Forged by Battle (WarVerse Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

metal he was reminded of the nightmare he had stayed awake to avoid. He stared at his unchanged readouts as his ship orbited the Inferno and waited. Snick, snack, snick, snack . He was waiting for anything to move close enough to distract him, and wondered why the bombers hadn't been launched against them yet. He dialed out his sensors, looking for their telltale signature on the HUD.
    Vincent rolled his ship into a lazy turn to take in more of the battlefield. Why would the enemy disgorge its fighters without bombers to make any real impact? As he finished his roll, he saw the planet's moon, and on the HUD, the friend tag that was blinking between it and the planet.
    He tapped onto the console to zoom and saw a shuttle that had been traveling towards the Inferno when the fighting started. They were just outside the moon’s orbit, and would have to turn back. Vincent was surprised to see they were still accelerating towards the fleet, and doubly so when an SOS signal broadcast. The surprise faded when the red blips started filling the sector from behind the moon. The enemy bombers had made their appearance.
    "Flight Control, Reaper One, I had positive ID on multiple bogies coming in from behind the moon. COBs in danger of attack. Permission to engage?" Vincent commed back to the ship. No response.
    "Flight Control, Reaper One, I say again I have civilians on the battlefield. Permission to engage." More silence.
    Vincent didn't ask a third time.
    "Reapers, follow me," he commed, and rolled out of the defensive orbit to blast towards the closest planetary moon.
    His squadron followed in his wake.
    A transmission came through from his wingmate. < Sir? Were we diverted?> Duchess asked.
    Vincent reached to the com unit to key in a private channel. "No, bombers just appeared from around the moon. Linking coordinates now. We have COBs between us and them."
    The Duchess commed back a sense of approval, a transmission without words.
    The Inferno had been locked in tidal orbit around the colony planet before it maneuvered for the attack, so the moon was only a few hundred thousand kilometers away. Vincent had his AMI pull up a holographic display to type in a brief calculation, then grunted in frustration when AMI crunched the numbers and set them on the screen.
    "Thanks," he muttered.
    < Lieutenant Vincent, why have you left your grid?> said an irritated voice across his private net. Commander Belford , Vincent thought with a sneer. This should go well.
    The enemy decided that Vincent would not need to respond. Another squadron of bombers dropped into view from behind the moon. There was no way the Inferno could ignore the threat now.
    Vincent keyed a wide beam transmission. "Multiple hostiles approaching carrier group." He glanced at his readouts. "Heading fower, tree, six, niner, by eight, niner, five, tree. Reapers set to intercept. Permission to engage?" Vincent knew he needn't bother giving heading or even calling the targets. His computer had already sent a beam back to the ship with far more detail. He certainly wasn't ensuring everyone saw Belford's blunder. That would be petty.
     Belford did not sound pleased.
    Vincent’s lip twitched upward.

Chapter 5
    Johnston
     
    "Damn cowboy," Belford snarled, causing Johnston to look up from his dais toward the CAG. “Commander of the Air Group” was a term the wet navy used for their atmospheric fighter commander. Belford was in charge of all the Inferno 's squadrons, and though they operated in a vacuum and not air, the moniker stuck. After all, Johnston had started his career twenty-five years ago on one of those water-dwelling ships.
    "Problem?" he asked.
    "Chimera squadron left their post to chase after some bombers," Belford said. "They were our fighter screen."
    Johnston sank into the data stream the squadron in question had been beaming back to the ship. Two bomber squadrons and escorts from the far side of the moon. As the details filled in, Johnston