Dreadnought: Avenger by Richard Tongue

Author:Richard Tongue [Tongue, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2023-05-18T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

​The last technician returned to the flight deck with a few minutes to spare, clutching a pair of datapads that he clipped to his station, ready to add a series of data updates to the sensor relays. They were taking no chances with computer security, not now. The Martians had spent a long time preparing for their assault, and there was every danger that they had taken the chance to hide more surprises in Saratoga’s systems. In the run-up to their now cancelled retirement, too many civilians had been allowed on board, too many shortcuts taken to save time.

​They’d worked to prepare for what was to come, but given that they had so little intelligence to go on, just Mitchell’s deduction and Forrest’s hunch in play, there simply wasn’t much that they could do. Forrest looked up at the countdown clock, then turned to Knox with a nod.

​“Now hear this,” Knox said, speaking into a microphone. “This is the Exec. Condition One. I repeat, Saratoga is now on Condition One. All hands will report to battle stations, department heads report status to the flight deck on the double. Eagle and Hawk Squadrons prepare for immediate launch.” She glanced at Forrest with a smile, then said, “That is all.”

​As the crew moved into action, Forrest glanced back at Knox, and said, “You enjoyed that.”

​“Damn right. Love the names, by the way. Mitchell did good there. It might even catch on. Doubt we’ll be able to reconstitute any of the old flight squadrons in a hurry, not under wartime conditions.” She tapped a control, then said, “I’ve got Munoz preparing to probe the local defense satellites, but on the assumption that they’ve been infected with the virus.”

​Nodding, Forrest said, “They could have spread that damn thing all across the frontier. I presume we’ve made no progress on finding a way to stop the damned thing getting through the firewall?”

​“Not even started,” she replied. “Oh, Sergeant Sanchez called up, and he still needs another four hours to get the rest of the fighters cleared. Nothing he can do about that, I’m afraid. It’s just going to take about as long as it takes. That means that Eagle currently has six fighters, Hawk three.”

​“And the techjammer,” Forrest noted.

​“Sure, but I’m not sure how much use it’ll be on its own. Those things are too damn slow for my liking. Might have been wiser to hook it in with Eagle, get it to work with the interceptors. On a strike mission, it could easily turn out to be a liability.”

​“Don’t be so sure,” Forrest replied. “Sergeant Sanchez has something of a reputation. Before they made the final decision on the decommissioning, I tried to grab him for Saratoga. Didn’t come off.” He looked at Romano, the young helmsman fixed on his controls, and asked, “Lieutenant, status?”

​“Nominal, Captain,” Romano reported. “Nice and steady, wormhole is at optimum cohesion, I anticipate no difficulties in emergence.” He looked at a readout, and added, “A hundred and five seconds, mark.

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