another wave of missiles, and he dropped them below Los Angeles in time to intercept four missiles trying to sneak around them. Then another explosion to starboard caught his attention and he pulled back. An armored plate emblazoned with the name Monterrey tumbled past his cockpit an instant later.
Jack set his jaw against the mounting destruction and glanced at the displays. They were losing ships, but explosions in the Shang formation told the tales of losses on their side too. The range showed one lightsecond. They were still too far away for even cybers to generate hits on anything beyond a random lucky guess, but they were getting closer. If they could weather the missile storm just a little longer, the Shang would be in for a major lashing.
Then hundreds of missiles came to life and streaked in to attack the Shang without warning. The display blinked a travel path back to Third Fleet’s wall of battle and Jack chuckled as the missiles ripped into dozens of ships and missile platforms. The Shang had allowed themselves to focus on the smaller ships of his force and forgotten that Third Fleet still had some tricks up their sleeves. As the Shang redeployed again to guard against that angle of attack, he watched the range incrementing down towards half a lightsecond.
“Initiate fireplan delta in three,” Gabrielle ordered and Jack leaned back.
“Two.” Jack flexed his fingers and shifted his fighter to the side.
“One.” Several missiles passed by, clawing for his fighter, but his point defense lasers picked them off with ease.
“Fire,” Gabrielle ordered and gravity turned on its side.
Every surviving ship in what now looked more like an oversized squadron fired in unison once again. Beams of twisted gravity shot towards the Shang at lightspeed, accompanied by the focused light of massive laser cannons designed to burn capital ships. The barrage lanced out, arriving microseconds after their last wave of missiles washed over the Shang. The gravitic cannons hit the fluctuating deflection grids like the hammers of God, overriding their control of gravity and tearing armor away from their targets. Then the lasers struck and Shang warships began to melt and burn as armor, interior bulkheads, crew quarters, mess halls, assembly areas, and anything that stood between the most vulnerable parts of a warship and outer space ceased to exist as solid matter.
Shang warships spun away, radiating debris and atmosphere, missile platforms tore apart, and a larger station finally appeared in the center of the formation.
“That’s the source of the jamming,” Betty informed him and Jack nodded.
“Concentrate all fire on that station,” Gabrielle ordered.
The remains of their attack force began to spin, bringing the spinal gravitic cannons on target, and Jack flexed his fingers again. It was all coming down to this. The surviving Shang ships and platforms fired more missiles at them, and the fleet’s defense grids met them with every missile and laser they had. Space filled with exploding missiles and dying ships and even lasers became visible to the naked eye, burning the debris and gases between the two fleets.
Jack jerked his head around as the St. Paul took several hits on her forward wedge. At first it looked like the heavy armor there had absorbed the blows, but then Jack realized the Shang had gotten a lucky shot straight down her throat. One of her gravitic cannons lost control and gravity went wild, lashing back and forth. Whips of gravity sliced the cruiser apart and reached out for her escorting destroyers. Heim and Cunningham tried to maneuver away but the wild gravity was too chaotic and too quick for them. One instant they were gamely firing at the Shang station, and then atmosphere spewed out from decks open to space as the pieces of the two brave ships began floating away from each other. There wasn’t even an explosion.
Jack swallowed and shook his
Jack set his jaw against the mounting destruction and glanced at the displays. They were losing ships, but explosions in the Shang formation told the tales of losses on their side too. The range showed one lightsecond. They were still too far away for even cybers to generate hits on anything beyond a random lucky guess, but they were getting closer. If they could weather the missile storm just a little longer, the Shang would be in for a major lashing.
Then hundreds of missiles came to life and streaked in to attack the Shang without warning. The display blinked a travel path back to Third Fleet’s wall of battle and Jack chuckled as the missiles ripped into dozens of ships and missile platforms. The Shang had allowed themselves to focus on the smaller ships of his force and forgotten that Third Fleet still had some tricks up their sleeves. As the Shang redeployed again to guard against that angle of attack, he watched the range incrementing down towards half a lightsecond.
“Initiate fireplan delta in three,” Gabrielle ordered and Jack leaned back.
“Two.” Jack flexed his fingers and shifted his fighter to the side.
“One.” Several missiles passed by, clawing for his fighter, but his point defense lasers picked them off with ease.
“Fire,” Gabrielle ordered and gravity turned on its side.
Every surviving ship in what now looked more like an oversized squadron fired in unison once again. Beams of twisted gravity shot towards the Shang at lightspeed, accompanied by the focused light of massive laser cannons designed to burn capital ships. The barrage lanced out, arriving microseconds after their last wave of missiles washed over the Shang. The gravitic cannons hit the fluctuating deflection grids like the hammers of God, overriding their control of gravity and tearing armor away from their targets. Then the lasers struck and Shang warships began to melt and burn as armor, interior bulkheads, crew quarters, mess halls, assembly areas, and anything that stood between the most vulnerable parts of a warship and outer space ceased to exist as solid matter.
Shang warships spun away, radiating debris and atmosphere, missile platforms tore apart, and a larger station finally appeared in the center of the formation.
“That’s the source of the jamming,” Betty informed him and Jack nodded.
“Concentrate all fire on that station,” Gabrielle ordered.
The remains of their attack force began to spin, bringing the spinal gravitic cannons on target, and Jack flexed his fingers again. It was all coming down to this. The surviving Shang ships and platforms fired more missiles at them, and the fleet’s defense grids met them with every missile and laser they had. Space filled with exploding missiles and dying ships and even lasers became visible to the naked eye, burning the debris and gases between the two fleets.
Jack jerked his head around as the St. Paul took several hits on her forward wedge. At first it looked like the heavy armor there had absorbed the blows, but then Jack realized the Shang had gotten a lucky shot straight down her throat. One of her gravitic cannons lost control and gravity went wild, lashing back and forth. Whips of gravity sliced the cruiser apart and reached out for her escorting destroyers. Heim and Cunningham tried to maneuver away but the wild gravity was too chaotic and too quick for them. One instant they were gamely firing at the Shang station, and then atmosphere spewed out from decks open to space as the pieces of the two brave ships began floating away from each other. There wasn’t even an explosion.
Jack swallowed and shook his
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