Gabatrix: The Pirates of Palora

Chapter 11: A Day in the Life of the Asteroid Field Part 1

A day had passed. The following morning was relatively active on the ship, at least on the bridge. The Lifen was stationary. Its nose was pointed toward the massive line of floating asteroids. The conga line of rocks was slowly moving to the left as it naturally drifted in perpetual orbit around the star.

"Status on loading bay door?" Javier asked. He stood staring down at the console in front of him.

"I got it working, sir," Engineer Obasi remarked. He sat strapped in on the engineering console. The Oshunian man was focused on resolving a maintenance issue.

"Good," the XO remarked. "Hopefully, that's the only hang-up in this munitions test."

"We'll pass this up to Chief Amelia and resolve it. Decompression complete. Forward bay doors are opening."

Javier looked at the schematic of the Lifen. The main lander's forward doors had opened up, exposing the bay into the vacuum of space. The air had already been removed, and the operating crew on the lower levels were already in their space suits.

The XO turned his head toward Nir'vina, who was standing not far to his left. Her fingertips rapidly tapped each other as if she was eagerly anticipating this upcoming event.

"For a little while," Javier remarked at the orange Shal'rein. "Almost had a delay in this."

"Heh.....heh....," Nir'vina chuckled in her raspy voice. "Explosions cannot be held back....."

"Bridge, Loading Bay," petty officer Ramirez called out from the intercom to Javier's station. "Loading bay door is fully open. EMP Warhead is primed and ready for launch."

"Confirmed," Patterson said in the station to the right of Javier. "Checkers green. You want me to hit the switch on this, or you want to have the honors on this, Ramirez?"

"I'll do it," Ramirez said. "I want to see this thing fly straight out and into space, sir."

"Alright," Patterson said. The officer turned to look at Javier. "Mizu and the shuttle are clear of the detonation point. It's on you, sir. Ready to fire on your command."

The Lifen lander was like a giant rectangular box in space. Its bow door and forward bay had been established as a makeshift launcher. Javier wasn't going to delay it any longer.

"Fire," Javier ordered.

"Launching!" Ramirez complied. There was a two-second delay. A faint sound could be heard coming from the comms. A set of deployable arms in the bay released the torpedo as its rear engine activated. Free from its confines, the guided munition took flight. In a few split seconds, it flew forward and gained speed, the bright blue flame burning from its thruster. Its destination was toward the asteroid field ahead.

"Torpedo away," Ramirez stated.

There was a light beeping sound as multiple camera angles showed the live warhead being flung out of the Lifen's bay. A beeping sound could be heard from the bridge as it first started in a rapid pulsing rhythm, but it occurred in less and less frequency.

"Status good," Patterson reported. "Torpedo will reach the asteroid field in 20 seconds. Detonation point in 50 seconds.....mark."

"We're safe to close the doors," Ramirez said.

"Close the loading doors and repressurize the loading bay," Javier ordered.

"Aye, sir."