Read Online Sword of Axia (The Arcadian Jihad) by Eric Schneider - Free Book Online Page A

suddenly looked at her intently, her face wore a knowing smile as if she understood his every thought. Of course, she was an Orphexian.
    “You’re reading my mind,” he accused her.
    “No, I told you I would not do that to you. I’m a woman, Captain, I don’t need to use any special powers to understand what a man is thinking. Neither would I use them in any case, we are not allowed, as I told you.”
    He felt his face glowing red with confusion, embarrassment and to his shame, lust. “The answer is no, the bridge of a warship is much too dangerous for you during a battle.”
    Serena was a woman, with a female’s almost genetic ability to twist men to their own way of thinking. He knew that it didn’t matter what he thought, she was here. ‘Born to Serve’, that was the rule that they lived by. But to born to serve whom? He almost jumped as the bridge alarm sounded, they were nearing the planet and within enemy range.
    “Captain, they’re targeting us for an attack.”
    “Thank you, Dirk.”
    “Orders, Sir?”
    “Wait until they fire, we need to get as near to them as possible before we reply.”
    They flew closer, narrowing the distance between them and the defenses. Everyone on board knew what they were facing, the formidable unmanned gun platforms that mounted multiple arrays of pulsed plasma artillery.
    “They’ve opened fire, Sir.”
    “Signal to the Fleet, maximum power to the shields, hold formation and fire on the platforms, full salvos. I don’t just want to hurt those platforms, I want them destroyed.”
    They saw the intense particle beams hurtling towards them as they set their own defensive shields to maximum intensity. Many of the Axian beams struck and broke up on impact, a few got through to smash upon the armored hulls of Blas’ fleet. Two of his ships blew up instantly. But now he had their range and the Axians were still between salvos. It was time to give them more of the pain.
    “Mr. Gehlen, signal all ships, hit them again, everything we’ve got, continuous fire. Divert all power to the main batteries and forget about auxiliary weapons systems and shields. We need to punch them hard.”
    “Aye, aye, Sir.”
    There was a shudder as almost the entire energy of the ship was diverted to the main particle beam cannons. Eighteen ships’ batteries fired in unison, the powerful beams probing forward towards the outer gun platforms. There were ten of them in all, nine took direct hits and exploded instantly. The other fired back and their ship lurched as one of the beams hit their unshielded hull. They were thrown about, Blas made a grab for Serena as she toppled and stopped her before she was flung across the whole width of the bridge. She smiled gratefully at him, but there was no time for niceties, they’d been hit badly. The siren sounded. “Warning, hull integrity breached!”
    “For God’s sake, Gehlen, finish off that last platform.”
    The First Officer shouted into his microphone, “Fire, all ships, keep hitting that platform!”
    The beams shot out again and the platform exploded instantly, hit by a dozen or more withering bursts. The Rescom Fleet surged onward towards the second row of defenses.
    “How badly were we damaged with that last hit?”
    “The hull is damaged, our speed will be reduced by seventeen percent, shield power is down twenty eight percent, otherwise the ship is functional,” the computer replied promptly.
    “Now for the second ring of defenses,” Blas announced grimly.

    System Standard 2728.1257 Surface of Dafne
    Rafe Glen led his force out of the nondescript freighter that had landed them unnoticed on the planet.
    “Hector, keep fifty men back here and guard this port. If the Axians learn where we came in they’ll ring it with troops and heavy weapons, we won’t get the rest of our force down here.”
    “We’ll keep the port open for you, Rafe.”
    Glen led his three hundred remaining men through the maze of wide tunnels that led through the