Star Crusades by Michael Thomas (best ereader for pc txt) 📕

a point. Every tip was constructed from ultra-densematerial and hardened to allow maximum penetration in battle. Andpacked inside those shells was a micro-atomic warhead that woulddetonate with the equivalent of twenty tonnes of TNT in a confinedspace. The heat could melt through armour bulkheads and even aship’s powercore.

“Beautiful,” said LieutenantZimmer, “The alien vessel is sustainingsignificant damage.”

“Good work. Don’t let up now.”

“Aye,Captain. We’re hitting her with everything we’ve got.”

She expected to see furtherflashes of energy from their guns, butthe Lieutenant stopped and lifted a hand to his mouth.

“Lieutenant?”

“Tactical scans from Triumph havedetected movement out in the clouds.”

“Movement? Get to the point,Lieutenant.”

“Well, I believe we have another threeformations of ships, and they’re already moving fast. They’recoming this way.”

“When? Where?”

He tagged their original position, andthen the marker lines showing their movement towards thebattle.

“Scans showed they were inner objects in the system, dormant andcold. They were flagged as asteroids or moons by fleetsensors.”

“Dammit,” snapped the XO,“Continue your scans of the area. We cannot dealwith more surprises.”

“I’ve checked them,” said ChiefEngineer Linus, “I don’t know how any ofus missed this when we arrived. They’re still cold as ice. Onlytheir movement gave them away. There’s nothing else withinrange.”

“Like they’ll need anything else.I see three formations, with another dozen attack shipscoming our way.”

“They will be here in thirty seconds,” said LieutenantZimmer.

The waypoints and positions forthe fleet changed as new orders arrivedfrom the flagship. Each change and adjustment made the Captain’snostrils twitch in frustration.

“All escorts are being pulled back to protect the heavies,” shesaid, shaking her head, “This was our chance to end the fight…hereand now.”

She considered refusing the orders, butat this range they continued to be hit by fire.

“Then take us in closer to our flagship. Let’s do what we can, whilewe can.”

They were halfway therewhen the new arrivals materialised near theSki’lig flagship. They arrived so quickly one of them clipped therear of an Alliance cruiser and split off its stern, triggering aseries of blasts that ripped the ship apart.

“Twelve attack ships toadd to the four already deployed,” saidLieutenant Zimmer, “This battle just became a lot moredangerous.”

“Wait,”said Captain Regina, “What is that?”

The forward viewshifted as it changed to the underside ofthe massive alien ship. Thousands of dark shapes launched frombelow and then fell into the atmosphere of the planet.

“They’re bombarding theplanet,” said First LieutenantMeredith.

“No,” said Captain Regina,“Those are not bombs.”

* * *

Alliance HeavyStarcarrier ‘ANS Izumo, EkatiAlpha

General Rivers watched thebattle taking place with increasing frustration.The enemy fleet was clustered around their flagship, the attackships wreaking havoc amongst the transports and escorts that hadbeen unable to withdraw fast enough. The remainder of the Alliancefleet now moved in a single large formation, slowly circling thealien vessels and continued to bombard them.

“General,” said Major Shipley, his Naval Liaison officer.

“Yes, Major?”

“We’re picking up urgent distress calls from the surface.”

“Distress, why? Show me.”

His eyes opened wide in horror asvideostreams from the landing grounds showed objects fallingfrom the sky. They moved quickly likebombs, crashing into the ground in a cloud of fire andsmoke.

“Get our people further underground,” he saidangrily.

But then the smoke beganto clear, and he could see it wasn’t shellshitting the ground, but something far deadlier. They were smallobjects, roughly the size of a ship’s lifeboat but shaped like anacorn, with the narrow front embedded into the ground. Morecontinued to crash to the surface, some even hitting fighters andtransports currently waiting on the ground. A unit of marinesadvanced towards one of the pods as the sides flipped open likepetals. Inside was a single squad of figures that charged towardsthe marines. They were heavily armoured and carried much shorterweapons than those normally used by the Ski’ligs. Some of themarines fell under the storm of fire, and then as they returnedfire, more of the shapes arrived.

“General. We’ve got thousands of themhitting the surface. Each one is putting ten to twenty soldiersinto the fight. We’ve been duped.”

“Those cunning bastards,” hemuttered, “They let us dig deep into thisrock and sacrificed ships to keep us here. And now this flagshipsits there and shrugs off our attacks, as if we’re little more thanfleas biting a dog.”

“What about our people below?”

“God save them now…because wecannot. They need to dig deep and hope beyond hope we can survive the battle up here.”

Even as he said thewords, a beam of light struck the bow ofthe starcarrier, and remained there as it cut into the ship.Volleys of gunfire hammered into her flanks, setting off hundredsof small explosions. It looked as though this was the end, and helooked directly ahead ready to accept his fate. He’d fought so manybattles, and each one he’d assumed would leave him dead. This placewas no different, and unlike most soldiers, he was ready togo.

“General!” saidthe Captain.

“Yes?”

“Admiral Hurik. She’s leading theheavies into a close-range attack andscreening us.”

“Good, about damned time, too. Now bring us about, and keep theheavies between us and the enemy.”

“General, shouldn’t we withdraw?”

“Why? They canreach us until the moment we leavethrough the Rift. So we stay, and we fight.”

“Yes,General.”

He smiled as the battered, but incredibly resilient warship turnedslowly and opened fire with its massed secondary weapons. Thoughdesigned for self-defence, they were still more than capable ofshowering the enemy attack ships with a storm of fire.

“Oh…and do you have any fighters left onboard?”

“We have one squadron of…”

“Good. If it’sonboard, get it in the air. We might nothave another chance.”

For a second healmost believed it, but then a beam of light hitone of the two battlecruisers, punching through and coming out theother side. Explosions tore away a large part of the lower hull,and the massive alien ship bombarded it with direct fire guns. ANSTriumph fired at point-blank range, and then took an equal amountof return fire. A Liberty destroyer managed to pass throughunscathed, and then took fire from three attacks ships that took itapart with ease. General Rivers glanced at the tactical map andalmost choked.

“Two more ships goneand three heavily damaged. Maybe we have achance,” he said under his breath, “And maybe we don’t.”

Even as he said it, aSki’lig attack ship hurled itself at the columnof heavy transports. With only their close-range defence turrets toprotect them,