Empire: Book Three of the Unification War Trilogy by Dalzelle Joshua

Author:Dalzelle, Joshua
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

20

"Marines are on the move, sir. First team is springing the admiral, and the other two will clear out the Nemesis."

"Excellent. Tactical?" Risher asked.

"Communications tower is targeted, sir. A-are we really doing this?" the tactical officer asked.

"We've already attacked the station, Commander…we're committed. You may fire at will," Risher said.

"Aye, sir."

The port laser battery opened up on the tall, spindly structure that jutted out of the Admin Hab. It was topped with a sealed chamber that, thankfully, was not crewed. It was the station's primary communication array, and Risher wanted it knocked out in case there were operatives on the platform talking to the incoming ESA taskforce. It wouldn't stop them from using Bluebird to report back to CENTCOM what was happening, but by the time anybody on Earth could do anything, Taskforce Wolfpack would be long-gone.

The tower vaporized under the barrage and atmosphere could be seen venting into space for a brief moment before the emergency hatch slammed closed on the maintenance shaft that led up to the amplifier housing. The hull of the Admin Hab showed some mild heating in the Broadsword's IR optics, but the platform was otherwise not damaged.

Risher nodded to the tactical officer. Eternis Pax's control room crew would now need to re-route short-range coms to the backup system. That wouldn't take an especially long time, but it would help add confusion and sow chaos while his Marines went about their task.

"ESA fleet is coming downhill, sir," the OPS officer said.

Risher looked at the tactical display and saw that the radar data was over seventeen hours old thanks to the distances involved. The computers in CIC were working to populate projected flightpaths but, so far, they had nothing he could react to. It didn't really matter either way when it came down to it. Even adding the Nemesis to the formation put them at a numerical disadvantage they wouldn't be able to overcome.

"Status on the Katana?" he asked.

"They've cleared the field emitter faults that dropped her early, sir. They're running a quick self-test cycle on the drive and project FMC within the hour."

"Tell the Katana and the Cutlass to begin plotting an escape course away from the incoming fleet," Risher said. "I'm afraid we won't have any choice but to surrender Eternis Pax to the enemy for now. We do the Federation no good by trying to take on seven-to-one odds and losing all four ships."

"Understood, sir," the XO said. "We'll live to fight another day."

"Another day." Risher nodded and walked off, his jaw clenched in frustration.

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