toward the anomaly that had first been spotted by a passing reconnaissance frigate several days ago. That ship had been unable to determine the exact nature of the reading. The captain decided the size of the target was beyond his tactical ability to handle, and it seemed to match the energy signature that all T’Chillen warships were instructed to watch for.
The squadron commander leading from the CIC of a cruiser so new it was on its first mission evaluated the scattered readings his sensor technician sent to him. The information was less than useless. There could be one ship in the long dead star system, or there could be a hundred. The commander of the reconnaissance frigate had been right to escalate this reading. The fleet commander may have been hasty to take his head.
“Orders, squadron commander?” one of the three destroyer captains asked. The squadron commander hissed and spat poison on the pristine painted floor of the bridge. He was too newly promoted for the bridge crew to have the proper amount of respect and fear that normally went with such a position. Had they become used to the new squadron commander, there would have been fearful silence. Instead they watched with open curiosity, and that pushed him to act rashly.
“Assume combat formation,” he ordered, “destroyer B-44 on point, we enter the system at best speed.”
In a less than perfect formation the five ships raced through the ancient sphere of charged particles that remained after the start had gone nova. An eighth of a light year deep, it took them almost an hour to push through, all the time nearly blind to what they would find.
The squadron lead destroyer cleared the nova remnant five seconds before the other ships, and was destroyed almost immediately.
“Enemy ships dead ahead!” the cruisers tactical officer hissed in alarm.
“Split formation, shields aligned to threat,” the commander ordered even as those actions were already underway. The rapidly growing T’Chillen fleet was moving experienced ship personnel around to new ships as they came on line, seeding each with a number of crew who were well versed in that class of vessel operation. There were fewer ships with full veteran crews, but also newer ships at least contained section leaders who knew what they were doing. Those experienced crew took charge immediately when the lead destroyer was obliterated, doing just what the commander ordered before it hissed from his mouth.
“Threat assessment!” the squadron commander snapped as the four surviving ships of his squadron split around the perceived threat. At the instant the emerged from the confusing interference, sensors resolved the outline of a single Kaatan ship of the line and a pair if Eseel gunboats. This was exactly the type of threat this sort of squadron was established to combat. “Full forward energy batteries, engage, engage!” he hissed in triumph.
The Kaatan plowed into the hail of energy beams as the T’Chillen destroyers unleashed a wave of shipkiller missiles. They were all swatted aside by a dizzying flash of pinpoint laser point defense fire. The Kaatan’s mobile shields spun in almost invisible speed to catch the incoming energy beams, glowing white after each hit and darting away to allow the impact to dissipate while another moved in to take its place. The complex and fast-moveable shield system was something the T’Chillen ships could not hope to come close to duplicating.
The T’Chillen destroyers on three sides, rolled as they fired, allowing their less mobile shields to shed fire as the Kaatan unleashed its forward beam weapons and replied with pinpoint flights of its own shipkillers. The destroyers used their own point defense to good effect.
Coming up the middle, the T’Chillen cruiser went straight at the Kaatan, its shields all oriented forward and everything it had blasting at the lone enemy ship. The Kaatan was just beginning to show shield weakness when a massive energy beam
The squadron commander leading from the CIC of a cruiser so new it was on its first mission evaluated the scattered readings his sensor technician sent to him. The information was less than useless. There could be one ship in the long dead star system, or there could be a hundred. The commander of the reconnaissance frigate had been right to escalate this reading. The fleet commander may have been hasty to take his head.
“Orders, squadron commander?” one of the three destroyer captains asked. The squadron commander hissed and spat poison on the pristine painted floor of the bridge. He was too newly promoted for the bridge crew to have the proper amount of respect and fear that normally went with such a position. Had they become used to the new squadron commander, there would have been fearful silence. Instead they watched with open curiosity, and that pushed him to act rashly.
“Assume combat formation,” he ordered, “destroyer B-44 on point, we enter the system at best speed.”
In a less than perfect formation the five ships raced through the ancient sphere of charged particles that remained after the start had gone nova. An eighth of a light year deep, it took them almost an hour to push through, all the time nearly blind to what they would find.
The squadron lead destroyer cleared the nova remnant five seconds before the other ships, and was destroyed almost immediately.
“Enemy ships dead ahead!” the cruisers tactical officer hissed in alarm.
“Split formation, shields aligned to threat,” the commander ordered even as those actions were already underway. The rapidly growing T’Chillen fleet was moving experienced ship personnel around to new ships as they came on line, seeding each with a number of crew who were well versed in that class of vessel operation. There were fewer ships with full veteran crews, but also newer ships at least contained section leaders who knew what they were doing. Those experienced crew took charge immediately when the lead destroyer was obliterated, doing just what the commander ordered before it hissed from his mouth.
“Threat assessment!” the squadron commander snapped as the four surviving ships of his squadron split around the perceived threat. At the instant the emerged from the confusing interference, sensors resolved the outline of a single Kaatan ship of the line and a pair if Eseel gunboats. This was exactly the type of threat this sort of squadron was established to combat. “Full forward energy batteries, engage, engage!” he hissed in triumph.
The Kaatan plowed into the hail of energy beams as the T’Chillen destroyers unleashed a wave of shipkiller missiles. They were all swatted aside by a dizzying flash of pinpoint laser point defense fire. The Kaatan’s mobile shields spun in almost invisible speed to catch the incoming energy beams, glowing white after each hit and darting away to allow the impact to dissipate while another moved in to take its place. The complex and fast-moveable shield system was something the T’Chillen ships could not hope to come close to duplicating.
The T’Chillen destroyers on three sides, rolled as they fired, allowing their less mobile shields to shed fire as the Kaatan unleashed its forward beam weapons and replied with pinpoint flights of its own shipkillers. The destroyers used their own point defense to good effect.
Coming up the middle, the T’Chillen cruiser went straight at the Kaatan, its shields all oriented forward and everything it had blasting at the lone enemy ship. The Kaatan was just beginning to show shield weakness when a massive energy beam
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