SODIUM:3 Fusion by Stephen Arseneault Page A

about anything, but the program was fairly strict on what it would actually allow. If it was possible in the real world we might be able to do it in the DSim.
    Before the mission began, I talked with Pop about modifying our reactor. If he could simulate his reactor feed idea we would have a 15% power boost available to us. I asked Bigg and Whip if there was any way to modify one of our missiles with a nano-reactor and a single BHD ring. We only had 20 minutes to work with but they were both very good at improvisation.
    When we lifted off, Pop was still at work at his console while Bigg and Whip had managed to remove a missile warhead to make room for a reactor and a BHD ring. Whip was busy at her console trying to program the single sensor on the ring as a guidance mechanism.
    We reached a rally point just outside of the atmosphere when the squad commander of A26 began giving orders. We were to proceed to the right flank of the big ship from our current position and harass the fighters.
    A29 had been given the same orders for the left flank. A26 and A22 would be going straight in attempting to fire whatever they could at the big ship while trying to keep their distance. Pop then gave us the go ahead with his reactor mod. We put the extra power towards our gravity wave shield.
    When we reached our waypoint we were given the go ahead to commence harassment. As the first fighter rapidly approached I began my evasive maneuvers. With the reactor gain we were seeing that our shield would be working at 180%. I did some quick calculations which showed we should be able to pass within a kilometer of an alien fighter without sustaining significant damage.
    On our first pass we managed a two kilometer pass with Bigg working the shield while Whip fired off two missiles and a salvo from the coil guns. The missiles were easily destroyed but to our surprise the alien craft had difficulty with the coil guns.
    We swung around and attempted a second flyby and this time came in just under the kilometer barrier that I had calculated. The result being that we lost one of our ring sensors to the alien gravity wave.
    But, there was benefit to the close pass. The alien fighter had taken a deflected hit to its right side. It briefly exhausted gas and debris of some sort before seeming to recover.
    One thing I was able to pick up on the sensors was that it had chassis tripods attached that had immediately begun repairs. It was an unfair advantage that the aliens had over us. We had to return to base if we were in need of having anything external repaired.
    We made another pass at the alien fighter and again managed another hit although with no apparent damage. Another sensor was lost from that engagement. Whip then announced that the missile modified with the reactor and BHD was ready to fire. I hoped that at a minimum it would be a good distraction.
    Whip touched the holo-display in front of her and the BHD guided missile was away. On its first pass it came too wide to be of any threat but it quickly circled back in. The alien fighter turned directly towards it and used the full force of its gravity wave to attempt to destroy the missile. The BHD cut right through the gravity wave.
    The single black hole driving the ship towards the enemy fighter was absorbing the full force of the gravity weapon. The missile struck the fighter just to the right side of dead on and drilled itself into the hull of the ship.
    There was no detonation. The warhead had been removed. The missile eventually worked its way out the back of the ship and began to circle around for another charge. The fighter was now dead in space. Its propulsion system had been taken out.
    I came straight in and Whip fired all four coil guns at once. The fighter was able to deflect two of the rounds but the other two found their target. The alien fighter disintegrated and we passed through its debris cloud.
    A26 and A22 had not been able to come close to the big ship as they were busy with three