Doctor Who - New Adventures - 16 - Shadowmind by Christopher Bulis

Author:Christopher Bulis
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Doctor Who (Television Program), Fiction
ISBN: 9780426203940
Publisher: Doctor Who Books
Published: 1993-09-14T07:00:00+00:00

Power arms lifted the helmets over the back of the chairs and down over their heads, cutting off the sights and sounds of the bridge. Kausama felt the helmet automatically link with the terminal at the base of her skull. There was 110

the expected moment of total isolation as her own body senses were bypassed and disengaged. . .

. . . her senses merged with the ship as the team found their places in the control matrix.

She could feel their thought processes accelerating beyond that of any un-aided human mind, allowing them to control the combat functions of the Broadsword more precisely and more rapidly than any old-time commander could ever have dreamed possible. And if ‘G2’ doesn’t work, she thought, we’ll need all the edge we can get.

The long seconds of boosted perception-time ticked by.

‘Multiple contacts, eighty-five degrees by one-three-oh relative, fighter class, four – no five – targets.’

‘Engage countermeasures auto-systems; command team helmets on; computer interface on.’ There was no doubt in the mind of the Captain of the Adamant now, only a desire to do his duty.

‘Incoming missiles detected, anti-missiles away. . . ’ The helmet shut out the bridge sounds and the Captain felt his mind mesh smoothly with the computer matrix. It felt good, it felt proper, to be part of a large mind. He had no need for words to communicate with his fellows now, he simply knew.

Kim Talevera was in the second wave of fighters.

They approached the Adamant a hundred and twenty degrees around from the first wave as the ship was busy intercepting the first wave’s missiles. Fifty kilometres from target she locked on and loosed two multi-warhead anti-ship missiles, then twisted onto her escape vector. The third wave was due in under twenty seconds.

The Adamant was at the centre of a halo of fire. Incoming missiles blossomed into swelling spheres of incandescence as the ship’s beams tore into them.

Some warheads intentionally broke up before they were hit, shedding their multiple loads of bomblets and decoys. Laserbombs vaporized themselves as they converted their nuclear charges into focused beams of energy that stabbed against the protective fields. Hypervelocity hail vaporized against its hull shields, buffeting the ship as though it were ploughing through a rough sea.

Nothing could stand such a bombardment unscathed. Temporary shield overloads fused sections of hull. Some compartments were penetrated and lost pressure. But it was a warship, braced and powered for such conditions.

Leaks were sealed, and damage contained by a crew working with inhuman 111

vigour and efficiency. And it retaliated by sending its own projectiles out after the tiny craft that harassed it from beyond the range of its beams.

Kim ‘heard’ the missile’s scan beam lock on as she finished her second attack run. She pulled a tight evasive loop and strewed her wake with chaff bou-quets and radar decoys. The missile ignored them, still closing. Damn thing’s got me on visual tracking, she thought. She engaged maximum boost and dropped a spread of micromines. Fireballs erupted behind her and she heard the pseudo-sound of explosions.

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