Vox-AI: The Simulation: Part Two: The Pirate Queen by Nick Storming

Author:Nick Storming [Storming, Nick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fractured Press
Published: 2021-08-17T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

The screen flickered into the image of a purple, twisting ball with tiny specs in the foreground. Taking over the controls from Slix, I zoomed in on an asteroid field and spotted the flashes of the battle.

A Vox corvette sat outside the asteroid field, cannons primed and ready to unload on any pirate vessel that tried to escape. The fighters ducked and dodged through the asteroids and at first, I couldn’t see what they were fighting, then I noticed vessels crawling around asteroids.

Zooming in further, the small vessels resolved into eight-legged mining rigs. Blasters had been mounted to their canopies, the guns swiveling and targeting Vox fighters as they swooped and curled around the asteroids. A bright detonation showed how effective the strategy was, as a Vox fighter went spinning into an asteroid.

When the Vox targeted one of the mining rigs, they’d crawl around the asteroid, cutting off the angles.

The strategy was effective, and I saw another fighter detonate into the side of an asteroid after being clipped by a blaster. The fighters were concentrated in a specific spot in the asteroid field, and I suspected the Pirate Queen’s hideout was hidden somewhere in there.

“They’re doing better than anyone else we’ve seen against the Vox,” I said, plotting our course down through the field as I watched the battle unfold.

“They’ve had to rely on ingenuity over brute power,” Slix said. “What are they Vox doing now?”

“Retreating,” I said, feeling the smile growing on my lips. “I think we’re about to see what the Vox has innovated as a response to us.”

“Master?” Roxy asked, her expression concerned. “The pirates aren’t responding to my hails-.”

“They can’t,” I said, my fingers flying over the controls as I tapped in a series of commands. “And we’ll be in radio silence once we enter that field. Keep an eye on the shields as well. The Vox might have degenerators already.”

“Degenerators?” Roxy mouthed silently to herself, but she kept the questions to herself as she turned back to her console.

“Sir, something’s coming out of the Corvette… what is that!?”

Something blacker than night dripped from the bottom of the Vox Corvette. It moved like liquid, but with a dreadful intelligence, as it darted through space and attached itself to an asteroid. Wrapping around the oblong stone, there was a brief flash as a crawler was crushed, then the black goo launched itself to another asteroid, catching a crawler that scrambled around to the backside.

“It’s called Liquid Force,” I said, heart racing, and the familiar joy surged through me as the Arbalest closed with the Covette. “Impervious to Cannon and Blaster fire, it’s a new and deadly weapon.”

“You’ll have an answer to it.” Slix said, and I felt a smile forming on my lips when I noted the confidence in her tone.

“Liquid Force has one weakness,” I said, lining up the Cannons and hitting fire.

“Ion Cannons?” Roxy asked.

“Not exactly,” I grinned.

The twin pulse rounds flew unerringly towards the asteroid field, and I dipped the Arbalest into a roll, avoiding most of the blaster fire erupting out of the Corvette as we drew within range.

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