In one quick leap the warrior was in front of him, and the speed with which he covered the distance caught George off guard. 2.43% chance of survival.
And to make matters worse the warrior had broken his weapon in half and held each end in one of his alacyte tri-grip hands. The warrior feinted with the right and then came up with the left, severing George's arm above the elbow. Instantly, his survival protocol went into action sealing off all open arterial connections. He stared at the arm for just a split second, lying in the dirt under the tower, and thought that he must feel some sense of sadness for his loss, but then the large BG warrior coiled for the final blow. He pulled back to make a stab.
This is perfect, thought George. The warrior made a thrust with the point of his weapon and George jumped again.
The warrior's alacyte lance pierced the energy cell and enough juice to power the Jessica for several days coursed through the metallic creature's frame. No amount of careful insulation could protect the worm inside. The smoking black warrior fell back into the dirt.
George picked himself up off the ground, quickly repaired the leaks to what remained of his arm and went about setting the charges. 91.9% chance of survival.
……
The BG alacyte production facility number one produced 68.4% of all BG alacyte used for weapons and ship construction. The facility had been in 24/7 operation for the last four months. Ostensibly, to build ships to support and protect the merchant class traders traveling through Federation space. No one in the Fed questioned the massive output. Cargo ships from all over the galaxy, mainly independent long-range haulers looking to score easy money queued up night and day in a long procession, filling their ships to overcapacity then flying off to ship and weapons production facilities in BG space.
That morning there was one extra ship in the queue. Formally of the Federation, the gunboat Jessica squeezed in between two large freighters.
"They'll see us," said Katy.
"No," said Koba. "I’ve made a few transponder modifications. They should see a Class-D Runabout on their scanners. It's not uncommon for the larger freighters to have smaller support ships in the air. They won’t get a visual until its too late."
"I hope it works," said Katy.
"We'll find out soon enough," said Jolo.
The plan was simple. The freighters went into the heart of the facility. All they had to do was get the Jessica inside and let the ion cannons do the rest. The whole operation was lightly defended: two cruisers and the ground force. The trick was getting in and out before the Destroyer up top got wind of their little operation. Jolo figured they had about ten minutes from the time smoke started coming up from the comm tower two kilometers away, and that was two minutes ago. At some point, the big ship would send another cruiser down to check on the broken communications, and the plan was to be half way to anywhere by then.
There were two BG cruisers at the entrance to the facility and they would make a visual ID on the gunboat. But that's where the Greeley brothers came in. Each were manning a fixed position ion cannon, which by themselves couldn't take a Cruiser down, but they could draw both of them away from the entrance. And Jolo was betting they wouldn't stop production if the Cruisers went off. They’d continue loading.
“We’re getting close,” said Katy. The entrance to the facility was large enough for a freighter to enter. Heat waves and smoke issued forth and distorted the view around the mouth of the giant building. As they got nearer, Jolo moved the Jessica closer behind the big freighter, but soon they were close enough to be spotted. Hurley was positioned at the bottom of the ship with his head sticking out of the lower escape hatch. “Yeah, Captain. There’s two of ‘em. One on either side. And they close.” So Jolo got on the comm to the Greeleys. “Light ‘em up, boys. Be safe. Just hit ‘em a few times then run straight for the dense woods to the south, then down into the gulley.”
Soon there were the distinct sounds of two ion cannons firing and both cruisers left their posts near the entrance, each heading toward the ion cannon positions. They just made an attempt to link with the Destroyer up top, too, thought Jolo. And they know the comm is down.
Jolo didn’t waste any time getting inside. He nudged the big freighter ahead of him, then unloaded her rail guns at the giant smelter on the far side of the facility. Robots were flying all over the place, some working the raw plugs at the near end, others loading smooth alacyte bars in various lengths into ships waiting in the cue.
Jolo’s first shot toppled the hot smelter and molten alacyte spilled into the air, and a wave of the red liquid alacyte crashed onto the floor. Several BG warriors got caught in the molten flow: their legs melting. The little worms inside desperately tried to keep their chestplates out of the lava flow, but if there were no handholds then the worms inside were burned alive. One legless warrior held onto a flying droid and nearly made it clear, but the weight was too much and the droid lost lift and they both went down into the river of alacyte. Worker bots and droids splattered with liquid metal crashed into the sides of the waiting ships and fell to the floor below, starting fires as the warning message for all ships to evacuate the building started to repeat.
Half-loaded freighters slammed into ships in front of them and the ones near the entrance fought to get out
