Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2) Read Online Free PDF

couldn’t compensate fast enough for the sudden loss of
inertia. If she hadn’t already buckled herself down to her chair, she would
have hit the Bridge ceiling. Power to Bridge lights and equipment failed but
only for half a second. When power resumed she heard the sound of the proximity
alarm. They hit us with KEs, but none of them reached the Bridge, thank God! Then she realized why the proximity alarm had gone off. The force of the
missiles’ impact had pushed Trafalgar backwards and therefore closer to the
freighter by enough to threaten a collision.
     
    “Helm!”
That was all the CO had time to yell before the ship shuddered again, this time
surging in the opposite direction. Remington was pushed back into her padded
chair so forcefully that it knocked the wind out of her. As she gasped to get
air back into her lungs, she realized what had happened. My God! The
freighter hit us! Status lights all over the Bridge were switching from
green to red. Acceleration had dropped to zero. The collision had apparently
damaged all of Trafalgar’s engines. They still had power and artificial
gravity. Radar was still working too. She checked her tactical systems. Two
missile tubes were damaged. One rail-gun cannon was also off-line. Trafalgar
could still fight, but without the ability to maneuver, she was a sitting duck.
The CO was now conferring with the Engineering Officer. That left her free to
look at the main display. The two icons representing the cruiser and the
freighter were moving apart, although very slowly. Trafalgar was coasting, but
City of Montevideo was still able to maneuver, and she was pulling away. The
display sidebar indicated that the freighter was losing atmosphere.
     
    Remington
shifted her focus to their so far one and only salvo. Those missiles still had
over two minutes to go before they reached their target. Tango1 was still
maintaining its vector. Remington shut out the noise around her and
concentrated on the 10 missiles. Tango1 would jump away any time now. She was
sure of that. But when the time to interception hit zero, the ship was still
there. All 10 missiles appeared to have hit the ship, but there was no sign of
any damage. No venting atmosphere and she was still scanning.
     
    “What
the hell is Montevideo doing?” yelled the CO. Remington checked the freighter
icon again. It was accelerating again at its maximum rate of 5Gs and therefore
was pulling away from Trafalgar fast.
     
    The
Helm Officer answered the CO’s query. “She’s trying to break out past the
hyper-limit, Skipper!”
     
    “Idiots!
They should have stayed within our defense zone! Tango1’s going to fire again!”
shouted the CO. As soon as he finished saying it, a new red icon appeared on
the display with the number 20 in it.
     
    “Twenty
missiles inbound!” said Remington. She knew her announcement was unnecessary
since everyone could see the new information on the display, but trained to
respond that way she had done it out of habit.
     
    “Do
we know what they’re aiming for yet?” asked the CO in a calmer voice.
     
    She
checked her console. “Inbound missiles are targeting the freighter, Skipper.”
She saw him hit his chair’s armrest in frustration.
     
    “Can
we still fire back, Lieutenant?” asked the CO.
     
    “Eight
tubes are loaded and operational, Skipper.”
     
    “Then
fire them, Goddamit!”
     
    “Second
salvo away! Time to impact is three point three minutes.” It was an exercise in
futility. She knew it. The CO knew it. Everyone knew it. The enemy missiles
would hit the freighter first and almost certainly cripple her. At that point
there would no longer be any reason for the Union commerce raider to stick
around. It could micro-jump away before Trafalgar’s second salvo got anywhere
close to it.
     
    That’s
exactly what happened. Twenty hits with kinetic energy warheads reduced the
City of Montevideo to a coasting wreck. The Union ship jumped away, and the
crew of Trafalgar