Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action by David Buck

home from the righteous fury of the strange Cephrit. The captain now set a series of report triggers on the coming battle, for he had noted something else in the old Barus report. He still kept these thoughts to himself as he watched the armada begin their assault on the moon, for he was already aware that Baunrus would likely have him murdered after the battle.
     
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    Admiral Baunrus had merely ignored the last human message and put aside his own simulations as his armada swept into attack. He was well aware of Captain Neanres’s recent reserve in attacking the humans, but he had already decided to terminally resolve this matter after the attack. There was also a possibility that the humans would sort out the problem of Neanres for him anyway, as no doubt they now understood the importance of the two modified lifters in the captain’s group of ships.
    A few erratic blasts of laser fire erupted from the human destroyers, but for some reason they were not firing their main particle cannons. The frigates began slowing as the armada arrived at the location Baunrus had specified, and he urgently repeated an earlier order.
    ‘All ships are to target the human destroyers with beam weapons. We will launch missiles later after we degrade their missile defence systems.’
    A fierce cascade of weapons fire erupted from the armada and raced for the defending human ships.
     
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    Mary Neilson sat back and waited patiently until the range counter was showing the central elements of the armada were in range, before she shouted an urgent order.
    ‘All ships are to target the central sections of the armada by section numbers. Open fire!’
    The destroyers seemed to pause in space for several seconds, before their massive particle cannons fired on the Jerecab frigates. Three or more destroyers targeted a single frigate, and every time they struck in unison the frigate would explode or tumble away in ruin.
    Mary cursed under her breath the five minute recharge timers, even as she was aware that the Jerecab had already lost several frigates. She could see that the lead section of five destroyers was already taking a pounding from the combined firepower of the Jerecab armada. The admiral issued another two orders as the Exeter now shivered under the force of the Jerecab laser weapons.
    ‘All ships are to pinwheel to starboard and the forward section becomes the right wing section. Also those orbiting bases can open fire at any stage now.’
    The destroyers began the well rehearsed manoeuvre as the Jerecab continued their attack.
    Mary was aware that the Sspol cruisers in space nearby tentatively nosed closer to their attack positions as they still continued to broadcast their messages. The Barus research fleet was also nearby and attempting to assault the rear of the Jerecab armada. She now looked at the time and distance calculations for Omerio’s cruisers and realised that he was still over an hour way. The admiral knew that the battle could easily be lost before the Barus ships arrived. She watched as the orbiting base Luna 2 opened fire on the Jerecab. Another pair of Jerecab frigates were destroyed as the heavier weapons of the orbiting base found their targets.
    The pinwheel manoeuvre was completed and the left wing section was now taking the brunt of the weapons fire from the armada. The recharge timer sounded again and Mary watched keenly as the destroyers again fired their particle cannons at selected targets. Several more Jerecab frigates tumbled end over end before they exploded. Mary appraised that they were doing rather well, though Rick Gordon’s first reports filled her with unease.
    ‘Admiral, five of the six destroyers on the right wing