Secondary Effect

It was still a waiting game. Even though I was able to easily detect that a One-Eight-One had been temporarily snagged on the Seven end of a Shorty, nothing was happening close enough to be of use. Either my focus was off or my frustration was getting to me. In an instant I was knocked off the Eight and almost thought I had been ejected before I realized that I was caught in the outer orbit of a Six.

Having regained composure, and having no desire to duke it out with the group hanging around the Eights, I meandered back to the Seven end. More than one Electron was happy to trade places along the way, shortening the journey immensely. I hopped into orbit about the Seven and then up onto a One to get a better view, shifting the Synchro-Drive into limp mode. I stayed on this One, forcing the other Electron to do the bounce between the other two Ones via a swingshot about the Seven.

I began scanning for pairs of ornery Eights that I might be close enough to interact with, reversing the logic of the prior attempts. I had not completed the first scan cycle before my initial attachment scan went off, and loudly. The pulse was so close that it seemed to be all around me, and then I realized that it was my local Seven group that had attracted itself to a One-Eight-One, giving us a magnified charge.