First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 Read Online Free PDF Page B

yoke to the right, just missing a heavy laser shot that had fired on the space that he just vacated.  Too close.  Locking back on again, in less than three seconds, a solid tone sounded and his displays showed good targeting telemetry.
    “Aploras,” he called to the squadron.  “All ships, lock on my signal and fire on my count.  Three.  Two.  One.  Now!”  He depressed his trigger and one of the missiles surged out form the launcher on his port side.  Korqath saw seventeen other Sepulcre ’s let loose with their missiles, and five Delphons fire their lasers.  “All fighters, break!” he roared, jamming the throttle forward and pulling back on the yoke, bringing the ship into a climb.  The starfighters all broke off in different directions, as heavy laser shots illuminated the space they had just been in.  There was a shriek that was cut off and Korqath’s display indicated that Delphon 4 was gone.  Reaching up, he touched his breather mask then settled himself back into his pilot’s couch.
     
    “Their shields are spotting, ma’am!” Garidhak said with glee. 
    “Then throw everything we have at them,” Tamara ordered.  “All forward and spinal heavy lasers, all rail gun turrets that have a solution.  Flush the missile tubes.  Helm, once this salvo goes through, bring us out and around in a loop.  I want to keep them guessing, but if you see them turn, alter our course to keep us in their stern quarter.”
    “Aye, Captain,” Wymea replied, smoothly working his console. 
    The Cavalier pulled away from the much larger battlecruiser as the salvo lanced across to savage the after section of the ship.  The Aploras had done the job of battering holes in the shields and now it was the corvette’s turn to hit the engines.  The missiles smashed against one of the large propulsion units and exploded.  The heavy lasers tore into the shredded propulsion unit, blasting through and into the hull.  The battlecruiser lurched slightly, as though it had been stung.
    But she managed a turn, one that Wymea was trying to compensate for.  Three of the turbolasers opened up, hammering the much smaller vessel on her port side.  Once, twice, thrice they hit the shields, then hit the hull.  Explosions rippled down the side of the smaller ship, fire and atmo bursting out into space.
    “Pull us away!” Tamara ordered.  “Max accel!”  Warnings flashed and alarms howled on the bridge, screaming about damage.  The hull on the port side was completely open to space, with the larger of the ship’s canted forward wings almost to the propulsion units aft.
    “But Captain,” Leicasitaj protested.  “The battlecruiser is hurt!”
    “So are we, XO!” Tamara spat.  “And we can’t take a salvo like that.  Not again.  Comms, get Korqath back on the line.”
     
    “All right.  Aploras, Delphons, you heard the Captain.  Cavalier ’s taken a lot of damage; she’s going to be out of it for a little while.  It’s up to us to keep the Leytonstone company while they get themselves situated.”
    “Oh doesn’t that figure,” Hukriss taunted.  “We do all the heavy lifting, and the big ship gets hit once and now suddenly it’s all up to us.  I told you we should have just made more fighters, Lead.”
    “That’s enough, Hukriss,” Korqath told his second.  The corvette had savaged the aft section of the battlecruiser, but had only managed to take out one of the propulsion units.  A quick check of his sensors showed that the cruiser’s speed had been reduced by twenty-five percent.  “All right, the big girl took a hit on propulsion.  First flight, on me, we’re going to make a ragged strafing run from aft moving forward.  Target shield generator nodes after we rake their engines and for Kug’s sake, don’t get shot down!  We’re going to strafe the engines and move to the topside, Second flight, follow us in, but Hukriss, you go to the bottom side.”
    “Copy Leader,” the zheen