009 Training Arc 9: Capture

Last entry for the chapter submission.

My motto: "One shot comeback," "One big win," "All's well that ends well"—that’s me.

Decided to go ahead with a clear hostile action: severing and capturing the probe.

Radar ON. Gently push the rock I’m holding with my right arm toward the enemy’s rock, shielding the entire hull of rental ship #10.

That should block direct attacks from their optical weapons (lasers), particle accelerators (beams), and kinetic projectile launchers (railguns, ship cannons).

Missiles might still be guided, but at this range, the enemy would take heavy damage too.

And since missiles can't hit a rock without a hole, there’d be some telltale sign.

With that margin, we can shoot down their missiles with the debris-cleaning laser.

"Good. This’ll work."

I’m initiating the probe capture mission.

Initiate critical state on rental vessel 10’s energy core and prepare for emergency launch. If the enemy moves, I’m getting out fast.

Carefully grab the enemy probe’s tether cable, then sever it with the laser.

No response from the enemy. Recover the probe into the ship’s hold.

“Good. No missile attack.”

The enemy ship should be cut off from external data now.

I pull rental vessel 10 out from behind the asteroid shadow and accelerate straight toward the enemy asteroid.

If they move, I disengage immediately. If not, I close in fast and drill into the rock.

A cautious move.

“Got it! The enemy really can’t move!”

Looks like I won the bet.

With no attack from the enemy, rental vessel 10 docks onto the asteroid where they’re hiding.

Once attached to the cable’s base, I grab the root with my right arm and start carving away the surrounding rock with my left arm’s drill.

Shattered fragments fly, but the Stasis Field surrounding Rental Ship 10 catches them—no debris hazard.

According to Rental Ship 10’s brain, this Stasis Field is apparently a type of Defense mechanism, like a barrier.

On smaller vessels, it’s just paper-thin armor due to output limitations—but on this mining ship, slow-moving debris isn’t a problem.

The effect changes with relative speed: "catch," "deflect," or "pierce."

Pierce it, and we’re done for.

After some work, the enemy ship’s hull plate and the hatch of the probe-launching compartment come into view.

A wired cable end extends from the hatch.

At the time, I’d gotten careless—relaxed, even—because the enemy ship wasn’t putting up any resistance.

The capture conditions for the enemy vessel were simple: shut down the reactor, or destroy or disable the brain.

The gamer who’d claimed the kill credit probably botched the check—didn’t confirm the brain was dead, and now it’s rebooted and gone dark.

Likely the backup brain kicked in after the primary one got fried.

After prying open the cargo hatch, I found the ship’s internal network connector.

“Any way to pull enemy intel from this network?”

I mutter to myself, and the brain of rental vessel ten—always ready—feeds me the answer.

I follow its advice. From the wrist of my right arm, I extend a network cable and plug it into the enemy ship’s connector.

Back then, I had no doubts at all—rental ship ten came standard equipped with a cable capable of connecting to the enemy’s connector.

Once connected, rental ship ten’s brain would yank data straight out of the enemy vessel.

Main engine damaged. Energy reactor offline. Currently operating on auxiliary batteries—unable to maneuver.

Primary brain damaged. Weapon control system inoperative. Weapons unavailable.

We now know the lower brain has taken control of the enemy ship.

“So basically, if I destroy or shut down this lower brain, the enemy ship becomes mine, right?”

I got cocky. Hacked into the enemy brain.

Yeah, I did it. I actually did it!

If it helps motivate me, I’d really appreciate it if you found it even a little bit interesting or wanted to keep reading—favorites, reviews, anything helps.

The review button is located below the latest chapter.