Warlord's Invasion (Starfight Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

before him. He hissed and licked his cat-lips.
    Routine dirty work, indeed...
     
    Battlespace…
     
    Twelve hundred human fusion-warheaded missiles sped through space towards the invading fleet. The alien warships fired off their own version of anti-missile countermeasures, taking down a third of the missiles before those same missiles smashed into the shields of the invasion force warships at half the speed of light.
    Alien shields flashed as white-hot detonations splashed against them. For the most part, they held. The shields took in the full blow of the nuclear detonations.
    Out of fifty warships, only one of the alien ships had its shields fully wiped out, and only because it took on a relatively large number of nuclear missiles compared to the rest. This lone Ga warship had its outer hull cratered with explosions, but its armor was truly light-years ahead of humanity’s ability to inflict damage. Its crew, for the most part, remained safe.
    When it was all over, the alien fleet continued heading inward with bloodlust.
     
    Orbital Station Meerlat-01
    Command Room…
     
    “Help me stop the bleeding,” Doctor Hayes yelled.
    Shenks’s body lay on a stretcher, and medical crews were all around him.
    There was crying and moaning everywhere in the room.
    Chaos.
    There weren't enough medical crews to go around, Vier thought. But luckily, the captain of the space station had priority over the others.
    Vier gazed momentarily at the work being done on her friend, then realized she couldn’t do anything to make the situation better for him. For now, everything was up to the medics and God. She headed back to her command chair. “What’s the status on our first missile wave, lieutenant? Did we get them?”
    “No, ma’am,” Fredericks replied. “No...”
    Vier stared at the main battlemap and sighed. The situation looked impossible now. It looked like she would need more than miracle against these new aliens. “What’s the damage? Tell me.”
    “Our missiles broke the shields on one of their warships and scratched its outer hull. The rest are undamaged. They are heading towards us with no change in acceleration, ma’am.”
    Vier brought her hands to her face. Desperation. Lack of hope. She had never faced these odds before. Judging from everything she knew, her remaining warships would be utterly destroyed when they entered weapons range of those alien vessels and whatever god-forsaken weapons those had.
    She stood like a lone pebble within a sea of disaster. In this moment, she was caught in the process of decision making. She worried that she might make a mistake and that future generations would forever remember her for it. But then, she weighed the facts together and knew she’d be judged correctly because she was acting on what she knew, not what God knew. Who was she kidding? She had no choice. Any sane person would do what she was about to do. “Lieutenant Browder?”
    “Yes, ma’am?” the communications officer said.
    “Order a general withdrawal. All ships. All fighters are to head to the outer system and try to dock inside any hyperspace capable ships they can find.”
    “Ma’am?” one of the officers asked.
    “I know what you’re going to say, Lieutenant. Our warships do not have the acceleration anymore to outrun those alien warships. But we have to salvage as many of our warships as we can. The best case is a general withdrawal. We can’t fight them, can we? Hopefully, several of our ships will make it back to Betelgeuse.”
    “Yes, ma’am. But—”
    “No buts, Lieutenant. I know we’re supposed to defend the system and the civilian population against any hostile attack, but God knows we can’t defend against that . Central command will understand my decision and if not, I’ll take the blame. There’s no point in sacrificing innocent lives and crew in a battle we cannot win.”
    The lieutenant nodded.
    Vier turned towards her com officer. “Browder, order a general evacuation of the