But that was the only bit of good news. There were just too many laser bursts filling space around his ship, too many trajectories and patterns to keep track of, too many random variables. Half the time when Aiden juked out of the path of one hit, all he managed was to fly into the path of another. Usually it was even worse, a choice of the best of bad options and taking the fewest hits.
Even a pilot of his caliber couldn't keep ahead of that sort of sustained fire forever; a few seconds after the gunner took out the light cruiser they'd been going after so hard, the Last Stand's sixth layer of shields finally winked out, the buffer for the first layer still seven seconds from clearing.
An eternity under combat conditions.
Which hardly mattered, because while their shields were down the first of the frigate's atomics detonated at extreme range, but still with enough power to rip into the Last Stand's hull on the port side, playing havoc even with EM-shielded systems. Aiden watched as both their laser arrays winked out, and the shielding system went fully red as the recharge rate on all buffers froze, signifying the system was fried.
While the first atomic was still ripping into his ship, the second struck home and finished the job. Aiden's world went white.
Only Ali remained, hovering in the empty void like some sort of space angel. A judgmental one, going by her dark blue eyes narrowed in disapproval, and her luscious lips pressed into a thin line. Not to mention her arms crossed sternly over her chest, although the weight of that reproving gesture was somewhat lessened by how it served to accentuate the cleavage displayed by the low cut green dress her full immersion avatar wore.
“Confirmed, the Last Stand destroyed with all hands aboard,” his companion said. “You almost broke the record for shortest survival time in the Brastos 4 simulation, although at least you took out one enemy ship.”
Aiden sighed and shrugged his shoulders to ease the tension in them, rolling his neck and shaking out his arms. “Nobody likes to hear “I told you so.”
Ali's frown deepened. “Then maybe I can ask you “what was the point?”, instead. You made the right call in the actual Brastos 4 encounter, and the ship and all crew survived with no major damage to systems because of it. So why do you keep beating your head against this, trying to win an impossible fight?”
“Because that's what humans do!” he snapped. “Because the alternative is running, same as I've been doing ever since my side lost the war!”
The impossibly beautiful woman's expression softened, and she stepped forward to put her arms around him, burying her head in his shoulder. Aiden hugged her close, dropping his cheek to rest against the top of her head and running his hand through the silken tresses that made a shimmering waterfall down her back, so inky black they glimmered with blue highlights in the sourceless light of the white void around them.
“We arrive at Ceras 2 in a little over five hours, my love,” she murmured into his neck. “On the remote chance we do encounter trouble there, what do you plan to do?”
Aiden grimaced. “I plan to blow every last Deek ship that comes after us into the void.” He felt Ali tense in alarm and laughed bitterly. “What do you think? We run, of course. Live to fight another day, nibbling away at Deek trading ships and solitary military craft and hoping we're actually accomplishing something useful in this war.”
His companion drew back enough to look up at him. Her eyes, the deep blue color of a planet's sky just at the edge of space, seemed full of unspoken thoughts. Normally Aiden loved looking into her eyes for long stretches, exploring their mysteries and wondering if they held the same secrets a real human woman's would. Now, however, he could almost hear her objecting that they weren't technically in a war, because the Movement had won and no one else was really fighting.
Aside from the people quietly slipping away from Deek control to found hidden colonies far outside the explored area of the universe. And the criminal element springing up like fungus in a dank cave, taking advantage of the chaos the Movement's combined brutality and ineptitude created in the universe.
But those weren't really signs of resistance, just the usual human defense mechanisms when confronted with an impossible situation. Eventually they'd rot human civilization from within to the point where it collapsed, possibly into a singularity that spelled the extinction of the human race.
Or maybe, eventually, the chaos would foment actual rebellions, and Aiden might have a chance to take another real crack at the hated enemy. Probably not . . . in all likelihood he'd be dead by then, his ship long since destroyed. Maybe even sooner rather than later, with this task force hunting them.
Although these thoughts weren't doing anything for his mood.
Forcing such unpleasantness from his mind, he did his best to grin and swatted Ali playfully on her perfect rump, prompting a surprised squeal of laughter from her. “Since we've got some time, I could stand to relax a bit. How about we leave the simulations behind and go skinny dipping in the Zelos hot springs?”
His companion grinned back and looped her arm through his. “Well, we do have a tradition of spending time together relaxing after a battle. Even if these were just simulated ones, it wouldn't do to break tradition.”
* * * * *
The entire crew had been antsy with anticipation these last few days on the approach to Ceras 2. Especially once they were officially
