Read Online The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #4, Retribution by Andrew Beery - Free Book Online Page B

frame and surrounding area .“I’ m not detecting anything in terms of electronic counter-measures. We should be able to cut through either the door itself or the frame . ”
    “ Is there a reason to choose one over the other ? ”
    The commander considered the question for a moment, as he and the younger officer stepped back a few paces to assume firing positions .“ Going through the door should be more fun. What do you say Lieutenan t … feel like slagging a door ? ”
    The younger man grinned under his visor .“ Flame On ! ”
    ***
    “ Come about to heading one-four-zero mark two. Z-Axis plus 50 ahead dead slow. We want to come right up on their flan k … without any sort of sensor ghostin g ”
    Cat leaned forward in her command chair as she watched the main holographic display. The GCP Yorktown was hunting pre y … in this case one of the two Modos frigates parked in the Lagrange point located between Naanac and its only large moon, Tol. Lagrange points were popular places to park starships, because they only required minimal station-keeping thrusters to maintain position. The MS Redclaw was the first of the two ships they were hoping to disable. It had been the one firing tactical nuclear bombs into civilian population centers. There were some tactics that were just not allowed in time of war, and that was most certainly one of them.
    Commander Ben looked up from his sensor console .“ The Tidepool is powering up engines, Admiral . ”
    “ I thought they might , ” Cat acknowledged .“ Troops have landed on planet from somewhere. They have got to be wondering from where. Their current position limits their ability to see the space surrounding the planet. I’ m surprised i t’ s taken them this long to realize it, and move one of their ships . ”
    “ That does indeed seem to be the case, Admiral , ” Commander Kirkland said, from his station .“ The Tidepool is moving toward a geosynchronous orbit on the opposite side of the planet . ”
    “ Once they get into position, le t’ s give them something to focus their attention on while we deal with the Redclaw . Chief Wroblewski, do you think you can arrange a brief distraction for our friends over on the Tidepool ? ”
    “ I believe I have just the thing, Admiral , ” the Warrant Officer said, with a grin. He reached forward and pressed a button on his console that activated a series of surprises the Yorktown had left parked in various orbits around the planet.
    “ I thought you might , ” Cat acknowledged with a matching grin.
    Just as the Tidepool established itself in a geosynchronous parking orbit, it ran into one of the many cloaked gravimetric mines that had been placed in orbit by the Yorktown earlier that day. The min e’ s hyperfield emitters folded space-time in such a way as to greatly enhance interactions with the Higgs field. The result was it quadrupled a victi m’ s relative weight. What had been a stable orbit for the MS Tidepool suddenly became a rapidly decaying one. Cat could imagine the chaos on the bridge of that ship as they fought to compensate. The ship and crew were in no real danger, but they would certainly be occupied for the next several minutes.
    “ Ben, spin up the primary and secondary generators to one hundred and ten percent , ” Cat said, without taking her eyes off the forward view screen.
    “ Chief, I believe we are in position. I want you to power up the forward rail-guns and plasma beams. Target the Redcla w ’ s engines, communications, and weapons in that order . ”
    “ Initiating pre-programmed firing sequence now, Admiral . ”
    “ Keep a sharp eye on your boards , ” Cat warned the Bridge crew .“ W e’ ve been cloaked, up to this point, but once we start firing they will most certainly know where we are . ”
    Massive energy beams lashed out from the GCP flagship. The beams instantly vaporized the small amounts of interstellar dust floating between the Yorktown and Redclaw . The result was a