Crimson Worlds: War Stories: 3 Crimson Worlds Prequel Novellas by Jay Allan

Author:Jay Allan [Allan, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction & Fantasy, Science Fiction, Military, Space Marine, Space Opera
ISBN: 0616003587
Amazon: B00JG6EGW2
Publisher: System 7 Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2014-04-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Control Center

AS Scorpion

Wolf 424 System

“Activate all point defense batteries.” Terrance Compton sat in his command chair, looking straight ahead as he snapped out orders. Like everyone else on the bridge – everyone on Scorpion – he was wearing his survival suit, and his helmet was on and sealed. His ship was heading into battle.

“Point defense lasers ready, sir.” Lieutenant Kiernan shot back the reply almost immediately. “Projected time to firing range, 45 seconds.”

“Very well, lieutenant.” Compton’s voice was calm. They’d known the enemy capital ship had at least one functioning laser cannon…they’d seen it firing at the fleeing Burke. Now they knew the battleship had a missile launcher operating too. The incoming volley was small, only 11 missiles, but Compton wasn’t going to let his people get sloppy. If they screwed up, if one of those 75 megaton warheads got through, it could vaporize Scorpion with a near miss. “I want the shotgun crews on standby, ready to fire on anything that gets through.”

“Yes, sir.” The shotguns were something new, a series of multi-barrel coilguns blasting heavy metal projectiles into the path of oncoming missiles at hyper-velocity speeds. At the velocities involved, it didn’t take a very large chunk of osmium-iridium alloy to take out a missile. Compton had never used the shotguns before, but he had high hopes for the innovative system. Squadron Captain Simmons had run some training exercises with the new weapons before 3rd Squadron left the Amiens battlegroup, but none of Scorpion’s crew had ever fired them under combat conditions.

“Laser batteries engaging enemy missiles, captain.” Kiernan’s voice was mostly calm, perhaps just a touch of edginess. Odds were, Scorpion and Wasp could intercept 11 missiles, and it looked like that was all the enemy battleship had to throw at them. Still, there were no guarantees…it was very possible that one or more of the warheads would penetrate the point defense zone and detonate close enough to cause serious damage.

Compton nodded slightly, but he didn’t respond. He knew it was hard for the crew to sit there, waiting to see if they survived or not. There were six, maybe eight members of the crew – less than 10% - directly involved in the anti-missile effort. Everyone else had to sit tight…and see if their comrades saved their lives.

“Three missiles destroyed.” Kiernan was counting the hits out loud. Compton hadn’t ordered her to do it, but it was arguably within her sphere of duties. He didn’t see what harm it would do, so he let her keep it up, though he was as focused on the tactical display as she was. “Five down.”

It’s the lasers, Compton thought…the lasers are the big threat. He was still a bit distracted by the missiles, but he was thinking mostly about the Shang’s laser batteries. They’d fired one at the Burke…and it was a heavy laser cannon, part of the battleship’s main armament. It had been a bad shot, nowhere close to the target, but the probe reported it was at full power.

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