Homestar Saga

Chapter 58: The Big Dirty

Yvian stood in front of the airlock. She took a deep breath, running a checklist in her head to see if she'd forgotten anything she was going to need later. A few seconds of thought told her she either had everything or wouldn't notice what was missing until she needed it. Crunch. Yvian took another slow, steady breath, trying to quiet the blood pounding in her ears.

She wished she could hear what was happening. Mims and Lissa were still on the bridge. The Encounter was flying at the Big Dirty with no shields to speak of. The frigate's weapons were heavy enough to smash them into debris in one hit, and she wouldn't even know when they started firing.

She activated STEALTH, signaling to Mims that she was ready. STEALTH wouldn't make her invisible, but it did make her nearly impossible for sensors to detect. She didn't know exactly how. Like most of her voidarmor's functions, STEALTH was a mystery of Terran technology. The only indication she had that it was working were the words STEALTH ACTIVE displayed in her HUD.

The airlock opened. Yvian took a breath, then launched herself into the void. She activated her jetpack and shot away from the Encounter as fast as she could. A few seconds later she turned back to look. The fighter had maintained its course. Fourteen High Energy Plasma Cannons began their assault, launching ten meter lances of green plasma at a rate of six per second. The Random Encounter was large for a fighter, just over 90 meters, but it seemed much smaller compared to the streams of bright destruction it produced.

A few seconds later, the Big Dirty responded. Massive bolts of blue and yellow energy leapt towards the human's ship. The frigate's guns were an order of magnitude larger and more powerful than the Encounter's. Plasma and charged particles speared through the void, faster and heavier than anything the HEP cannons could produce. The Big Dirty had over fifty of them, a cascade of bright death spreading forth to swat Captain Mims out of the sky.

Mims was, of course, ready. The Random Encounter strafed upwards from Yvian's position, easily allowing the streams of killing light to pass by untouched. Yvian's pounding pulse sped up even more as some of the Big Dirty's massive blue bolts speared through the space she'd occupied just seconds ago. If one of those things touched her...

Yvian shook herself. Now was not the time to panic. With a start she realized she hadn't started decelerating, yet. Inertial dampeners protect people inside a ship from the rapid changes in speed, but the void itself was far less forgiving. She was approaching the Big Dirty at the speed the Encounter had been moving when she'd jumped out. If she wanted to land on it without splattering on impact, she'd better start decelerating.

Jetpack engaged and autopilot active, Yvian had nothing better to do than watch the fight for a few minutes. The Random Encounter was keeping its distance, firing continuously as it dodged and weaved around the heavy weapons of the frigate. The Big Dirty maneuvered as well, but its slow turn rate and sheer size made avoiding the Encounter's fire nearly impossible. It was a weakness most capitol ships shared, but one that few fighter pilots tried to exploit. It would take well over half an hour for the human to get through Captain Galbalan's shields, and the slightest mistake or a lucky shot would reduce the Encounter to molten debris.

In a one on one engagement, Yvian would put her money on Captain Mims. She was absolutely certain he was skilled enough to take the Big Dirty if he had the time. He didn't have the time. The Militia were coming. It was up to Yvian to take the ship before they arrived.

She was closer, now. Yvian disengaged the autopilot. She doubted she'd be fast enough to dodge if a stray plasma blast came her way, but no way in The Crunch was she surrendering control now. The Encounter was on the opposite side of the Big Dirty, drawing fire away from Yvian's approach. Yvian gave a quick prayer to the Bright Lady that her STEALTH would hold and the frigate wouldn't notice her.