Unbroken Faith (Castle Federation Book 9) by Glynn Stewart

Author:Glynn Stewart [Stewart, Glynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Faolan's Pen Publishing
Published: 2023-12-04T16:00:00+00:00

25

Yellowstar System

16:35 February 24, 2740 ESMDT

It was in moments like these, even as his entire body and soul screamed to be in a starfighter cockpit, that Anthony Yamamoto understood why he needed to be in Fleet Starfighter Control. There, linked through a virtual network with the rest of Task Force Six’s command staff and the starfighter support teams, he had everything he needed.

Barely. There was no way he could have accessed and managed all of this information while flying a starfighter. To command three hundred and sixty starfighters in a mass defensive intercept, he needed to step back and wholly focus on what he was doing.

He tried not to think too hard about the fact that he’d done just this from a starfighter cockpit before. Instead, he focused on passing orders to entire squadrons and flight groups, laying out a massive cone in space through which the Triumvirate torpedoes had to fly.

“Make sure everyone has their timing and their routes locked for their fallbacks,” he ordered. “Just because we have a thousand torpedoes coming at us doesn’t mean we want to leave anyone behind!”

The Navy had done better with their missiles than he expected. Three hundred bombers should have put twelve hundred torpedoes into space, a salvo with a very real chance of breaching both his defensive screen and the active defenses of the capital ships behind them.

Instead, a thousand torpedoes was actually rounding up. Not by much—the current estimate was nine hundred and eighty—but still.

With two hundred missiles, the Navy had taken at least fifty-five bombers out. It helped.

“Remember, people,” Anthony said, linking into a channel that connected to all of his flight crews. “This is what we held on to your last missile salvos for. We knew this was coming. Clear the torps, and the Admiral is getting us all the hell out of here.”

“Forward squadrons in counter-missile range in fifteen seconds and counting. Forty seconds to impact.”

Anthony nodded but stayed focused on the channel to everyone.

“Fleet Control is sending you your detailed fallback routes, but once the torps are past you, run for your hangars. The Admiral isn’t leaving without you, so if you drag your feet, it risks the entire Task Force! The Navy is going to owe you lot big, so don’t give them grounds to complain!

“Fly well, shoot straight. First round when you’re back is on me!”

He couldn’t pick out any specific response from the chatter he got back, but the tone was what he needed. Which probably meant that he didn’t want to pick out any of the responses—flight crew, whether pilots, gunners or engineers, were not known for their calm and polite commentary.

“Counter-missile launch.”

It took a moment before Anthony realized that he was the one who’d spoken, his link into the tactical network around him so close no one had a chance to report it before he’d realized it.

The plan was simple: by creating an extended channel of fighter missiles, positron lances and missile-defense lasers, they would degrade the massive torpedo salvo step by step over twenty-plus seconds.

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