us alongside the Earth fleet, and launch our anti-FTL
gravity missiles.”
Kristi shrugged, “I guess now all we can do is wait.”
We waited for hours, and no other ships came on the Seltan
side. It was tense, and horribly boring at the same time. It was
hard to stay alert for hours at a time, but I could control my body and
reactions pretty well. When something happened it would take but a moment
to regain my sharpness, but right now I wouldn’t bother.
Kristi and I kept an eye on the status of the fleet at
Knomen, and it looked like that battle was going to happen. The three
attacking fleets were well informed, they dropped out of FTL before any could
be destroyed by the small gravity missiles. After that, the battle was
almost painful to watch.
The first two volleys the enemy sent at FTL, and all the
missiles were destroyed before they could get close. After that, the
battle was fought at sub light speed in its entirety. The enemy ships had
a throw weight advantage at five major ships to one, but with all the Shield
missiles and attack shuttles, those attacks were held off. The enemy had
no problems keeping up with Sergei’s missile strikes either, though both sides
lost a few in the first eight volleys.
For the Earth fleet, we lost fifty-two shield missiles, and
four battle cruisers before Sergei could adjust to their concentrated
fire. The enemy lost fourteen ships in return fire. Considering the
attrition rate of both sides, it would have been a close battle.
But then the two sides came within range of the Earth ships’
plasma cannons. Even before the new ship design, the old ones packed
quite a punch. Every battle cruiser, carrier, attack shuttle, and even
the shield missiles, all opened fire at once. The enemy fleet was torn
apart.
I bit my lip, I was happy we’d won of course, but it was a
slaughter. And that was before the upgrade, the new plasma cannons would
put the old ones to shame in both destructive power, and range, and there would
be twice as many on each ship. I loved the Earth, and believed in
humanity, I just hoped they would be worthy guardians of the weapons I had
built them, and would not abuse that power.
“Status?”
I don’t know why I asked, I was looking at the screen which
showed me we were having some kind of weird standoff. Neither our fleet,
nor the Seltans, had moved since we got here.
Al replied, “No change.”
Kristi stretched, and yawned, “I’m hungry.”
I nodded, there was only so much time I could wait. Of
course, as soon as I stood the Seltan fleet started to move. My mouth
dropped open when the fleet turned around, and went to FTL, disappearing back
to Seltan space and out of sensor range. All of them, except for one that
stayed behind. Then that one started our way, at a slow speed,
relatively, he was still going several hundred times the speed of light, but he
was ten light years away, so it would take a while for him to arrive. At
least an hour if he didn’t speed up.
“Al, transfer bridge status views to my overlay.”
I figured we had time to eat…
Chapter
14
Kristi asked, “What do you suppose they want?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know, they’ve never tried to communicate
before as far as I know. They must want something.”
The Seltan ship had slowed down gradually until they dropped
out of FTL at thirty light minutes almost a half hour ago. I was hoping
we’d find out soon, without quantum communications it would take about a half
an hour for us to receive a message.
Kristi sighed, “Well, hopefully they want to talk, because
this is a really bizarre battle tactic.”
Al replied, “I’m receiving a wide area laser communication,
the whole fleet should be picking it up. It isn’t sound or video, just
some data. Stand by a moment.”
A few seconds later he continued, “It’s a quantum signature,
along with a translation matrix, shall I program it in?”
“Go for it,” I said
gravity missiles.”
Kristi shrugged, “I guess now all we can do is wait.”
We waited for hours, and no other ships came on the Seltan
side. It was tense, and horribly boring at the same time. It was
hard to stay alert for hours at a time, but I could control my body and
reactions pretty well. When something happened it would take but a moment
to regain my sharpness, but right now I wouldn’t bother.
Kristi and I kept an eye on the status of the fleet at
Knomen, and it looked like that battle was going to happen. The three
attacking fleets were well informed, they dropped out of FTL before any could
be destroyed by the small gravity missiles. After that, the battle was
almost painful to watch.
The first two volleys the enemy sent at FTL, and all the
missiles were destroyed before they could get close. After that, the
battle was fought at sub light speed in its entirety. The enemy ships had
a throw weight advantage at five major ships to one, but with all the Shield
missiles and attack shuttles, those attacks were held off. The enemy had
no problems keeping up with Sergei’s missile strikes either, though both sides
lost a few in the first eight volleys.
For the Earth fleet, we lost fifty-two shield missiles, and
four battle cruisers before Sergei could adjust to their concentrated
fire. The enemy lost fourteen ships in return fire. Considering the
attrition rate of both sides, it would have been a close battle.
But then the two sides came within range of the Earth ships’
plasma cannons. Even before the new ship design, the old ones packed
quite a punch. Every battle cruiser, carrier, attack shuttle, and even
the shield missiles, all opened fire at once. The enemy fleet was torn
apart.
I bit my lip, I was happy we’d won of course, but it was a
slaughter. And that was before the upgrade, the new plasma cannons would
put the old ones to shame in both destructive power, and range, and there would
be twice as many on each ship. I loved the Earth, and believed in
humanity, I just hoped they would be worthy guardians of the weapons I had
built them, and would not abuse that power.
“Status?”
I don’t know why I asked, I was looking at the screen which
showed me we were having some kind of weird standoff. Neither our fleet,
nor the Seltans, had moved since we got here.
Al replied, “No change.”
Kristi stretched, and yawned, “I’m hungry.”
I nodded, there was only so much time I could wait. Of
course, as soon as I stood the Seltan fleet started to move. My mouth
dropped open when the fleet turned around, and went to FTL, disappearing back
to Seltan space and out of sensor range. All of them, except for one that
stayed behind. Then that one started our way, at a slow speed,
relatively, he was still going several hundred times the speed of light, but he
was ten light years away, so it would take a while for him to arrive. At
least an hour if he didn’t speed up.
“Al, transfer bridge status views to my overlay.”
I figured we had time to eat…
Chapter
14
Kristi asked, “What do you suppose they want?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know, they’ve never tried to communicate
before as far as I know. They must want something.”
The Seltan ship had slowed down gradually until they dropped
out of FTL at thirty light minutes almost a half hour ago. I was hoping
we’d find out soon, without quantum communications it would take about a half
an hour for us to receive a message.
Kristi sighed, “Well, hopefully they want to talk, because
this is a really bizarre battle tactic.”
Al replied, “I’m receiving a wide area laser communication,
the whole fleet should be picking it up. It isn’t sound or video, just
some data. Stand by a moment.”
A few seconds later he continued, “It’s a quantum signature,
along with a translation matrix, shall I program it in?”
“Go for it,” I said
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