Chapter 7
"Captain!! " Annie heard the shout of Clyde who was currently on his post chair.
But then, even she heard it, she felt like it was nothing. Because of the sudden appearance of the attack, her brain stop working and she cannot comprehend what was going on around her. It is like the whole world came into a slow motion, she saw everything but she cannot think of a way how to solve it, what action should she choose, will she make a maneuver even she didn't know where will they appear next. Maybe they will hit a planet or an asteroid or fight heads on. Her years of studying suddenly vanished on thin air like it was nothing. Looking back to the big screen, it shows the trajectory of the attack and they are on its path.
It is not a simulator, this is real. What if I made a wrong decision? Anxiety, frustration, anger, fear, she cannot explain what she felts right now. This is her first real combat experience she will have after years of service and she didn't even know how to react the situation.
The attack was nearing them in a very fast paced way even it was a thousand miles, it took only a second to cover that distance.
Everyone was on disarray, Annie used all her strength to gather herself. She knows that, her crew, her friends needed a captain to follow with. She closed her eyes and she repeatedly said to her head that it was only a simulator. No one is on stake, it will only restart if they were hit. And then, when she opened back her eyes, everything changed.
"Antony, focus our shield on the front"
"Andrew, full speed ahead"
"Jenny send for back up"
"Everyone into battle mode!!"
Annie ordered a series of command but upon looking down, she found out that everyone was only standing in shock.
"Are you kidding me! are you planning to fight heads on" After hearing what Annie ordered, Clyde cannot help it but to exclaimed.
"No!! but we might be avoided its attack if we do that." Annie explained.
"What are waiting for, a gift!!? EVERYONE MOVE!!" After hearing what she said, Clyde contemplate for a moment and then he waken up the crew who are in the trance of shock.
Hearing him, everyone jump into action. Antony focused all the energy for shield on the front while Andrew pushed the engine to its maximum.
The ship vibrated so hard that most of the equipment are tumbling down and some of the crew on board fall to the ground and got injured.
In just a blink of an eye, a second become eternity as the the attack reached them making a "BOOMING!!!!" sound. And barely Angel manage to avoid it by only a dozen feet away.
Everyone shouted for happiness and joy as like they hit the jackpot on the casino, but when the view of the monitor panned to where the attack was coming for. Their jaw dropped. It was not meant for them but for Andromeda. They just on its path. Now to Annie and Clyde everything made sense. Why the defence are active, why the guardians are there, and why there are small vessel coming out leaving the base. There is an eminent invasion from the enemy.
The monitor zoomed in, they can clearly see a guardian came rushing to intercept the attack. It crosses its hand on the chest and a shield materialized. With a loud "KABOOM!!" the attack hit the guardian sending it flying towards to Andromeda. It smashed unto the wall creating big crater while the attack was successfully block by it. Another cheer exploded inside the ship because of the successful block but it immediately died down when the feeds cleared up. The Guardian who was supposedly undefeatable, even a nuclear blast cannot completely destroy it was currently embedded into the wall with missing hands and feet. Its system was also completely shut down.
Without time to recover, another attack was sent out from the enemy who was currently too far too see and for retaliation.
Back to Andromeda, there are thousands of small space ships pouring out from the small holes. It surrounded the base like it was the yolk of the egg. And then those ships fired a laser beam to each other making a formation around the base. With a slight pop, a protective dome was created.
The attack hit the dome making a much more louder explosion. It shook very hard because of the intense energy created by the attack. When everything was cleared, a hole on the dome was created. But, those small ships are much more faster, it gathered immediately, replacing the damage one and reinforcing the dome.
The starships and battleship didn't just stay there as they were watch a movie, but also started to intercepted the attacker.
But then again, the enemy started firing their long range attack, but this time, they did not used their cannon as they did in the first two attack. They used torpedo missiles. Thousands of it are coming towards them.
"Are we ready yet!!??" Annie shouted to asked Andrew.
Annie cannot help but feel frustrated because they were at middle of the two sides. Even though, they used the full power of the engines, it is not enough to scaped the speed of a torpedo missile.
The warships and battleship of the Union also fired their torpedo missile making the life of every individual inside Angel more dangerous.
"I need ten seconds!" replied by Andrew.
"We will not survived in ten seconds!" she countered.
Thousands and thousand of torpedo missile are coming towards them from both sides.
"Everyone!! hold on!!" Annie shouted.
While everyone was preoccupied to find something to hold on, Antony without prior command. He redistributed the power of the shield. He also released all the drones that Angel has to make a secondary layer on the ship's body.
Like a musical play, everything went silent and then like a thousand rose came to bloom with a dazzling light came to born. From a far, it was magnificent and beautiful but when you are in the middle of it. You'll wish that it is much better if it doesn't exist.
Inside Angel, every monitor are flashing with red error while on the big screen show the damage that ship incurred.
The ship's shield started to wear out from the barrage of explosion while one by one, the drones that acts as second layer of defence started to pell of like it was rotting.
Sooner, the main body of the ship was exposed.