Dante’s Command: Scifi Alien Abduction Romance (Science Fiction Alien Romance) (Survival Wars Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

controlled the cannon readied with him, he
calmed himself to just this moment and felt them calm, too.
     
    Focused, as one, they sent the shot.
     
    It lit up the screen in a burst of blue, streaking through
empty space like a comet blasting by.  Mariella cried out wordlessly, her alarm
apparent even to those who couldn’t understand.  Dante gripped his dashboard
with white-knuckled fingers, and watched with dark satisfaction as two of the
Mite ships dashed sideways, out of the range of the concussive burst as it tore
past.  The third was not so lucky however, having been unable to see the
trajectory of the cannon’s fire from where it was behind its brothers. 
     
    The shot landed perfectly.
     
    There was no explosion, no splintering, no dramatics as he
had seen from some Earth broadcasts.  Where the cannon’s fire hit, a hole
merely burned through the front of the craft.  That was all that was necessary,
as the hull was breached, and the unforgiving lack of atmosphere poured in.
     
    Every Mite on the ship would suffocate.
     
    Good.
     
    Even after just firing the first shot, Dante slammed his
fingers back on the control panel to ready the next.  Now that the cannons were
warmed up, progress went much faster.  In less than a minute, the second Mite
ship went down.  Unfortunately, they were close enough this time that they got
to watch the bodies and debris be pulled out into sight by the vacuum of space.
     
    Mariella gasped, shocked and disturbed as the bodies
writhed, pining for breath.  Dante would have given anything to spare her the
sight, though in the back of his mind he knew that she would truly understand
the magnitude of the situation now.  He hadn’t doubted her before but now? 
    Yes.
     
    His concentration slipped.  One second too slow to press the
final button again.  And the enemy ship slammed into them.  It was a sight to
behold, the whole front of the screen devoured by the sight of it.  Grey and
insectile, he caught a glimpse of the twisted, clacking faces behind the
craft’s front window screen in the instant before impact.  They were bitter and
determined, knowing now their preemptive attack had turned into failure.  Their
only option, being such a sick people, was suicide.
     
    It was the easy way out, robbing him of satisfaction, and
them of any honor they might have gained by dying in true combat. 
     
    Of course, it was not easy for the ship.
     
    The impact shook through the whole vessel, knocking his men
from their seats and shoving him hard against the wall of his console.  Alarms
startled bleeping, and an aggravated hum told him very quickly that somewhere
their hull had been breached, probably by one of those gigantic spikes on the
front of the Mite ship.  Mariella was on the floor, with her guard wrapped
around her.  He was rubbing his head, obviously having taken the brunt of the
fall for her. 
     
    Focus, he snarled again at his men, and then dragged
himself back upright despite the whole of his legacy trying to shake itself to
pieces.  A few of them managed to stagger upright, and he slapped as many
buttons at once as he could, raising an energy field which would seal over the
breach.  One alarm dropped out, though another one took its place to remind him
of just how low power was now.  At their current rate, which he assessed with a
practiced eye, they would run out just above the planet.
     
    From there, it would be a crash-landing unless he could
adjust quickly enough now to save their skins.
     
    It took a bit of adjusting and some rapid figuring, but
eventually it worked.  Dante brought up a list of every operation on the ship
currently draining power, and shut it down.  The lights, he cut by half again. 
The cannon, he cut off.  Looking at the atmosphere, he sliced away at the
oxygen and other breathable gasses until all of them would just barely stay
within consciousness.  Another emergency would require more thought, and more
breathing, but until