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

the Jerecab commander and began berating and beseeching him in turn.
    ‘Neanres we spoke earlier and you must know of the contempt of the other vassal races for your assault on the human home world. I humbly beg you to break with your admiral and withdraw your forces.’
    The screen remained blank for several seconds before it came alive to show a surprised Neanres sitting in his command chair. He brushed his long whiskers in obvious thought as he responded politely to her request.
    ‘Captain Neanres to Research Captain Gindane, I have my orders and I will carry them out to the best of my abilities. The unknown and potentially dangerous risks associated with the humans will be removed today to secure the future of my race.’
    Gindane ground her teeth in rage and paced her bridge in fury as the view screen then went blank. She growled a series of orders across the bridge as she loaded her own simulations onto the view screen.
    ‘The four smallest research destroyers are to form a shield between the Jerecab lifters and Earth with orders to destroy any launched missiles. I will take the six research cruisers in with our larger destroyers in an attempt to destroy their missile carriers.’
    Gindane was under no illusions on how the under gunned Barus research ships would perform against front line frigates, even if her ships were larger.
    Neanres watched intently as the Barus research fleet split into two un-even sections before their larger ships began closing in on his own frigates.
     
                                                                         ***
     
    Maveen Probe three, fighting under the alias of scout probe eleven, had positioned himself in front of a rag tag collection of smaller human ships in high Earth orbit. He was using his long range detectors to advise the local human commander of the large battle now taking place near the moon.
    ‘The Jerecab have already lost many frigates, however several of your destroyers have heavily depleted shields. Your admiral is altering her deployment and the Jerecab are also altering their attack plans.’
    The probe now remained silent as he received the latest messages from the Barus ships. The Maveen was well ware that the vassals could prove treacherous later, though the Barus were seen as the most trustworthy. The Sspol were also an unknown quantity as they had been in a protracted war with the Maveen up to recently. Now with allied clauses from both the Barus and the Sspol present, he made the obvious choice and transmitted his own allied clause to the Sspol directly.’
     
                                                                         ***
     
    Admiral Baunrus was closely watching the results of the armada’s attack on the human destroyers. He noted that their right wing group of ships appeared to be in disarray and he decided that he had two choices. He scrubbed the ever present dander from his shoulders in agitation before he made his choice known across the bridge.
    ‘Instruct the forward sections of the armada to now concentrate their firepower on the central and left wing sections of the human fleet. Their point defence systems are steadily being eroded and we must continue this trend before we attack them with missiles. We will incur further losses but it will insure that all their ships are destroyed as they will likely back away from us.’
    The armada turned slightly to focus on the other sections of the human fleet as Baunrus checked on the relative positions of the other alien races attempting to protect the humans. He noted that the Sspol were deployed north and south of his armada but he was relieved as they were not currently strafing his ships. The admiral was bemused that the Sspol still transmitted messages directly at Earth and at the Barus ships, for he knew that the humans needed help to defend