Stars and Steel by JN Chaney & Terry Maggert

Author:JN Chaney & Terry Maggert [Chaney, J.N.]
Language: eng
Format: epub

4

ON OFFENSE

They moved across the sky without engines.

And quickly, touching three hundred klicks on two occasions as the howling winds took them directly over the armored 10 that waited, weapons ready, beneath a cloud bank that had mass and colors and a radar shadow that was perfect for Valint’s plan.

Marek’s ship rode in overwatch, using the same winds and reporting on the state of the ribbons as they trailed behind.

“Lost another. It’s, ah, it’s fluttering away. Or flying,” Marek said.

“That means we have eleven. I’ll take that,” Valint said, totaling the remaining bait. “Dead slow. Give me everything on those mantas. Are we too far for the range of that one family?”

“Unsure. Their range might be as much as ten times this distance, but we’re not seeing competing families. However, I don’t think it matters,” Proxa drawled.

Valint’s eyes lit up. “Ahh. I see they’re here, and I’m betting they’re hungry.”

Two families of mantas dove into view and eased beside the cloud bank with lazy wing flaps that propelled them at a stunning speed.

“I think we can just—oh. Hello,” Valint said, turning the ship hard to port without another word.

The mantas had seen the ribbons. And they were attacking.

“Here we go. Operation Died of Natural Causes is about to engage. Hang on,” Valint said. Everyone did except for Braasch, who took the chance to stand and observe.

“By all means, carry on,” he said.

“I’m holding off, but missiles are ready as backup,” Marek said.

“Hold fire please,” Valint told the Gajur, her eyes narrowed in concentration as the ship began to accelerate away and down. Toward the hidden 10.

Valint was transfixed by the chase, and then she heard something at the edge of her senses. “Open volume on the exterior, please. What—what is that?”

A high, keening song warbled to life through the screen, even as the ship dove ever closer to the armored 10—which flared to life and began prepping for a quad launch of lethal missiles.

“Range?” Valint asked.

Proxa’s answer was instantaneous. “Twenty—now seventeen—now—”

Valint released the wire, and the power head fell away and down, pulled by the irresistible gravity of a planet larger than Jupiter.

The ribbons were free—stunned but free and trying to regain control even as they began to flood the 10s firing solution with chaff and living matter. The mantas pounced, streaking in with the fury of an apex predator.

Two of the mantas collided with each other before striking the 10. The third hit the 10 cleanly, dead amidships, crushing a ribbon underneath even as the 10 spewed atmosphere and began to lurch to starboard. Bright debris sparkled in the light, and Valint was sure she saw crew members falling, limbs flailing as they rushed through the poisonous clouds toward a slurry thousands of klicks below.

“Holy—I—what?” Adorric asked.

Valint looked smug, following the falling ship with her eyes. “I’d say we have ourselves a natural disaster.” Her hands were busy, pulling a random supply sheet from the clipboard nearby. With swift, decisive strokes, she wrote, smiled, then tore the small sheet away and folded it in her hand.

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