Glory - Humanity's Retribution Part 1: A Military Sci-Fi Adventure by Ira Heinichen & Craig Martelle

Author:Ira Heinichen & Craig Martelle [Heinichen, Ira & Martelle, Craig]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Craig Martelle, Inc
Published: 2024-10-28T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Carrol had been right, as she usually was, to point out that the Paragon might respond by sending their fighters. That was exactly what the enemy had done. Almost immediately after Drake sent in the Ghost Fleet’s entire complement of small craft to attack the Paragon cruisers by the moon, the Paragon had pulled all their fighters out to attack the Ghost Fleet. Specifically, they were attacking the fleet’s carriers. There was a terrible logic in that. While any of the carriers could more than hold their own against fighter and bomber attacks, with an array of anti-spacecraft systems comparable to any other battle- or multipurpose-ship in the Ghost Fleet, they were large, they were slow, and they were responsible for refueling and rearming more than half of the support craft in the fleet. Glory could turn around twenty to thirty fighters at a time in her hangar and launch bays. Hood, their largest carrier, could handle one hundred and fifty by herself. Losing such force multipliers would be disastrous, and from the picture forming on his command console, Drake could see that several of them were in jeopardy, not the least of which was Hood.

With the fleet’s fighters unleashed to handle the existing Paragon cruisers, and maybe even get through for a bombing run on the moon’s cannon, Drake had turned his attention to the next phase of their battle. He needed to position his fleet to meet the incoming reinforcements, which were due soon through the gateway directly behind them, the gate closest to the moon. They were deployed in a hemisphere around that gate, super-heavies toward the center of the formation, heavy cruisers around them, and smaller craft on the fringes, all designed to pound whatever came through that chokepoint to space dust. They were, blessedly, far enough from the moon cannon to be beyond its effective range. That wasn’t an issue. The problem Drake could see unfolding, however, was that this configuration had left their carriers toward the rear, away from the fleet’s most potent firepower. It made them prime pickings for the Paragon fighters. It was a mismatch the enemy was pouncing on. The carriers needed help.

“I have another message for you to send to the fleet, Commander,” Drake called to Carrol. In an instant, she was by his side. Drake began to methodically highlight the closest ships to the besieged carriers, grouping them by color, at least five or six of them. When he was done, it was just over a third of their heavy forces. “Reinforce the carriers,” he told her, pointing to each group and where they were supposed to go. “Tell them to bunch in close, catch the fighters in a crossfire.” He raised his eyes to share a hard look with her. “And tell them to make it quick.”

“Yes, sir,” she responded with a nod. She didn’t say anything about being right. She didn’t even glance at the display. She simply turned on her heel and went back to

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