And hopefully, they’d pick up some allies before then as well. If they start responding to comms at least. He still felt like the inhabitants were likely all dead. Time to confirm a tragedy… or be lucky enough to prevent one. Either way, he had a terrible feeling about what they might find out there.
***
Titus continued staring at the enemy ships, watching intently for any movement whatsoever. There was activity. Thrusters ignited at various parts of the vessels, holding them in place at their locations. Automated systems might be engaged to perform such maintenance. The implications behind that bothered him.
If this thing is AI controlled, that could be a problem unto itself. Or perhaps remotely controlled by some other force altogether. If someone discovered how to control such a massive ship from a different system entirely, they’d need to test it. And what better target than a place that couldn’t fight back?
“Violet,” Rudy asked, “do you have better scans of the targets yet? Or of the surface?”
“Well…” Violet hesitated before continuing, “whatever they used to hit the colony with left behind enough radiation that it’s tampering with our scans. I’m working through a method to cancel out the interference, which should be done momentarily. However, I can tell you this. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“The radiation?” Titus asked. “What do you mean?”
“Just that,” Violet replied. “It’s toxic but not lethal. If someone gets exposed to it without protective gear, they’d be in no real jeopardy providing they received medical attention in a reasonable time frame. It won’t impact the crops and seems to be dissipating even now. It’s almost just… a side effect. Not what we’d see if they hit with bombs, in other words.”
“Are you saying,” Rudy turned to her, “that you don’t think they used bombs for that? But the craters… those had to be impact points from ordnance. Or what are you suggesting they hit with?”
“I don’t know yet.” Violet shrugged. “But I will soon. No answers to hails still. From the colony or the invading ships.”
Titus checked their distance to the targets. They were nearly in range of their primary cannons. Turrets wouldn’t be much good for another few thousand kilometers, not for target locking, but that probably didn’t matter considering how large the vessels were. He leaned close to Rudy.
“Are we going to attack if they don’t respond?”
Rudy nodded. “They’ve made their hostile intentions clear. We have to take them out. Gather as much data from the remains as possible for further analysis. Whatever they thought they were doing, they can’t be allowed to think this was acceptable.” He paused. “In fact, Ronin? Lock weapons and prepare to open fire.”
Titus’s gut turned at the idea. Something about the situation felt wrong. He didn’t like the way the enemy seemed to ignore them. Nor the fact they were still there after blasting the hell out of the colony. If they were facing a known quantity, their side would’ve been more than enough to take care of the threat.
But not knowing what they were facing, both in terms of firepower and defense, made it seem prudent to hold off. After all, they couldn’t save the colony itself and they were already in a position to rescue any survivors. I’d handle this very differently. They had a few moments before opening fire.
“Sir,” Titus kept his voice low, “maybe we should spend another few minutes observing. Gathering as much data as possible. If we can buy Violet time, I’m sure she can—”
“We can’t let these people escape,” Rudy interrupted. “This may be the first attack of many. No, the Triton is in a position to make a difference. We’ll use the destroyers to focus on the first of the ships then wrap up the second one in short order. Any enemies on the surface, we’ll take as prisoners.”
“How exactly are you of the opinion that it’ll be so easy?” Titus asked.
“They haven’t acknowledged our presence,” Rudy said. “Which shows they either do not have sensors to detect us, or they are too occupied to respond. We’ll be hitting their flank. By the time they decide to turn and engage, we’ll have already finished one of them off. With the odds being three-to-one at that point, the rest will be simple.”
Oh boy. Titus leaned back in his seat. I hope he’s right. But I sincerely doubt it.
“I’m in position,” Ronin called. “I’m opening fire now.”
Rudy tapped the comm, giving the order to the destroyers as well.
Their beam weapons opened the conflict. They were specifically designed to tear through shields, opening a target up for projectile fire. Chunks of metal and massive explosive bullets were deployed to rip open an enemy’s hull. The combination proved devastating in conflicts against other known vessels.
Red-white lines cut through the space from all three TCN vessels, scoring direct hits on the nearest target. A purple glow emanated some distance from the enemy ship, absorbing the assault. They kept up their fire, blasting it a second and third time. The barrier remained intact… and the enemy ship still did not move.
“Violet?” Rudy turned to her. “Did you get a reading on that?”
“Their shields are incredible,” Violet said. “Once we made contact with them, the readings were off the scale.”
“What’s that mean?” Titus asked.
“We created the meter based on our own scale,” Violet explained, “the top is the highest our science believed possible. I’m looking… they’re at least four times beyond that.”
“Four times?” Rudy’s eyes widened. “Hit them with projectiles, Ronin. Let’s see if their fancy shields are ready for that
