Kris Longknife 13 - Unrelenting Read Online Free PDF Page A

hurt.
    Only a dozen or so ships stood between Kris’s fleet and the huge, unarmored, but way-too-armed alien mother ship.
    Kris had never attacked one of those monsters without some dirty, sneaky, or underhanded trick up her sleeve. But then, Grampa Trouble always said the only fair fight was the one you lost.
    Now, with the alien base ship open to her attack, Kris was left struggling to come up with a good way to clobber the damn thing.
    If she assaulted the base, they’d throw the whole fleet at her. The odds were only four to one, but they’d be desperate to defend the base ship with their women and children. The crews of alien warships were a sixty-forty split, with malesdominant. No doubt, the base ship was skewed the other way around, if not more so.
    Kris’s flag plot filled up as her staff rejoined her, now in their eggs and ready for the fight. They silently studied the battle readouts from all of her ships as Kris did the same. Finally, full information was coming in on what she’d seen dimly through the jump.
    Of Admiral Yi’s sixteen super frigates, the Lincoln , Lenin , Clemenceau , Chairman Mao , and Togo were gone. The Bismarck was trailing, well behind the line. Bethea had lost the Heimdallr and Loki ; with the Puma out of the line and trailing as well. The remaining twenty-three showed plenty of damage to their weapons, reactors, and hulls as their displays glowed red on Kris’s screen.
    At the moment, Yi was slowing but holding his fleet in good order.
    That left the aliens free to turn on Kris.
    “For what we are about to receive may we be truly grateful,” Kris muttered.
    “Amen,” Penny added.
    At the moment, Kris’s fleet was scattered, thanks to the jump’s meandering.
    “Admiral L’Estock, kindly re-form your ships into a square while at the charge. Three gees acceleration toward the enemy base ship, if you will,” Kris ordered.
    “Aye, aye, Admiral,” came back at her quickly, followed by orders for BatRon 12 to keep up its advance at 3 gees and BatRon 8 and 9 to join using up to 3.5 gees.
    Kris felt a kick in the rump as the Princess Royal responded to his orders.
    Behind her, Hawkings’s BatRon 2 began jumping into the system, the Lorna Do warrior class first and in line, followed by the Wardhaven “R’s” in a somewhat disorganized flow.
    Ahead, the base ship went to a full 1.25-gee acceleration as it fled toward its returning dishes while the thirty-odd ships that had been a close escort charged in open ranks at the onrushing humans. While most were holding at 2.5 gees, a few were edging up close to three.
    “Nelly, project the enemy course.”
    The main screen revised itself to show red lines pulsing toward her own blue lines. A green arc showed when the human ships would be in range to open fire on the charging alien warships.
    The fast-moving aliens would be in trouble. The entire three squadrons of human frigates could slash them to bits.
    Then the main alien force would pass quickly through the one-way killing zone, and Kris’s forces would find themselves in range of the massive broadsides the aliens so loved.
    Things would get rough then.
    “Nelly, I want to try something.”
    “I’m all ears.”
    Kris shared her idea with Nelly and her key staff. Nelly made the plan appear as squiggles on the main screen. Kris listened as Jack, Penny, and Masao gave their thoughts, then Nelly revised the display.
    When Kris was satisfied, she began to issue orders.

6
     
    “Admiral L’Estock, this is Admiral Longknife. I am taking tactical command of First Fleet,” Kris said tersely. Admiral L’Estock was a good administrator, but he’d never commanded a fight. This battle, Kris’s command could not afford any first-timer mistakes.
    Any more of them.
    “Aye, aye, Admiral, you have command,” came back just as tersely. Combat was only moments away; there was no time for niceties.
    “Three ships are out in front,” Kris said. “BatRon 12, you will take the one to our