The Queen of Sidonia by Fox Richard

Author:Fox, Richard [Fox, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Triplane Press
Published: 2015-12-31T18:30:00+00:00

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Durand’s Eagle shook as the acceleration from her thrusters pressed her against her seat. She cut back the power, enough to keep her velocity constant in the thick upper atmosphere.

“Not too fast, everyone, we overshoot the targets and we’re out of the battle,” she said to her squadron. The 103rd had become a mishmash of human and Dotok pilots in the last few hours. The incoming cruisers had come in hours before anticipated, and half her fighter pilots were flying cargo missions to and from the capital when word came to prep for launch. She had two other Eagles in the void with her, the Ma cousins on a Condor bomber and the eight Dotok pilots from the Burning Blade.

“Gall, this is Bar’en. My fighters have gauss cannons and nothing else. We can barely scratch the paint on those cruisers. Care to explain why we’re even out here?”

“Do you see any drones escorting the capital ships? Trick question. You can’t because we’re too damn far away. You’re here to cover my Eagles and the bombers. Save the sharpshooting for the planning phase or the after-action review,” Durand said. Multicultural operations were normal within the Atlantic Union military, which was drawn from dozens of nations. Decades of interaction had smoothed out most issues between nations; even the Ma cousins managed to get along without incident.

Dotok notions of respect for the chain of command were harder to grasp, or maybe Bar’en was his species’ equivalent of a jerk.

“Clear the firing line from the Breit to the leading cruiser. Let her big guns take care of it,” Durand said and nosed her fighter toward the cruiser on the far left of the approaching wedge.

“Christ, those things are big,” said Ryan, one of her two wingmen. A burning iris of superheated gas enveloped the prows of the approaching ships, each nearly twice the size of the Breitenfeld.

“Nag, how long until you have a torpedo solution?”

“At the rate they’re closing? Four minutes. I barely have to aim, just set the torps in their path and let Newton’s laws do the rest,” she said.

“Eagles, prep your rail guns. Go for an angled shot through the engines,” Durand said. “Far-left cruiser is the priority target. Knock it offline and target the next one on the left. Breit will start on the other end and work toward the center.”

“I’ve got a firing solution. IR guidance backup establish on torpedoes one and—”

A burst of light from the cruisers overwhelmed the transmission with static. Durand’s canopy darkened to protect her from the sudden glare.

A muffled scream came through the IR. “I can’t see! Can’t see!” Ryan shouted.

Durand blinked away spots and she was flying into the void.

“Get back on intercept course and reacquire targets!” Durand tried to shout over the confusion reigning on the channel. She looped her fighter around and found the enemy cruisers.

The cruisers had broken into two groups of three. One group maintained its original course, engines burning like the center of a star as they accelerated. The second group bore to the south, away from New Abhaile.

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