There is a very distinct difference from a ship taking a hit to its shield vs its hull. When a Shield is hit the blow is muted. It’s like being punched by a person wearing a boxing glove. You feel the impact and it does hurt. It just doesn’t leave any real lasting damage thanks to all the padding. Without the shield, it’s more like brass knuckles. Not only does it hurt, it was made to hurt as much as possible.

  “Status report. Did you get the name of that truck?”

  Deed, Alcea and Raze do their best to figure out what just kicked our ass.

  “Analysis: Moderate structural damage to the Prow. The situation is stable. Calculating possible trajectory of following attacks.”

  “The projectile appears to be made of the same crystalline material as the Nebula. It’s extremely hard and chemically stable and is exuding a small Blackout shield even in this shattered state. Removing those pieces from the hull will be virtually impossible at this time.”

  “It acted similarly to a deep penetration torpedo but shot out mini projectiles like a Shredder Missile. Something like this would be equally dangerous to individual vessels and small groups. I’d be impressed if I wasn’t so pissed.”

  Crystal shrapnel has embedded itself into the hull. Cracks in the metal causing deep structural weakness. Our structural shields are preventing them from spreading any further. Bracing was a smart move. Having the belt dig into my gut hurts a lot less than landing face first on the ground. Or ceiling, it really was a violent blast.

  “So we are dealing with an unknown enemy with technology that is extremely exotic, highly effective and impossibly advanced. Any more good news?”

  Joan raises a hand.

  “I chipped tooth. Oh, and nother coming.”

  The Nebula starts to swirl again. No more surprises today.

  “Would weapons work?”

  “Calculating: The Nebula would make most weapons ineffective and others self destructive.”

  “Alcea, would our Blackouts still function?”

  “Unlikely. It would be a gamble.”

  “Don’t feel like losing today. Vivvian, drop.”

  Vivvian hits the hard drop. Instead we slightly bob.

  “Oh shit. Alcea! Gamble!"

  A Blackout shield appears mere moments before impact. Blackouts pass through other shields but will hit each other. Which is good, since that second missile would have hit us directly in our cracked hull. As for the bad…

  “Warning: Blackout shield has consumed five times normal energy. Projectors are overloading. We cannot do that many more times.”

  There it is.

  “Ok, we are learning. Weapons don’t work, engines barely nudge us and the only shield we have that works is on the verge of self-destructing. Business as usual.”

  Sugar grabs Fairy and hides behind her.

  “Is it always like this on the bridge?”

  “No. Sometimes it’s worse.”

  Respectfully disagree Fairy. This is so much worse.

  “Deed, keep an eye on any more swirly and try to use the Blackouts at the absolute last second. We have to make them last as long as possible so we can figure a way out of here.”

  “Acknowledgment: Parameters accepted.”

  “Now, does anyone know how we can get out of here?”

  I look left, then right, then left again, then further to the left, then hard back to the right.

  “Come on people, I at least need a jumping off point. Sagaci, Bio-crystalline creatures have some sort of weakness, right?”

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  “Nooo. In facttt the priiimaryyy reassson there are nnno sentttient Bio-crystalline raaacesss is becauuuse they areee so good at whhhatevvver rollle they havvve taken uuupon themmmselves to fill thaaat they hhhave no needdd to evooolve furthhhher. Possessinnng zero predddatorsss or commmpetiiitors.”

  “Are you saying these things are effectively ultimate lifeforms?”

  “Not innn so maaany worrrds but, yes. Prrretty muccch.”

  “Warning: Projectile incoming. Projectors weakening”

  Getting really tired of this doom and gloom.

  “Alright, so we can’t beat them with anything biological. Alcea, technical strategy. What beats Blackout shields?”

  “Uuuuuuuuhhhhhhmmmm….”

  “You have to be shitting me.”

  “I’m so sorry. Nothing really “beats” a Blackout shield. You have to either hit them with so much concentrated force it breaks or wait for the batteries to run out. Based on the size of this Nebula we’d need a thousand Mobys to try the first tactic. As for the second, I mean I don’t even know what they are using to power themselves in the first place. Maybe nothing.”

  “Warning: Projectile incoming. Shields reaching critical.”

  It’s fine. IT’S FINE. Lot more people to spitball with.

  “Inanna, Raze, anything. Please.”

  “Warm blood, my only idea for any situation is to shoot first and ask questions when the enemy is good and dead. I don’t even know if there is an enemy we can shoot.”

  “He has a point, Captain. Whatever is shooting at us could be anything. An enemy space craft, a mobile station, a space monster. For all we know there may not even be anything direct and solid for us to attack and the Nebula itself is forming these crystals to fire at us. This is entirely unprecedented.”

  “Warning: Projectile Incoming. I cannot guarantee the Projectors will survive any more.”

  Oh Space God, I am floundering here. Think Tom, think. We can just fly out of this, right? Hot fill speed to get out of the gigantic Nebula that was able to catch us going Hyperspeed. Nope, that’s a bust. Maybe we can… no. I could… that would never work. Oh! I’m sure Fairy or Sugar might have some what am I talking about why would they know a way out of this mess? Sugar is about ten seconds away from pissing herself and I’m not far behind!

  “Warning: Projectile Incoming. Blackout shield projectors are non-functioning.”

  I… I have no idea what to do. Can’t run. Can't fight. Can’t even sit here and take it. I’d need more power than The Moby could… ever… that’s it. The answer was right in front of me this entire time.

  “Raze, get your Armor in and get a strike team set up in the assault shuttles. Take Joan with you. Inanna, I need you to coordinate our flight teams. Make sure every single one is ready to scramble. Alcea, have the power transferred to every single reserve sector. If it can hold even a small charge I want to full right this second. Fairy, I need a full scale evacuation of every noncritical personnel into the safety rooms. The main hub is about to get very air deprived. Take Sugar to the panic room, too. Vivvian, prepare for maneuvers. And Deed, I need you to make some very important calculations for me.”

  Everyone does what they are told with no questions asked. The situation is so dire they know to act now and question the sanity of my decisions later. Which is good. Even by my standards this is suicidal.

  “Inquiry: What calculations do you require?”

  “ I need you to calculate the exact position that one of those Crystal Missiles can hit us that would cause maximum damage to the hull but minimum damage to our internal systems.”

  “Inquiry: What?”

  “There is nothing stopping that next hit from tearing into us. So I want it to tear in a way that will help us out.”

  “Inquiry: What? How does self immolation help our unfavorable position?”

  “Because there is only one source of power in a hundred lightyears that can break through this Nebula. And the only way to get it out is if we have a gigantic hole in the hull.”

  I can see Deed processing a billion scenarios a microsecond.

  “Calculation: The proposed strategy has a 96.5% failure rate.”

  “And what’s the failure rate of doing literally anything else?”

  “Calculation: Planning optimum point of damage.”

  The Nebula swirls. We all know what is coming.

  “Alright Vivvian, it’s all on you know.”

  “Diamonds may form under pressure. So does coal.”

  I put a hand on her shoulder. All I can do. Well…. No this is a bad time. Also may be the only time. Ah fuck it.

  “Vivvian, of we survive this, would you-”

  A feather stops my lips.

  “Asking the Sun to rise was never needed.”

  “Well.. great. One more reason to get out of this.”

  “Warning: Projectile Impact imminent. Alter course to predetermined coordinates.”

  Vivvian grips the wheel as hard as she can and pushes it all the way to the right. Ordinarily this would cause the whole of the Moby to turn so violently it would risk rupture. As is, we turn maybe 3 degrees. Luckily that is enough. The Crystal spike embeds into the hull. A blast harsher than any I have ever experienced ripples through the whole of the ship. If not for localized shielded my organs would have ruptured.

  “Deed, release the Core!”

  The many, many locks keeping our Seraph Power Core in place are all undone. It starts to drift towards the gigantic fuck-off hole in the Moby’s prow. Deed Pulls out a precision laser from his hidden compartments. He jumps out a window, opening and closing it fast enough that I and Vivvian only get a little whiff of vacuum. With his magnetic feet firmly planted, he snipes away at the wires and cords still holding the Core, weakening them enough that its weight and the unparalleled strength of space pulls it out of its fixture. Finally free, it drifts past the city. Past the hull. And straight into the sharp embrace of Darkness. It’s shimmering light engulfed into the unending blackness of Evil.

  Then it explodes.