moon.
Dillon, waiting to detonate the ECM pods on departure, had an idea. “Thad, we can try moving all of the ships to the east side of the dome, parked close to its sides among the debris. We may not be noticed there. If that clanship comes in from the west and lands, the ECM will suppress their communications before we launch the missiles.”
“How far out does the suppression work?” They didn’t have much time to plan.
“The pods silenced the dome from about five miles away. Should be the same for the clanship.”
“Colonel Greeves? I may know something about the inbound ship.” His visor told him that it was Fred Saber, a squad leader under Dillon, who had been part of the dome assault group.
“Speak. We don’t have much time Fred.” With a thought to the suit, Thad put him on the link with everyone.
“Sir, I was Tapping a dying warrior when you called us down to help counter the ambush. She was expecting their sub leader to return this morning from a nearby dome. This should be him. I never got a chance to report becau…” Thad made his decision and cut him off.
On the low power general push, Thad gave instructions. “Everyone, stay low but lift to get as close to the east side of the dome to hide as well as possible, the eight shuttles need to get the closest because they will stick out more. Park at angles among or under debris to make a jumbled appearance. Move now!”
The ships, already prepared for liftoff, moved quickly. The fast reaction speed of the TG2 pilots was all that prevented the small ships from banging into one another in their haste.
Feeling like he’d sounded too abrupt with Sabre, who had furnished good information, he gave him a responsible task as reward. “Fred that was good work. I want you to choose another four-ship to help you, and one of you move into the debris field on the south side of the dome, one on the north, so you can both cover the approach from the west with your missiles. Be ready to fire if I give the word or if the clanship opens fire, or it suddenly appears about to move away, as if it spotted us. Got it?”
“Yes Sir!”
Shifting to broader icon coverage with his helmet, and selecting ships rather than personnel, Thad watched on his visor window as Fred’s craft, and one flown by Richard Yang, a former classmate of Fred’s, moved to take up the designated positions. The ship icon movements got a bit confusing as small ships moved to join Dillon in his shuttle, as it parked next to the dome.
They all had moved into their new locations, and all were motionless when the approaching sub orbital clanship’s bright deceleration burn became visible. That’s when they were startled by multiple simultaneous explosions, which shook the ground and blew more fragments flying up from the center of the collapsed dome. The dust was still rising as the center of the broken dome slumped into the huge hole blown into the roof of the underlying factory.
Obviously, at least one Krall pinned down in the stairwells had gotten curious about the strange regularity of the automatic plasma fire and clambered out. Like the proverbial dead cat, his curiosity was now satisfied. He had triggered a proximity detector.
The question now was would the fresh column of dust, and a lack of response from the dome cause the approaching clanship to pull away?
The apparent answer was no, when the clanship continued its approach. However, Dillon and Thad had sensors that detected an encrypted transmission from the clanship. From Thad’s visor, when he expanded the image, or selected views from other helmets, it was obvious a number of the closely packed smallest ships were now buried under fresh debris. The larger shuttles, sitting closer to the vertical wall of the demolished dome had far less scraps of structure tossed onto them. However, Thad realized that many of the four-ships would need to be uncovered before they could lift.
Just then, the side walls of the dome on the east
Dillon, waiting to detonate the ECM pods on departure, had an idea. “Thad, we can try moving all of the ships to the east side of the dome, parked close to its sides among the debris. We may not be noticed there. If that clanship comes in from the west and lands, the ECM will suppress their communications before we launch the missiles.”
“How far out does the suppression work?” They didn’t have much time to plan.
“The pods silenced the dome from about five miles away. Should be the same for the clanship.”
“Colonel Greeves? I may know something about the inbound ship.” His visor told him that it was Fred Saber, a squad leader under Dillon, who had been part of the dome assault group.
“Speak. We don’t have much time Fred.” With a thought to the suit, Thad put him on the link with everyone.
“Sir, I was Tapping a dying warrior when you called us down to help counter the ambush. She was expecting their sub leader to return this morning from a nearby dome. This should be him. I never got a chance to report becau…” Thad made his decision and cut him off.
On the low power general push, Thad gave instructions. “Everyone, stay low but lift to get as close to the east side of the dome to hide as well as possible, the eight shuttles need to get the closest because they will stick out more. Park at angles among or under debris to make a jumbled appearance. Move now!”
The ships, already prepared for liftoff, moved quickly. The fast reaction speed of the TG2 pilots was all that prevented the small ships from banging into one another in their haste.
Feeling like he’d sounded too abrupt with Sabre, who had furnished good information, he gave him a responsible task as reward. “Fred that was good work. I want you to choose another four-ship to help you, and one of you move into the debris field on the south side of the dome, one on the north, so you can both cover the approach from the west with your missiles. Be ready to fire if I give the word or if the clanship opens fire, or it suddenly appears about to move away, as if it spotted us. Got it?”
“Yes Sir!”
Shifting to broader icon coverage with his helmet, and selecting ships rather than personnel, Thad watched on his visor window as Fred’s craft, and one flown by Richard Yang, a former classmate of Fred’s, moved to take up the designated positions. The ship icon movements got a bit confusing as small ships moved to join Dillon in his shuttle, as it parked next to the dome.
They all had moved into their new locations, and all were motionless when the approaching sub orbital clanship’s bright deceleration burn became visible. That’s when they were startled by multiple simultaneous explosions, which shook the ground and blew more fragments flying up from the center of the collapsed dome. The dust was still rising as the center of the broken dome slumped into the huge hole blown into the roof of the underlying factory.
Obviously, at least one Krall pinned down in the stairwells had gotten curious about the strange regularity of the automatic plasma fire and clambered out. Like the proverbial dead cat, his curiosity was now satisfied. He had triggered a proximity detector.
The question now was would the fresh column of dust, and a lack of response from the dome cause the approaching clanship to pull away?
The apparent answer was no, when the clanship continued its approach. However, Dillon and Thad had sensors that detected an encrypted transmission from the clanship. From Thad’s visor, when he expanded the image, or selected views from other helmets, it was obvious a number of the closely packed smallest ships were now buried under fresh debris. The larger shuttles, sitting closer to the vertical wall of the demolished dome had far less scraps of structure tossed onto them. However, Thad realized that many of the four-ships would need to be uncovered before they could lift.
Just then, the side walls of the dome on the east
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