The Privateer

"Here's what we know." Captain was on the bridge of the Random Encounter, along with Yvian, Kilroy, and Scarrend. Lissa was still on the Priderender, but she'd been tied into the meeting through the comms. The Random Encounter was on its way to dock with the Vrrl ship, but Mims had decided the meeting was too urgent to wait for the rendezvous. Mims typed into a console attached to the holodisplay in the center of the bridge.

"Two days ago, the Brilend Militia detected an object heading for Brilend Prime." Mims finished typing, and the holodisplay came to life. "One object. Spherical." The display showed a metal sphere. The silvery ball didn't look nearly as ominous as it should. The thing would have been almost innocuous, if Yvian hadn't recognized it as a Vore Sphere. And if the sensor readings didn't show it was four thousand kilometers wide and traveling at a quarter of the speed of light. "The Militia reported the thing to the Military, but the real panic started when they realized it was decelerating and recalculated its trajectory." The display shifted, showing the predicted course of the sphere, along with the predicted orbit of the Brilend homeworld. "It's slowing down fast, but calculations indicate it will be moving over five hundred kilometers a second when it hits the planet. Which it will do in..." He checked the time on the console. "Seventy six hours."

"The Scourge." Scarrend let out a rumbling growl. "I wasn't expecting them so soon. This will be a fine opportunity. How do we plan to kill them?"

"We don't," said the human.

"What?" Yvian stared at the man.

"We don't," the human repeated. "We're not planning to fight the Vore. Not now, anyway."

"Why not?" asked Lissa over the comm. "We've got the means."

"We're the only ones with the means," Yvian piled on. "If we don't help..."

"The planet and everyone on it will die," the human finished for her. "I know."

"Then why...?"

"Because it's too fast." Mims pointed at the display. "And we don't have enough time."

"This unit assisted the human with combat simulations," Kilroy chimed in. "Our chances of destroying the Vore with the resources at hand are zero point zero six percent."

"If we had a month, things would be different." The human folded his arms. "We could get far enough out and accelerate ourselves enough to keep pace with the bastards by the time they hit the sector. Hell, might even be we'd get the Military to work with us. But three days?" He shook his head. "We can't hit them."

"Can't hit?" Scarrend frowned. His gaze settled on Yvian. "Of course. Reaction time variance."

"What?" Yvian asked.

"Reaction time variance." The Vrrl repeated.

"Meatbag reaction times can only be calculated to within a certain range," Kilroy explained. "The interface with Lucendian technology adds additional variables as well. The range of time between when you are signaled to initiate a pulse and when the pulse is initiated can vary by up to one tenth of one second."

"Our margin for error would be a lot smaller than that," said the Captain. "Milliseconds, at the speeds we're dealing with. And we'd only get one shot. If the Pulse doesn't get them all, the whole Sphere will be operational again in minutes."

"What if I did it?" asked Scarrend.

"What if you did what?" asked the Captain.

"Yvian can ask Skygem to give me an implant," the Vrrl explained. "My reflexes are better than a pixen's. I could time the Pulse."

Mims frowned. "Kilroy?"

"Vrrl reflexes are faster than a pixen's," Kilroy reported, "but that does not affect the differences within Skygem itself. Variance calculated as seven one hundredths of one second."

"Not good enough," said the Captain.

"There has to be a way," Yvian pressed. "What about the anti-tech field?" The Skygem couldn't push a field nearly as far as City 43, but she could still shut down every computer within a hundred thousand kilometers.

"Same problem," said the Captain. "We can't match its speed. Inertia would take it out of the field in a couple minutes."

"We do not have the capabilities to halt or destroy such a large mass of Vore in that amount of time," Kilroy added.

"Especially with the field shutting down most of our tech." Mims added.

"The Empire could," Scarrend pointed out. His ears flattened. "But there's no way we could get there in time."

"Maybe there is." Lissa's voice perked Yvian up. "The Starfang Empire's already got a jumpdrive, right?"

"Yes," said the Vrrl. "But it still needs to be reverse engineered."

"But they've got the tech," said Lissa. "And we're allies now. There's no reason not to share. We've got thousands of Gladiator class fighters that have them and don't need them."

"We could outfit a fleet." Warmaster Scathach's deep rumble came out of the comm. Yvian hadn't known he'd been listening in. "With sufficient firepower to eradicate a planet. If you can shut down the Scourge for a full minute, the Vrrl Starfang Empire will do the rest."

"Ok." Mims nodded to himself. "Sounds like a plan. But that's not why I called the meeting." Yvian raised an eyebrow. The human shrugged. "I called this meeting because Brilend's not evacuating. We need a game plan to get our people out."