Bombardier - The Complete Trilogy by Tanner SD

Author:Tanner, SD [Tanner, SD]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: WildRide Publishing
Published: 2016-12-27T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN:

No Cigar

(Ark Three)

Scorpions were three times the size of an assault ship. Used only in combat, all they contained was a three-person battle deck. The rest of the ship was dedicated to weapons, thrust and power supply. The Scorpion’s main weapon was its Particle Beam, firing pulses up to ten times a second. Unlike lasers, particle beams could blast through armor, releasing heat and radiation within the target. The Particle Beam cannons could be locked onto a target manually through a Bombardier or via the Scorpion’s computer. The secondary weapon of the Scorpion was the ship-to-ship seeker missiles, but with only sixteen per ship, they were used sparingly. The Scorpion also had defensive countermeasures in the form of electro-optical crystals in the ship’s armor. The onboard computer used them to deflect lasers and hide their signature from seekers.

The Battle Deck on a Scorpion worked like a hologram, so sitting on it was like being on a floating platform in space. If he wanted to see anything in more detail, he only had to reach out and grab it. The system would zoom in on that location, giving him as much detail as it had. He was in the central position and two Bombardiers were seated slightly below him on each side. The three dimensional world faded the Bombardiers into the background, making him feel as if he were alone.

Above, below and behind him were Scorpions. Each was equally spaced from the next, forming a grid of warships. Just as he’d ordered, the BattleRigs were well behind the lines. By spreading the BattleRigs far apart, he’d made each one an expensive target. Casey would need to send at least twenty assault ships to find and attack one. If she did then the other BattleRigs would move out of position to help the one under attack.

Tank’s voice could be heard on the grid. “Ark Command is on the run. They’re pulling back into their own space.”

“Keep them under pressure. Don’t let up.”

“Do I ever?”

“Battle formation. Controlled retreat five light-years. We need to keep dragging them out of their space.”

His battlefield was like a rectangular box. Over a thousand ships hung in formation, with a hundred across the front and ten rows deep. It was creating a straight front line, but once he drew enough of the Navigator ships into their grid he planned to create an arc shape. Eventually the Navigator assault ships would find themselves inside of a closed circle surrounded by Scorpions. Gripping the arms of his command chair, three thousand assault ships were forging towards them, forming a wall of weapons. Stacked ten levels high and twenty across, the ugly brown ships were travelling fast.

“Here they come!”

Just as he expected, Casey had numbers on her side. She was planning to overwhelm them, sending three ships for every one of theirs. Each assault ship had laser cannons and six Space Spear missiles. It was overwhelming firepower with eighteen missiles for every one of his Scorpions. If his plan didn’t work then this could become a massacre where he would lose most of his fleet.

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