Chapter 257: Vexical Prime: Boarding a Cruiser
"We are going to be boarding an enemy ship. We will be splitting up into teams of four. Asana and Josef will be staying on the ship. Josef has yet to fully get used to his new prosthetic and Asana is the only other person that can pilot the ship." Jace ordered as the ramp began closing once his entire squad and only his squad was in the Guardian-01.
Jace had switched out the tri-cannon since he was moving to shipboard combat. He had swapped it out for the energy based Dragon’s Fire. It would not damage the surroundings as much but it would still be good for providing covering fire.
"How should we divide the teams?" Nila asked as they could feel the Guardian decouple from The Elysium’s hangar.
"Nila, you and I will both be leading a unit. Make sure all your gear is space capable. That includes you two, Asana and Josef." He got a thumbs up from Asana and a grunt from Josef as a response. "My only requirement is that the new kid Rook is on my team."
"Then I want the ladies. Ulin, Vana, Charlie, you three are with me." Nila told them as she cocked a Scatterflame Shotgun. "We are going to have some fun!"
Jace rolled his eyes as he looked over the last three. "Then that means Uti and Jul’an are with me and Rook." The ship rocked slightly as it flew into the vacuum of space. "Our objective is a pair of books that are in Prince Cassius’ possession. We could care less what happens to the prince, but if he separates from the books then we move to grab the books. Until we have them in sight we cannot take the kill shot on the prince." Jace explained their mission objective as he caused his laser barrel gun to hum as the barrel spun without firing any lasers.
""Yes sir!"" They answered in unison while Jace looked toward the front and watched through the pilot’s cabin window.
They were flying through space doing some light maneuvering while going on a semi straight path to one of the enemy ships that had a group of other ships protecting it. They flew close to the bottom of the nearest enemy ship’s hull. After they came out from under it Asana had to veer away while firing because a pair of fighter craft had moved into their path.
They felt the ship shake again as they were hit a few times. But as far as Jace could tell the shielding had managed to take on the bulk of the hit so the ship was likely undamaged. But it was still a hit. It happened again a few minutes later, this time they could feel the explosion as a rocket impacted the side of the ship. "I am decompressing the cabin. I assume you are going on a space walk since we have no way to dock with their ship." Asana told them as she managed to shoot down a few fighter craft that were coming straight towards them.
Jace moved to the rear ramp of the ship and waited until there was a slight thumping noise and the rear of the ship began opening up. They were coupled onto the hull of the ship with no gravity. So as he walked out he activated the magnetic feature on his boots and looked around.
After a second he started making his way to the nearest hatch going into the ship. Prince Cassius’ ship is a cruiser-class ship. They typically have multiple hangars and plenty of space for attack and fighter craft. While also sporting an array of defense weapons. They could have gone through a hangar but there would be a focus of defensive forces and it would be a pain to break in through there to even get their foot in the door.
"We are off Asana, you can head off." Nila told their designated pilot as Jace led the way to an airlock.
"Stay in the battle, we will call you up when it is time to go." Jace ordered as he arrived at the airlock. He crouched by the panel after a second of seeing what he was working with and he had it opening up.
They walked into the airlock going from walking on the hull to walking onto a floor with gravity was disorientating and a complete flip of perspective. Once they were all crammed inside he triggered the airlock process but had the usual alert that was sent to the bridge blocked. After spending so much time breaking into alien digital systems this simpler human one was a breeze and left him feeling a bit annoyed.
As soon as the inner door opened they began moving into the intersection the airlock was located at. Jace stepped inside while the others took up positions around him. He crouched down and touched the floor using his ability to read the layout of the cruiser.
Once he had his map of the ship he sent one to Ulin who had a compatible interface. Jace looked over the map as well. "Okay time to split up. Nila, your team will be taking the bridge. My team and I will be heading to another section of the ship where it looks like they have built something interesting." Jace ordered as he stood up and moved straight from the airlock towards the center of the cruiser. His team quickly followed behind him and he could hear the others quickly move off in another direction toward the main command center of the cruiser.
They did not know where Prince Cassius was located but a good start was them heading to the two most likely locations. A spot on the cruiser that Jace could honestly say he did not know what use it had, even with his ability. Then the main command center of the cruiser, the bridge, where the prince could watch over the battle for Vexical Prime.
Either way they would catch up to the prince and achieve their objectives.