Countdown by John Walker (feel good fiction books txt) 📗

No time for caution this time around. Justin checked the scanner for the escorts. The shuttle cleared the destroyer target area, but they found themselves entangled with a good number of enemy fighters. Son of a bitch. He checked. They were outnumbered two to one and their opponents fought with some real desperation.

Their wild maneuvers proved they didn’t care about discomfort, only slowing the persistent movement of the attacking force. Justin found it easy to relate. He knew how he’d feel in their situation, if he happened to be fighting for the survival of Earth… no amount of misery would stop him.

If you guys hadn’t attacked us… Justin found himself ready for another pass on the destroyer. The engines lit up on the thing. Enemy fighters popped around him, bursting into green balls of flame. The chaos became mind numbing, overwhelming to the point he had to fight hard to remain on task.

Hit them hard; they want to run.

The shields were down. Every shot from his fighter peppered the enemy hull, melting some sections, tearing others up and casting them away as molten sparks. He’d picked the section for a reason: the highest concentration of generators happened to be there along with the fact they had fewer defenses so close to the thrusters.

Justin pulled up far sooner than he had before, wincing as a bright light burst behind him, filling his cockpit with the green glow. He went to engage the afterburners…they were already on. A proximity alert made his pulse race. The HUD showed debris chasing after him, pieces of the enemy ship easily large enough to obliterate him.

Veering hard to the left, Justin narrowly avoided a piece of thruster that careened past him, plowing through friend and foe alike. He counted five ships taken out, three of his and two of theirs. “Goddammit!” There wasn’t time to worry too much about them, not with other pieces coming after him.

Flaming chunks accompanied sparks twice the size of his vessel, burning by him as if he were standing still. The reactor must’ve gone up, sending all these pieces our way. The destructive force of the explosion made his head spin. The alert continued blaring. Voices competed in his helmet, other pilots shouting out for status and direction.

“Get out of the range of the debris!” Justin shouted. He felt like that should’ve been obvious. Darkness settled around him. For half a moment, he thought he might’ve been dead. When he drew a deep breath, he felt his pulse slow down if only barely.

Scans showed they were down to sixty ships on the field…having lost fifty-six during their initial run between the destroyer, the fighters, and the escorts bringing the war dogs to their destination.

Jesus Christ.

Justin noted no enemies near his position. He brought up the comm, contacting the Morrigan. “Nina… we’ve taken some heavy casualties here. Where the hell are the Gold Empire backup ships?” He didn’t want a repeat performance of their joint operation… the one where his people had to pick up all the slack.”

“They’ll be here,” Nina said. “Hold it together and get that shuttle to its destination.”

“What’re you guys worrying about?” Justin didn’t recognize the voice at first, but the guy sounded familiar. Someone they’d worked with recently… someone… no, he couldn’t place it. “We’re here.”

“You took your sweet ass time,” Nina said. “Where’ve you been, Pol?”

“Our battleships are older than yours,” Pol Komlin replied, “but we get where we’re going. And our fighters are on the way to support you, Commander Stevens. See you momentarily to make the final push.”

“How many of you are there?” Justin asked.

“Seventy fighters total and we’re halfway to your position now. Too bad you’re not out here, Larson. I could’ve saved your ass or something.”

Oh God, please don’t flirt with my CO.

Justin shook his head, directing the various squadrons to form up for the push on the satellites. They still had their primary objective at hand and a lot of space to put between them. As the capital ships began their own dance, he anticipated the next run to be much worse than the first.

We wasted too much time on that capital ship. I hope the escorts have started in on the satellites or we’re in for a shit situation in a few minutes. Justin jammed the throttle forward, setting a waypoint for the others to keep well away from the larger vessels. I think we’ve had enough of them for this fight. Let’s stick to the task at hand.

***

Noah had Dorian switch the viewscreen to a tactical map, displaying a grid which provided an accurate representation of distance. This allowed him to assign the different ships in his fleet to their opponents, ensuring he had proper distribution of his forces. He wanted to focus on the destroyers while fending off the battleships.

Those smaller vessels represented a serious threat if they were able to focus their fire. They could technically tear through just about any ship they had. Goddamn Gold Empire battleships need to show up. We’d have this under control if they did. Fortunately, the scouts made it. Which meant they could go vessel to vessel with the enemy gunships.

While the fighters made their way to their target areas, the Morrigan proceeded to charge the defending capital vessels. If the war dogs made it to the surface, chances were good the fight would be all but done. Which basically meant the attacking fleet had only two primary objectives: the satellites and the ships.

Communications… then their ability to retaliate from orbit.

The fighters met heavy resistance as they escorted the war dogs to their attack point. One of the enemy destroyers broke off. Nina spoke quietly into her microphone. Noah let her work, ignoring that in lieu of the impending conflict dead ahead. The scouts met their targets, starting a chaotic dance that looked like the