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Chaos Theory, Pt 3
Klaxons rang all throughout Tartarus Base as the Admiral’s lockdown order went into effect. Civilians, merchants, and contractors fled to their habs, closed their blast shutters, and sealed their doors shut.
In contrast, military and combat personnel swarmed in droves to do their duty. Armored hoppers sped from all corners towards the hangar bay, their bellies filled with eager Federation servicemembers of every discipline.
Those who were already in the hangar were busy gearing up to be the first wave out. Pilots climbed into their cockpits as their techs did the final checks on their chassis. Gunners climbed into their secure pods and powered on their turrets.
All were suited up and eager to defend the base. But it was more than the simple need to keep themselves secure.
CeritusOrbisLooks like Valos is one greedy bastard.
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Merlin flew over to Valos’ heavy frigate as his fighter escort easily polished off the drones that were chasing him. He swooped over to the frigate’s armored belly, and slowed as he came closer. And when he reached a certain distance, portions of the armor slid aside and folded into each other. As they retracted, a shallow docking collar just beneath the surface was revealed. He eased his fighter into position just under the collar, and slowly slid up into it so that he was partially nestled in the frigate itself. Magnetic locks kept the fighter in exactly the right place as huge rubberized seals inflated between them and formed a seal. There was a long HISS as the fighter’s cockpit pressurized to the frigate’s internal atmosphere. A mix of smells filled
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The doors to the bridge snapped open as Merlin walked through. He whistled in awe at the simplicity and efficiency of the bridge’s layout. It was the first time he had ever been on a bridge like this, and he was absolutely delighted to the core. Valos stood in the middle along a catwalk, while his officers and their terminals surrounded him. And all along the walls around them were multiple large MFDs which displayed all manner of information. Some were filled with live feeds of the battle, while others were covered in readouts and data outputs. Valos spotted Merlin, and waved him over to his side. “Ah, there he is! Man of the hour! Come on over.” A huge grin filled Merlin’s face as he stood next to the Templar. “I guess
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The Admiral led her handful of frigates back towards the base at a nearly breakneck speed. Pirate fighters nipped at their heels and tapped at their armor with cannonfire, but only just scraped against the surface. The panicked crewmembers on them were certainly thankful for the frigate’s thicker armor, but were still scared shitless from the constant barrage of fire. The drumming on the hull kept everyone inside on edge. In contrast, the pirate frigates followed them lazily - Valos was clearly enjoying toying with the Federation. He was never impressed with them in the first place. They often counted too heavily on overwhelming firepower rather than effective tactics. He and his officers couldn’t help but laugh as the Admiral fled before them. “Why don’t we just pol
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Valos and Merlin watched the screens around them with absolute joy. The Admiral and her set of toys were so easily defeated, to the point that every Federation pilot ended up running from the fight. “I bet some of your pilots are a bit disappointed,” Merlin mused. “They were probably lookin’ to have a big ole’ fight with the Feds.” “Hah! Yeah, I bet that too. They’ll prolly gripe a bit, and maybe even get into a few fistfights back at the flagship. But they’ll forget all about it once we divvy up all the loot.” “Templar!” said an officer. “Sensors are picking up increased power signals from within the asteroid. Incredibly faint, but they’re clearly powering stuff back on.” Valos’ eyes went wide in shock. A mere hour had passed - that wasn’t nearly enough time to fix
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The remaining pirate frigates hurriedly positioned themselves all around the asteroid and covered literally every angle all around. Once they were in position, each and every one of them extended a large metallic sphere from underneath their bellies. The spheres glowed a dull orange as streams of luminous energy shot out towards all the other spheres on the frigates. This resulted in a barely-glowing lattice that surrounded the asteroid on all sides. But as the seconds ticked by, the energy lattice glowed brighter, and the signal they produced strengthened bit by bit. The Admiral watched as a slew of data scrolled through the screens on her bridge. Though she didn’t have any visual confirmation, she could easily tell what the pirates were up to just outside.
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