Unholy Star, Beyond Faith

The Grey Heron

[the Heron, dropped out of phase drift at the battle location between the Ascent and star templar]

Sleek, like the swift bird of stealth after which it was named, the Heron exited phase shift before the scene of battle. Wu Zeitan was immediately confronted with the view of the crystal comet, Ascent, as it flew through space on a deadly path towards the star templar vessels, the Abaddon and Dekar.

Onboard her ship, automata routines carried out the duties typically assigned to personnel, leaving them with a crew of just three command officers. The bridge was small and confined as if it were an ancient moon vessel with the three helmeted crew strapped into large seats. The unmarked and unaffiliated grey auger vessel sprang to life.

The auger crew shared an embedded interface; each auger interconnected with the ships' new tech processor. The term hive-mind would be inaccurate to describe their attachment as each position of Captain, Operations Commander, and Engineer retained their individual decision-making capabilities. But communications were subconsciously intuitively driven, and ship response was adaptive. The enhancement modules to implement such a mechanism were unattainable on the market and had been fashioned in three specialisations: Captain Wu Zeitan wielded the sword, Ardea held the shield, Miles Barber maintained the heart. The idea that they moved 'as one' could apply.

The individual and collective virtual visualisations experienced by the crew were fluid and life-like, placing the actors in the warplay in space rather than inside the ship their bodies were occupying. Overall, with such capabilities, this new type of ship should support a wild advantage in battle, but this was just theory. This was the first ship of its kind, and its superiority was just a theory. It was Wu's job to prove the theory.

For a first battle, this would be the perfect test as her plan was to join the Ascent and even the odds of two crystal class cruisers against one. Even though the Heron was technically a destroyer class, their augmentations should make them a match for the elite star templar. But nothing about this conflict was going to be regular, a point proven by the outlawed ramming maneuver that the Ascent was employing against the Abaddon. She just hoped her message to their auger would effect a change in their trajectory. While she was an auger, Wu was also human and understood the desperation the reformer's captain must have been feeling to turn her ship into a torpedo.

Watching on, it was with relief when Wu became aware that the Ascent had altered its course to prevent the collision. She sent the Heron forward at maximum speed to join the conflict. She watched on as the reformation ship shot between the two enemy ships and began to initiate a safe slow. Between their enemy, the star templar converged on the dark crystal. It was clear that they intended to initiate boarding maneuvers. If it came to that, Wu hoped that the ex-death dealers versus the holy knights would be an even match, but only if she could take one of the ships out of action.

Wu sent the Heron into the space between the converging vessels. The smaller Heron only had two arrays and were rigged for 2:0 ambush, the wing-like attack arrays opened as the ship drew into range. She would focus all fire on the shield-bearer, Dekar, in an attempt to pull that vessel away from the Ascent. Lasers pulsed from her ship with an impressive, although adequately countered result. Still, the tactic had its desired effect, and the Dekar broke away to address its new foe. The Ascent was now clear to handle the Abaddon on fair terms.

As fast as the crystal class cruisers were, the Heron was faster, but not quicker than the ordinance from the other vessel. Even though the Dekar only had one of its offensive arrays active, that was still enough to overwhelm the Heron's default defence. Wu's ship shook as it took a volley of torps head-on. Damage buffers held. It was too early in the engagement for Wu to worry about damage; she had full confidence that her Ardea would have that side of things under control.

Wu threw out another double spray of pulse battery. But, the enemy had adjusted their position, and their defensive arrays easily met the attack. The Heron met the new volley of torps with evasive maneuvers giving their freshly deployed defence automata time to negate the attack.

They only needed to weather one more such interchange, and they would be up close and personal--just how Wu liked it.

Wu felt a stab of pain in her left arm shook as an un-countered torp hit on their portside. Wu quickly checked diagnostics to discover that the Heron had suffered damage on that side's array. They retained thirty percent capability. The wound was painful, but should not affect the outcome. It all depended on their next shot, a close-up precision maneuver.

While her crew had spent hundreds of hours mastering their combat modules in a simulated environment, the fact that it felt as if a giant version of yourself was flying in space and swinging a sword at a real vessel was a buzz even for the stoic Wu. That was how she faced the battle before them thanks to the advanced resolution capabilities the Heron's processor. She felt the buzzing about her body, indicating pulses breaching their defence. Still, no pain showing the damage was superficial at this point. Wu swung her sword, hitting the Dekar's sole offensive array and watched as one of five of the crystal ship's coffin lid-shaped array detached. The visualisation that Wu Saw wasn't realistic in-so-far that the augers were protected from the flashes of the thirty-three gyro missiles that were represented by the sword virtualisation. An impact for Wu's sword was actually the effect of the gyros zeroed in on the sword's point of collision.

In one stroke, the Heron had taken out ninety percent of the crystal cruiser's offensive capability. It would have been a different story if the Dekar had deployed a different array configuration, but they had been playing shield-bearer in what they assumed would be a two versus one confrontation. Now, the Heron's ten percent defense with their agility bonus was able to effectively counter the ten percent offensive component of the Dekar's defensive arrays.

Wu flew about the much larger ship and targeted another array with a new deployment of gyros. Their position matching the relative position of her sword. The Dekar had committed all of their counter automata to her defense, and Wu's sword was destroyed. She deployed another and struck quickly, causing non-critical damage to the array.

She flew the Heron back to launch a targeted pulse attack and drew up a new set of gyros in place for a melee run. In the distance she noticed the Ascent had joined the Abaddon, she sent a quick update request to the auger Harris on board, but there was no reply. No doubt, their battle had become person to person. She didn't know if the star templar had boarded the Ascent, or the former death squad reformers had gained access to the Church ship. One thing she did know, the fight would be legendary.