“We don’t need to tie up their communications for long, Signals. Get on with it.” Harlan spoke gently to take any sting out of the words but he didn’t need the enemy calling in more ships to add to the group that was already there.
“And what shall we transmit, sir?” the signals officer asked.
“An earful of static. Now -”
Twenty minutes later, it was over. They had failed to capture any of the tankers but only one had escaped the planetary gravity field and made it to lightspeed. They had also taken out the Levarc frigate and three of the four cruisers. Oddly, the remaining cruiser had headed off on a different vector to the tanker’s. For their own part, Harlan Roth’s task force had lost almost two squadrons’ worth of fighters and one of their support frigates. None of the cruisers, including the Goshawk, had been critically damaged but the losses were still heavy, particularly since the task force had not been anticipating an engagement.
“What was this, Admiral?” Captain Arkei asked.
“Whoever was on those cruisers made a mistake in choosing the vector out from Bestira that they did,” Harlan replied. “We weren’t supposed to know about those tankers.”
“It’s good to know the enemy’s capable of mistakes.”
“True,” Harlan said, although he still wondered what the tankers were doing there in the first place. However, he found out soon enough.
“Sir,” the head signals officer reported. “Report from the scout ships you sent out. Markings on the hull fragments match those of the Second Division vessels, not the Third.”
The admiral looked the signals officer in the eye. “Raise a priority one alert. Prince Askaera and the Second Division are in the vicinity. Relay to all local commands and try Corsida and Vice Admiral Himaeron again.”
Captain Arkei walked by Harlan’s side, glancing at the signals officers as they made their calls. “What could Askaera be attacking around here? Talea?”
Harlan shrugged, glancing over to the signals station as one of the officers turned their way. “We may find out shortly.” He frowned. The signals officer had shaken his head.
“We can’t raise Corsida at all now.”
“All right,” Harlan replied, nodding to him to continue with the rest of the calls. “But keep trying.” He turned back to the captain. “This breakdown couldn’t have come at a worse time. Send scouts to the naval signals station Core-12 to see if they can raise the Fourth Squadron.”
“And if they can, where are we headed?”
“We can only guess where that Third Division cruiser went but I think it’ll rejoin the Anharas Kuhr and the main group to do some more damage before Valaekei goes home. So we go back to Bestira, leave a rear guard and then continue onto Fel Vaschal to contain the damage and set up a secondary perimeter watch. If Valaekei’s still in this sector, we may still catch him in the net.”
For free samples from other books by Hamish Spiers, visit: http://hamishspiers.com/books/
Universal book links:
Star Frontier: https://www.books2read.com/starfrontier
Star Frontier: Dangerous Games: https://www.books2read.com/starfrontier-dangerousgames
Star Frontier: Descent: https://www.books2read.com/starfrontier-descent
The Sentinel: https://www.books2read.com/sentinel
Fringe City Nightfall: https://www.books2read.com/fringecitynightfall
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hamish Spiers is an Australian-based author, telling very human stories in the space opera and vigilante adventure genres. Compelling, fast-paced, intelligent and often moving, his books have something for every reader.
For more information on his books, as well as updates and other content, visit his website at http://hamishspiers.com
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