allies were still whole and fighting. The Lepanto’s right and left front laser nodes now joined a group of four ships firing at target W3, one of the five remaining front line wasp ships. But the inner group of wasp ships were at 4,312 kilometers out, including the giant wasp ship at the center of their half globe formation.
“Wasp ship W4 is now head-on to us,” Slaughter called from Navigation.
“Ready to fire!” called Linkletter.
“Fire antimatter cannon at W4!” yelled Jacob.
A black beam speared out to the wasp ship that lay straight ahead but was jinking sideways, up and down in short, sharp movements.
It didn’t matter. The meter-wide beam grew in width the further out it traveled.
A second star bloomed yellow-white against the darkness of space.
The plasma fireball’s glow cast light on the dark terminator line of the planet below them.
“Yes!” yelled O’Connor from the seat to the right of Daisy. “Two enemy gone. That makes it ten enemy to our nine ships. Better and better.”
Jacob agreed but stayed quiet. His father the admiral nearly always beat him at chess, ending up with the comment “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, young man.” The early results of this first engagement were encouraging. But surely this enemy possessed more weapons than the laser and lightning bolt beams. He just hoped the wasps did not possess antimatter cannons. If they did, his ships could die just as easily as the two wasp ships had died.
A new star flare surprised him.
“W3 is gone!” cried O’Hara from Tactical.
How had this happened? His memory of images from the four holos in front gave him the answer. Their two groups of four ships had joined their twelve laser beams on a single wasp ship. The green lasers fired by Quincy’s laser node and the Lepanto’s left side node had joined in. Punch through had happened in three places, according to infrared emissions. One of the punch throughs must have hit the wasp ship’s fusion reactor. Or something equally volatile. A yellow-orange fireball now consumed the wasp ship, the fireball spreading from the middle out to the nose and tail of the wasp ship. In seconds only small fragments were left, flying off in all directions.
“Outstanding!” Jacob said, knowing he had to join his Bridge crew’s happy celebrating. “Watch out for—”
“Enemy ships are flying outward!” cried Slaughter at Navigation.
“They are!” called Daisy from her XO seat. “Their sterns are firing fusion pulse blasts. The remaining eight ships are speeding up. Moving away at 2,000 klicks per minute and increasing rapidly. Acting Captain, do you think they are fleeing?”
Jacob gulped. Amidst the good news of enemy retreat even as both groups exchanged a fifth round of laser and bolt beams, the ninth ship stayed on its heading aimed directly at the Lepanto . The mother ship. Or lead ship. Or whatever the aliens called it. That ship, which was twice as large as the other wasp ships, stayed on a course aimed at the Lepanto . Well, in moments it would arrive within the AM beam’s 4,000 kilometer range. Then would come—
“Incoming enemy fire!” O’Hara called from Tactical. “All their ships are firing just on us! Uh, the fire is concentrated on the front top of the Lepanto . They—”
“They’re aiming for the antimatter emitter node!” yelled O’Connor.
Jacob saw that. There was only one answer to preserve the ship’s most powerful weapon.
“Slaughter! Fire our nose jets! Move us up so our belly armor plates take the incoming fire!”
♦ ♦ ♦
Support Hunter Seven could hardly believe the perception images that filled his five eyes. Three Swarmer flying nests had just died. Two disappeared in stupendous blasts of plasma that left nothing but glowing rings of ultraviolet and orange light, while the third had died from the impact of Soft Skin lasers that cut through to the nest’s central energy unit. That was where
“Wasp ship W4 is now head-on to us,” Slaughter called from Navigation.
“Ready to fire!” called Linkletter.
“Fire antimatter cannon at W4!” yelled Jacob.
A black beam speared out to the wasp ship that lay straight ahead but was jinking sideways, up and down in short, sharp movements.
It didn’t matter. The meter-wide beam grew in width the further out it traveled.
A second star bloomed yellow-white against the darkness of space.
The plasma fireball’s glow cast light on the dark terminator line of the planet below them.
“Yes!” yelled O’Connor from the seat to the right of Daisy. “Two enemy gone. That makes it ten enemy to our nine ships. Better and better.”
Jacob agreed but stayed quiet. His father the admiral nearly always beat him at chess, ending up with the comment “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch, young man.” The early results of this first engagement were encouraging. But surely this enemy possessed more weapons than the laser and lightning bolt beams. He just hoped the wasps did not possess antimatter cannons. If they did, his ships could die just as easily as the two wasp ships had died.
A new star flare surprised him.
“W3 is gone!” cried O’Hara from Tactical.
How had this happened? His memory of images from the four holos in front gave him the answer. Their two groups of four ships had joined their twelve laser beams on a single wasp ship. The green lasers fired by Quincy’s laser node and the Lepanto’s left side node had joined in. Punch through had happened in three places, according to infrared emissions. One of the punch throughs must have hit the wasp ship’s fusion reactor. Or something equally volatile. A yellow-orange fireball now consumed the wasp ship, the fireball spreading from the middle out to the nose and tail of the wasp ship. In seconds only small fragments were left, flying off in all directions.
“Outstanding!” Jacob said, knowing he had to join his Bridge crew’s happy celebrating. “Watch out for—”
“Enemy ships are flying outward!” cried Slaughter at Navigation.
“They are!” called Daisy from her XO seat. “Their sterns are firing fusion pulse blasts. The remaining eight ships are speeding up. Moving away at 2,000 klicks per minute and increasing rapidly. Acting Captain, do you think they are fleeing?”
Jacob gulped. Amidst the good news of enemy retreat even as both groups exchanged a fifth round of laser and bolt beams, the ninth ship stayed on its heading aimed directly at the Lepanto . The mother ship. Or lead ship. Or whatever the aliens called it. That ship, which was twice as large as the other wasp ships, stayed on a course aimed at the Lepanto . Well, in moments it would arrive within the AM beam’s 4,000 kilometer range. Then would come—
“Incoming enemy fire!” O’Hara called from Tactical. “All their ships are firing just on us! Uh, the fire is concentrated on the front top of the Lepanto . They—”
“They’re aiming for the antimatter emitter node!” yelled O’Connor.
Jacob saw that. There was only one answer to preserve the ship’s most powerful weapon.
“Slaughter! Fire our nose jets! Move us up so our belly armor plates take the incoming fire!”
♦ ♦ ♦
Support Hunter Seven could hardly believe the perception images that filled his five eyes. Three Swarmer flying nests had just died. Two disappeared in stupendous blasts of plasma that left nothing but glowing rings of ultraviolet and orange light, while the third had died from the impact of Soft Skin lasers that cut through to the nest’s central energy unit. That was where
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