[ WP ] Write an epic battle

“ Sir! ” Ensign Hayes exclaimed, breaking the otherwise quiet of the bridge. “ New contact showing up at 5,000 kilometers. Scans show it appears to be a Battlecruiser class UESC vessel, Call sign Z071M. It seems to be holding in a standard parking orbit. ” 
 
 Captain Lance nodded at the ensign. Pushing himself from the chair, his boots made a soft click as the magnetic soles made contact with the floor. He leaned towards the closest monitor, and touched the screen. 
 
 “ We ’ ve been here for two days. I was wondering if we had missed our chance. Good work. Let me know if anything changes. ” 
 
 A calm alert tone began to play throughout the bridge, signifying that the situation had already changed. 
 
 “ Vessel Z071M has increased its velocity, ” Hayes stated, with a hint of worry. “ New trajectory shows a rendezvous orbit; Visual range in 9 minutes. ” 
 
 “ Damnit. I thought we had a bit more time. ” Lance cursed quietly. Two days of luck was pushing it, and now it was time to pay for his borrowed time. “ Decrease our velocity, and see if they react. ” 
 
 Hayes confirmed, and after pushing a series of buttons on her control panel, Lance felt a brief tug on his body as the ship began a small deceleration burn. 
 
 “ Sensors show target has burned in, radially. New contact, ETA in 7 minutes. ” 
 
 “ Prep EVA teams Bravo and Charlie. It seems we are in for a bit of a joust. ” Lance ordered, as the edges of his lips began to curl upwards in a grin. It had been a while since he had been in a duel, let alone a UESC vessel. 
 
 “ EVA Teams Bravo and Charlie on standby, ” Hayes looked at the panel with wide eyes. “ Permission to speak freely, sir? ” 
 
 “ Granted. ” 
 
 “ Are you sure this is a good move? We could burn and be on an escape trajectory in 3 minutes, go hyper in 5. I understand I am new, but this seems a little, well, bold. ” 
 
 The captain sat back down in his seat, and allowed himself to smile. 
 
 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- - 
 Frank Gravil grunted as he finished putting on his EVA suit. The suit hissed as the pressure increased, the inner lining conforming to his body. His partner, Josh Aldridge stood by the airlock, arms crossed impatiently. If Frank could see through the helmets faceplate, he was sure there would be a look of mild annoyance on Josh ’ s face. 
 
 “ You know, Frank, being on standby means you should be ready to go before the ship falls apart. ” 
 
 “ Hey, ” Frank stated, “ I didn ’ t sign up for this. I thought I was just going to be doing tech support. ” 
 
 “ Well, this is technically tech support, so you did sign up for it. Now, are the reserve plates in place? ” 
 
 Frank used his thumb to point over his shoulder, to a large crate inside the airlock. “ Why do you think it took me a minute to get ready? I had to pull them from B-deck. It seems Alpha team forgot to bring the mains back in after the last fight. ” 
 
 Josh stepped into the airlock, and opened the crate. He did a cursory glance over the steel panels. They were large, about a square meter, with once side covered in a rubberlike substance. Small holes were punched throughout the plate, each hole the same distance as the pre-made holes in the hull of the ship. He reached into the crate, and grabbed a drill, testing it as he pulled it out. 
 
 “ Well, I ’ ll have to talk to Seymour about it once he wakes up. ” 
 
 “ You mean, if he wakes up… ” 
 
 ____________________________ 
 “ Contact in visual range in 45 seconds, sir. ” Hayes brought up a camera feed on the screen to her left. 
 
 “ As soon as you can, lock the target. I want a full salvo, with an immediate reload. If they stick around, this is going to get ugly. ” Lance sat back down in his chair, the clicking of his suit connecting to the chair echoing throughout the tense silence of the bridge. Lance hated how quiet the bridge was prior to a fight; it was akin to the old adage, about the calm before a storm. 
 
 But this time, Lance planned on being the storm. 
 
 An alert rang throughout the bridge, as a large ship began to appear on the screen. Z071M was approaching rapidly, and Lance felt excitement as he saw that the ship had all of its gun ports open. 
 
 The silence was broken by none other than Hayes. “ We have a solid lock, sir. ” 
 
 “ Fire. ” 
 
 The ship groaned as 12 guns fired in succession. Trails of bright white appeared on the screen, heading towards the ship. The cruiser, in response, fired its own salvo from its guns, and the shots passed each other in a pattern that would be beautiful, if it weren ’ t so deadly. Lance stared at the screen, his gaze steady even as his ship shuddered with the force of being struck by a few of the enemies rounds. 
 
 “ Captain, we have 3 impacts on the ship. Aft Decks Alpha, Charlie, and Foxtrot are all compromised. Showing a fire on Charlie deck, and, ” Hayes pressed a few buttons in rapid succession. “ Deck is being vented. No casualties reported. ” 
 
 “ And what of the target? ” 
 
 “ Target was struck once, just below the bridge, sir. ” 
 
 “ Reload, then fire at will, ensign. ” 
 
 “ Copy sir. ” Hayes began to initiate a reload, when the terminal began to glow red. Her face quickly grew grim “ Sir, there is a problem. We are being jammed. ” 
 
 “ Just like them to play dirty. ” Lance put his fingers to his temple. “ Initiate a vertical roll, 180 degrees. Keep our horizontal aligned to fire if we get weapons back. Hopefully we can get another round in before they are out of range. ” 
 
 Hayes began executing the command, “ Roll initiated, sir. However, ” she paused for the briefest moment, leaning forward towards the console, “ Target has initiated a burn. They mean to equalize their orbit. ” 
 
 “ Good. ” 
 
 “ Sir? ” 
 
 Lance glanced at the orbital map. “ Initiate full burn forward. ” 
 
 “ Copy, ” Hayes stated. The pull of the engines pushed her back into her seat. “ Target has begun to burn radial engines. They mean to follow our trajectory. ” 
 
 Lance continued to smile. “ Continue burn until periapsis is at 4,500 kilometers. ” 
 
 “ 4,500? ” the ensign ’ s voice wavered briefly. “ That would put us in heavy atmosphere sir. If we aren ’ t able to maintain our velocity, we will crash into “ 
 
 Lance interrupted her, his smile fading into a scowl. “ I said maintain burn! ” 
 
 Hayes felt her face flush. “ Maintaining burn. Engine cutoff in 7 seconds. ” 
 The console to the left of her flashed green again, signifying the weapons jam had broken. Not wanting to be put down again, Hayes engaged all weapons to fire automatically. The ship once again began to groan rhythmically as the turrets locked onto their target, firing once they did. 
 
 “ Two confirmed hits on their engines, sir. Superficial damage only. ” 
 
 “ Good. Try to fire another salvo before they match our course. How long until aero braking? 
 
 “ 90 seconds, sir. ” 
 
 “ Good. ” Lance said, “ Spool up the Pull drive. I want it ready when we have to go. ” 
 
 “ Copy that. What system are we targeting for Pull? ” 
 
 Before Lance could answer, the bridge shuddered, the force of the enemy ’ s salvo causing the magnetic locks on his suit to come undone. He fell forward, and caught himself on the back of Ensign Hayes ’ chair. 
 
 “ Damage report! ” 
 
 Hayes ’ s voice quivered as she read the report on the view screen. Lance didn ’ t need to hear her to know the news was not good. 
 
 “ Showing extensive damage to the aft of the ship. Aft Decks Charlie through Foxtrot are all compromised. Airlock controls are down for all sectors. Turrets 5 through 11 are destroyed, ” The quiver in her voice softened to a whimper, “ And both of the main engines are offline. We ’ re stuck on our current trajectory. ” 
 
 “ Fuck. ” Lance cursed as he pulled himself up from the ground. This was not how this battle was supposed to end. He was supposed to be the storm, tearing through his foes, but now with his ship crippled, on a collision course, he wasn ’ t going to be doing much of anything, it seems. 
 
 “ Orders, Captain? ” 
 
 “ Fire the pull drive. Now. ” 
 
 “ Sir, we don ’ t have a target! ” Hayes exclaimed, a hint of panic piercing through her voice. “ There ’ s no telling where we will end up! ” 
 
 Lance reached across the console in front of the terrified ensign. He put his hand over a large button, separate from the other keys, and smiled. 
 
 “ Sir? ” 
 
 “ That ’ s what makes it fun! ” said Lance, pushing the button. 

