Chapter 66 (1/2)

Destiny

”Target the mothership Eli” ordered Young.

”Target is locked. The mothership has much stronger shields than the other vessels. This might take more shots than I though” answered Eli.

”Eli, I'm sure it will work like you predicted. Fire” responded Young.

Triggering the main weapon Eli loosed an immeasurable amount of raw power from Destiny's power reserves. While the math for this was impressive in Eli's mind it did nothing to prepare him for the sight of the weapon in action. Thick orange red bolts of energy shot out from the main weapon. Heat seared space around the beams path until it almost appeared to roil. Radiation and magnetic fluctuations were also detected along the beams path. On impact the bolts flattened into the mammoth ship's shields. As the bolts flattened out over the curved surface of the shields massive fluctuations in the shields structural rigidity could be seen with the n.a.k.e.d eye.

”Shield strength is falling” called out Rush.

”Eli, keep hitting them” ordered Young.

Again Eli triggered of a volley. The impact was even greater than before. The energy instead of dissipating seemed to be pooling on the mothership's shields. This pool began to emit intense amounts of heat and hard radiation in addition to exotic particles. Weapons barrels and small antennae on the mothership began to sag from the intense forces bombarding them.

Following Young's orders Eli released this focused hell upon the mothership again and again. Soon over sixty percent of the shields surface area was covered with the shimmering orange red energy. Within the shield radiation had risen to lethal levels and was beginning to penetrate the hull.

Mothership

Aboard the mothership warning alarms sounded on all decks for many systems. The constant strain of the strange weapons fire from the ancient vessel on the shield emitters was not just degrading shield strength but also burning out the emitters. Exotic particles and hard radiation rushed into the void between ship and shield. This in turn quickly began penetrating into the hull. Systems shorted out due to exposure to elements that failed to behave by understood scientific constants.

Crew members in the outer arms of the mothership were flash fried by the intense hard radiation. Those that were lucky died within seconds while those not as lucky writhed in agony for minutes with the knowledge that they were already dead. In the core of the ship lay the bridge, making it the single most protected area from the toxic death currently enveloping the mammoth spacecraft. Despite the additional protection toxic levels of radiation had already been reached on the bridge

Hermes