[Stellar Conquest 03] - Tactics of Conquest by David VanDyke

Author:David VanDyke [VanDyke, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, SciFi, Space Opera, Fantasy, Epic, Techno-Thriller, Thriller, Horror, Futuristic, First Contact, Alien Invasion, Space Fleet, Space Exploration, Galactic Empire, Survival, Military, War, Battles, Genetic Engineering, Technological Advancements, Conspiracy, Intrigue, Gripping, Fast-paced, Page-Turner, Action & Adventure, Adult, Fiction
Publisher: Reaper Press
Published: 2015-04-18T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

The flight deck fell silent as the AV team brought up the tactical overview on the main display and stabilized the many sub-screens surrounding it. The icons for the enemy’s cluster of powered asteroids crossed the orbit of Jupiter in a swarm, multiple attached fusion engines flaring like fireflies, maneuvering them in random directions, but always headed toward Earth.

The Jupiter system itself lay far from the enemy’s path, or one could say that the Meme had chosen an attack route well away from any obstacle. Instead of splitting their efforts, this time they bored straight in for the prize, apparently convinced they would smash through and win a frontal assault.

A line of EarthFleet asteroid rams and armed fortresses pointed directly toward the enemy group as if fired from Earth itself. Given the space between all the combatants, these formed a gauntlet of nearly seven hundred expendable giants. All personnel had been removed and computers controlled them now. The extra efficiency gained by putting crew on them was offset by their targets’ simplicity – just a bunch of big rocks.

Behind each grouping lay their respective combatant fleets.

The Destroyers had fallen back from the rocks about thirty light-seconds, two and a half minutes of travel at current speeds, like cavalry waiting to charge after the infantry engaged. Before them, between them and the asteroids, flew their swarm of stingships.

The Home Fleet, anchored by the seven teardrop dreadnoughts and twenty-two wedge-shaped battleships, hovered between Earth and the enemy, ready to finish off any rocks that made it through and, more importantly, to react to the Destroyer fleet’s movements.

Like football backs, they could shift in any direction to cut off the Meme drive toward the goal of Earth. They had the advantage of interior lines; every move they made could be shorter and quicker as the enemy tried to sweep down the sidelines. More like the soccer form of football than rugby or the American game, the goal was small, and in the center. If they swung wide, at some point the attackers had to angle inward toward the planet, or risk flying past and having to turn around.

Absen and the rest of the crew watched as the lead rocks engaged, some firing massive weapons or launching missiles, others merely smashing into each other. The Meme ram-bodies jinked and dodged, if those were words that could apply to such mountainous things, but at the speeds involved, a nudge of a hundred meters in any direction caused fast-flying projectiles, even energy beams, to slip by or strike only glancing blows.

A number on one of the smaller screens kept statistical track of the remaining total of enemy craft. Sixty-four large rocks had begun the engagement. Absen watched as that tally counted down into the fifties and then the forties as the lead asteroids were annihilated within seconds.

The Destroyers made a sudden and coordinated turn away from the stream of incoming EarthFleet fortresses, as many of the defenders’ rocks flashed by their targets. Once the asteroid

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