Star Crusades Michael Thomas (speld decodable readers .TXT) 📖

quickly, andValentine could see what was coming for her. They looked like Ski’lig warriors, though without wings.They moved quickly over the rough ground, while the usual aerialhunters soared a few metres above their heads.

“Fire!”

She pulled thetrigger, and the powerful LX48Sshuddered. In the past the L48 was designed for semi-automatic fireonly. The large calibre made fully automatic shooting relativelyinaccurate, also leaving the firer out of ammunition in seconds.The LX48S variant, like the Thumper lacked the advanced features ofits predecessors, and fired at a relatively slow three hundredrounds a minute. The first fifteen rounds tore into the ranks ofthe enemy, each slug blasting off body parts with ease.

“Cut ‘em down!”Lieutenant Fletcher shouted.

The defensive wall ofwarriors fired as one, creating a line offire that was impossible to breach. Valentine’s shoulder cannonblasted away completely independently of her control, with Texputting short bursts into the enemy ranks.

“Behind us!”

Valentine turned and lifted ahand to protect her face as a series oftwenty, perhaps more denotations, ripped open the ceiling abovethem. It was almost a hundred metres above their position, and asit split open, hundreds of Ski’lig hunters dropped down.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Morato Class Frigate‘Nautilus’, Ekati Alpha, TheSki’lig Territories

24 hours later.

“Captain,” saidAdmiral Hurik, “You have to succeed. Wewill hold them back, but you must thin the attackers. Goodluck.”

Captain Regina nodded andturned to her XO. Before she could speak, a beamof light narrowly missed them, striking a cruiser in the distance.Everything about the battle slowed down as Nautilus rolled betweentwo of the alien vessels. It was moving so far it could easily havebeen a fighter. As it passed through them, the ship unleashed twovolleys of missiles at point-blank range. It then turned away, notbefore lashing them with aft fire from its main particle cannonbattery.

“Beautiful,” said CaptainRegina, “Outstanding work.”

The two damaged ships tried tochange course, but one quickly splitapart as six Alliance gunships shredded it from bow to stern. Heavygunfire from one of the dreadnoughts then struck it amidships,causing the ship to explode in a bright fireball. Captain Reginapulled the intercom back to her face.

“Moratos, I have been given tactical command of this squadron. Followus in.”

She then turned to her helmsman.

“Now bring us about and take us intothe atmosphere. We’re all going inside.”

The helmsman looked back insurprise.

“Inside, Sir?”

“Yes, the heavies canmanage on their own, and the escorts willcontinue to engage the pods. But we need to stop those that getthrough. Our people can’t survive unless we start to thin the herd.And that came right from the Admiral.”

“Yes,Sir.”

The ship spun around and thendove down towards the thin upperatmosphere of the planet.

“Switch to secondary weapons,”said First Lieutenant Meredith, “Particleweapons won’t help us here.”

They were through in a shortertime than expected, and Captain Regina gasped as she watchedscores of the craft falling like meteorsto the surface.

“Firing,” said Lieutenant Zimmer.

Streams of projectiles from the rapid fire of the 20mm railgun cannonsreached out to the targets. The ship carried twelve motorisedcannon mounts spaced out around her hull, and soon they were firingall around her.

“Take us right at them!”

The other frigates were now with themand hammering the spacecraft. Some were destroyed, but many morefell through.

“No,” said Lieutenant Zimmer.

Captain Regina felt discomfort in her stomach as she conjured up a host offresh problems.

“What is it?”

He tagged the targets, and several ofthe crew gasped.

“Thirty landing ships are comingthrough. Another four are burning and falling through theatmosphere.”

“Forget the pods,” saidCaptain Regina, “Those are our newtargets.”

Soon they were directly ahead,and the damaged ships fell so quicklythey’d already begun to break up.

“The same design as the lander wecaptured on Epsilon Prime.”

“Crap,”said Lieutenant Zimmer, “They’re armed!”

Immediately a barrage of hardened slugs smashed into the leadfrigates. The Morato took nearly a hundred separate hits, with somepunching deep into her armour. And then something much heavierstruck her.

“Those are more like railgun shots,” said First LieutenantMeredith.

“The weapons do notinterest me. Take us in closer. Use everythingwe have.”

The six frigatesaccelerated towards the enemy, both sidesunleashing a hail of fire that caused damage to every vessel in thebattle. And as they fought, more and more pods continued tofall.

“Ram them, if we have to,” saidthe Captain, “We have to…”

Captain Regina cried out as apiece of metal ripped from the ceiling and dropped down. It struckher in the shoulder, knocking her to theground. More shots crashed into the ship, causing it to spin wildlyout of control. A junior officer bent down to help her, while FirstLieutenant Meredith moved to take her place.

“Bring them down! No mercy!”

* * *

The Trench, Ekati Alpha, The Ski’ligTerritories

Two robotic Grunts pushed ahead of Valentine but were ripped apartbefore her eyes. They were the only Grunts she’d seen in the lasttwenty minutes. Most fell in the first wave of the assault. Shepulled back her foot from its mangled remains and swung her riflelike a club as the Ski’ligs swarmed over their position. They weresmaller, lighter, and faster than the others they’d encountered.They wore armour and carried smaller weaponry, but what they lackedin strength or firepower, they made up for in numbers. Valentinefelt herself falling back, but she pushed into Bandu who remainedupright and firm. He stopped her from falling, even as the Ski’ligsclambered over her.

“Thanks.”

She slammed her head into theface of a Ski’lig and blasted away withthe rifle. Sergeant Jablonsky ducked and crashed into her side. TwoSki’ligs pushed him back, but fire from Kallias cut them down, andhe was able to stand back up.

“Good work,” he said, grunting in pain. Valentine could see damage to hisarmour, as well as blood splatters along his chest, though she hadno way of knowing if it was his blood.

“We could use some cluster munitionsright now.”

“Agreed,” said Valentine,“I’d take a flamethrower personally.”

An explosion wracked thefront line, and several marines, oneNova, and at least nine Ski’ligs were blown apart. Fresh troopsfrom both sides rushed to fill the gap, and for a few seconds theenemy managed to create a breach in the defensive wall.

“Hold the line!”Lieutenant Fletcher shouted.

Alexis and Sergeant Jablonskywere both there, encouraging the marinesto come with them as they continued to fire.

“Do notlet them through!” Alexis screamed, “We fight and diehere!”

Valentine tried to see her, butthe front