Black Fleet Trilogy 1: Warship Read Online Free PDF

seconds. “ Retracting moorings and disengaging feed umbilicals now. You are clear to push out of dock, thrusters only, and follow standard insertion vector for your first transfer orbit. Safe travels, Blue Jacket .”
    “Thrusting out now,” McCord reported. Jackson saw the two tugs anchored between the MPD pylons, one on each side of the ship, flare softly as a minimal amount of thrust was applied to gently nudge the destroyer out into open space. While in dock the ship was not able to engage its own artificial gravity field, not needing to while within the sphere of influence of Jericho’s generators. But in the time it would take them to fully move away from the station and out of Haven’s orbit they would keep their own generators powered down, forcing the crew to operate in weightless conditions.
    Jackson and Celesta watched the common monitor near the command dais as it showed split views of the Blue Jacket easing out of the scaffolding-like external dock. McCord had a focused, yet relaxed look on his face as he coordinated all the smaller ships to ensure the big warship would make it out into open space without damaging herself or the station. Once the MPD nacelles cleared the opening there seemed to be a chorus of relieved sighs on the bridge as the part of the ship that protruded the most was out of harm’s way. The ship was now navigating freely in open space, flying over Haven sideways at just under fifty-five thousand kilometers per hour as she kept pace with Jericho Station.
    “Turning into the spin,” McCord reported. “We’ll begin accelerating to our first transfer momentarily.” Jackson watched as the prow of the ship turned so that they were flying straight ahead in relation to their orbital path. Once McCord had executed his turn the bridge crew was pressed back into their seats gently as the tugs at the aft throttled up and the ship began to accelerate away from Jericho Station.
    The process was maddeningly slow, but there was no avoiding it under normal conditions. While the main engines of the Blue Jacket were more than powerful enough for them to easily break orbit without the help of the tugs, there were some claimed environmental concerns about the amount of ionized gas released by the current generation of starship engine at such a low altitude. Jackson didn't buy it since the new engines had next to zero harmful emissions compared to the older, nuclear-pulse-powered ships that blasted raw deuterium reaction byproducts from their exhaust. Even so, other than an emergency on the station or an attack of the planet itself, ships were not routinely authorized to depart under their own power. It was just as well … at the acceleration the MPDs were capable of they wouldn’t survive the trip without their gravitational field active and stabilized to null the effects of inertia.
    “We’ll be accelerating at a steady 1G before breaking away from the planet,” McCord reported. “There is almost no traffic in the higher orbits so I don’t foresee any delays.”
    “Thank you, Lieutenant,” Jackson said. With the acceleration he felt like he was lying on his back as he was pressed into his seat. It was quite disorienting when his vestibular system was telling his brain something his eyes didn’t agree with. Even veteran spacers could still be made ill from the effect.
    It was just under an hour later when McCord announced they were at departure altitude and swung the ship away from the planet, accelerating out of the system. Once they were four hundred thousand kilometers away from Haven, Jackson ordered reactors two and four started.
    “Tell Lieutenant Commander Singh that once he has reactor four stabilized he can go ahead and start prepping the main engines,” Jackson ordered. “I want the MPDs ready to provide thrust within the hour. Helm, what is the status of directional thrusters?”
    “Thrusters online and operational, Captain,” the helmsman answered. “The ship is answering