Alabaster Noon by Chris Kennedy & Mark Wandrey

Author:Chris Kennedy & Mark Wandrey [Kennedy, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Seventh Seal Press
Published: 2019-06-18T22:00:00+00:00

* * *

CIC, BMS Trushista, New Warsaw System

“All beam weapons are ineffective,” TacCom announced.

“Then use missiles, you idiot!” Paka all but screamed.

“Ready a missile barrage,” Captain Glashpooka ordered, rasping his radula in distaste at his commander’s public show of emotion.

“Standby,” the TacCom said.

“The enemy battlecruisers,” SitCon said, and the five Egleesius were immediately the center of the Tri-V focus.

Paka gawked as the five ships changed bearing in perfectly synchronized motion. They reminded her of the Kalta birds native to the Veetanho home world. Only the Kalta birds didn’t fire 40-terawatt particle accelerator spinal mounts in equally perfect precision. She just had time to open her mouth to speak a warning when the beams struck.

The other battleship was hit precisely in its main engineering section. The Egleesius ships not only fired in precision, their angles adjusted while firing, delivering all 200-terawatts of energy to the same point. Shields failed in a split second, and the beams cut through the battleship’s armor and into its engineering section. As the beams penetrated, the Egleesius ships performed a tiny spin, widening the damage to ravage the battleship’s engineering section.

Eight of the battleship’s twelve fusion reactors were breached, filling the engine rooms with star-hot plasma, setting off scores of rampaging secondary explosions. The battleship ruptured like an overripe melon.

“Defensive screen!” Paka ordered, and the screening cruisers and battlecruisers moved to intercept positions, changing focus from the untouchable battlecruiser to the strangely acting Egleesius, all of which accelerated and began maneuvering in excess of 10 Gs, making them much more difficult targets.

The swarms of missiles intended for Sphinx were instead launched against the Egleesius ships, which swept them from space with unbelievable accuracy. Nearly every laser fired by the Egleesius ships hit a missile, and all were destroyed before they could get to the ships. Paka had only ever seen such a display of accuracy.

“Ghost!” she hissed. The damned AI was controlling all five Egleesius at once! I should have thought of that, she realized in horror, but the damned AI hadn’t done it in the previous battles. With Alexis out of the game, she’d been counting on the AI’s inability to affect the battle. She’d never completely understood how it worked, anyway. When it hadn’t produced any magic as dozens of the Hussars’ ships died, she’d ceased worrying about it. It was a mistake.

“Withdraw behind the screen,” she ordered.

“Our screen will have to stand in the face of their fire,” Glashpooka said.

“Do it,” Paka said.

Glashpooka stared at her with all three eyes.

“Do it, or I will relieve you on the spot!”

Many eyes in the CIC turned to regard their captain, and the Veetanho placed in charge of their ship. A moment passed before Glashpooka passed along the order.

“Prepare for high-G maneuvers,” the battleship’s automated system announced as the ship’s engines poured power into the void. The escort ships moved to screen the battleship, and the five Egleesius killed them in ones and twos.

“We’ll join up with the dreadnought’s squadron,” Paka said to herself, not aware the Bakulu were listening.

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