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Authors: A.D. Bloom
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have worked it out like Parker had, but he didn’t have to. The alien warheads were flying flat out, as fast as they could and he could see the Lancers gaining on them a little bit at a time. He knew their relative ranges so what he saw was no trick of the eye. "Sixty-five seconds," Tig said.
" Cherries ain’t allowed to play."
The 151s rolled in on the flying bombs for a long-range deflection shot. Rampone said, " There it is. 55 seconds..."
Tig said, "The haven't hit them yet." The streams of fire from the first 151s stitched across the black, curving, reaching out for the alien bombs. The alien bombs jinked hard to avoid that first salvo and Tig realized the first two planes were herding them just before the rest of the Lancers opened up and the alien bombs flew into a hellfire rain of 140mm shells. The HE-443s and OT Sabot loaded by some redsuit’s hand sparked on the alien hull casings before they penetrated, detonated, and shredded everything inside.
The Squidies’ bombs cooked off harmlessly in empty space nowhere near Tipperary . "62 seconds on the nose," Parker said. "How’d you do that, Tig?"
" Too easy." That’s what Tig thought he heard Wrigley mutter to himself just before the junk spun around him and the bulkhead smashed into him from the side and tried to brain him with the edge of the electronic warfare console. It had been on the other side of the compartment just a second ago.
"Brace for ACM," Burn said over internal comms like it was an afterthought. You were supposed to say that before you bounced your passengers off the bulkhead. She called out to the other two ships. " Greenstone and UNS Duer , come about for gunnery, now, now, now!"
Out the starboard porthole, Greenstone’s pilots didn’t ask questions, the gunnery junk fired thrusters in opposition and spun to put more of its turrets on target.
" Audacity , this is Commander Tobin on UNS Duer, what the hell are you doing?"
" Come about for defensive action!"
Only 2Ks behind the destroyer, the stars shimmered like someone had thrown gravel in a puddle reflecting them. The distortion hung behind UNS Duer like a killer raising a knife. Tig knew UNS Duer saw it too when the Commander in the chair thumbed comms at the same time he gave orders to his NAV. "Oh my god…. come about! Come about! One Eight Zero! All defensive batteries, contact bearing one eight zero, fire! fire! fire!"
The stealthed Squidy ship that snuck up behind Duer fired a single warhead, almost point blank. The flying bomb traveled for less than a second before it detonated up against the slender destroyer’s engines. Tig’s helmet dimmed to save his eyes and when it let him see again, Duer had been knocked forward and its shape had changed. It was bent around a volcano where its main engines should have been. The doomed ship tumbled past the port side of the junk and shuddered before her hatches blew and she jetted fire. Internal detonations rippled her hull in nauseating waves in the moments before she burst.
Audacity and Greenstone blazed from their turrets and raked the sky in vengeance, but they hit nothing. The shells streaked off across Algol until they spread thin and dim, and their fire petered out in the black.
7
" Audacity and Greenstone , this is Lancer 1-1. Do you have eyes on any survivors?"
Paladin answered for them. "Don’t look like it."
That alien played them… played him . Jordo sent all his fighters after those warheads just like it wanted him too. He had no idea if a Squidy thought anything like a human thought, but this one had outsmarted him. Now, UNS Duer was nothing but an expanding debris cloud spread out behind the junks.
" No survivors," Burn said over comms. "No lifeboats; no pods. Lancer 1-1, hold your current position and maintain guard on that breaching ship. We are coming to you."
" Audacity …Burn… What the hell was that thing?" He asked out in the open and Burn must have known
" Cherries ain’t allowed to play."
The 151s rolled in on the flying bombs for a long-range deflection shot. Rampone said, " There it is. 55 seconds..."
Tig said, "The haven't hit them yet." The streams of fire from the first 151s stitched across the black, curving, reaching out for the alien bombs. The alien bombs jinked hard to avoid that first salvo and Tig realized the first two planes were herding them just before the rest of the Lancers opened up and the alien bombs flew into a hellfire rain of 140mm shells. The HE-443s and OT Sabot loaded by some redsuit’s hand sparked on the alien hull casings before they penetrated, detonated, and shredded everything inside.
The Squidies’ bombs cooked off harmlessly in empty space nowhere near Tipperary . "62 seconds on the nose," Parker said. "How’d you do that, Tig?"
" Too easy." That’s what Tig thought he heard Wrigley mutter to himself just before the junk spun around him and the bulkhead smashed into him from the side and tried to brain him with the edge of the electronic warfare console. It had been on the other side of the compartment just a second ago.
"Brace for ACM," Burn said over internal comms like it was an afterthought. You were supposed to say that before you bounced your passengers off the bulkhead. She called out to the other two ships. " Greenstone and UNS Duer , come about for gunnery, now, now, now!"
Out the starboard porthole, Greenstone’s pilots didn’t ask questions, the gunnery junk fired thrusters in opposition and spun to put more of its turrets on target.
" Audacity , this is Commander Tobin on UNS Duer, what the hell are you doing?"
" Come about for defensive action!"
Only 2Ks behind the destroyer, the stars shimmered like someone had thrown gravel in a puddle reflecting them. The distortion hung behind UNS Duer like a killer raising a knife. Tig knew UNS Duer saw it too when the Commander in the chair thumbed comms at the same time he gave orders to his NAV. "Oh my god…. come about! Come about! One Eight Zero! All defensive batteries, contact bearing one eight zero, fire! fire! fire!"
The stealthed Squidy ship that snuck up behind Duer fired a single warhead, almost point blank. The flying bomb traveled for less than a second before it detonated up against the slender destroyer’s engines. Tig’s helmet dimmed to save his eyes and when it let him see again, Duer had been knocked forward and its shape had changed. It was bent around a volcano where its main engines should have been. The doomed ship tumbled past the port side of the junk and shuddered before her hatches blew and she jetted fire. Internal detonations rippled her hull in nauseating waves in the moments before she burst.
Audacity and Greenstone blazed from their turrets and raked the sky in vengeance, but they hit nothing. The shells streaked off across Algol until they spread thin and dim, and their fire petered out in the black.
7
" Audacity and Greenstone , this is Lancer 1-1. Do you have eyes on any survivors?"
Paladin answered for them. "Don’t look like it."
That alien played them… played him . Jordo sent all his fighters after those warheads just like it wanted him too. He had no idea if a Squidy thought anything like a human thought, but this one had outsmarted him. Now, UNS Duer was nothing but an expanding debris cloud spread out behind the junks.
" No survivors," Burn said over comms. "No lifeboats; no pods. Lancer 1-1, hold your current position and maintain guard on that breaching ship. We are coming to you."
" Audacity …Burn… What the hell was that thing?" He asked out in the open and Burn must have known
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