Capital Starship by Scott Bartlett

Author:Scott Bartlett [Bartlett, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781988380117
Google: aN83swEACAAJ
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 36836044
Publisher: Mirth Publishing
Published: 2017-12-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 31

Blood on Hands

The tactical display told Husher that when the hostile vessel vanished, it had left two hundred and thirty-nine robots speeding across the void toward the Vesta. The strange ordnance, totally new to Husher’s experience of space warfare, seemed to have guidance systems at least as sophisticated as his Banshees, and so simply steering the supercarrier out of the way wasn’t going to cut it. He had to deal with every last one.

“Coms, contact Commander Ternon and request that he divert his course to Edessa. We don’t know where in the system the enemy ship will appear next, but we do know that its largest colony presents the most valuable target.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Transmit orders to our battle group that they should remain at the colony as well.” Husher squinted at the main display, trying to determine his next move. “Winterton.”

“Sir?”

Husher glanced at the man, surprised he had to actually vocalize what he wanted—but then he saw how intently the sensor operator was studying his console’s readout. “Do I need to have Tremaine start sending Banshees at those things?”

“I think it’s prudent to keep them armed and ready,” Winterton said. “The enemy missiles’ velocity is such that our reverse thrust can’t bring us to parity before impact. That said, it is broadening the window we’ll have to deal with them, and we’ve already cut down the barrage by eighty-three missiles. Eighty-four!” he exclaimed, apparently responding to something he saw on his console. Winterton didn’t get excited very often, and Husher took his optimism as a good sign.

“Very good, Ensign. I’d like you to work together with Tactical to arrive at an estimate of how many of those robots are likely to get through to our hull. If it’s more than five, I’ll give the order to fire Banshees.”

Husher didn’t like the idea of even one reaching his hull—it meant a minor breach and a chance that it would get access to something they couldn’t do without.

That chance was slim, though. Major Gamble’s marines were well-trained and vigilant. They’d find and destroy anything that wormed its way into the Vesta’s corridors well before it found something vital; Husher felt confident about that.

The ship that had launched the barrage showed no sign of reemerging from wherever it had gone, and within twenty minutes, Winterton and Tremaine had determined that none of the enemy missiles were likely to get through.

At that, Husher breathed a quiet sigh of relief. If we’d been facing two of those warships, and they’d been more willing to stick around…

It was a good reminder to keep his battle group at hand whenever possible.

“Sir, contact off our stern,” Winterton said. “It’s the ship that fired the missiles—she’s right behind us. We’re accelerating straight for her.”

“Tactical, do we have enough charge to use our primary laser?”

“Aye, Captain!”

“Use the central aft projector to fire it at the enemy vessel, center-mass. Do it now.”

“Firing laser.”

Winterton gripped his console. “They’re hitting us with a particle beam. Superheating is occurring across a sizable portion of our stern, sir.

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