Kelly Blake 3: Where the Stars Are Few and Far Between Read Online Free PDF

weapon losses. The cruiser and destroyer damaged during the initial battle were repaired by a mobile repair station and returned to him. He sent two ships damaged by missiles to the repair station when they arrived. At this rate, he could hold the line indefinitely, but he knew this would not continue forever. The Humans would gather their forces and come to remove them from their territory. Even with their new ships, they could not match the Humans’ ability to mass forces quickly. G’Motta thought of how long it had taken them to bring the Shadow Armada into this sector, even at max speed.
    His musings were brought to a halt when his sensor operator reported a massed formation of what appeared to be small ships coming right at them. G’Motta ordered battle stations.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Tammy flew her A-100 at the sensor blips indicating the K’Rang picket line. Commander Mark Tanaka, her squadron commander, led the lead section of nine A-100's. She led the trail section of nine. Her mission was simple: fly at the K’Rang picket line, fire four of her ships’ medium missiles at the K’Rang flagship, apportion the rest of her section’s missiles at other ships, and return to base. After the K’Rang fired their defensive missiles, another squadron approaching from another angle would fire all their missiles at the same targets. The goal was to saturate the K’Rang defenses so some of the missiles got through. Tammy counted the blips. The flagship was the ninth ship from the right as she looked at the line, on the basis of the last recon flight.
    Tammy watched as 108 missiles left the lead section’s internal bays. They banked up and right to clear the way for Tammy’s section. As they cleared her firing line, Tammy ripple fired her 12 missiles and watched them accelerate away from her. When all ships reported missiles away, she keyed her communicator and said, “Lets go home, boys and girls.” She pulled up and left to head back to base.
    Tammy felt pretty good. She had just flown her first combat mission. It was just like training, only easier. That was a function of how hard Commander Tanaka had trained them. She accessed her rear sensor view and saw a cloud of defensive missiles reach out for her missiles. Moments later, she saw another cloud of missiles launch from the right side of the screen. 216 missiles were inbound to the K’Rang task force from the 123rd squadron. The K’Rang load of defensive missiles would not be enough to stop them all. Some of those ships were doomed, because their commander had them spread too far apart to effectively support each other. They were about to be taught a lesson.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Shadow Leader G’Motta recognized too late what the Humans were doing. He ordered his flagship to turn to bring his close in defense system to bear. Fifteen surviving missiles of the original barrage of over 200 Human missiles sped in through the cloud of defensive missiles, to be taken out by guns and close in defensive systems. Other ships’ defensive missiles took out some of the second barrage of missiles, but not enough. He notified all ships to prepare to recover escape pods.
    His close in defense system destroyed three of the missiles but the others penetrated to turn space bright as day. A dozen anti-matter warhead missiles plowed into the Shadow Cruiser V’Gol, next to him in line, totally obliterating it. G’Motta wondered what twist of fate saved his flagship from that fire. As he reviewed his fleet disposition after the attack, he saw it was fortunate that he had put the recently repaired and returned light cruiser on the port side of his formation.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Captain Edgar Timmons was called into Admiral Paolo Minacci’s office. Admiral Minacci, commander of Scout Force, wanted to know the whereabouts of one Commander Kelly Blake.
    “Sir, he signed out of Fleet Headquarters on Monday, then I lost track of him. I suspect he caught a hop and he is probably on