Chapter 13

Waitstate entered the bridge moments after Toom and Hitatron disappeared from the ship. He looked around briefly. In a situation such as the one they were currently in, the bridge seemed empty without Artifice.

“Wait, good news, we’ve located the Doom Gaze!” Shadowpaw shouted gleefully.

Waitstate nodded. “As I suspected. Are we in range?”

“Just a few more nano-clicks” Shadowpaw replied.

“Ready torpedoes!” Waitstate shouted.

“Aren’t we going to hail them or something first?” Slipstream asked.

“They’ve got nothing we want” Waitstate replied. “I want to torpedoes fired the second we’re in range.”

“Waitstate, we’re being hailed by the Doom Gaze, I’m putting it on screen” Stardrive reported.

The viewscreen at the head of the bridge lit up with the oversized image of Xaraxus sitting in his command chair. “Break off attack now or I-”

“Fire all weapons!” Waitstate shouted.

A barrage of energy blasts were released from the LSS Freedom and struck the hull of the Doom Gaze. The ship shook and the transmission ended.

------

Xaraxus slammed his fist against his console. “Slag him! He’s not nearly as stupid as I thought! He didn’t even give us the customary last chance to bargain!”

“I’m going to return fire!” Spire shouted.

“Pull up the shields first, then fire with all we’ve got” Xaraxus replied as another barrage of fire from the LSS Freedom shook the ship.

“That’s a negative Xaraxus, they took out our shields before we could activate them” Zip Zap replied.

“How is that possible?” Xaraxus asked.

“It seems we have some sort of security breech,” Computerscream reported.

“Forget about the shields for now, return fire!” Xaraxus ordered. “Our ship is more powerful, we should be able to crush them!”

------

The bridge on the LSS Freedom shook as the return fire hit. “Keep firing. Cirrus, bring us directly to the side of the Doom Gaze” Waitstate ordered.

“It’s too dangerous to approach them now, they’re too powerful” Admiral Lilwall replied.

Waitstate turned to Admiral Lilwall. “Only half of our weapon charges are hitting the Doom Gaze while nearly all of their weapon charges are breaking us down. If we’re ever going to make the approach, we’ll have to do it while we’re strong.”

Shadowstrike walked up to Waitstate. “This is suicide Wait. We don’t know what that ship is capable of.”

Waitstate looked sternly at Shadowstrike. “I know you’re experienced Shadowstrike, but this is my call. We can’t keep fighting the way we have, always taking two steps forward then two steps back. Spectral Death is only going to get stronger, and we might not be able to keep up with them.”

“You realize this can end disastrously” Shadowstrike reminded Waitstate.

“I know, but at least it will end” Waitstate replied as he turned his head back to the view screen.

The conversation on the bridge seemed almost as if it had taken place on another world. Exchanging blasts were constantly rocking both ships. Even though the Doom Gaze’s shields were down, LONAC as a whole was rather unfamiliar with Spectral Death’s capabilities. In what would seem like just a few short minutes, the LSS Freedom would be side-by-side with the Doom Gaze. This promised to be the quickest battle of its scale in LONAC’s history, but all on board the Freedom hoped it would not be the last.

Several minutes passed. Damage reports were constantly being shouted across the bridge, but most of them fell on non-functional audio sensors.

“Waitstate, they’re slowing down!” Cirrus shouted.

“Engage thrusters, full speed!” Waitstate ordered.

The acceleration of the LSS Freedom knocked all those who were standing over.

------

“They’re not going to ram us are they?” Bataract asked as he hung from the top of the Doom Gaze’s bridge.

Xaraxus continued looking at the viewscreen. “No, they’re trying to board us!”