Defiant by Douglas Wayne & Luke Simms

Author:Douglas Wayne & Luke Simms [Wayne, Douglas & Simms, Luke]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-11-13T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-Eight

New Earth Sector

Bridge, NECS Reliant

"Wilson, have crews focus our fire on the Odyssey. Prioritize their weapons systems and thrusters. Anything to keep them from being a threat." Wellard turned to watch the damage reports that were flooding his screen. In a few scant moments, the Odyssey had done more damage to the Reliant than the mass of derelict Mythrar vessels combined. Part of that had to do with their positioning, as until now, there had been little reason to keep the modulators active on the port side.

A few taps confirmed that issue had been corrected within moments of the Odyssey's opening volley.

The sounds of distant explosions echoed across the bridge from numerous impacts. Klaxons blared, warning the crew of the imminent threat of catastrophic damage.

Wellard's comm lit up. Quickly, he turned to his terminal and opened the connection. "Wellard here."

"Captain, I'm not sure what's going on up there, but we can't take much more damage to our starboard side. We've already lost two laser batteries on that side of the ship and a third of our auxiliary thrusters. Not only that, we have a laser beam getting precariously close to our engine core. I don't need to remind you what happens when that thing goes."

"No, Vaughn, you don't." Wellard turned to address Ensign Price. "Ensign, flip the ship around. Aim our nose at the Odyssey and move at full thrust."

"A game of chicken?" Vaughn questioned over the comm.

"He moves, or we do. Either way, we get the engine core out of their line of fire."

"Understood, sir. Starting the turn now."

The view on the screen shifted as the Reliant made a lumbering turn towards the Odyssey. Already, half of the nearby NEC ships were splitting their fire between the Odyssey and the handful of remaining damaged Mythrar ships. But the Odyssey was a heavy cruiser, built to withstand the punishment of a handful of ships while still being able to dish out plenty of their own. Even as the primary guns focused on the Reliant, the dozens of secondary side weapons had turned their attention on the rest of the NEC fleet.

All across the sector, the view was the same as the NEC fleet struggled to deal with the threat from both sides. For the most part, the derelict vessels were destroyed. The few that remained were being targeted by the satellites, under Richards' supervision. Then a thought occurred to Wellard. While he was interested in keeping the traitorous captains alive, it was more important that the rest of the ship survived.

"Richards, change your target from the remaining ships onto the traitorous NEC vessels."

"Am I aiming to disable or to kill?" Richards asked thoughtfully.

"Kill. We don't have time to determine their allegiance now. We can either test their allegiance while they continue to tear apart the fleet, or we can assume they are compromised and act accordingly."

"Sir." Richards didn't so much as flinch when he entered the command. Wellard was surprised how far the man had come over the past few months.

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