Far Beyond 03: Battlestations! by Christian Kallias

Author:Christian Kallias [Kallias, Christian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 2_read, SpaceOpera_VariousAuthors, -new
Amazon: B07W14SRWJ
Published: 2019-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

13

Kevin put the fleet into attack formation and tried his first combat scenario as a brute-force push with little to no strategy involved, but because the enemy fleet had stronger firepower, that did not go well.

When the first simulation was over, only half of the Kregan fleet had been destroyed, and Earth had suffered massive damage from the battle as many of the enemy destroyers fell through to the surface and their debris killed millions in the larger cities.

“Clearly a brute-force approach isn’t gonna cut it,” said Kevin, swiping the simulation away with both hands.

“No, and I’m actually surprised you even tried it,” said Mira.

“I wanted to see what we were up against. After all, that’s the whole point of these simulations, isn’t it?”

“Correct. Fortunately, you have time to run many of them.”

A fact not lost on Kevin, who would rather spend most of his time with Lacuna instead.

“If this first try is any indication, I’ll need it.”

“Don’t fret about it, Kevin, I’m sure you’ll get better.”

Everyone expected Kevin to perform well, and while it flattered his ego in the beginning, now the pressure to perform and deliver had all-too-real implications, like the survival of the entire human race, which slowly but surely began to provide some anxiety as a result.

“Yeah, I’d better. Let’s try this again.”

The second scenario was less of a catastrophe, with much less damage to the planet but still resulted in a defeat for the Arcadian forces.

“We need to amp up our guns, or this won’t work,” said Kevin with frustration.

“We can’t exactly upgrade anything in hyperspace, so I’m afraid that’s not an option,” said Mira.

“There has to be a way to redirect more power to the shields and weaponry.”

“To some extent and for limited periods, we could temporarily siphon energy from life support, but imagine the toll it would take on the crew, with limited air and exposed to cold temperatures.”

“Do we really need all the crew if I’m remote controlling most of the destroyers?”

“That’s an interesting point, I’ll have to run calculations.”

Kevin liked that idea because it would mean fewer people would be killed in battle.

“Yes, you do that, calculate the smallest skeleton crew complement needed by each ship, and perhaps we can unload the rest on the surface of the planet upon arrival.”

“Will do. In the meantime, let me charge another simulation for you.”

The holo-room reset to its base setting, with Earth at the center of the view when the Arcadian fleet jumped out of hyperspace.

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