Vanguard (Ark Royal Book 7) Read Online Free PDF Page A

peered through the nearest portal as the giant battleship came into view.  It would be her only chance to see an exterior view of the ship for weeks, unless she went EVA or borrowed a shuttle - and besides, she was fascinated.  The images in the files couldn't compare to a real starship.
     
    Vanguard was massive, she noted; the files stated that the battleship was five kilometres long from prow to stern.  It was easy, as the shuttle flew closer, to pick out the four immense turrets towards the prow of the ship and, in the distance, the four rear turrets.  She’d served on Warspite , with its immense plasma cannon, but Vanguard’s main weapons were much nastier.  She doubted that anything could survive long enough to ram the ship, if the captain directed every turret that could bear on the approaching vessel.  The smaller weapons and point defences studding the hull looked almost like afterthoughts.
     
    “She looks like a dumbbell,” one of the spacers said, behind her.
     
    It wasn’t inaccurate, Susan thought.  The giant battleship did look like a dumbbell; indeed, she had to admit the ship looked even uglier than the old Ark Royal .  But then, beauty was of no concern, not when survivability was far more important.  The fleet carriers that had fought in the Battle of New Russia had been pretty ships, designed to impress the viewing public, but they’d failed their first combat test rather spectacularly.  Warspite hadn't been very pretty either.
     
    She drank in the details as the shuttle approached the airlock hatch.  The hull was covered with plates of armour, each one three or four times the size of the shuttle; if they were damaged, according to the files, they could be easily replaced with new panels drawn from the starship’s stores.  A boffin had taken the solid-state armour that had protected Ark Royal and improved on it, producing a compound that was both immensely tough and far more flexible than its predecessors.  And lighter too, if she recalled correctly.  Ark Royal had about the same grace and agility as a pig in mud - she’d often been outraced by alien starships - but Vanguard should have no difficulty keeping up with the rest of the fleet.  Her drives were so powerful, according to the notes, that they’d almost torn the ship apart, the first time they’d been powered up.  She couldn't help thinking that was a problem that should have been corrected a long time before the navy actually started building the ship.
     
    But we’ll probably be glad of the extra speed if we run into real trouble , she thought, morbidly.  There were two known alien races out in the darkness and one of them, at least, was very definitely on the same level as the human race.  And if there were two races, there would almost certainly be more.  Lose half the engine rooms and Vanguard can just keep going .
     
    A dull thump ran through the shuttle as she docked with the battleship, followed by a flicker in the gravity as the two artificial gravity fields merged.  Susan rose to her feet at once - as the highest-ranking officer, she was entitled to embark and disembark first - and strode towards the hatch, which hissed open.  She made a mental note to review procedures, even though it should be perfectly safe.  There was a reason starships had airlocks, after all.
     
    “Commander Onarina,” a familiar voice said.  “Welcome onboard HMS Vanguard.”
     
    Susan smiled as she saw Lieutenant-Commander Paul Mason.  “Paul,” she said.  “It’s been a long time since Warspite .”
     
    “It has indeed,” Mason said.  He snapped off a salute, then relaxed.  “I hear you’ve been promoted?”
     
    Susan smirked.  “Who let the cat out of the bag?”
     
    “I believe it was mentioned in dispatches somewhere,” Mason said.  He’d always been a joker, although several years as an officer had tempered him somewhat.  “Captain Blake wishes to see you at once, Commander.  Then I have to show