Jack Forge, Fleet Marine Boxed Set (Books 1 - 9) by James David Victor

Author:James David Victor [Victor, James David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fairfield Publishing
Published: 2019-01-05T22:00:00+00:00

14

Pretorius watched the pursuing Chitin Krakens close the distance to his ship. The fighters from the Monarch were fleeing just ahead of the Krakens and were increasing their distance. The fighters caught up with the carrier group and deployed themselves by squadrons throughout the group.

The Overlord Carrier Group was closing in. Pretorius readied himself to stop running. In just a few seconds, he would come about and re-engage the Leviathans. With two carriers and six destroyers, the massive Chitin craft would be destroyed. It was simply a question of numbers and in this instance, the Fleet had them.

But first, Pretorius needed to deal with the Krakens.

The Krakens were spread out behind the retreating Monarch Carrier Group. The group deployed drones as space mines and they detonated as soon as they came within effective range of the Krakens. Unfortunately, the small Chitin craft were spread out so thinly that only token kills were achieved.

Pretorius knew he was wasting his most devastating weapon. He wasn’t going to spend a drone for one Kraken kill. It was question of numbers, and in this instance, the Chitins had more.

“Load all tubes with combat drones. Set for maximum yield.” Pretorius was going to hit the first Leviathan with all he had. He watched the range finder on the holostage. The Krakens were closing in.

The rearmost of the Scorpio’s high-energy laser batteries was fully rotated and aimed toward the pursuing Chitin Krakens.

“Laser to give pulse fire,” Pretorius called out. “Automatic target selection.”

Commander Chou rushed to the laser control position and programmed the firing solution.

“Fire when ready.” Pretorius watched the holostage with a cool head. The battle was a constantly developing beast, it could change any moment and he needed to be alert. He needed to feel the pulse of the fight and prepare to change his attack if and when necessary.

The aft pointing laser let out a bolt that seemed to travel instantaneously to the target point. That point was a meter inside the hull of the nearest Chitin Kraken. The holostage recorded the kill.

The laser took one and three-quarter seconds to charge and re-aim. Then another Kraken was annihilated by the Scorpio’s rear laser battery.

The rear-facing lasers on the Pisces and Aries were pulsing away. The Monarch had its rear assembly of four laser cannons firing pulses of high-energy laser. The pursuing Chitin Krakens were being destroyed at a rate of four every second.

Still, they had the numbers. As they came into firing range, their forward spitz cannon blasted out a plasma rain that homed in on the Monarch’s engine assembly.

The Fleet fighters were already engaging. The Blades accelerated toward the Krakens, fighting fire with fire. The Krakens continued to take the punishment from the massed laser barrage, but they still outnumbered the fighters two-to-one.

Pretorius could do nothing more for now. The group was nearing grid eight-eight-thirteen. Any moment now, he would be turning back to the fight.

“Stand by for combat breaking,” Pretorius called. He activated the ship-wide communicator. “Combat breaking alert. Stand by.”

The Blades from the Overlord Carrier Group came streaming forward.

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