Time Commander (The First Admiral Series) by William J. Benning Page A

by accident or design, the Eagle pilot managed to hit the open-mouth vent at the front of the massive Cruiser. The pulsar-bolts had then raked through the fragile and vulnerable fans that generated the electro-magnetic drive of the Cruiser. The direct hits on the fans quickly de-stabilised the entire drive system. Compartment by compartment, the Cruiser began to disintegrate and explode. Flying down the length of the stricken Cruiser, the pilot managed to keep his Eagle just ahead of the exploding compartments as they detonated. The pursuing Axe-Blades, however, were not as fortunate, or skilful, as the gallant Alliance pilot. Most of them were caught in the explosions of the dying Cruiser.
    With a great triumphant victory roll, the Alliance Eagle emerged from the devastating run over the hull of the Cruiser just moments before the warship erupted in one last, huge destructive convulsion. Ganthoran and Alliance vessels in the vicinity were either destroyed or scattered like a child’s toys in the face of the avalanche of debris. With that act of unimaginable bravery and ambition, the Eagle pilot vanished back into the melee of battle. The battle computers would have recorded the pilot’s exploits and, if he survived, he would be decorated for bravery.
    However, the astonishing courage of the Eagle pilot was simply a morale-boosting and amusing distraction for First Admiral Billy Caudwell. As the brave Eagle pilot disappeared back into the fray to join his hard-pressed comrades, Billy noticed a further tactical development in the three-dimensional image of the War Table.
    Whilst the Eagle pilots were being hunted down through the Ganthoran formation, the Ganthoran General was starting to deploy his forces after the initial shock of the Alliance attack. The General had lost patience with the annoying Eagle fighters snapping at his formation from within. He had come to conquer the surrounding Star Systems, not get embroiled and tied up in a minor skirmish with a few thousand impudent single-seat fighters.
    For the Ganthoran General, it was time to move on from this distraction to the main purpose of the invasion. The Ganthoran Cruisers, Destroyers and Axe-Blades had been mauled by the Alliance Eagles, but they could afford that level of losses. The Ganthoran military had no qualms about sacrificing large numbers of personnel to achieve a particular objective. It was now time for the Ganthoran General to cut his losses in Cruisers and Destroyers. There was enough wreckage and debris to provide the remaining Axe-Blades with a happy hunting ground to finish off the Alliance fighters. It was now time to start dealing with the formation of larger Alliance warships that stood between them and the Tergus Star System.
    On the War Table image, Billy Caudwell could see the deployment taking shape. The Destroyers and Cruisers to the rear of the Ganthoran formation moved forward. They circled past the continuing fight with the Alliance Eagles and began to take up station to the front of the formation. Meanwhile, the Cruisers and Destroyers that had originally been stationed directly in front of the “Six-Cigar” Carriers began to withdraw to form a defensive screen around the Carriers.
    The Cruisers and Destroyers forming the backdrop to the fighter-on-fighter battle were also being withdrawn. The Eagles and Axe-Blades would be settling their differences in the great jungle of debris and disabled Ganthoran warships. Like a single-cell organism under the scrutinising lens of the microscope, the Ganthoran formation split smoothly and neatly, not into two parts as Billy Caudwell had hoped, but three.
    “ How long until Trion Drive?” Billy asked.
    “ Four minutes, sir.”
    Doing the math in his head, Billy worked out: four minutes to Trion Drive, then a further two minutes to regroup First Fleet, then, perhaps, another three minutes to reach Third Fleet’s position and another four or five minutes to launch Eagles and mass them for an