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

“Yeehaw! Good guys are here!” Mateus yelled. “Take that, you League bastards.”

As emotion rushed through Justin, new groups of red icons appeared. “Eyes front, pilots. We’ve got more incoming. Alpha, form on me and prepare to defend the stragglers. Green, Martin, you guys do the same. Only a few minutes more, and we’re outta here.” No matter the odds. They don’t get through us. Enough of our friends died today.

On the bridge of the Zvika Greengold, Tehrani and the rest of the bridge crew rocked in their harnesses as masses of incoming plasma-cannon fire and the League’s version of neutron beams found them. So far, the carrier’s automated point defense was keeping up with hostile missiles, but it was only a matter of time until masses of energy overwhelmed their shields. She had flashbacks to the battle of Canaan and how rapidly their ability to fight had faded once a few close-in weapons system emplacements were offline.

“Conn, TAO. Master Six destroyed, ma’am,” Bryan said. That made two enemy frigates eliminated by the Starbolt missiles loosed from the Astute and Leviathan.

“TAO, shield status, Master Five?”

“Under ten percent, ma’am.”

“In that case, firing point procedures, forward neutron beams, Master Five.”

“Firing solution set, ma’am.”

“Match bearings, shoot, forward neutron beams.”

Again the twin energy-weapon emitters on the bow of the Greengold erupted with dual blue neutron beams. They slammed into the weakened shields of the enemy vessel and, after a few moments, punched through. The brittle and thin armor the frigates sported was no match, and a second after making contact, the spears of light blew out the other side. Unlike the last two ships, Master Five didn’t explode violently. Instead, the running lights blinked off, and it began to tumble out of control.

“Conn, TAO. Master Five disabled. Her reactor is offline, and she’s dead in space.”

Three down, two to go. Every second felt like borrowed time. With a glance at the tactical plot, Tehrani set her jaw. “Navigation, bring us about. Intercept course, Master Eight. All ahead, two-thirds.”

“Aye, aye, ma’am,” Mitzner replied tightly.

Terran Coalition stealth raiders were extraordinary pieces of technology. They were designed to remain invisible on the battlefield, strike fast, and disappear—not engage in straight-up slugfests. During the Saurian Wars, they’d provided invaluable interdiction capabilities far behind enemy lines and disrupted the enemy’s logistics in ways the Saurians hadn’t considered. There was no place to hide in the current battle—nowhere to escape to once they announced their presence with a brace of Starbolt missiles. The League destroyer and its remaining frigate consorts poured every ounce of firepower they had into the Leviathan as it attempted to slip away.

Wright wrinkled his nose. “Sierra Two just lost aft shields. They have hull breaches across their engineering spaces.”

“TAO, are we close enough to extend our shields?” Tehrani asked.

“Negative, ma’am,” Bryan replied.

Before Tehrani could open her mouth to give the next order, a bright-red beam lashed out from the enemy Cobra-class destroyer and sliced through the unshielded aft section of the Leviathan. She held her breath, hoping the damaged stealth raider could shrug off the hit. A few moments later, the neutron beam burst out the other side, and the entire back half of the ship exploded. The front section tumbled through the void, venting atmosphere.

“My God,” Wright whispered.

“We can’t do anything for them except finish the job,” Tehrani said loudly. “Remember our battle cry. No matter the odds.”

“Conn, Communications,” Singh interjected. “I’ve got the CAG for you, ma’am, priority message. I think he’s strapped into a Sabre.”

“What?” Wright asked.

Tehrani hit the toggle on her chair to activate the mic. “Major, we’re a little busy up here. What can I do for you?”

“I need clearance to launch, ma’am. I’ve got the eight reserve Sabres ready to go. We’ll try to even up the odds a little.”

Whatley’s space-superiority element might mix it up with the League fighters buzzing around them, but the Sabre wasn’t designed to attack capital-class vessels. Tehrani set her jaw. “Did you have them reloaded for anti-ship combat, Major?” In a pinch, they could fire Javelin missiles.

“No time, ma’am.”

If I let him go out there to attack those frigates, he’s not coming back. Tehrani was caught in a rare indecisive moment, but her heart won. “Negative, CAG. I won’t waste your life. Sit tight, and if we attract too much fast-mover attention, I’ll reconsider.”

“With respect, ma’am, it’s my people out there and my life to give.”

She forced as much steel into her tone as possible. “That’s a direct order, Major. Stand down.”

Seconds passed before he replied, “Aye, aye, ma’am.”

Tehrani picked her next target. The math still didn’t work, but the die had been cast. Soon they would take armor and hull hits from the Leaguers, and they still had three ships to deal with in the next five minutes. Allah help us all.

20

The League fighters gave Justin and what remained of the Zvika Greengold’s Ghost squadrons everything they could handle and then some. As he jinked in and out of the kill zone behind an enemy craft, another Leaguer got onto his tail. Red plasma balls zipped by the cockpit canopy as he tried to finish off the wounded Shrike in front of him.

“Alpha One to any Alpha element fighters, get this bandit off me.” He gritted his teeth and held down the firing trigger for the miniature neutron cannons.

A Vulture active LIDAR-tracking missile connected with the enemy chasing him and blew it out of space. “Got your back, sir,” Feldstein said.

With the distraction removed, Justin focused on the fighter he was pursuing, noting the pattern of movements from the League pilot. He adjusted his attack angle and squeezed the integrated trigger on his flight stick, sending dozens of neutron-cannon bolts into the void. The enemy craft lost its aft shielding and quickly disintegrated into a bright-orange explosion. Justin sighed with relief and scanned his HUD. “There are still two frigates between the Greengold and us.” The destroyer didn’t worry him, because its point-defense systems