Snippet #2749903

'I am currently detecting a slip space anomaly, Mistress. Actions?'

Rei frowned looking at the instrument read out; this wasn't good, there weren't any mapped risks or aether streams in this system to her knowledge. "That's not good..." She muttered to herself. This could mean that she had company besides the Aschen corvette incoming, but she wasn't going to risk it.

As seconds ticked by, she waited to see if the drives would finish their respool cycle. "Specter. Drive cycle status..." Rei said impatiently. She had never intended to get into a stand off with an Aschen corvette, but it seemed it was unavoidable. Isom and his damn paycheck had gotten the better of her, especially since it had allowed her to do some much needed repairs bringing long since dormant systems back online. "Shit... I bet.." She thought out loud, thinking she had some idea of what the corvette's pilot was fixing to attempt.

'Drive respool complete in t-minus 1 minute. Dark drive output at 80% and climbing. Risk horizon will open at 85% with our current estimated 3.5g of acceleration.'

"Too soon.. too soon.. too soon." Rei mumbled not happy with the report. She had hoped to be able to make a slipspace jump, but with technology as old as that on the Ghost Dance, it wasn't likely. Inertial dampeners or not, this had become a no win situation.

'Slip space anomaly 152.4 meters from starboard. Actions?' Specter asked again as Rei swore a string of rather creative expletives.

"Open fire, 25% power." She growled as she hauled the ship hard to port, grazing the Reverence. Specter did as it had been told and opened fire with the ship's point defenses.

Meanwhile the Ghost Dance shuddered and groaned, as the two ships came into contact with one another. However, the thick caul of ice and coating of hyper diamond on the hull prevented any major damage. A few sensor arrays and cameras were scraped off, but little else. The magnetic tethers would find purchase difficult, if near impossible. There was nothing if little that was ferrous for them to attach to on the Ghost Dance's hull.