The Soldier: Final Odyssey by Vaughn Heppner

Author:Vaughn Heppner [Heppner, Vaughn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-07-04T22:00:00+00:00

***

As the heavy lifter entered the stratosphere and began to traverse the planet to reach the space station presently on the other side, the smugglers’ huge aerosol cloud reached half a million kilometers from the station. That was a little more than maximum distance between Luna and Earth.

The Patrol cruiser Illustrious, the destroyer and the four stings headed away from the space station on an intercept course for the aerosol cloud and the expected smuggler task force behind it.

The cruiser had three times the mass of the destroyer and stings combined. The cruiser had heavier hull plating and far more firepower, including laser emitters able to reach one hundred thousand kilometers. The cruiser had been constructed for ship-to-ship battle. The destroyer—like most destroyers—was made to patrol areas and kill smaller craft, and stings were meant to act as police escorts rather than war vessels.

The space station possessed more missiles than the cruiser but lacked the same laser firepower.

The cruiser and destroyer—under Captain J.F. Williams’s orders—launched a staggered salvo of missiles. These were all much larger than the antimatter missile fired before at the grounded shuttle.

The missiles accelerated at a terrific rate, their exhaust plumes growing to exaggerated lengths. The aerosol cloud could not dodge or change its velocity. That made things easier for missile targeting.

Would the smuggler vessels see the missiles coming? If they did, would the smugglers attempt to launch counter-missiles or use lasers against them?

The heavy lifter reached the other side of the planet and continued to rise higher into the thinning atmosphere. The piloting crew spotted the space station, the Patrol flotilla 54,230 kilometers beyond the station and the aerosol cloud now 439,328 kilometers and approaching the station.

“Let’s wait here a while,” Drang said.

The piloting crew looked back at her and then at her operatives with their drawn weapons.

The heavy lifter slowed its rate of ascent as the sensor operator strained to show the battle.

“What’s that?” Drang asked, pointing at an indicator.

The communications officer looked up. “The Sub-Protector is sending the smugglers an ultimatum.”

“Put it on speaker so I can hear it,” Drang said.

The comm officer tapped her board.

“I repeat,” Egon Krenz was saying. “the missiles will slice through the aerosol cloud, detonating behind it. That means if any of your ships are there, the antimatter missiles will detonate among you. You must immediately show yourselves and power down any laser weaponry. Failure to do so will result in your destruction.”

Tense seconds passed, and nothing changed out there.

“If you’re ready for open battle,” Krenz said, “then prepare for it, because I plan to fight to the death.”

More seconds passed—

“What’s that?” Drang asked, as she leaned toward the main screen.

‘I’m not sure,” the sensor operator said.

“Start being sure,” Drang said.

“They’re big,” the sensor operator said seconds later. “I’m counting four of them. When I say big, they’re bigger than any of us expected smuggler vessels to be. Each of them is a little smaller than the Illustrious, which means they have more than three times the mass of our flotilla.

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