to seal them up totally to make sure not even the tiniest breach remained.
Meia shoved herself off the ground. She found she'd been hurled clean out of the bridge and into the living room. Paiway was lying nearby. Meia glanced at her, noting that she was moving with some relief. The nurse slowly raised her face off the floor.
"Ouch… What happened?"
The Dread leader opened her mouth to reply, but shut it again when a feeling of weightlessness swept over her. She suddenly noticed no part of her body was in contact with the floor, and that Paiway, and everything else in the room not anchored down, was floating.
"The gravity must have been knocked out. This isn't-"
A minor explosion interrupted her as one wall suddenly vanished, blown down to the floor by a shaped charge. Cursing herself for losing focus, she flipped back so she was facing the opening, wishing she'd trained more for zero gravity combat. A pair of cylindrical objects suddenly fell in, releasing a greenish mist. Paiway immediately started to struggle away, but stopped quickly, going limp as it filled her lungs. Meia narrowed her eyes and stopped breathing, propelling herself towards the bridge as a pair of armored figures floated in, spinning gracefully to cover both sides of their new door. The one facing her held up an odd looking weapon, and she desperately dove down as it released a cylinder, which hung there for a beat before suddenly propelling itself in her general direction. It split, releasing a series of small, round objects that resembled ball bearings. Each one spewed gas in all directions, and the blue-haired pilot scrambled backwards as her eyes suddenly blurred with tears. She pushed back, but suddenly perceived a dim figure leaning over her. Panicking, Meia raised her ring and fired, seeing the figure fall back. Another suddenly appeared from the side and pressed something into her neck. A hot flare of agony tore down her body as it released an electric shock, followed by a dull numbness. She tried to move, but her body refused to obey, leaving her raging at her helplessness. The pain came again, and this time she fell into the welcoming darkness.