Spacers: Thatcher's Gambit by Scott Bartlett

Author:Scott Bartlett [Bartlett, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mirth Publishing
Published: 2021-09-04T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Aboard the Keats

Unknown Regard System, Quisle Region

Earth Year 2292

Admiral Octavius Burroughs caught himself biting his lip as he studied the tactical display, and made himself stop.

I thought I eradicated that habit years ago. The nervous tick had returned, it seemed. He supposed its timing made sense. The display showed him a mighty fleet under his command, one that had the Red Sky position completely surrounded. Victory should be inevitable. But it had also seemed that way every other time he’d tried to cleanse Quisle Region of the Russians for Penta Syndicate. And everyone knew how that had turned out.

“Sir?” said the Keats’ commander, Captain Adams.

“Give it another few minutes,” Burroughs snapped. Then, moderating his tone, he said, “I want them to squirm.”

In truth, he was the one who felt like squirming. Failure simply wasn’t an option for him, here. If Red Sky won, his career would be over. Not only would Penta likely fire him, but who else would hire a fleet commander who’d lost so badly, to a force he outnumbered fourteen to one?

We’ve whittled them down to twenty-five warships, for God’s sake. And only nineteen of them are in this system. Just give the order to commence the attack.

But still he waited, watching the Red Sky defenders as they held formation around the Helio base they’d dubbed “the Meatgrinder,” a name the Russians loved repeating endlessly in the propaganda they broadcast to the rest of the Cluster.

The intel Mittelman had managed to transmit to him had proven valuable, though Burroughs still wasn’t convinced the man was worth the exorbitant salary he’d demanded. The spymaster had tipped him off that Red Sky was covertly developing Comfort’s End System, the dead-end system due south from here, and that they were using warships to transport supplies and materials back and forth to the system. He’d helped Burroughs time his attack while six of those warships were away from their precious “Meatgrinder.” After the Helio base was destroyed, Burroughs planned to take his fleet south to clean up what remained of Red Sky.

I need to strike now, so that those ships have no chance of returning before the battle is over.

He nodded to himself, took a deep breath, and said, “Give the order.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” said Lieutenant Mabry, Adams’ Ops officer. He set about composing the message to broadcast to the rest of the fleet.

The nearly three-hundred-strong fleet. Everything Penta could afford to send down Devil’s Arm.

Mittelman had recommended a few optimal attack paths through the asteroid field, but Burroughs had disregarded them, opting instead to spread his fleet in a rough sphere around the Helio base. Now, he watched as that sphere closed like a fist, its dozens of squadrons weaving deftly through the enormous, jagged rocks hurtling through space.

“Five minutes to maximum firing range,” Mabry said.

“Acknowledged,” Burroughs said with a relieved sigh. That drew an amused look from Captain Adams, which he answered with a glare.

Adams’ gaze flitted away, and Burroughs adjusted the collar of his service uniform, feeling satisfied.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.