Novel Full Chapter 191 - A Difficult Rescue
Chapter 191: A Difficult Rescue
The situation was becoming direr.
A constant stream of black flying spacecraft came plunged over from within the floating warship husks around. These drones, created by an alien sentient race, seemed to be specially designed for use in supergravity zones. Their elongated bodies were diamond-shaped, sharp and nimble, with a small rapid-fire cannon affixed to the nose of each.
Rapid-fire cannons were not particularly powerful weapons, but they boasted a very high-rate of fire. In the blink of an eye, Xia Fei and Porter had been submerged in thousands of combat drones. They were like a swarm of black locusts that blotted out the sun.
It was a good thing that the Tomahawk was large in size, able to draw the majority of the overwhelming enemy fire. Otherwise, Old Porter and his Tristan-class frigate would have gone plummeting like a falling meteor.
This situation could not last, for Old Porter’s frigate had already been damaged to the point that he was down to his last frame; it could very well explode at any time!
The Tomahawk was still hundreds of kilometers away from Old Porter’s coordinates, though in the vast expanse of space, it would appear that they were already very close if looked upon with bare eyes, when in fact it would still take Xia Fei at least several minutes to reach him.
The supergravity prevented either side from communicating, and any signal their system received would only be static. Xia Fei was simply unable to decipher just what Old Porter was saying.
The combat drones inside the Tomahawk could not reach in time to provide aid, and they were busy fighting the enemy that numbered over a dozen times their own. The combat drones’ firepower and defense were nothing to scoff at, but the enemy numbers were so overwhelming that a combat drone would get destroyed practically every minute.
Combat drones after drones from inside the Tomahawk kept flying out, plunging right into the dogfight at top speed sans a whit of care about their survival.
Those who scoffed at machinery and technology ought to really have a look and see how these non-AI machines would recklessly fight against formidable foes; were they humans, would they be able to so doggedly do battle to the death with such devotion?
Both Xia Fei and Old Porter were at a distinct advantage in terms of the battle situation. It was evident that if Xia Fei failed to save Uncle Porter as quickly as he could, then the next time they met, it would be for the latter’s funeral. Against such numerous enemies, it was uncertain if Xia Fei could even break away from this battle himself.
Xia Fei gritted his teeth and made a critical decision in the span of a thousandth of a second. It was a crazy decision that could even most likely result in his death!
“Prepare to unleash the deep space bomb! Tomahawk, begin the self-destruct sequence!” Xia Fei hoarsely bellowed.
Phantom was startled. “Deep space bomb? Self-destruct? Xia Fei, what are you trying to do?!”
Doubt and astonishment filled his head, but Phantom was rendered speechless. There was only one thing he could do now, and that was to trust Xia Fei—no matter how insane a decision he made was!
The interior of the Tomahawk battlecruiser was flooded in red lights!
Every warning light flashing simultaneously!
“The self-destruct sequence for this warship has been triggered. All crew, please immediately evacuate from this vessel! All crew, please immediately evacuate from this vessel!”
Before those words could even be heard, Xia Fei had already retrieved the overclocking chip and stored it into his spatial ring at top speed. He then rapidly dashed to Harris’s cabin.
Harris was presently buried in the display screen of his computer, deep in thought. There were plenty of complex equations shown on the screen that most would barely be able to comprehend, and this mad scientist, who had been charged with crimes against humanity, seemed ignorant to the blaring cannonfire that was bombarding the hull of the warship, calm like a block of wood.
“Come with me!” Xia Fei shouted as he bolted into the room, grabbing Harris by the collar and hoisting him up.
Without another word, Xia Fei went running for the Tomahawk’s hangar bay while dragging Harris. In the meantime, the main computer was steadily counting down to the impending self-destruct of the ship.
Xia Fei had a speed of 4000m/s, so it only took him barely a breath’s time to arrive from the cabin to the hangar bay!
By the time Harris even realized what was happening, he was already in front of the Vampire, while Xia Fei busied himself at the command deck, doing who knew what.
“My scientific instruments and my computer!” Harris grabbed his head with his two hands, wailing loudly, visibly upset.
“Shut up!” Xia Fei did not have the time to explain and chided him directly.
The life bracelet came into effect at that instant with the command, and Harris’s speech ability was completely sealed there and then. Harris was red-faced, trying as he might to yell but still unable to make even a peep no matter what.
“Release the deep space bomb!”
*Thwomp.*
A black, round bomb shot out from the Tomahawk’s bomb bay.
“Explode!”
Before that bomb even cleared the immediate space of the Tomahawk, Xia Fei had it detonate without even a moment’s hesitation.
The immense impact of the explosion swept out in all directions, setting off a huge blastwave right where it was!
Everything within the warship was thrown into a mess. Xia Fei was inside the Vampire at this time, so he could not tell what’s happening outside, nor did he have any idea what was the result of that bomb blast.
If Xia Fei’s calculations were correct, that bomb would have taken down the enemy’s swarm of combat drones with it. Given their size limitations, he surmised that those diamond-shaped spacecrafts hardly had much defense to speak of.
If he was lucky enough, Old Porter’s Tristain-class frigate would be able to survive the explosion, while a vast majority of the enemy’s combat drones would be taken out by the blast.
This was a huge gamble, and it was a gamble over Old Porter’s frigate being sturdy enough to survive this deep space bomb’s detonation.
Since their survival chance was slim in the first place, Xia Fei decided to risk his life and roll the dice, using the most extreme method to attempt to save Old Porter. Winning would be a cause for celebration while losing would just mean that he had sent Old Porter off into the sunset with a bomb.
Old Porter would surely praise Xia Fei’s decision if he learned about it, as dying by the hands of his ally was preferable compare to being killed by enemy fire.
“Quickly depart from the warship! Connect to the drone control computer! Assign ten heavy combat drones to me!” Xia Fei barked loudly.
*Whoosh!*
The ejection device on the Tomahawk shot Vampire right out from the hangar bay while also releasing ten heavy combat drones for Xia Fei to manage.
The supergravity swept over them the moment they were out of the Tomahawk. Xia Fei and Harris did their best to endure it as the huge pressure caused their bones to rattle.
“It’s a success!” Xia Fei excitedly cried when he saw the thruster trail left behind by Old Porter’s Tristan-class frigate as it sped off.
He had managed to survive the blast!
However, Xia Fei could tell just by looking that the old man’s warship had already been pushed to the very limit, and was no longer able to withstand even another attack.
The thousands of combat drones that originally covered this spot in space were now reduced into scraps after taking the explosion of that deep space bomb. Even Xia Fei’s own combat drones had not managed to survive.
The debris of innumerable drones floated about as if telling everyone just how calamitous this battle of many against a few had been.
With the first step of his plan a success, Xia Fei immediately started on the second step; he was not out of the woods yet as there were still plenty of the diamond-shaped drones in the distance flying right toward them, their numbers nearly uncountable.
Xia Fei connected the overclocking chip to Vampire as quickly as he could. The chip itself used an interfaced port design, making it easy for anyone to install or uninstall it. Xia Fei was not only a speed ability user but also an adept mechanic, so installing the overclocking chip only took but a moment.
“Have the Tomahawk charge full speed into the enemy and send out all the combat drones inside the ship. Activate the smart fire control system and stall the enemy as long as possible!” Xia Fei commanded.
The Tomahawk pitched and adjusted its trajectory, heading straight toward where most of the enemies were concentrated. Twenty light combat drones
“Full speed ahead!” Xia Fei ordered Vampire. The Black Mamba 130 warp engine roared to life, going straight for Porter’s warship at top speed.
The Tomahawk and Vampire each went their separate ways, one drawing the enemy’s attention while the other rushing to save Uncle Porter. Anyone would have guessed that the chances were slim for the Tomahawk to lure the enemy fire away. After all, it was going up against thousands of enemies!
“Turn on the spotlight and send a message!”
Vampire extended out the spotlight it carried from under its hull and fired off a short message using the universal light code. Because of the supergravity’s interference, the usual communications system was unusable, so Xia Fei’s only resort was the ancient light code to send a message.
“Activate the docking bridge and get ready for boarding.”
Old Porter was an expert when it came to warships, so he was of course well-versed in such a classic method as the light code. The Tristan-class frigate extended its docking bridge after the message was sent. As long as Vampire neared it, they would immediately be able to connect their bridges.
Xia Fei was racing against time here. As he drew near Porter with every passing second, the merciless enemy drones steadily closed in at top speed. It was all about which one could make the first move now!
Life and death were sometimes mere millimeters away from each other. Xia Fei was focused and silent.
“Activate the overclocking!” Xia Fei commanded.
The Black Mamba 130 engine was one of the few top-grade warp engines in the Alliance, the material used and the workmanship of the component impeccable. Even though such an outstanding engine was the one attempting to push itself to the limits in the supergravity zone, it would still be a dangerous endeavor. After all, Vampire had but one engine; if it ended up becoming damaged as a result of being overclocked, there was no doubt that this place would become Xia Fei and Porter’s graves.
“Change to manual controls!” Xia Fei growled.
His two hands grabbed a hold of the control sticks as he flew Vampire out in a parabolic arc, doing his best to close in on Old Porter.
Harris, who had been beside himself with vexation had now become silent. Anyone could sense the heavy atmosphere that permeated the ship’s interior, as their fate hung on the balance with each passing second.
The flames exhausted from the Black Mamba 130 engine visibly changed as the original green luminous fire trail turned into a glaring red-orange glow. Even the internal temperature of Vampire rose quite a bit during this time.
Xia Fei was positive that this was the manifestation of the engine overheating. Now that Vampire had reached the cusp of its limit, the engine could fail any moment!
He was close!
Xia Fei was getting ever closer to Old Porter!
Xia Fei had his mouth shut, his teeth clenched firmly against each other, while his two arms controlled and steered to the best of his abilities. All of a sudden, dark-red Vampire made an unexpected maneuver in mid-flight; it went striking out!