The Maiden Voyage - Part 13
Life In The 31st Century - The Misadventures of Derek Dark, Intergalactic Courier.
Welcome to part thirteen, the end is nigh! Fire up the speakers we’re going in…
The saga of Derek Darke is being serialised every Sci-Friday but if you’d rather skip ahead and get the entire story (and my deep gratitude) direct to your reading app of choice over at https://books2read.com/themaidenvoyage for as little as $2.99 / £1.99. UPDATE: The Maiden Voyage is now also available as an audiobook for those of you who like that kind of thing from the Google Play store.
Want to start reading from the beginning? Head over to the story index page which can be found at
The Climactic Battle
The fighter drones swooped in and I banked hard. Imagining I could hear the roar of their engines as the first one zipped past, I whooped a yell as I felt myself slip back into full on gamer mode.
“Fracks sake Derek, this isn’t a game,” screamed Louie as he battled to strap himself into the nearest seat.
“Sez who?” I shouted back as I pulled the trigger on the forward cannons. I could feel the burst of blaster fire streak out and strafe the side of the closest drone, causing it to explode instantaneously.
“One down. Good shooting,” shouted Louie.
I just wished I could swap to an outside view as The Bucket flew through the rapidly expanding cloud of vapour that was once a recognisable ship.
“Angel, fire up the Galaxy Guardian playlist. I’d love to see the look on Su’nak’s face right now.”
The deck was filled with the sounds of the antique heavy rock music that my grandfather was infamous for playing at high volumes, and once more I was in my element.
Su’nak’s cruiser has denied my request to open a visual communication channel
“What? No, that’s not what I meant. Everyone hang on, we’re coming about… watch out for stragglers… on your left commander… take the shot kid… use some force duke…”
“What the frack are you talking about?” Louie asked as he struggled to keep up acquiring target locks on each of the drones.
Keeping one eye on the short range scanner, I mentally calculated an intercept path to the closest drone whilst evading the others with a slick barrel roll manoeuvre that left my favourite mug in pieces on the far side of the deck.
“Batten down some hatches, Mr Pizola. They’re sweeping back for another pass.”
Louie just shook his head and muttered something under his breath, “Angel, can you keep the status updates coming, please?” He added.
Affirmative Mr Pizola. Shields at ninety-five per cent, plasma temperature holding steady within normal operating parameters
“Maiden, you best get up here quickly,” I shouted, “you’re missing all the fun!”
First one ship, then another, and another felt the burn of blaster fire lance across their hull as they erupted like fire flowers in the night sky.
“I hate to say it, but that was some great shooting Derek, but watch out. It looks like they’ve just launched level two.”
Louie was right, another squadron of drones were taking off from the rear of Su’nak’s ship.
“And levels three, four and five as well,” he added.
I double checked the scanners. Sure enough, it looked like Su’nak was pulling out all the stops. Wave after wave of drone ships were heading right towards us and even with my vid-game sim enhanced skills, I knew they’d be more than a match.
“We cannae take-a-much more of this,” I said as the shield integrity meter dropped another five per cent.
The missile lock alarm snapped me out of my reverie.
Incoming missiles, take evasive action
“On it,” I shouted as I pulled The Bucket round in a tight bank, evading the missile’s turning circle and headed full pelt for the closest wave of ships.
“What are you doing, you idiot?” Louie screamed. “You’ll get us all killed.”
I smiled to myself and prayed this manoeuvre would work. “Hang on kids, we’re going in.”
The forward cannons spewed forth bolt after bolt of hyper accelerated plasma.
“Save your ammo. Ninety per cent of those shots missed,” Louie said, looking up from the scanner.
“Don’t tell me the numbers, never tell me the numbers,” I shouted back. With a brace of missiles closing fast, I didn’t have time for niceties like aiming. The intention had been to scatter the group and generate a gap. Surfing the shockwave of the drone that I vaporised with a lucky shot was an added bonus.
“Deploy the flares… now,” I said as we shot through the middle of the squad.
Louie hit the deploy button and a small barrage of capsules ejected from the rear of the ship. A moment later they exploded like fireworks, releasing clouds of white hot metallic shrapnel that would confuse the missiles and present them with a new and much more attractive target.
The first missile struck the chaff cloud and exploded on impact. The resulting shockwave ripped apart two more drones and sent them spiralling into the rest of the group, which combined with the white hot flares to present an irresistible opportunity for the remaining missiles to complete their one mission in life and explode in a glorious fashion.
Louie screamed as the force of the explosion rocked the ship. The scream changed to a whoop of excitement as the scanner reported that the missiles had taken out an entire squadron of ships.
Maiden appeared on the bridge. It was shocking to see the deep purple bruising from where Su’nak and his goons had obviously tried to extract information from her.
“That’s amazing Derek, where do you learn to pull off a stunt like that?” she asked.
“The final boss level on Galaxy Defenders 5, but to be fair, I’ve only beaten it once. I usually get blown to bits and—.”
“Err, okay, just don’t tell me any more,” she said.
“Are you ok?” I asked.
“I’ll be fine,” she said, strapping herself into one of the spare seats. I heard the grimace through clenched teeth as she pulled the straps tight. “Just make sure that motor fracking bostryx doesn’t get away,” she said.
“Angel, how are we holding up?” Louie asked.
Shields down to seventy-five per cent, plasma reserves at fifty per cent. All other systems nominal
“Derek, the other drones are holding off, probably waiting to see our next move,” he said, looking back up from the scanner console.
“Where’s the recovery shuttle?” I asked.
“It would appear to be on final docking approach.”
“Time to deliver our little present, then.” I said as I banked round and plotted an intercept course for the recovery shuttle.
“We’ll never make it in time,” Louie said, “unless... and please don’t tell me this is another vid-game stunt.”
Keeping quiet, I gunned the engines to full throttle. I offering a silent prayer of thanks to the GalCorp techs who’d done an amazing job of upgrading The Rust Bucket under the hood.
We were about five clicks away from Su’nak’s ship when its main batteries opened fire. Bolts of red and green death streaked across the viewport as I erratically yanked the flight stick back and forth.
The ship rocked violently every time a stray bolt found its mark.
Shields at sixty per cent
“Hang on.” I said.
“Target lock-on, distance one point oh eight clicks and closing.” Louie said.
Maiden just screwed her eyes shut and gripped the arms of her chair.
Fifty per cent
“Stay on target, Louie, stay on target,” I said.
Forty per cent
“Angel, let me know the moment we can use the force missiles.”
In the heat of battle, a single moment can last a lifetime.
“Target in range,” Louie shouted.
Use the force missiles Derek
I briefly closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled.
The GalCorp tech boys truly had done a wonderful job of upgrading the ship. But the icing on the cake was the force missile tubes. Force missiles were a new experimental technology that Louie had got special permission from Admiral Rosa to deploy. The rocket warhead contained a small, tightly focused detonation charge. After impact, they emitted a massive pulse of electrostatic energy, followed by a series of high frequency shockwaves.
When discharged, a force missile would overload all electronics and blow every fuse in a small radius. It also had the added benefit of rendering all biological life in the area disoriented, nauseous or even completely unconscious.
The result was minimal damage to property, but maximum sensory damage to personnel and electrical systems. The intended use was to fire them ahead of a hostile boarding attempt to ensure little or no resistance. I had a different use in mind.
Su’nak’s ship had to lower its shields to allow the recovery shuttle to dock, and my window of opportunity was rapidly closing. I increased the magnification on the targeting screen to maximum. It was just possible to make out the cargo pod attached to the recovery shuttle’s tether as they slowly reeled it in.
I gently squeezed the trigger and a force missile shot forth, “Missile away,”. Under my breath added, “It’s up to you now, little buddy,” as the missile streaked towards its target.
“Derek, we’re too close. We’ll be caught in the blast wave.” Louie shouted.
I banked hard and headed back out into space. The move only gave me a second’s respite as, once more, the viewscreen was lit up by blaster fire.
Shields at twenty-five per cent
I resumed my erratic evasion pattern, concentrating on avoiding the remaining drones for as long as possible. If the force missile failed, our only option would be to head back to the asteroid field and wait for The Cavalry to arrive - if they could get the jump gate open.
Suddenly, the night sky lit up like a new star was being born. The viewport filters kicked in a microtick later, but it was still enough to temporarily blind us.
“What the hell was that?” Maiden asked.
“That’s what happens when an expertly aimed force missile triggers a massive overload in an electronic pulse generator conveniently hidden in a cargo pod and the resulting energy surge blows every fuse and circuit in a one click radius.” I said. “Old toaster boy is going to be having one very bad headache for a very long time.”
“That was one hell of a shot, kid.” Louie said, “now get us out here before the rest of their drones finish us off.”
“Thanks Louie.” I said, “but don’t worry about them.”
“What do you mean?”
“The SRF are renowned for using remotely piloted drones. That way, Su’nak doesn’t lose a pilot if one is destroyed. But it also means all the drone operators on his ship.”
“You mean the one you just sort of turned off?”
“Exactly. If you check the scanners, you’ll find them all drifting aimlessly. They’re completely harmless.”
“Right on, commander,” Maiden said as she stood up. “Derek, I can’t thank you enough for coming to rescue me.”
“Don’t thank me. It was Louie and GalCorp who organised this. But I’m guessing they’ve got some questions for you.”
Proximity alert, proximity alert. Sorry to disturb you, Captain, a rather large vessel that has just appeared off the starboard bow
“Who is it?” asked Maiden as her eyelashes fanned out across her face and I could see the look of terror as she heard Angel’s update. “Has Su’nak got some reinforcements already?” She asked.
Visual sensors are still offline, but we’re being hailed
Thanks for reading, part 14 will be out next Friday. I’ve also updated the index page if you’ve missed parts 1-12. (Life In The 31st Century Index Page).
If you can’t wait to see what happens next then you can get immediate access to this ebook (and now also in Audio) from your favourite ebook retailer of choice over at https://books2read.com/themaidenvoyage for as little as $2.99 / £1.99. Alternatively please consider subscribing to my publication to get notified when each new episode drops.
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