Read Online Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action by David Buck - Free Book Online Page A

pondered for quite awhile on how long it would be before the Traders were caught up in open warfare with one of the vassal races.
     
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Chapter 4
     
    Admiral Baunrus had taken the last several hours off to rest up his senior officers as the armada made running repairs. Several supply ships also milled around the stationary Jerecab frigates delivering replacement missiles. He was in a good mood brought about by the knowledge that the final one sided battle with the humans could not be far off. The admiral had looked over reports of the planet Earth with little unease, for although the planet looked well defended it was still only one planet against the might of the Red Jerecab Empire.
    A lieutenant came over with another report and Admiral Baunrus gave him leave to speak, although he had already seen some of the information.
    ‘Admiral the human planet is opaque to active scans, especially their oceans, and I am concerned we could be ambushed. Also there are several structures on their large moon that require further scrutiny once we are closer. I consider they are defensive structures and they could affect our attack on the Earth.’
    The admiral was intrigued by the last sentence, as he had already been aware of the strange opaque nature of the Earth’s oceans. He gave the lieutenant a critical glance of approval as he replied at length, for he noted that the junior officer had not attempted to recommend a course of action.
    ‘Very good lieutenant and your concerns are noted. We can at least confirm the accuracy of the earlier Barus research on this system. I am already planning to attack the moon first as it appears the human fleet is organising their defences at this point. However you will copy this information to Captain Neanres, though I am sure he is already aware of the risks. The size of the solar system and the presence of this large moon work heavily in the favour of the humans, however our crushing numerical superiority will win us victory.’
    Admiral Baunrus now replaced the view screen image of the space around them teeming with ships. The image was of the blue world and home of the humans, an image that all the Jerecab officers present would recognise anywhere. A muted hiss of excitement came from the mouths of the Jerecab as they took in the image of the beautiful water planet.
    ‘Remember what is at stake here, we get to conquer a potential rival race and take their magnificent home world from them.’
    The Jerecab officers looked over the image of Earth with greedy eyes for several moments before Baunrus set them back to work. After a further two hours the armada formed up and slowly began to work across the solar system towards the planet Earth.
     
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    Captain Neanres was indeed well aware of the problems of attacking the humans in their home system. He also had earlier stood down his own officers for a much needed break, and the captain had managed three hours of restless sleep filled with hulking human destroyers attacking his own smaller frigates from every quarter. He was already worried about the chances of victory but he wisely kept his opinions to himself.
    Neanres had ordered his ships to alter course, and he was now heading across to attack Ceres, the largest asteroid, as it was the most distant to his eventual course towards Earth. A lieutenant sought permission to report and in moments Neanres had changed his view screen to go over the information. He indentified several areas of concern and sought clarification from the junior officer.
    ‘Our first assessment is that the two larger asteroids are mining colonies and we could safely bypass them if required to do so. However the admiral is delayed in his own