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

have all incurred casualties in the crews of the point defence systems. So far we have eighty dead and they are attempting repairs by powering down the defences to extract their dead and make repairs. We need twenty minutes for repairs to be completed and marines will then help the crew man the point defences.’
    Mary flinched as she realised that the eighty dead were likely flash fried in their space suits once the destroyer’s shielding had been heavily depleted. An idea that she had discussed with John Griggs during the journey home now came to mind, and she gave a coded order that was relayed as an encrypted message to all her ships.
    ‘Right wing section, execute Trojan horse formation.’
    The admiral noted that the right wing section now drifted around in formation in space as their commanders’ implemented her order. Rick Gordon gave her a quizzical grin and she spoke again.
    ‘Well lieutenant let us see if the Jerecab admiral responds by taking the bait…’
     
                                                                         ***
     
    Omerio kept his tone formal as the view screen came online to show his intended mate, Gindane, on the bridge of her research cruiser.
    ‘Captain Gindane, we will arrive in the later stages of the battle. I suggest you engage the two missile carriers and their escorts, as the human population on Earth could be decimated even as we drive away the armada. We will attack the armada itself when we arrive in about an hour. I can also report that the virus we caught earlier from the humans has definitely subsided, though my own ship remains in quarantine from my other cruisers.’
    Gindane looked over her bridge as she composed a reply, for she knew that Omerio had been busy earlier with his squadron avoiding the armada. One of her lieutenants coughed apologetically, but she gave him a reassuring smile as she knew he was still recovering from the illness. Gindane motioned for yet another report to be sent to her as responded to Omerio’s suggestions.
    ‘Captain Omerio, it is reassuring to know that your ships are nearby. I can also confirm that the virus outbreak on my own ship is now contained as well. I will implement your suggestion shortly as it is good advice as always. Now in turn you must be advised that the humans have additional defences at their moon and it would be unwise to get too close….’
    Omerio listened avidly to the latest information that her research fleet had obtained either from direct observations or from direct questions to the at times bemused humans. He looked over something on his data tablet for a few seconds before he spoke again.
    ‘The Sspol are hanging back and still signalling clauses, and I suggest we immediately send the allied clause to both that Maveen probe and the Sspol cruisers at the same time.’
    Gindane could readily see the logic in his second suggestion and her ships began sending out the required messages to both the other alien races.
    Omerio now excused himself and the view screen went blank as the meeting ended. Gindane knew that he would be altering his own deployment in light of this new information. By habit she verified that the bridge recorders on her cruiser had recorded the meeting in full, for she knew that if she survived this battle then the details would become very important to any board of inquiry.
    Gindane was now watching the battle critically from one side as the armada attempted to destroy the human destroyers. She felt the humans were fighting rather well in defensive position surrounded by superior forces of the armada. However she knew that several of their destroyers already had severely depleted shields and the battle had hardly begun. The Barus researcher noted that the second formation of Jerecab ships was now moving into their attack positions and she altered the course of her research fleet to intercept.
    Gindane opened a channel to