Read Online Rumors of Glory (The System States Rebellion Book 1) by Dietmar Wehr - Free Book Online
Authors: Dietmar Wehr
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would
inflict damage but not nearly as much as a high explosive warhead, unless the
KE warhead hit something vital such as a power plant or maneuvering engine by
sheer luck. The Weapons Officer had gone ahead and initiated loading of KE
missiles since there was no other choice, but Drake wasn’t sure if he should
launch them immediately. The problem was figuring out which of the three
targets to fire at. Waiting to see the impact of the first three waves wasn’t a
viable option. By the time those missiles reached their targets, the bogeys
would be so far away and moving so fast that any missiles his boat fired at
that point would not reach them before they crossed the boundary and jumped
away, assuming that they still could. Since there was no way to tell which
cruisers still had jump capability, picking a target arbitrarily might turn out
to be a waste if that target was already crippled by the HE missile wave. If
both missile boats fired all their KE missiles, then there would be nothing
stopping the FED cruisers from reversing course and attacking Sparta again. At
least one boat had to hold some missiles back just to prevent that possibility.
“Boomer. I’m down to my 16 KEs. How do you think we
should allocate them?” asked Drake.
“Standby, Paladin. I’m still firing my HEs.”
Drake waited, aware that with each passing second, his
remaining KE missiles were getting closer to becoming useless.
“Boomer to 102. You hold your KEs back, just in case they
think we’ve shot ourselves dry and turn on us. I’ll fire five KEs at each bogey
and we’ll see what happens.”
“Okay, Boomer. 102 is standing by,” said Drake. “Did you
hear that, Manny?”
“I heard, Skipper. All tubes are loaded and ready to fire
if you need them.”
Before Drake could saying anything more, he heard the
CSO’s voice again, “CSO to 101 and 102. You’ll be relieved to know that
Chancellor Belloc was not killed in the shuttle explosion. He’s injured but not
seriously. I’ve been listening in on your tactical chatter. I approve your
strategy to hold some missiles in reserve. You’ve done all that you could do.
101, return to base to reload as soon as you’re down to your last missile. 102
will remain on High Guard until relieved. Any questions?”
“No, sir,” said Boomer.
Before Drake could answer, his tactical display pinged
for attention.
“THEY’VE FIRED BACK!” yelled Boomer.
Yes, thought Drake, and
they’ve fired back at you, Boomer. A new icon containing the number 30 was
accelerating away from the cruisers and towards Boomer’s missile boat. Boomer’s
neutron armor was about to get a major test.
Drake realized that he was holding his breath and let it
out. Because of the distances involved, there was still roughly nine minutes to
go before his first wave reached its target. He adjusted the scale on the
Bridge’s main display. The enemy’s missile volley was accelerating hard, but it
was still moving backwards due to the momentum those missiles started with.
Another icon appeared on the display. Boomer had just fired the first five KE
missiles. Twenty seconds later there appeared a second group of five, and
twenty seconds after that the third and final volley appeared. There were now
nine clusters of missiles clawing their way up to their projected interception
points and one cluster of 30 missiles that were just about finished slowing
their backward velocity to zero and could now start to actually move closer to
THEIR target.
Those nine minutes seemed to take forever. As the countdown
timer reached zero, two of the three enemy icons flashed red, indicating hits,
and they began to fall behind as the third icon continued to accelerate away.
“What the hell just happened?” said Drake to no one in
particular. His and Boomer’s first volley were supposed to target the leading
cruiser. Instead, his volley hit one of the other two, and Boomer’s
inflict damage but not nearly as much as a high explosive warhead, unless the
KE warhead hit something vital such as a power plant or maneuvering engine by
sheer luck. The Weapons Officer had gone ahead and initiated loading of KE
missiles since there was no other choice, but Drake wasn’t sure if he should
launch them immediately. The problem was figuring out which of the three
targets to fire at. Waiting to see the impact of the first three waves wasn’t a
viable option. By the time those missiles reached their targets, the bogeys
would be so far away and moving so fast that any missiles his boat fired at
that point would not reach them before they crossed the boundary and jumped
away, assuming that they still could. Since there was no way to tell which
cruisers still had jump capability, picking a target arbitrarily might turn out
to be a waste if that target was already crippled by the HE missile wave. If
both missile boats fired all their KE missiles, then there would be nothing
stopping the FED cruisers from reversing course and attacking Sparta again. At
least one boat had to hold some missiles back just to prevent that possibility.
“Boomer. I’m down to my 16 KEs. How do you think we
should allocate them?” asked Drake.
“Standby, Paladin. I’m still firing my HEs.”
Drake waited, aware that with each passing second, his
remaining KE missiles were getting closer to becoming useless.
“Boomer to 102. You hold your KEs back, just in case they
think we’ve shot ourselves dry and turn on us. I’ll fire five KEs at each bogey
and we’ll see what happens.”
“Okay, Boomer. 102 is standing by,” said Drake. “Did you
hear that, Manny?”
“I heard, Skipper. All tubes are loaded and ready to fire
if you need them.”
Before Drake could saying anything more, he heard the
CSO’s voice again, “CSO to 101 and 102. You’ll be relieved to know that
Chancellor Belloc was not killed in the shuttle explosion. He’s injured but not
seriously. I’ve been listening in on your tactical chatter. I approve your
strategy to hold some missiles in reserve. You’ve done all that you could do.
101, return to base to reload as soon as you’re down to your last missile. 102
will remain on High Guard until relieved. Any questions?”
“No, sir,” said Boomer.
Before Drake could answer, his tactical display pinged
for attention.
“THEY’VE FIRED BACK!” yelled Boomer.
Yes, thought Drake, and
they’ve fired back at you, Boomer. A new icon containing the number 30 was
accelerating away from the cruisers and towards Boomer’s missile boat. Boomer’s
neutron armor was about to get a major test.
Drake realized that he was holding his breath and let it
out. Because of the distances involved, there was still roughly nine minutes to
go before his first wave reached its target. He adjusted the scale on the
Bridge’s main display. The enemy’s missile volley was accelerating hard, but it
was still moving backwards due to the momentum those missiles started with.
Another icon appeared on the display. Boomer had just fired the first five KE
missiles. Twenty seconds later there appeared a second group of five, and
twenty seconds after that the third and final volley appeared. There were now
nine clusters of missiles clawing their way up to their projected interception
points and one cluster of 30 missiles that were just about finished slowing
their backward velocity to zero and could now start to actually move closer to
THEIR target.
Those nine minutes seemed to take forever. As the countdown
timer reached zero, two of the three enemy icons flashed red, indicating hits,
and they began to fall behind as the third icon continued to accelerate away.
“What the hell just happened?” said Drake to no one in
particular. His and Boomer’s first volley were supposed to target the leading
cruiser. Instead, his volley hit one of the other two, and Boomer’s
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