The First Imperium: Crimson Worlds IV by Jay Allan

Author:Jay Allan [Allan, Jay]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: System 7 Publishing
Published: 2013-04-14T00:00:00+00:00

Third Fleet’s missiles were accelerating at almost 50g…straight into the enemy ships. Launched from knife-fighting range, they closed the distance in a matter of minutes. The targeted ships fired their thrusters, trying to build some velocity to maneuver, and they began to deploy anti-missile defenses. But the incoming weapons had been launched at such close range, and with such high intrinsic velocity, the response was only moderately effective.

West watched on her screen as the ship’s AI reconstructed the entire battle area from the transmissions sent back by the missiles. The enemy ships launched large torpedoes in the directions of the heaviest missile concentrations. West knew they would break into a spread of mines that would explode in the path of the oncoming warheads. The Alliance had a similar weapon, though its effectiveness was inferior to some of the alternative systems, and it had fallen into disuse.

“If that’s the best they have to put up against our missiles…” She was speaking softly, mostly to herself, but she stopped short when she got the data on detonations. The explosions were massive, over 100 megatons…from each of the tiny mines. The massive patchwork of explosions destroyed dozens of missiles outright, and massive bursts of gamma radiation fried the control mechanisms of others. More than half her missiles were taken out in a few minutes.

“They must be antimatter warheads,” she whispered under her breath. They only launched a few of those torpedoes, she thought…I wonder why. A larger spread could have wiped out her entire missile barrage. “Athena, I want all data on the enemy’s anti-missile defenses logged on two drones.” She wondered, was this another weapon the enemy possessed in inexplicably short supply? Admiral Garret would want to know.

“Yes, Admiral West.” The AI’s response was immediate, as usual. “Drones are activated and receiving data now.”

“I want them launched one minute before we enter the enemy’s energy weapons range.” Of course they didn’t know the enemy’s range for sure…they were working on the sketchy data that trickled back from the ships fighting in earlier battles. Destroyed vessels and dead crews, she thought somberly.

“Yes, admiral. Launch sequence is already pre-programmed.”

West’s eyes went back to the display, watching her surviving missiles close on the enemy. They were moving at a very high velocity, making vector changes a slow and difficult process. But Third Fleet had caught the enemy almost stationary, and West had plotted her missiles perfectly. The target ships lashed out with anti-missile energy weapons similar to the Alliance’s lasers, but longer-ranged. Their fire was accurate, but over 20 of West’s missiles closed to detonation range.

The enemy ships were caught in the firestorm, some of them taking damage from multiple detonations. Right behind the nuclear maelstrom of the missile volley came Cambrai’s 12 bombers, bearing down on their targets at .08c. Half of them were destroyed by the point defense, but the others closed on the damaged ships. Cambrai’s bridge erupted in shouts and cheers as one, then a second bomber hit a damaged enemy ship with plasma torpedoes.

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