Strange New Worlds (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 11) by Kevin McLaughlin

Author:Kevin McLaughlin [McLaughlin, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Role of the Hero Publishing
Published: 2019-10-30T22:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Three

Majel had expected that opening fire might cause problems for the Satori. She wasn’t surprised, therefore, when the planetoid launched a new wave of fighter craft. This one was flying directly toward her.

It was a calculated risk she’d opted to take. Saving the pilots in those two fighters had been a priority, even if it put her and the rest of the Satori’s crew at risk. Taking chances was always a factor in space exploration. That didn’t mean Majel was unprepared to defend her ship.

“I have gunnery. Lieutenant Foster, remain at the helm,” Majel said.

She’d long since discovered that despite her enormously fast reflexes, having a human pilot steering the ship lent a level of intuitive awareness she still had difficulty matching. Coupling machine speed with human gut feelings had gotten the Satori out of more than one scrape in the past. Majel hoped it would do so again now.

“Keep us in as close as you can to the planetoid,” Majel said. She’d already shunted a chunk of her awareness over to the fire control systems so that she could accurately plot out the approach factors of the alien craft and calculate effective firing solutions.

“Why close?” Lieutenant Foster asked.

“Close enough, and they’ll have a harder time tracking us with any guns they have on the surface. Do you want to find out the hard way what sort of weapon systems a planet-sized spaceship might have?” Majel asked, answering his question with a question.

“No, ma’am!” Lieutenant Foster replied. “Keeping the ship low as ordered.”

Lieutenant Foster took the Satori through a series of erratic twists and turns, hoping to foil any incoming attacks. As near as Majel could tell, the enemy fighters hadn’t opened fire yet. She was sure they were fighters. Whether manned or drone craft, she couldn’t tell, nor did she know what sort of weapons they might have. Everything about this adversary was an unknown factor, making it difficult to accurately calculate the best courses of action.

Beth needed to be informed of the new course of events. Majel opened a direct channel with her. “We saved the fighters. But we seem to have attracted some hostility toward ourselves.”

“Is the ship in danger?” Beth asked

“Unknown at this time. Preparing to fight the ship,” Majel replied.

There was a pause on Beth’s end, and then she answered. “All right, we’re going to try to make our way back out. Stay in the area as long as you can, but if things get too hot, jump out.”

“I won’t leave you behind!” Majel said.

“You will if it’s a choice of leaving or losing the ship,” Beth said. “That’s an order. We can take care of ourselves in here for a little while. But the Satori is the only way anyone from this mission is getting home. Don’t forget that.”

“Understood,” Majel said. “Enemy fighters almost in range. Signing off for now.”

Majel left the channel open in case Beth needed her but brought her focus back to the ship that was her body. She was going to need all of her attention for the battle ahead.

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