Eagle X, Mission 20: Quantum Bonds(Editing)

Part 17: Liam

The ride was by no means smooth, but combat speed was attainable in the construction drone as long Spider paid attention to the thruster fuel thresholds and manually flipped the regulators.  He scrolled through the probe's user manual on his datapad fastened just above the view screen of the cramped compartment.  The probe had an extensive list of functionalities, but fighting wasn't one of them.  Spider intended to change that... but first he had to get the hang of flying the thing.  Despite the tight fit and the rocky learning curve the probe proved deceptively versatile.  Xiup Tikka might have been a double crossing bastard, but his equipment was everything he'd promised.

Ivory: Do you think they made it?

Ivory's words crawled along the bottom of his optic lenses.  The strike shuttle was just ahead, well within comms reach, but Spider had ordered radio silence in order to avoid alerting the Amazon to their presence for as long as possible.

"I hope so.  Without them this is going to be a suicide mission."

Ivory: So you're really going to fight in that thing?

"It's better than nothing.  I have 360 degree movement, a welding torch and demolition charges.  I could do worse."

Ivory: Worse than battling fighter squadrons in an egg with a hot knife?  I'm not buying it, boss.

"I'm not selling, I'm giving out samples.  If they sweep hard enough, they're bound to find Homebase.  Our job is to distract them for as long as we can.  The shuttle's shields will give them something to play with for a while, and the armor grade of this thing is in the 30s.  Trinity Cutters don't carry a yield high enough to get through."

Ivory: Okay, it's a very thick egg.

"I'm gonna be okay in here as long as I don't die from muscle spasms first.  This thing feels like it was built for a dwarf."  Spider chuckled to himself.  "Maybe you should have been the one to fly the probe."

Ivory: Ha, ha.  I'm short, I get it.

The sensors within the probe began to beep as the Amazon-class ship came in range.  Spider took hold of the two control arms and fired the right side thrusters, propelling the probe out of the shuttle's wake.  Ivory pulled further and further away.  He gave the user manual a quick glance then primed the explosives.  It would be a matter of seconds before the Amazon's systems detected them.

"Ivory, it's time."

Ivory: Shit... are you sure about this?

"This is what I do.  Trust me."

Ivory: I do, boss.  Wish me luck.

"Good luck."  The sensors started blaring as multiple contacts poured out of the Pale Garden gunship.  "Open comms and initiate Bad Kitty Protocol.  That ship's AI is going to try and overtake your computer systems, but Patricia created a countercode for just such an occasion."

Ivory: Copy that.  Trinity Cutters inbound!

The Pale Garden zero atmosphere fighters rushed towards them in two waves.  Trinity Cutters comprised of three blade-like protrusions jutting out from a single small cockpit.  The guns were mounted to the center mass, and the blades spun around creating a physical shielding that worked in concert with small deflectors.  The majority of their fleet were drones controlled and coordinated by their mothership's Core AI, but every third was piloted by an elite legionnaire.  They were fast, but banked poorly.  As the first wave came into weapons range they broke off into two groups.  One arrowed straight for the strike shuttle, and the other for Spider in the probe.