Sol Strike (Battlegroup Z Book 3) by Daniel Gibbs (red novels .txt) 📗

you know little about morale, it would seem.” Lambert gestured to the operations map of the Sagittarius arm. “They’re losing the war against us. A brilliant counterstroke against our home world shows their strength and makes us look weak.”

“Intelligence suggests these Ghost recon fighters have integrated wormhole generators, Admiral,” Nkosi said. “The carrier that brought them here is unlikely to be within Sol system proper.”

“No, I wouldn’t expect so.” Lambert went over the possibilities. They’re probably hiding out in deep space. That’s what I’d do. He smirked. “For them to get the propaganda coup they’re looking for, these Terrans will need to make it back to whatever ship brought them here. Activate the home defense fleet and every fighter squadron we have in Sol. I even want Charon’s defense grid online.”

“Yes, sir!”

Lambert turned toward Nkosi. “They probably can’t jump out of Sol’s gravity well without being at the edge—the same limitations we have. Have the fleet muster outside of the limit, and once we have confirmation of where they’re headed, we’ll mass and cut them off.”

Infectious energy seemed to course throughout the room as the officers and enlisted personnel perked up.

“It will be done, Admiral,” the political officer replied. “These capitalist dogs won’t make it out of our home alive.”

While Lambert flashed a grin—necessary for appearances—inwardly, he despaired. How am I supposed to beat a determined force of professionals when I have these idiots in my ranks? Many a League officer had asked the same before and would ask again. I wish Pierre Seville were here. I could always count on him to have a tactical insight I missed. If only it weren’t for his political officer. At least Seville had disposed of the moron who cost the League a knock-out victory over the Terrans. But that was cold comfort, as his protégée faced a decade of exile, and the Chinese faction of the League sought any advantage it could gain. Lambert sighed and focused on destroying the enemy. At least there was honor in defending their homes. Politics would come later.

“Well, that was one hell of a rush,” Justin said. His commlink was keyed to the squadron-commander channel. “For me, anyway. What about you guys?” The void flew by his cockpit canopy as the formation of twenty-seven Ghosts zoomed away from Mars on a parabolic course toward the Lawrence limit. For the moment, it was a beautiful sight—at least until more Leaguers showed up.

“I’d rather be flying a Boar, but these things do well enough,” Green replied. “League space installations blow up nicely too.” She chuckled.

“A shame we didn’t erase all the Leaguers. We passed up some big targets back there,” Martin interjected. His tone was harsh.

“Francis…” Justin used his first name for emphasis. “Killing civilians is against the rules of war.”

“You think they give a damn about the rules of war? Are you daft, mate?” The pain in Martin’s voice was evident.

“I get it, Lieutenant. But as long as I’m in command, we’re playing this by the book, as the colonel ordered. Clear?”

“Crystal, sir.”

“With that out of the way, my egress plan is to get us beyond the Mars Lawrence limit, jump into the outer reaches of the system, and fly under stealth to the Sol Lawrence limit, and from there, we’ll jump back to the Greengold.” While it sounded easy, the odds remained long.

“Sounds good to me, sir. We really stirred up the hornet’s nest,” Green replied. “Gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting a Sabre pilot to be this good at blowing ships up.”

“I aim to please,” Justin said, a bit of cockiness creeping into his voice. He flipped the commlink channel to Alpha element. “This is Alpha One. Status check. Over.”

“Alpha Two, good. Fifty percent stores.”

“Alpha Four, good. Sixty percent stores.”

“Alpha Three, I have more kills than you today, Spencer. Watch out, or I’ll catch up,” Mateus said with a giggle. “Stores at forty percent.”

“Okay. We’re mostly in good shape, and we’ve only had a few losses,” Justin replied. “We keep this tight, use stealth to our advantage, avoid fights on the way out, and get home safe. Clear? Oh, and, Adeoye, that was one of the best spin moves I’ve ever seen. Nice job.”

“Thank you, sir.” Pride was evident in Adeoye’s voice. “Never thought I’d be happy to see the Greengold again after two straight months of crawling the walls.”

Snickering filled the commlink channel.

“You and me both, Lieutenant.”

Justin scanned his HUD. So far, so good. The local League forces around Mars had spread out, searching in a box pattern. Between the protected engine exhausts, stealth tiles, and the unique course they were on, no one had found them yet. The four stealth raiders stalked several sites for a final jump, gathering real-time sensor data. As the minutes passed, Justin noticed a multitude of new enemy icons appearing on the HUD—all over the solar system.

“You guys seeing this?” Feldstein asked. “By my targeting computer’s count, a few hundred enemy ships are ringing the outer Lawrence limit. More are jumping in constantly.”

Justin felt a tinge of bile rising in his throat. She was correct—over the last fifteen minutes, dozens of vessels had jumped in. He sent flash traffic to each stealth raider, asking them to scout secondary locations, on the off chance that somehow the Leaguers had zeroed in on the ships. “Yeah. Hold your course. The plan hasn’t changed.”

“We’re going to shoot our way out of Sol?” she shot back.

“Only if we have to.”

“I should’ve updated my will,” Adeoye interjected.

“What are you all crowing about? It’ll be a target-rich environment,” Mateus replied as she snickered. “Nothing can touch the Red Tails.”

I wonder if that’s legit confidence or bluster. Justin didn’t care. They had to keep their eyes on the ball, or all of them would die. “Steady, people. We’re going home, but the ride will be bumpy.” He hoped his words would come to pass.

Much to Nishimura’s surprise, obtaining fuel from the station went smoothly and efficiently. With Flores’s assistance, they sent the