19
GreggHL
Engaging hilarity engine/air intake
- Location
- Daejeon, Republic of Korea
The metal skin of the Orizaba shimmers, a glow emanating from the spider latched onto its hull. Light warping around it, flowing around it, there is a single pop in soundless space. And the Orizaba, all nine hundred meters of it, is gone. With speed defying its bulk, Harbinger turns from Eden Prime to the place where the dreadnought once hung dead.
And then two Destroyers explode, their hulls torn apart and limbs spinning off into space. In the dust and flame of the Reaper corpses, they can see the outline of the dreadnought. Red beams criss cross as the Destroyers open fire, but all they get from the wild firing is gouges in their hull as they hit nothing but each other.
Another Destroyer explodes, ripped from stem to stern. Then another, debris and shrapnel bouncing off an invisible hull. Their numbers reduced to a handful, the Destroyers swivel from side to side, urgent messages passing between them and towards Harbinger, demanding direction. And then the Orizaba appears, right next to the dreadnought.
With seventy eight cannons aimed directly at his face.
Seventy eight mass drivers fire off directly into the face of the Reaper. Several golden eyes burst. Kinetic barriers hold, but the force and the impact sends shrapnel flying. The blast scores the face of the dreadnought as jets fire on the side of the Orizaba. Bobbing and weaving, the blasts from the Destroyers only touch its shadow.
Inside the CIC, as the holographic sphere of the battlefield flashes with red as the dreadnought dances around the Reaper fleet.
"I'm going to order construction on the new dreadnought accelerated," Hackett observes, "Transfer your crew onto that, and maybe move my flag onto here."
In the captain's chair, Hannah grins. "You'll get the Orizaba when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. Iri, package deployed?"
The speakers crackle with the voice of the working girl spider. "Yes ma'am. Estimated time to completion is three minutes~"
Hannah grins wider. "Then let's get his attention off our fleet. Helm, take us to FTL. Set a course for the Utopia Relay."
The speaker crackles again. "Excuse me, but I had some of my drones work on the Mass Effect core to remodel it a bit and also make it something the Reapers can't control~. So, I sorta kinda reworked the effect to also create a space folding bubble around the ship to accelerate the faster-than-light acceleration!"
Hannah blinks, turning up and looking at Hackett. He cocks an eyebrow underneath his hat, before nodding to her, fixing his uniform, and stepping up next to her. "Please," Hannah says, "The honor is yours."
Hackett nods. "Helm. Warp one." He snaps out a finger. "Engage."
Barrel rolling like a frigate, the Orizaba weaves between two destroyers, blasting legs off with glancing blows of its broadsides. Banking, it accelerates past Harbinger, past the other Destroyers. The engines glow, a bubble of electricity surrounding it before it accelerates and disappears in a flash. The Destroyers roar, shaking the deck plates of the ignores Fifth Fleet before they, and Harbinger, disappear in pursuit.
And then two Destroyers explode, their hulls torn apart and limbs spinning off into space. In the dust and flame of the Reaper corpses, they can see the outline of the dreadnought. Red beams criss cross as the Destroyers open fire, but all they get from the wild firing is gouges in their hull as they hit nothing but each other.
Another Destroyer explodes, ripped from stem to stern. Then another, debris and shrapnel bouncing off an invisible hull. Their numbers reduced to a handful, the Destroyers swivel from side to side, urgent messages passing between them and towards Harbinger, demanding direction. And then the Orizaba appears, right next to the dreadnought.
With seventy eight cannons aimed directly at his face.
Seventy eight mass drivers fire off directly into the face of the Reaper. Several golden eyes burst. Kinetic barriers hold, but the force and the impact sends shrapnel flying. The blast scores the face of the dreadnought as jets fire on the side of the Orizaba. Bobbing and weaving, the blasts from the Destroyers only touch its shadow.
Inside the CIC, as the holographic sphere of the battlefield flashes with red as the dreadnought dances around the Reaper fleet.
"I'm going to order construction on the new dreadnought accelerated," Hackett observes, "Transfer your crew onto that, and maybe move my flag onto here."
In the captain's chair, Hannah grins. "You'll get the Orizaba when you pry it from my cold, dead hands. Iri, package deployed?"
The speakers crackle with the voice of the working girl spider. "Yes ma'am. Estimated time to completion is three minutes~"
Hannah grins wider. "Then let's get his attention off our fleet. Helm, take us to FTL. Set a course for the Utopia Relay."
The speaker crackles again. "Excuse me, but I had some of my drones work on the Mass Effect core to remodel it a bit and also make it something the Reapers can't control~. So, I sorta kinda reworked the effect to also create a space folding bubble around the ship to accelerate the faster-than-light acceleration!"
Hannah blinks, turning up and looking at Hackett. He cocks an eyebrow underneath his hat, before nodding to her, fixing his uniform, and stepping up next to her. "Please," Hannah says, "The honor is yours."
Hackett nods. "Helm. Warp one." He snaps out a finger. "Engage."
Barrel rolling like a frigate, the Orizaba weaves between two destroyers, blasting legs off with glancing blows of its broadsides. Banking, it accelerates past Harbinger, past the other Destroyers. The engines glow, a bubble of electricity surrounding it before it accelerates and disappears in a flash. The Destroyers roar, shaking the deck plates of the ignores Fifth Fleet before they, and Harbinger, disappear in pursuit.
