Human by A. G. Claymore

Author:A. G. Claymore [Claymore, A. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-31T00:00:00+00:00

F irst target is crippled,” Oliv announced.

“Good,” Eth said, still caught up in the adrenaline rush of infantry combat, though now he was fighting with a ship instead of a combat team. Perhaps that’s not so different.

“Spread the next salvo among the ships we can hit from here,” he ordered, “then, Hendy, I want you to get us in close to that crippled cruiser. Keep her between us and the rest of the enemy forces.”

He could feel Oliv’s desire to concentrate fire on another target but she kept it to herself. “We need to distract them away from their attack on Heiropolis,” he explained. “Knowing one of your ships has taken heavy damage in a fight is easy enough to put aside but knowing your own ship is taking damage from an unexpected flank is far more insistent.

“We want them turning away from their surprise attack and concentrating on us while our fleet comes in on them from behind.”

“Let’s hope our fleet shows a proper sense of urgency,” Noa added quietly.

Eth turned to the damage control station where Noa raised an eyebrow, daring him to challenge his mistrust of the Quailu. “They’re more than happy to let us take all the risks while they sneak up from behind – they’ve only sent us natives. None of their ships are up here. I’m just hoping they don’t plan on sneaking along till they finally get detected.”

Eth didn’t really want to reprimand Noa for voicing a concern that he’d been struggling with as well. Fortunately, he could feel Oliv’s sudden elation. “Of course they’re going to come to our rescue, Noa,” he said, with a mischievous smile.

“Massive wave of cluster-munitions inbound!” Oliv announced. “They’re targeting all ships except ours.”

“This ship is quite valuable to our lord, after all,” he told his engineer, still smiling.

“Firing,” Oliv said. “Dispersed targeting enabled.”

The rail guns howled beneath their feet and the holo displays of the enemy fleet froze in place for a moment while the sensors were temporarily blinded.

“Moving us into cover.” Henkenu’s fingers flew across the navigational display.

The forward motion left most of the ionized gasses behind and the tactical holos jumped ahead to show the latest data.

“Multiple hits!” Oliv exulted. “The fleet hit ‘em hard. Looks like they went after the frigates first. They’ve only got two left that can answer to their helms from the look of it!

“Looks like we’ve got their attention,” she added. “Their countermeasures were concentrated on what the planetary defense threw at them and they didn’t count on an attack coming from one of their own ships! We’ve hurt three cruisers and knocked out one, maybe two – there were secondaries going off...

“They’re turning!” she shouted.

“Our way?” Eth asked.

“Two ships turning our way but most are trying to face the fleet,” she replied. “Bad timing for them. A wave of missiles from Heiropolis is just starting to separate.”

They had to find a way to coordinate with the local defense forces. Eth didn’t want to take this ship only to lose it to friendly fire.

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