Everyone on the
Audentes could feel the ship slightly rotate, either around them or beneath them. Those on the outside could see bursts of gas, illuminated white by the distant Sun, released from thrusters welded on to the hull of the HAB. As Alex,
Sovanna, and Skolos stood maglocked to the hull, they watched as the stars above them move mechanically, before coming to a halt after a few more corrections.
The coilgun was now aimed at deep space, a large inclination to the average orbital plane around the Sun. Nothing would detect it, much less get hit by it, for at least a thousand years. With that, the gun whirled to life beneath their feat. Alex watched his datapad as the voltage and temperature readings rose, then reached a steady state after some fluctuation.
Then, the gun fired. Superheated gas used to cool the barrel streamed out from the pores, the heat causing it to emit faint, red light. Short cylindrical rounds made of tungsten and depleted uranium alloys, too heated to the point of giving off light, streaked out of the barrel and into the void beyond in perfect, straight lines at several kilometers per second.
Alex gave another look at his datapad, checking the numbers coming in from the few rounds that had the bare minimum of sensors and antennas on them. A smile crept up across his face. "Yes, this is going to work." He announced through the comms, then carefully made his way back into the cargo chamber. "Let's go get this son of a bitch."