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+--- Thread: Ride of the Themis (/showthread.php?tid=36331)
Ride of the Themis - Tomtomrawr - 03-10-2010
801 A.S.
The impulse engine struggled to maintain an optimum temperature for the enzymes to speed up the reaction of H-fuel, producing more thrust than most ships of its class. If the temperature increased or decreased beyond the limiting capabilities of the reaction drive, the enzymes would be denatured and rendered useless. Artificial in origin, as no biological ones could survive the high temperatures. His own special creation, shared with no one, questioned by everyone, produced by only one man and used by only one man.
The leaking reaction chamber was rapidly cooling, due to its exposure to space. Liquid H-fuel leaked out and immediately became a gas, marking out the path of the wounded Gunboat like lights on a road. The Freelancer commanding the Themis made the decision to shut down the damaged impulse engine. It was only one of six, and would do little to hinder his creation.
The Themis was an "Ahoudori" Class Kusari Explorer, but so many alterations had been made to the basic framework it should be an entirely different class. An extra four engines had been added to the ship, giving it a maximum impulse speed of 120 m/s, and a maximum thrust speed of 180 m/s, rivalling some of the smaller bombers. Five extra weapon hardpoints, two extra powerplants, and enough armour to survive a crash with a Liberty Dreadnought with only scratches. The two wings, originally angled under the ship at 20 degrees, had been bent further down to 80, giving the ship a shocking resemblence to a Coalition Insurgent. The ship had originally been bought in 638 A.S. (constructed in 602 A.S. and had served the KNF) by his great-great-grandfather, and had then been passed down through the generations of his family until it now rested with him. And he refused to go down in his family history as the man who got the family ship blown up.
The ship turned sharply to the right, sharper than normal now that one of the right-hand engines had been switched off. Those enzymes would be expensive to replace, but it would be better than having the whole ship explode. The Rheinlander Valkyries followed, Hornvipers and Flamecurses blending together in a green blur. California Minor was a white dot in the distance, with the occasional flash of trade lane traffic like dust being sucked into a hoover.
Ride of the Themis - Tomtomrawr - 03-14-2010
'Captain, we have another three ships on the sensors. Two Snubnoses, and a Gunboat! Sir, they're firing!' The Themis shook with the impact from the combined enemy weapons fire. The red lighting of the bridge gave every crew member an almost demonic appearance. Warnings of the shields decreased strength echoed through the tight corridors of the ship.
'Attention: Shield strength at 75%.' The captain of the ship, Howard Kolhammer, wasn't even paying attention. He was busy issuing frantic orders to the stressed crew members.
'Julia, put us in a left-ward turn. I want the main guns to be facing that Gunboat group in ten seconds.' Julia Duffy was the steering wheel of the G boat. The tips of her finger nails were often red due to the constant stratching of her head, but he couldn't see it under the red lighting. 'Karen, prepare a burst at the nearest Snubnose. We can't take any Snack shots, they'll drain our shield.' Karen Halabi was the weapons engineer, with a stuck-up attitude that would insult Satan himself. But she didn't question the order, which was an incredible relief. Snack was the nickname given to the Supernova Antimatter Cannons, another of Howard's creations. 'Roy, get our power over to the forward shield gens. Henry, get ready to divert some power over to Julia so she can get us away from that G boats revenge.' Roy Flemming and Henry Stimson were both energy maintenance officers, but Henry's position was more generalised with all systems whilst Roy's was maintaining shield power. Howard could control all assets of the ship from his console, but it felt so much better to spread the workload. Besides, he wasn't paying them to sit around and watch him work.
They each responded with their own sayings, all of which translated into 'Yes sir.' Howard felt the lurch of the Themis that even the artificial gravity struggled to compensate for. Most equipment that wasn't nailed down was thrown to the right of the ship. None of it was important or could do any harm, but it still pissed Howard off. But, he thought to himself, it could have been worse. I may not have bothered with seat belts.
The ship stopped lurching, and the gravity returned to normal. But there was only a seconds respite before the Razor, Pulse and Solaris combination shook the ship. The sensors showed the two Snubnoses explode in an infrared flash of bright red. The guns changed targets, picking off the Valkyries with ease. The Gunboat was to be saved for last, as the Valkyries would probably do more damage in the short term. Smaller infrared flashes to the ones created by the Snubnoses temporarily blinded the sensors, before they returned to their online status.
'It's just us and the Gunboat now sir.' Seki Yukio, the sensor monitor, said to his captain. His eyes, normally a calm pale blue, were now an alarmed bright red under the battle-lights.
'Good,' Howard replied. 'Let's finish these bastards off.' He saw the formation of grins on the faces of his crew, which were instantly wiped away as the Rheinland Cruiser appeared fourteen kilometres away from the battle theatre.
Ride of the Themis - Tomtomrawr - 03-15-2010
The Cruiser Missile Turret released its deadly payload, being followed by a long burst of Defence Turrets. The Themis kept its distance, so the Defence Turrets were rendered useless, but the missile was still on its course.
'Releasing counters,' Karen told the others as the normally beeping warning alarm for the missile turned into a constant stream of sound. The five countermeasures released from the ship moved into a defensive pentagon behind the ship, acting as a magnetic net which drew the missile into its trap. The hellish explosion encompassed all five countermeasures, seperating their link to the ship milliseconds after reporting that the missile had been destroyed.
The Themis moved at a steady 170 m/s away from the Cruiser and Gunboat, managing to keep an impressive lead from their attackers. The computer detected a trade lane twenty-two klicks away, and if they could reach it then they would be safe. That is, if this is a one-off incident, Howard thought to himself.
The normal hum of the engines was abruptly cut off, and the ship immediately idled with the Gunboat and Cruiser bearing down on the position.
'Sir!' Seki shouted with alarm. 'They hit us with an engine disruptor. It didn't even appear on the sensors.'
'What?' This immediately sent a wave of panic through Howard as he realised the implications of this. Could they have sent a wave of missiles, and could they be closing in as we speak? He tried to put the panic behind him, but as he spoke he could hear the fear behind his confident bravado.
'Bring us about, let's face these bastards head on. Get all the guns ready, get the power to the shields and weapons, and get me a cup of ****ing coffee!' The computer responded to his voice request, a small hatch opening near his computer to provide him with a cup of coffee. He snatched it out of the hold like a greedy gremlin and threw the brown sludge down his throat, before returning to his system controls in an effort to help his crew.
The Themis turned sharply, and the familiar rumble of the guns shook the ship in a familiar pattern. Pulse pulse pulse pulse razor razor razor, with Solaris and Cerberus pattering away in the background.
'Attention: Shield strength at 50%.'
Ride of the Themis - Tomtomrawr - 03-24-2010
Three more missiles were released from the Cruiser, each designated with their own seperate tasks. They were standard KIK-C95 Rheinland missiles, equiped with sensor absorbtion technology. Their explosive payloads had been enhanced with alien technology that increased their destructive potential ten-fold. They sped across the void between the two ships in ten seconds, before their sensor jamming technology was finally beaten by the powerful computers on the Themis.
This left .3849 of a second for a response before the missiles hit their targets. The computer did not bother issuing a warning to the human crew, instead assuming control over the defensive systems for the time needed to destroy or divert the incoming threat. Ten countermeasures were released into the coldness of space, designated with stopping the missiles in the .3129 seconds remaining. They chose the best course of action available to them: to detonate and form an intricate net to catch the missiles. They did so in one twentieth of a second, sending shrapnel careering outward in all directions.
One of the missiles was hit by a piece of countermeasure, with enough kinetic energy behind the small shard to pierce the armour-plating of the missile. The missile was split in half, with the explosives nestled inside detonating after receiving the command to do so. The new shrapnel from the missile blended with the countermeasure shrapnel, increasing the density of the net temporarily. Then the expanding explosion emitting the light of a supernova disintegrated all that it came into contact with. The second missile, which had been given the instructions to penetrate the hole left by the first, added its chemical energy to the explosion.
Even if the sensors of the Themis had not been blinded by the energy wave, it could have done nothing to prevent the impact of the third missile, which had been moving around on the right to knock one of the wings away from the bulk of the ship.
Ride of the Themis - Tomtomrawr - 04-10-2010
The starship was sent spinning wildly as the missile impacted underneath the starboard wing. If the shield had been down - as the first two missiles should have guarenteed - then the entire wing would have been blown away from the rest of the ship.
Alarms blared through the Themis as it fought to keep strutual integrity. Metal groaned, inner walls warped, equipment once again went tumbling around the ship.
'What the f*** was that!?' Howard wailed at his crew. Henry could feel his eyes burning the top of his balding head as he read information streaming onto computer screens.
'They got three missiles in without our sensors seeing them! The computer took out two, but one of them hit us under the starboard wing. If the shield' d been down, we'd have lost the wing.'
Howard took in Henry's explanation and immediately formulated new orders for two of the crew. 'Karen, keep a camera on that cruiser. Any missiles come out of that thing, detected or otherwise, blast 'em with the Cerbies.' He barely registered the comical 'Aye Cap'n', he was too busy giving his next order. 'Julia, we still facing them?'
'Aye sir.'
'Then follow your previous orders, give these Rheins a lesson they won't forget!' He received an enthusiastic reply, before the devastating sound of the guns once again filled his ears. He watched the Rheinland Gunboat on the screen. He watched each energy burst impact the shield, until it failed under the bombardment and opened the ship to destruction. Thirty seconds later, the gunboat went up in flames which were instantly extinguished.
The shakings of the ship, those he familiarised with enemy weapons fire impacting the hull, abruptly stopped.
'Sir,' Sei shakily reported to his captain, 'the enemy cruiser has stopped firing.' Howard checked the camerafeed himself, not believing what his sensor monitor reported to him. But it was true: the cruiser had stopped firing.
'Why'd you think it stopped firing?' Roy enquired with his fellow crewmen.
Before any answers could be given, five missile turrets each released three missiles.
'S*** s*** SHI*!' Julia cried, before prioritising the interception of the missiles.
'Fifteen missiles, heading right for us sir!' Sei barely had time to get the words out, before he was frantically trying to keep a constant feed on the missiles. 'They're moving too fast, they're not carrying anything.' Then the realisation hit him like a wet towel. 'They're EMP missiles! Get the shield up, GET IT UP!'
'Christ!' Henry shouted, before frantically trying to divert all the power he had to Roy and the shields. But two Pulse shots from the Rheinland cruiser tore down what remained of the energy barrier, and the missiles were three quarters of the way there.
Howard saw this, and gave only two orders. 'KEEP THE LIFE SUPPORT PROTECTED, and shut down your computers!' He watched as each crewmember diverted all power to the EMP-shielding around the Life Support systems, before turning off as many systems as they could.
The fifteen missiles, equiped with standard EMP technology, moved as programmed and formed a perfectly spaced net around the Themis before each detonated. Shrapnel rained out in all directions, but it only followed the Electromagnetic Pulse. The Pulse slammed into the hull of the starship, using the metal as a conductor to spread around the ship like a virus. Then it dissipated, just as quickly as it had completed its deadly work.