[AUTHOR NOTE: I am altering the bribe function to make it more beneficial for my Patreon supporters since it is mainly (only) them who have bribed me in the past.
From now on, when two or more chapters are bribed out of me, one of the chapters will be exclusive to Patreon Tier 3.]
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"That's still stupidly advanced," Rowena remarked after hearing Spector's explanation.
"Thank you," Spector replied.
"Does it use the same tech as Spector Unit Six's beam absorption?" Stacey asked curiously.
"Similar but different, since to use the same tech, the beam absorbers tech would need to be fitted all over my ship, which is not feasible," Spector explained.
"Can you convert the energy into something like the planetary annihilation beam?" Aphrodite asked.
"Negative. I am incapable of firing a planetary annihilation beam. The absorbed energy is merely used to help replenish my shields," Spector answered.
"Attack pattern omega," Aphrodite remarked before each of the micro-fighters performed a roll over the top of the designated target while raining down energy bolts on the ship's upper shields and evading the incoming attacks.
"Hmm, what's this?" Stacey asked as she cycled through Spectors available weapons before finding one that sounded interesting and selecting it.
"Laser Lance selected, redirecting energy from all other weapons and beginning charging sequence. Thirty seconds until firing," Spector suddenly announced.
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): I feel like I'm repeating myself, but what the fuck is a laser lance?]
[StealthAssassin9 (Earth): That's because you are. Kekeke.]
"What did you do?" Rowena asked as she turned to look at Stacey.
"I simply selected a weapon that sounded interesting," Stacey replied.
"Why? Because it has lance in the name and Adam uses a universal force lance?" Rowena retorted.
"Maybe," Stacey replied while blushing slightly.
"Please tell me you're not thinking that Spector will transform and equip a giant force staff?" Rowena asked while rolling her eyes.
"That would be kinda cool," Aphrodite said with a chuckle.
[SciFifanboy (Earth): That would be so Scifi.]
[Animefangirl (Earth): That would be so Anime.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): Please tell me that's not really going to happen, I don't think my brain could handle the revelation.]
"I am incapable of transforming in such a way," Spector announced.
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): Oh, thank progenitor.]
[OracleRomy (Elysium): Hehe, this is really getting to you, isn't it? 🤣]
Ten seconds until firing," Spector announced as a section on the bottom of its hull opened up before something that looked very similar to a railgun descended below the ship and started to gather energy.
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Damn, that thing looks sexy as fuck.]
"So that's a laser lance," Aphrodite remarked before asking, "But how does it work?"
"It produces a highly concentrated energy beam that tears through all but the toughest shields and hulls instantly," Spector replied.
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Oh hell yeah, bring it on.]
💫💫💫
"Captain, massive energy buildup from the enemy ship." The sensor officer on one of the medium-class ships suddenly reported.
"Cause?" The captain asked.
"Appears to be some sort of weapon," The sensor officer replied as the viewscreen switched to show the laser lance that had just appeared beneath Spector.
"The fuck kind of weapon is that?" The captain asked.
"It kind of looks like a rail gun, except it's obviously gathering energy," Another officer reported.
"An energy railgun?" The captain scoffed before ordering, "No such weapon exists. Continue with the operation."
💫💫💫
"Firing will commence in three seconds.
Two seconds.
One second.
Firing Laser Lance." Spector announced as it finished the countdown.
The laser lance, which now shone brightly from the accumulated energy, flashed before a hole suddenly appeared through the centre of the medium-class ship that had been targeted, which a moment later exploded.
[AlamoMatador4thewin (Earth): DA FUCK WAS THAT? 😱]
[Emojisonly (Earth): 😱]
[SciFifanboy (Earth): THAT WAS SO SCIFI.]
[Animefangirl (Earth): Ok, that was kinda Anime.]
[RealOtaku (Earth): Holy fucking space guns, Batman.]
[OfficialKasumi (Aqua Primus): It punched a hole right through the medium-class ship, shields and all.]
[OfficialMuriel (Aqua Primus): The ship's shields were kind of weakened from the micro-fighters' attacks.]
[OfficialKasumi (Aqua Primus): Sure, but they were still up and it still managed to punch a hole right through it.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): Ahhhh, my brain hurts.]
[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): Honestly, mine also hurts after seeing that.]
[OracleRomy (Elysium): Yeah, I gotta agree with you on this one.]
[HackerSu (Trillion): If it managed to do that to a medium-class ship, how effective do you think it will be against a capital-class?]
[Beinglittleisnotadisadvantage (Strathorp 7): Difficult to say, but considering a capital-class ship's shields and hull are stronger than a medium-class, it will definitely be less effective. The only question is by how much.]
[Lizziethetruepower (Palaxia): I can see it at least draining a lot of their shield strength if not causing them to collapse.]
[MercheadAnderson (Palaxia): Well, this fight just became way easier.]
"Holy…. I honestly have no words," Aphrodite remarked in shock.
"That's a first," Stacey replied as she stared at the exploding ship in shock.
"Not really, her mouth is usually full of cock after all," Rowena remarked almost automatically as she stared at the viewscreen in shock.
"I wanna see that again," Stacey suddenly said before trying to select the laser lance weapon.
"Laser lance is currently unable to be used due to overheating," Spector suddenly announced before adding, "Time until it has cooled enough and can be fired again: fourteen minutes, forty-eight seconds."
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): Oh, thank the progenitor. There is some sanity in the universe after all.]
"Damn," Stacey cursed.
"While disappointing, it makes sense that it has a cooldown period," Rowena remarked.
"There are three of them left," Aphrodite remarked and was about to say more when Spector suddenly spoke up.
[ALERT.]
"Energy output from the enemy ships indicates that they are about to fire their main cannons."
💫💫💫
As Adam remotely controlled Spector Unit 6 to continue flying towards the Imperial Down as quickly as possible. The stream was split into three.
The first showed Spector Unit 6, the second showed the drones' ongoing battle against the enemy mechs and the third showed Spector, which had just fired its laser lance.
[ALERT.] Spector suddenly announced before continuing.
"Energy output from the enemy ships indicates that they are about to fire their main cannons."
"Shit," Adam cursed as he had Spector Unit 6 continue flying towards the Imperial Down as quickly as possible.
As he did so, a fourth feed appeared on the stream, which showed the enemy ships all preparing to fire their main cannons as the front of each of them opened up again.
[SciFifanboy (Earth): Oh man, that's so Sci-fi. Look at how the front of the ship is opening up to reveal that cannon.]
[Gunlovergirl (Earth): Oh fuck yeah, look at all those cannons.]
[Whitehorn (Darah 5): Eight main cannons attacking at once is way over the top.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): Agreed. They're only against one ship after all.]
[OracleRomy (Elysium): They must really want to get rid of Princess Tessa Terrana.]
[LadyErkath (Alastor): Have you received any prophecies or visions regarding this, Oracle Andromeda?]
[OracleRomy (Elysium): If I had, you know, I wouldn't speak about such things.]
[LadyErkath (Alastor): Very true, my apologies.]
[Superherofangirl (Earth): Damn, must be tough being the Oracle, always having people coming to you, demanding information.]
[DeverinianLordMalacoss (Deverinian 9): No one is foolish enough to demand anything of the oracles. Those who have done so tend to lose out on the privilege of hearing glimpses of their future.]
[NonpareilRaphilia (Aaru): Very true. While Romy might not be a fan of doing that, even she has her limits.]
[OracleRomy (Elysium): Would the two of you stop painting me as the bad guy in front of the earthlings? 😮💨]
💫💫💫
"Enemy ships preparing to fire their main cannons again," The sensor operator of the Imperial Down reported in an urgent tone.
"They can fire that damn thing way too frequently," The weapons officer complained.
"You're only complaining because we're not the ones firing our main cannon," The helm officer retorted.
"Well, that should hopefully be rectified soon," The weapons officer retorted.
"Stow it, people," Andria ordered before asking, "What's Spector Unit Six's position?"
"It's successfully managed to get past the enemy ships and should reach us soon," The sensor officer replied.
"Will it reach us before they fire their main cannons again?" Andria asked.
"Too close to call, captain."
"Damn it, prepare to …," Andrea began to say, but Tessa cut her off by saying.
"Andria, trust in Mr Spencer and stick to the plan."
"But Princess," Andria replied.
"You have your orders, Captain," Tessa replied in a stern tone that surprised everyone on the bridge.
"Very well, Princess," Andrea replied before ordering, "Ready the main cannon. Target is the enemy's capital ship at the centre of the fleet."
"About time," The weapons officer replied before getting to work.
"Stow the pointless comments and get to work," The commander ordered sternly.
"THEY ARE FIRING!" The sensor officer suddenly announced.
"NOT GOOD!" The weapons officer shouted in panic as eight giant beams of energy erupted from the enemy ships and flew towards the Imperial Down.
"Oh, we're so dead," The helm officer remarked just before the back of a black mech with orange highlights appeared between them and the approaching energy beams.
As everyone stared at the viewscreen, they witnessed the mech hold up both arms in front of itself just before the energy beams reached it.