The Ascendant Stars - Michael Cobley [155]
And abruptly, it was gone.
Without that immense sunfire-spear, all seemed to suddenly plunge into darkness until the visual systems adapted. One screen showed the remnants of the X-formation in full retreat, leaving clouds of glowing fragments in their wake. Greg could hear cheers from elsewhere on board but he couldn’t help thinking about the hundreds of Sendrukans who must have experienced a moment or two of searing agony before being sent to their deaths.
They would have surely done the same to us and without hesitation, he thought. Disnae make me feel any better, though …
‘Why have they stopped firing, Lieutenant?’
Vice-Admiral Ngassa’s face was glaring down at Ash.
‘The weapon can only fire continuously for about fifty seconds, Vice-Admiral,’ Ash said. ‘Then it needs just under three minutes to charge.’
‘Three minutes?’ Ngassa was incredulous. ‘If that’s true then we cannot maintain our current position. They are already preparing the next attacks and we must not become a sitting duck … ’
Ash switched his attention to the screen with the long-range scan data and schematics, seemingly taking it all in with a two-second glance.
‘Carriers and launcher platforms,’ he said. ‘Could be a problem.’
‘Worse than that, Lieutenant – the Supreme Overcommander is toying with us, advancing another of his hundred-piece formations rather than committing his entire force.’
Ash grinned. ‘Perhaps we should move out to engage with the next wave and unleash the dragon when it’s ready.’
‘Aye, but if it was up to me,’ Greg said, ‘I’d find out where the Supreme Thingummy is hiding hisself and go after him, full tilt, all guns blazing.’ He paused, suddenly aware of Ash and Ngassa’s intent stares. ‘But that’s just me … ’
‘Actually,’ said Ash, ‘that is a fair summation of the Imisil commander’s recommendation.’
‘My tactical officer proposes a curved trajectory around Darien,’ Ngassa said. ‘With the Retributor positioned at our formation’s leading flank it can target that weapon across a wider field. Using short bursts more tightly focused – and watching out for the Supreme Overcommander’s flagship, of course.’
By now they had been joined by Admiral Olarevic, the Imisil First Proposer Conlyph, and the Duizhang K’ang Lo, who was quick to agree with the Earthsphere plan. Olarevic was reluctant and had to be convinced, essentially by the possibility of Vox Humana ships being left to fend for themselves.
It took just over a minute for all the vessels of the combined fleet to embed the new course data, then they set off in unison. At the same time some had to manoeuvre aside within the cluster of ships to allow the bulky, irregular mass of the Retributor to move forward. All this while the Hegemony forces kept up a sustained bombardment of pulse rounds, missiles and submunition clusters – ninety per cent of their vessels were maintaining their stand-off positions yet they were still contributing to the incessant barrage of destruction that clawed at the defenders’ interleaved shields.
‘Duizhang K’ang Lo,’ said Ngassa. ‘Is your weapon ready to fire?’
‘Yes, Vice-Admiral,’ K’ang Lo said. ‘Our dragon knows where the enemies are.’
‘You have control of the shields, Duizhang. The timing is fully in your hands so please, teach these intruders a lesson.’
K’ang Lo smiled wordlessly before his image vanished.
This time Greg could see the weapon itself. Visual feeds relayed from ships near the Retributor showed an odd geodesic-like structure on top of the asteroid habitat. The dome’s polyhedrals were translucent, almost with a shimmering moiré effect, while within a knot of something impossibly bright burned. Then with a shocking suddenness the dazzling column of energies lanced out for two seconds then cut out. Then it appeared again, pointing in a different direction, two seconds then off. And again and again and again. On the big screens Greg could see the sheer havoc that the Roug weapon was wreaking in the ranks of the