That’s why the ships at the first planet all jumped in different directions. The warships here are all jumping together.”
Doc looked at Dee and said, “They’re setting a trap.”
“It appears they are.”
“I would also guess that the hub sent more ships here to help spring it.”
Dee closed her eyes and nodded.
Doc thought a moment and said, “D, how many FTL missiles do you have on board?”
“Four hundred.”
“How many can you target and launch in one barrage.”
“I can launch eighty in one second.”
“Would eighty destroy this planet?”
“They wouldn’t do as much physical damage but the radiation would pretty much kill everything if I target only the largest reactors.”
“Then if you fired on this continent first and jumped to the other side of the planet and fired on the eighty on that continent, how long would it take?”
“The missiles would have individual targets; they’re fire and forget weapons. They lock on a target and need no further instructions. Total time would be about three seconds give or take a half second.”
“Would hitting the reactors with a FTL Missile make a smaller or larger explosion?”
There was a long moment of silence and D said, “I only need to fire forty on each continent.”
“Are you saying the explosions would be larger?”
“Much larger; the physical damage would exceed what happened on the first planet.”
“Dee, how long does it take for you to see a ship on your scanner and jump to its location?”
“About a second.”
“So we jump in and fire on the first continent in less than a second. Thousands of ships will arrive just after we have jumped to the other continent. We fire and once again thousands of ships will arrive just after we fly away.”
“Don’t you mean jump away.”
“No, Dom, I don’t. I suspect there are thousands of Slaver Ships in other space waiting for us to make an appearance to follow us. We will jump to the second continent and activate our Skinner field and make our escape at light speed.”
“What if they have a FTL Destroyer jump in on us?”
“D, cut the Skinner field two seconds out and jump away at a tangent.”
Dom said, “Why two seconds?”
“No one is going to scan our path and order a chase in less than two seconds.”
Dee said, “It’s done automatically. No one has to order anything.”
“Yes, but they must enter normal space and fire their beam arrays. How long will that take?”
D said, “Two point three seconds, if nothing goes wrong.”
Doc looked at Dee and she nodded, “I’ll plot an escape path that passes close to the inner moon’s location.”
Dom said, “The ships are jumping out!”
“Are you ready, D?”
“I am.”
Doc looked at Dom and nodded. Dom pressed the enable button on his console and the planet was visited by hell on earth. The forty FTL Missiles hit the reactors at light speed and the six thousand pound missiles vaporized into energy as the radioactive fuel in the reactor went critical and blasted the missile’s explosion into a blast larger than a thousand million megatons of high explosives. The forty shock waves shot out at the speed of sound and burned everything on the surface in nuclear fire as it rushed out on winds blowing more than seven hundred miles an hour. Mushroom clouds blew into the upper atmosphere and began expanding into the high winds spreading the radioactive debris over the planet’s surface.
• • •
Ten thousand Slaver Warships appeared at the location of the first attack two tenths of a second after the small ship disappeared. Thousands of ships appeared in normal space around the planet as ten thousand more ships appeared at the second attack site. None of them arrived in time to fire on the White Ship before it disappeared faster than light from the planet. Six FTL Destroyers read the path and immediately jumped away and arrived in time to see the White Ship disappear out of normal space a hundred thousand miles
Doc looked at Dee and said, “They’re setting a trap.”
“It appears they are.”
“I would also guess that the hub sent more ships here to help spring it.”
Dee closed her eyes and nodded.
Doc thought a moment and said, “D, how many FTL missiles do you have on board?”
“Four hundred.”
“How many can you target and launch in one barrage.”
“I can launch eighty in one second.”
“Would eighty destroy this planet?”
“They wouldn’t do as much physical damage but the radiation would pretty much kill everything if I target only the largest reactors.”
“Then if you fired on this continent first and jumped to the other side of the planet and fired on the eighty on that continent, how long would it take?”
“The missiles would have individual targets; they’re fire and forget weapons. They lock on a target and need no further instructions. Total time would be about three seconds give or take a half second.”
“Would hitting the reactors with a FTL Missile make a smaller or larger explosion?”
There was a long moment of silence and D said, “I only need to fire forty on each continent.”
“Are you saying the explosions would be larger?”
“Much larger; the physical damage would exceed what happened on the first planet.”
“Dee, how long does it take for you to see a ship on your scanner and jump to its location?”
“About a second.”
“So we jump in and fire on the first continent in less than a second. Thousands of ships will arrive just after we have jumped to the other continent. We fire and once again thousands of ships will arrive just after we fly away.”
“Don’t you mean jump away.”
“No, Dom, I don’t. I suspect there are thousands of Slaver Ships in other space waiting for us to make an appearance to follow us. We will jump to the second continent and activate our Skinner field and make our escape at light speed.”
“What if they have a FTL Destroyer jump in on us?”
“D, cut the Skinner field two seconds out and jump away at a tangent.”
Dom said, “Why two seconds?”
“No one is going to scan our path and order a chase in less than two seconds.”
Dee said, “It’s done automatically. No one has to order anything.”
“Yes, but they must enter normal space and fire their beam arrays. How long will that take?”
D said, “Two point three seconds, if nothing goes wrong.”
Doc looked at Dee and she nodded, “I’ll plot an escape path that passes close to the inner moon’s location.”
Dom said, “The ships are jumping out!”
“Are you ready, D?”
“I am.”
Doc looked at Dom and nodded. Dom pressed the enable button on his console and the planet was visited by hell on earth. The forty FTL Missiles hit the reactors at light speed and the six thousand pound missiles vaporized into energy as the radioactive fuel in the reactor went critical and blasted the missile’s explosion into a blast larger than a thousand million megatons of high explosives. The forty shock waves shot out at the speed of sound and burned everything on the surface in nuclear fire as it rushed out on winds blowing more than seven hundred miles an hour. Mushroom clouds blew into the upper atmosphere and began expanding into the high winds spreading the radioactive debris over the planet’s surface.
• • •
Ten thousand Slaver Warships appeared at the location of the first attack two tenths of a second after the small ship disappeared. Thousands of ships appeared in normal space around the planet as ten thousand more ships appeared at the second attack site. None of them arrived in time to fire on the White Ship before it disappeared faster than light from the planet. Six FTL Destroyers read the path and immediately jumped away and arrived in time to see the White Ship disappear out of normal space a hundred thousand miles
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