Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World [COMPLETE]

Chapter 5.13

I sank deeper and deeper into my pod's waterbed. As during the last time our pilot navigated a space battle, gravity fluctuated without warning.

I was glad I had the waterbed below me and not our pod's middle wall as Kira did. On the other hand, she had bones and muscles reinforced with diamondoid material.

Even with all the protection, my spine felt like it'd lose a bone or two any moment.

"Is Tesla okay?" I asked the bridge crew.

"The stress is lower than last time," Crick answered. "The situation is less reminiscent of war. The enemy's only reaction so far has been increased speed and maneuvering. No attack like last time."

Crick's transmission included a visual representation of the bridge. They and Pilot stood on airbag-like mattresses. Mounds formed on their bags' surfaces, allowing the Seizers to sink into them until only their compound eyes and everything above was free.

We were close enough to spot the Firefly's name-giving exhaust trails. The ship never lasted longer than a second on our screen. Each time, the exhaust trails changed directions and our camera struggled to keep up.

Zooming in, the camera screen gave us a clearer picture of the Firefly's overall anatomy. It shared the general bauplan with the Dragonfly, consisting of a huge anterior sphere, a long mid-section, and a thruster. And fins, of course. Big fins. Fins, much larger than ours, spanning the entire ship like the wings of a kite. Larger fins meant less risk of overheating.

In other words, we stood no chance in case this battle dragged out.

Crick had extended the range of the microcomputers in our brains so that I heard every command in the bridge.

"Fire missiles at the corners of the enemy's estimated trajectory!" Crick ordered Tesla.

If you read about our battle against the Mothership, you knew space battles in real life weren't like in the video games and movies. We fought at enormous distances, so our missiles flew faster than the eye could see.

Nonetheless, our shots produced visible effects. The Firefly remained in place longer than before. It had learned that, if it changed direction, we'd fire another missile. The missiles were like a corridor around it.

Now that we forced it on a predictable trajectory, Crick initiated the next step of their plan.

"Target its propulsion systems!" Crick transmitted.

This time, the nuclear missiles' impact became directly visible.

The screen flashed. For a split-second, I worried that we had missed our goal and accidentally hit the habitat module, killing Helix and Layla in the process.

The opposite happened. The Firefly left the inferno without a scratch.

"How did this happen?" I asked Crick. "Point defenses?"

"It appears that the enemy's lasers are stronger than estimated," they replied. "Moreover, it is covered in microbots that can cluster together into forcefield-like structures and guard it against the debris of our missiles."

Speaking of missiles, I wondered if Layla had nukes, too, because so far, she spared us.

She either lacked them, used them economically, or waited to lure us closer.

"C-captain, d-do you have a plan?" Tesla asked.

"Fire another missile and record the time it gets hit by a laser! I want to figure out a secret."

Kira's fingers twitched behind the walls. She said she hated enclosed spaces. Not that I felt pity, she came here voluntarily.

The camera screen flashed once more. Once again, the Firefly emerged unscathed.