Destroyer: A Military Space Opera (The Bad Company Book 5) by Craig Martelle & Michael Anderle

Author:Craig Martelle & Michael Anderle [Martelle, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9781642021813
Publisher: LMBPN Publishing
Published: 2019-04-07T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“Fire.” The commander sat back and watched as the ship transitioned beyond the shield, fired, and disappeared back under its cloak.

The Myriador warship yanked sideways, taking a thirty-degree offset to its previous position to stymie the counterfire.

The response time from the enemy battlewagons had dropped to less than a quarter of a second between the escape maneuver and when the first lasers lanced through the space where Traxinstall had been.

“Increase stand-off distance by three hundred percent,” the commander ordered. The ship maneuvered away from the station and hovered, using only control thrusters until it had a gap between the ships that were using their hulls and shields to protect the station.

“Fire.”

The second attack sent a bolt of plasma into the station. It raced in through a previous strike and exploded well within the station. A jet of gases escaped from the shape in a fountain of fire, air, and debris.

Traxinstall had already moved directly overhead by the time the return fire blasted through the area, covering most avenues of escape. The enemy was getting smarter and firing in wider circles more quickly than before.

“Delay the final attack. Increase stand-off distance another two thousand percent.”

“They’ll be able to intercept the plasma ball,” the weapons specialist blurted. The commander glared at the insubordination. “Silence!”

“My sincere apologies, Lord Mantis.” Katamara quivered with bowed head while he waited for his punishment to be doled out.

“Hit the station with this next shot,” the commander offered without following it up. The stick hung over the weapons specialist’s head. There would be no carrot.

“Shall we also throw a mine? Given the penetration of that last shot, we could destroy the whole station with a single mine if we can lob it into the hole.”

The commander waited to answer. He was thinking about it. His strategy would be defeated before he could finish the task of destroying the enemy. The sure way to guarantee the annihilation of the Traxinstall was to kill the families of those manning the warships.

He assumed the families were on the station. He didn’t have to answer the question regarding the station’s biggest vulnerability since a battleship positioned itself in front of the heavily damaged section, a physical barrier with shields extended.

“Not yet,” the commander replied. “But soon.”

He said that to assure the bridge crew that he wasn’t contemplating defeat, but that he was a genius, thinking multiple steps ahead of them. Which he was, but he didn’t consider himself one of the mental giants. He understood the tactics, especially when he developed them on the fly.

“When the command to fire is given, you’ll fire and immediately return to the minefield to recover more of our weapons. Our next strike will be on the shipyard.” He waited through the acknowledgments and then issued the order. “Fire.”

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