Bad Bishop: Scions of Oth: Episode 1 by Shilkaitis Jack

Author:Shilkaitis, Jack
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JAS Publishing
Published: 2023-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

18

GROTESQUE

“Where is Commander Grall?” Abi shouted to the communications officer.

“On his way, ma’am. I just received confirmation.”

Abi focused on the Master Tablebase, her clammy hands leaving palm prints on the screen. The red dots on the screen weren’t part of a simulation. They were her pawns. Her fighters. This was real.

How did Jerald do this?

“The Last Rest is launching fighters, ma’am. They’re taking a direct course. Awaiting your orders.”

Lines. She needed lines. She dragged a finger across the tablebase, punched in the orders. The tablebase suggested deploying battlespheres, but Abi wanted to wait.

“Relay commands to all fighters. Keep those legionnaires as far from Intrepid as possible.”

Ensign Relik looked up at her. “That’s a conservative course of action, ma’am. High probability of success, unless they see through it.”

“You are not my second, Ensign. You can keep your mouth shut.”

Wings one and two went out to meet the Mesav fighters, clashing in the middle. There would be high casualties on both sides if it continued for long.

It was time to see what Captain Obgar would do. Would he go for the throat or swallow his own words?

The Last Rest started advancing.

“Launch spearheads. If they try to fire a single nuke I want it blowing up in their faces,” Abi commanded.

The drone fighters launched, appearing on her tablebase. She directed them around the fray in the middle, holding them to intercept any nukes Last Rest might fire.

“Their guns are thirty degrees from ideal targeting, ma’am,” Relik reported.

The tablebase blinked at her.

Right, we need to be moving. She changed the Intrepid’s path on the tablebase. “Let’s keep that angle wide, shall we?”

She checked the attrition count. Five. Five already? That was too many. She looked at the swarm of fighters in the middle.

“Prep a nuke,” she ordered.

“Just one?”

Abi did it herself. She grabbed one of the spearheads on the screen, looped it back to the middle of the fray, then drew lines for the fighter wings to retreat.

She gave the order. “Launch it at the spearhead.”

The pieces started to shift. Her fighters drew back slowly, not wanting to tip their hand to the Mesav. The spearhead entered the edge of the dogfight. The nuke launched.

“All wings, retreat now,” Abi announced over the comm.

The fighters spun on their heels and turned back to the Intrepid at maximum acceleration. The nuke zipped past them as the Mesav legionnaires tried to adjust. But they were too slow, blocking each other’s escape in a dense cluster. The nuke and the spearhead met in the middle, taking most of the legionnaires down in one blast.

“Well executed. Now we finish the job,” Abi encouraged the pilots.

“Ma’am, the Last Rest is at two degrees,” Relik said panicking. “They’re preparing to fire.”

“How did you let that slip, ensign?” Abi scolded.

Fin was grasping the edges of the Master Tablebase, white knuckled. “The Tablebase… I… uh… They made a quick adjustment, ma’am. Their nukes are armed and firing.”

Three yellow lights shot across the screen. Abi redirected the spearheads, but the Mesav had gotten the jump on them and they wouldn’t be able to catch up.

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