Chapter 143

Testing

Lucas piloted the s.h.i.+p mentally. With him around, there was no need for inefficient things like physical interfaces. As the s.h.i.+p lifted out of the atmosphere, one s.h.i.+p of each type that he had made so far also lifted off. They had plenty of fuel for their reactors thanks to the ARDs.

After an hour, they had reached the asteroid belt. It had taken them that long to get into range of the asteroid belt so they could jump straight to it. Aslo, who had been bored out of his mind, finally sat up straight in his chair. “Are we there yet? It’s been ages.”

Lucas sighed. “Oh come on. At first you were so excited since you got to see planets floating in s.p.a.ce. Remember that? You were all like, ‘How can something so big float?’ and ‘What does hypers.p.a.ce look like?’ Then the rest of the time you complained about how boring it was.”

“Well, because it’s true. It really is boring around here.” Aslo tried defending himself.

“Ugh. If it wasn’t for the range on the new s.h.i.+ps I would have jumped straight here.” Lucas grumbled under his breath. “Now that we are here,” Lucas said in a louder voice. “I believe it’s time to start showcasing the weapons.”

The drone scout spoke up, interrupting Lucas. “This asteroid belt is currently being used as a military base of operations. Only certain sections of the belt is not developed for  military use and can be used for target practice.”

Lucas facepalmed. “Why were we not notified of this when we departed?”

“The information was not relevant at the time.”

“Alright then, robot, where can I do this demonstration for you?” Lucas asked, obviously irritated by now. Everyone else was stifling their laughter at Lucas’ annoyance.

The robot, oblivious to his irritation, replied in its monotone voice. “Seven cruisers are currently launching from nearby asteroid installations. They will fire on several asteroids on the outskirt of the belt that can be used for the demonstration. They will also be taking scans of the demonstration as well to gather the information needed. If there are any more targets needed, the fighters will point out more of them.”

Lucas sighed and nodded his agreement. Focusing on the scans from his s.h.i.+p, soon he spotted the seven cruisers. A low power laser shot out of each cruiser, highlighting seven asteroids that could be used for target practice.

Lucas immediately marked the asteroids on the viewscreen, making them appear red. “First I’m going to be showing you the capabilities of this s.h.i.+p, so long as no other objections are raised.” Everyone glared the robot but it just sat there, once again oblivious to human emotion.

Lucas went back to his presentation. “I am  launching a stealth missile from the s.h.i.+p we are currently on. Launching in three... two... one... fire.” On the screen a translucent shape appeared from over the top of the s.h.i.+p. It reached one of the marked asteroids in three seconds. Immediately, a large explosion blasted the entire asteroid to bits. The half the missile impacted was vaporized, while the other half was turned into pieces no bigger than a man’s fist.

The mech spoke up first. “The missile was not spotted on any of the cruisers’ sensors.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Of course. If it could be spotted then it wouldn’t need to be called a ‘stealth missile’ now, would it? Anyways, this s.h.i.+p is the only one with missiles in the entire fleet. Missiles are just too much trouble to make in large amounts, plus they are a one time use. Moving on, we will show you the s.h.i.+ps of the real fleet. First is the destroyer. It has one ma.s.sive plasma gun and multiple plasma turrets. It’s meant for long-range artillery and protecting the other, larger, s.h.i.+ps from fighters.”

As Lucas spoke, the destroyer that had followed them sped up. The destroyer was shaped like an arrowhead with the tip of the arrow being sheared off.

It got within a mile of one of the asteroids meant for target practice. White plasma bolts lit up the asteroid, thousands of them per second, peppering it with millions of holes. Every single plasma bolt struck the asteroid, some of them curving through the air.

Once the destroyer flew a mile and a half from the asteroid, the plasma bolts became far less accurate. At three miles, the plasma bolts were now dissipating too much, no longer having a visible impact on the asteroid. The destroyer flew twenty miles away from the asteroid before turning around to face the asteroid head on. 

The blunt tip pointing towards the front started glowing a menacing white. A white streak shot forward, a blur in the eyes of man. It hit the asteroid and went through it. The plasma bolt didn’t even seem affected by the obstacle and continued on for over two thousand miles before it dissipated.

“Next up is the carrier. It has similar plasma turrets to the destroyer with no special armament. It’s really just meant to refuel and repair fighters. It can also cloak itself.” As Lucas spoke, the huge sphere-shaped carrier suddenly turned into several medium sized asteroids.

“Then we have the battles.h.i.+ps. These have multiple railguns meant for close range and long range. It also has some plasma turrets, but nothing like the destroyers do.” The battles.h.i.+p floated forward while a fairly good sized turret on its top side swiveled. It too was shaped like an arrowhead, but it did not have a blunt tip.

It appeared like nothing had happened before one of the asteroids seemed to explode. Fragments of rock spun everywhere. “The battles.h.i.+p has thirty railgun turrets with at least eight of them able to cover each of its sides. The railguns can fire up to a thousand projectiles per minute, each with the same amount of force as this one.”

“Next we have the s.h.i.+eld fighters.” This was the only craft Lucas brought more of. He had brought a total of five of them but it made sense when you think about it. It was only in groups that such fighters could make a difference. “These fighters can link s.h.i.+elds together, creating a s.h.i.+eld wall that is exponentially more powerful than the s.h.i.+elds on our battles.h.i.+ps. For example.”

The fighters all linked together, creating an enormous white wall. Without warning the destroyer swiveled towards the fighters, launching an enormous plasma bolt at the fighters. The white wall was. .h.i.t by the plasma and dimmed slightly but stayed up.

“Finally, we have the sniper fighters. These fighters are equipped with a Tachyon cannon that can fire from one end of the solar system to the other.” The fighter flew in front of the s.h.i.+ps before turning to the asteroid. This one was in the shape of a tube and was not as agile as the other fighter had been.

A hole mysteriously appeared in the asteroid it was pointing to. The fighter swiveled back around and pointed to an asteroid one thousand miles away. Just like before, a hole appeared in the asteroid. Lucas grinned back at them. “As you can see, no matter the distance, the hit is instantaneous and fatal.”