only her own reflection on the now dark console monitor.
Biting back her tears, Captain Hodge knew that there wasn’t time to mourn their loss, not with three more fully capable Terran Destroyers still in the fight. Still, she couldn’t erase the memory of the Terran’s secret weapon. Something had been in the warheads of those rockets, something capable of shutting down the massive engines of a Cruiser. There was no way to know how many of those rockets the Terrans had in their arsenals on board each Destroyer. With that sort of technology in the hands of their enemy, Captain Hodge suddenly worried about more attacks by the smaller Terran fighters. A few more well targeted assaults like the one on the Vindicator and the Alliance Fleet may lose this battle after all, regardless of their superior numbers. Though she hated to pull her own Duun fighters away from the main dog fights out on the battlefield, Captain Hodge made a command decision that she felt was right if the Fleet stood any chance of surviving.
“Magistrate Young,” Captain Hodge said, her voice flooded with weariness. “Contact all Squadrons and tell them to pull back to their respective Cruisers. Order them to provide covering fire to the larger vessels while we engage the last of the Terran Destroyers.”
As the message went out both to the fighters and the rest of the surviving Cruisers, Captain Hodge hoped she had made the right decision. In all the years of training and combat maneuvers since the Taisa Accord was signed, no commander had ever ordered their fighters to withdraw. And, though she knew that the scenarios during training were nothing like what she was seeing now, she couldn’t help but feel that she would eternally be judged for making such a rash decision.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Keryn watched with dismay as the Vindicator was destroyed and listened intently as Captain Hodge recalled the Duun fighters back to their respective Cruisers. To her surprise, the devastation of one of the Cruisers gave her the opening and distraction she had required. As she watched from the cockpit of the Cair Ilmun , the Duun fighters broke contact with their Terran counterparts and split down the middle, flying toward both the two flanking groups of Cruisers. Sensing weakness, the Terran fighters gave chase, splitting along similar lines. The result was instantaneous. In the middle of the battlefield, an area that only moments before had been filled with swarming fighters, Keryn was able to see open space. More importantly, just beyond the open space the three remaining Destroyers came into view, no longer concealed behind a screen of smaller ships.
Though every other ship was moving toward the Cruisers, Keryn broke from her position, switching on the Cair -specific channel as she moved. “All Cair ships, follow me. I’ll take the tip of the cone. Everyone else, fall into position behind.”
Slowly the other pilots shook off their surprise at seeing a Cruiser so easily destroyed and followed the Cair Ilmun . Though some of the pilots opted for the more protected interior of the cone, many pilots surprised Keryn by taking up flanking spots around her ship. Keryn had studied long enough and made enough mistakes during her time at the Academy to understand the effectiveness of three-dimensional combat. On the ground, the Wyndgaarts trained using a similar technique called a wedge. By having a single person at the point of the wedge, it allowed the other members to have overlapping fields of fire on all sides, making it both dangerous and effective at penetrating enemy defensive lines. In space, similar rules applied, though they added another axis to the grid. In a cone, the three-dimensional equivalent of the wedge formation, Keryn’s lightly armed Cair ships were able to not only fire in all directions but were
Biting back her tears, Captain Hodge knew that there wasn’t time to mourn their loss, not with three more fully capable Terran Destroyers still in the fight. Still, she couldn’t erase the memory of the Terran’s secret weapon. Something had been in the warheads of those rockets, something capable of shutting down the massive engines of a Cruiser. There was no way to know how many of those rockets the Terrans had in their arsenals on board each Destroyer. With that sort of technology in the hands of their enemy, Captain Hodge suddenly worried about more attacks by the smaller Terran fighters. A few more well targeted assaults like the one on the Vindicator and the Alliance Fleet may lose this battle after all, regardless of their superior numbers. Though she hated to pull her own Duun fighters away from the main dog fights out on the battlefield, Captain Hodge made a command decision that she felt was right if the Fleet stood any chance of surviving.
“Magistrate Young,” Captain Hodge said, her voice flooded with weariness. “Contact all Squadrons and tell them to pull back to their respective Cruisers. Order them to provide covering fire to the larger vessels while we engage the last of the Terran Destroyers.”
As the message went out both to the fighters and the rest of the surviving Cruisers, Captain Hodge hoped she had made the right decision. In all the years of training and combat maneuvers since the Taisa Accord was signed, no commander had ever ordered their fighters to withdraw. And, though she knew that the scenarios during training were nothing like what she was seeing now, she couldn’t help but feel that she would eternally be judged for making such a rash decision.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Keryn watched with dismay as the Vindicator was destroyed and listened intently as Captain Hodge recalled the Duun fighters back to their respective Cruisers. To her surprise, the devastation of one of the Cruisers gave her the opening and distraction she had required. As she watched from the cockpit of the Cair Ilmun , the Duun fighters broke contact with their Terran counterparts and split down the middle, flying toward both the two flanking groups of Cruisers. Sensing weakness, the Terran fighters gave chase, splitting along similar lines. The result was instantaneous. In the middle of the battlefield, an area that only moments before had been filled with swarming fighters, Keryn was able to see open space. More importantly, just beyond the open space the three remaining Destroyers came into view, no longer concealed behind a screen of smaller ships.
Though every other ship was moving toward the Cruisers, Keryn broke from her position, switching on the Cair -specific channel as she moved. “All Cair ships, follow me. I’ll take the tip of the cone. Everyone else, fall into position behind.”
Slowly the other pilots shook off their surprise at seeing a Cruiser so easily destroyed and followed the Cair Ilmun . Though some of the pilots opted for the more protected interior of the cone, many pilots surprised Keryn by taking up flanking spots around her ship. Keryn had studied long enough and made enough mistakes during her time at the Academy to understand the effectiveness of three-dimensional combat. On the ground, the Wyndgaarts trained using a similar technique called a wedge. By having a single person at the point of the wedge, it allowed the other members to have overlapping fields of fire on all sides, making it both dangerous and effective at penetrating enemy defensive lines. In space, similar rules applied, though they added another axis to the grid. In a cone, the three-dimensional equivalent of the wedge formation, Keryn’s lightly armed Cair ships were able to not only fire in all directions but were
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