Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!

After taking out our primary thruster, the battleship dived into hyperspace, disappearing from view. It all happened so quickly that I wasn’t sure if the other ships in its group had seen the stunt it pulled.

’Hopefully, they did, or I swear on my two lives that I’ll pull the hairs out from their heads, one at a time, till they’re clean bald!’

"A-Arthur...!" Eva’s terrified voice shook me back into reality, focusing my attention again on the desperate predicament before us.

Right, there was no time to fume over betrayal. We needed a plan to survive—now!

Without the main thruster, our speed had plummeted. We’d lost at least 50% of our propulsion, and to make matters worse, the main thruster was critical for initiating a space jump. No main thruster, no jump. No jump, no escape!

’Our location’s still too far from the exit point. We’ll never reach it in time without the main thruster!’

Yes, in theory, we could have repaired it ourselves, but stopping for repair was impossible with the massive Detonid gaining on us.

’Are we even going to survive this with our speed going slower by the second…?’

I clenched my teeth, holding the controls tightly as I piloted the ship along the course plotted on the VBA Module. The Range Falcon slowed down considerably without the main thruster, making us vulnerable and well within the Detonid’s attack range once more.

If I attempted to draw too many hard turns to evade, we’d lose whatever speed we had remaining. But if I didn’t, we were sitting ducks.

"Hey! Why aren’t you saying anything?! Show some reaction at least, you bastard!" Eva snapped, her voice trembling with frustration.

"…Reaction?" I repeated absentmindedly, her words sparking a sudden idea. "Right! Action and reaction!"

After gaining an idea, without delay, I accessed the ship’s system diagnostics, calling up a full list of the Range Falcon’s equipment. Engines, sensors, auxiliary systems—I worked my way through them all, searching for one particular entry.

Seconds passed, and then—

"I found it!" I exclaimed jubilantly.

This was our opportunity. It wasn’t great, nor was it safe, but it was better than nothing!

"Eva! Get your powered suit from the armory—and mine as well!" I shouted the command, already setting the plan in motion. "And grab the handrails on the way! If you don’t, you’ll be flying around like a damn super ball!"

"You bastard! At least tell me the plan first...!" Eva snapped, but she didn’t hesitate to follow.

Unbuckling her seatbelts, she made a grab for the closest handrail, holding on for dear life as she drifted toward the armory just beyond the cockpit. It wasn’t far, but with the way the ship was careening around, it’d take a lot of luck—or skill—to make it there without getting hurt.

Meanwhile, I was working on multiple tasks at once, piloting the ship as my fingers were darting across the control panel, preparing everything for what was to come. I realigned the ship’s systems, rerouted power, and made adjustments, all while maintaining a firm grip on the flight controls to track the VBA Module’s plotted trajectory.

"Agh...!"

The ship shook violently as another tentacle grazed the hull. This hit was worse than the last, and the damage reports confirmed my fears.

The impact had taken out some of the smaller thrusters on the starboard side, creating a dangerous imbalance. If I didn’t adjust, the ship would veer uncontrollably. But balancing it meant toning down the remaining thrusters, further slowing us down.

"Damn it!" I growled through clenched teeth, my anger spilling over. "Percy! Seal off the damaged sectors immediately!"

[Command received. Sectioning off areas A-6 to D-8… complete.]

The damaged sections were deep enough to almost reach the ship’s core, but luckily, the main infrastructure and the medical room remained intact. That was one small blessing, at least.

But with every passing second, the Detonid was catching up, and Eva still hadn’t come back.

Sweat dripped down my face as I gazed at the wild readouts. We only have a single shot at making this work. But would Eva return in time for us to make it happen?

Without the powered suits, the next stunt I had in mind would be nothing short of a death sentence. Even with the suits, our chances of survival were slim at best. But this was the last card we had left to play.

And as for Major Terrence… he’d be okay. He’s inside the medical pod, submerged in liquid teeming with medical nanomachines from head to toe, so he wouldn’t even notice the mayhem surrounding him.

If he chose to chew me out after we return to where everyone else was, so be it. Survival was the priority.

"Arthur! Here’s your suit…!"

Eva came back roughly thirty seconds later, already dressed in her green and black Model 2064-A Truman Suit. She carried the other suit, the newer Model 2065-S—a model fractionally better than hers.

"Okay! Take the helm!" I commanded, leaping out of my chair and running to the suit she presented me with.

Eva didn’t delay, gliding into the pilot seat and taking hold of the controls. The vessel jerked once as she took control, maneuvering it down the white course laid out by the VBA Module. Her piloting wasn’t bad, but there was a definite disparity—most likely due to the lack of familiarity with the Range Falcon’s setup versus her own vessel.

I didn’t waste time either. Tapping the activation button on the suit’s chest plate, I watched as it opened up, practically wrapping itself around me. The powered suit automatically adjusted and locked into place in just five seconds, perfectly fitting my body.

Fully equipped, I bolted back to my post. "Good job! Now strap yourself in and leave the rest to me!"

The situation became increasingly desperate by the second. We were now a mere five kilometers from the gargantuan Detonid—a distance which would narrow quickly at our diminished pace.

"We’ll make it through, won’t we?!" Eva burst out, desperation in her voice. "If not, I’ll haunt you in the afterlife, I swear!"

"Your threats aren’t exactly threatening right now!" I retorted with a smile, pressing one final button to complete the process. "But don’t worry—I have no desire to die in this godforsaken corner of space!"

The foundation of my plan revolved on Newton’s Third Law of Motion: action and reaction forces.

Just like how a ship’s thrusters pushed matter away to propel the ship forward, we’d apply the same principle—but on an entirely different scale—to reach safety.

My gaze fixed on the Detonid on the screen, its huge frame depicted by orange wireframe tentacles writhing wildly as it made its way towards us. From its girth and size, I could tell that it had sufficient mass for this plan to be effective.

"Here we go!" I said under my breath, observing the small item I had searched for previously leave the release tube on the Range Falcon’s stern. The cube device hurtled through space at high velocity, following a direct trajectory to the Detonid.

As anticipated, the creature responded instantly. Its tentacles lashed at the object with the aim of grabbing it before it arrived at its massive body.

"But you fell for it!" I grinned, slamming another button on the console. "Percy! Instant Action Mode! Activate shields at maximum output!"

[Command received. Shield generators online. Engaging maximum output.]

The pale blue sheen of the shields ignited, covering the Range Falcon from all sides. The gleaming arcs pulsed momentarily before returning to nearly invisible as the VBA Module recognized them as belonging to the ship’s defense system.

With the shields on, I refocused my attention on the Detonid. Its tentacle was already closing around the small, tumbling cube.

Then, the trap was sprung.

When the tentacle approached, the modified sensors on the cube came to life, and its real shape expanded in a matter of seconds. Tiny spikes protruded from one corner, smoldering with electricity, and its sides burst out, morphing into a gigantic solar sail measuring almost a hundred kilometers in diameter.

The expansion happened so quickly that even the monstrous Detonid flinched. The enormous sail—composed of specialized cells that absorbed dark energy to generate electricity—now floated between us and the creature.

The Detonid hesitated, its tentacles recoiling slightly. It must have sensed the danger. The surface of the sail was filled with dense electrical energy. If the creature touched it, its volatile body would burst in one grand explosion, for sure.

Its tentacle recoiled, avoiding the sail completely—the exact reaction I had anticipated rooted from its self-preservation instincts! Right now, it was probably wondering how to deal with the massive obstruction in its path, but I wouldn’t let it have enough time.

"Now, show us your power! Brionac...!"

As I launched the solar sail, at the same time, I also set the Brionac towards our next target, a point in space that seemed utterly inconsequential. That was a place everyone, myself included, had ignored as irrelevant because of its distance. And now, it was going to become our salvation.

"You…!" Eva hissed, her voice dripping with frustration as she realized what I was aiming for.

I couldn’t help but grin at her reaction. "Yes, exactly as you guessed!" I said, my voice carrying an almost maniacal edge. "Boost the G-Force protection in your suit, or you’ll definitely die!"

The Brionac finished charging, its energy building to a dazzling crescendo before unleashing a breathtaking prismatic beam. The laser shot past the enormous Detonid, hurtling toward the distant swarm of smaller enemies still pursuing us from a couple thousand kilometers away.

The beam struck its target with pinpoint precision, and almost immediately, a fiery red "rose" erupted in the black void. The explosion expanded with alarming speed, its blooming petals consuming everything in sight. The chain reaction that followed was so intense it seemed capable of collapsing into a black hole if the destructive radius had been just a little smaller.

A few seconds passed, and the shockwave reached us. And not just any shockwave—this was a forcefield, equivalent to a supernova’s energy, and it built in intensity over the course of the few seconds it took for the wave to hit us.

The blast wave smashed into the Detonid and the solar sail, but it acted differently because of the difference in their mass and surface area.

"—!"

The solar sail took the brunt of the force, its surface tearing and riddling with holes as it struggled against the overwhelming power. But its purpose was clear: harness the energy and drag us away. The tether—woven from carbon nanotube weave (CNW)—held strong, yanking the Range Falcon and taking it along like a parasail pulled by the wind.

The sudden increase in speed accompanied a violent acceleration. My sight was blurring due to intense G-Force assaulting us. The force of acceleration, even as it was softened by the space suit, the powered suit, and the ship’s inertia canceller still made me feel crushed against my chair as though being squeezed through a wringer!

The Range Falcon groaned under the strain, its hull creaking loudly. The acceleration must’ve hit well over 10,000G—enough to tear apart lesser ships. But as the the new propulsion device worked, I caught sight of the Detonid shrinking on the monitors, rapidly becoming a tiny speck in the distance.

It wasn’t untouched by the explosion, but it hadn’t been destroyed either. Its gigantic size had saved it from the blast more than the sail did.

But I wasn’t going to let this chance go without a fight.

’We must end it here!’

It would ultimately regain its strength and find us again. There was no other viable option but to strike while it was weak.

As the sail still pulled us forward at an unimaginable speed, I set the Brionac’s trajectory one final time.

"BRIONAC! SHOW US YOUR GRIT!"

Before the Detonid could disappear from view, I charged the Brionac to maximum power, aiming it straight at the behemoth.

"DIE!!!"

I pulled the trigger, unleashing the full fury of the weapon. A final, blindingly bright explosion lit up the void—a prismatic flower blooming in the darkness. And then... silence.