Recoil (The Emberling Book 2) by Daniel Young

Author:Daniel Young [Young, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

10

Taggart crawled up to the attack craft’s pilot’s station, but continuous concussions kept knocking him down. He hit the floor and then dragged himself into another seat next to Erqi. “What the hell is going on?”

“We appear to be in battle.”

“With who?” Merrel yelled from behind.

“I do not know who they are. They are using lasers, and they appear to be—”

Another bone-crunching smash smacked the ship hard to port. Taggart scrambled over the controls. “Son of a bitch! It’s Monkskull!”

“Did he follow us?” Qiao asked.

“He’s attacking the damn Sleepwalkers! He’s out of his mind!” Taggart yelled. “How do we man these guns? Where are your gun placements?”

Erqi frowned at him. “Gun placements? There are no gun placements. We fire everything from here.”

Taggart didn’t ask any more questions. He had enough to do just holding Monkskull’s fighter craft at bay.

They swarmed the Sleepwalkers in vast numbers. Monkskull’s lasers did a hell of a lot more damage to the Sleepwalker gunships than the Legion or any other ship of Taggart’s ever had. A few fighters revolved in the cloud of Sleepwalker attack craft, but most of Monkskull’s people concentrated on the giant Sleepwalker gunships.

Taggart fired to clear a path, and a second later, he realized the truth. Most of the enemy were focusing on the gunship that he and his friends had just escaped from.

Monkskull’s fighters swooped in low. They ran between the gunship’s many weapons and carved lasers into the ship’s giant sides. Explosions went off all over the gunship’s hull as laser and pulse cannons imploded. It didn’t take the enemy before they hit something vital.

A massive plume of flame and combusting gas erupted into the night sky. The shockwave smacked the Sleepwalkers out of the way and then hit Taggart’s attack craft.

Yannik looked over Taggart’s shoulder. “Can we still get through to the Colonial Militia Headquarters?”

Erqi stiffened. “You want to go to the Colonial Militia? Why?”

A punishing kaboom struck the ship even harder than before, and Taggart pounced on the controls. “The Sleepwalkers are launching escape pods! Get away from the gunship! It’s going up—”

Erqi seized the helm and ripped the attack craft hard away. He punched the throttle and sprinted back toward the Colonial Militia Headquarters satellite. The next second, the gunship detonated, and a colossal wave of fire, noise, and debris smacked the attack craft from behind.

“More fighters are crossing into the Siri Sector!” Taggart reported. “They’re all coming to join the battle. It looks like Monkskull wants something specific.”

“Can you locate Claire in the escape pods?” Yannik asked. “I bet you any amount of money she has the Emberling with her.”

“I can’t identify any species in the escape pods, but I don’t think she’d leave the pods for her people when she could get away herself.”

“The Colonial Militia is launching Comets!” Erqi interrupted. “They are moving to intercept the Sleepwalkers.”

Taggart opened his mouth to answer, but the words died in his throat. Monkskull’s fighters saw the Colonial Militia coming in, and the attackers all wheeled to confront the Comets.

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