The Forgotten Empire: War for the Empire Raymond Weil (the reading list TXT) 📖

Captain Vidmann Dorn was doing everything he could to save his ship. “Can we pull back?”

“Sir, the sublight drive is down,” reported the executive officer. “The chief engineer reports at least forty minutes to repair. Energy shield is wavering, and we have a lot of bleed through coming through the shield”.

“What about our maneuvering thrusters?”

“Some are still functional.”

“Then use them to move us back. The fleet is falling back toward the defense grid, and, in another few minutes, we’ll be out here by ourselves.”

The Indomitable shook violently, as the lights dimmed and then brightened. More red lights appeared on the damage control console.

“All emergency bulkheads have been activated,” reported the damage control officer. “We have fires in several compartments, where the fire suppression equipment has failed.”

“Activating maneuvering thrusters,” reported the executive officer. “We’re moving backward but very slowly.”

Captain Dorn looked at the viewscreens, but all he saw was a brilliant light as the energy screen was covered in explosions.

The ship suddenly felt as if it collided with a large object. Dorn instantly looked at damage control, seeing more red lights flare up.

“We have a hole in our starboard hull nearly thirty meters across and descending through numerous compartments. It goes down through seven decks.”

The lights suddenly dimmed and stayed dim.

“We have too many damaged power couplings,” reported the damage control officer. “I’m trying to reroute power.”

“Chief engineer reports major damage to secondary engineering,” reported the executive officer. “He’s shutting down the reserve fusion power plant, before it explodes.”

Moments later the lights dimmed even further.

“We’ve lost power to all weapons systems,” reported tactical as the consoles shut down.

“That’s it then,” said the executive officer, looking over at the captain.

Captain Dorn nodded. “Unfortunately so.”

The next moment the Indomitable blew apart, as an antimatter missile tore the ship into a million flaming pieces. Captain Dorn was not even aware that his ship had been destroyed.

-

“Indomitable is down,” reported Lieutenant Casella.

Dylan grimly nodded. Over one thousand Humans had been on that ship. “Continue to pull back.” Dylan shifted his gaze to the dogfight. The drones were now using fusion and antimatter missiles to try to take out the attack interceptors. They were having some success, but the squadrons were spaced far apart, making it hard to take out large numbers at a time. They were getting closer to Rear Admiral Carrie’s fleet, but, with her dreadnoughts and battlecruisers, she was well protected. Also the defense grid now fired on the drones. They wouldn’t last long under the intense firepower from the defensive grid’s energy beam satellites and missile platforms.

-

Druin Admiral Falorr saw his drones were about to be wiped out by the heavy firepower from the defensive grid. “Order them back,” he said, shaking his head. Falorr was greatly disappointed in the effectiveness of the drones. The Human interceptors were more maneuverable and, with their missiles, held a slight advantage over the Druin drones. This would have to be reported, so the designers could see if the drones could be modified to make up for this failure.

However, his ships still had the superior firepower, though this new weapon the Human dreadnoughts were equipped with was devastating to his battleships. He had ordered all Zynth and Druin battleships to concentrate on the Human dreadnoughts, while all the battlecruisers focused on the Human battlecruisers.

“We’re almost in range of the planet’s defensive grid,” warned First Officer Dagor.

“I want 20 percent of all missiles aimed at ground targets,” ordered Falorr. “Maybe we can get some through.”

Looking at the viewscreens and the tactical displays, his fleets were still taking out two Human ships for every one he lost. However, he was losing a larger percentage of his battleships. He had pulled his own battleship back into the center of his wedge formation, where it should be partially safe.

-

In space, the Druin drones broke off their attack and headed back to their carriers. Only 847 still survived. They had lost nearly two-thirds of their number.

The defense grid was now in range of the enemy fleets and began obliterating the front sections of the Zynth and Druin formation. Thousands of missiles were launched, as well as energy beams. The entire front of the two enemy fleets suddenly looked as if they were on fire. Tendrils of raw energy from exploded fusion and antimatter missiles spread across space.

-

Suddenly on the Themis, alarms sound, as more red threat icons appeared out of hyperspace, just behind the Confederation fleets.

Dylan felt his heart skip a beat. If these were reinforcements, then the battle might be lost. Suddenly the red threat icons turned green.

“They’re Earth ships!” shouted Lieutenant Casella.

“It’s Rear Admiral Barnes with Third Fleet,” reported Lieutenant Newsome from Communications. “Rear Admiral Barnes wants to test out their new accelerator cannons against the Confederation ships, if it’s okay with you.”

“Hell yes!” replied Dylan. Leaning back in his command chair, he knew the battle had just turned.

-

“Whose ships are those?” demanded Druin Admiral Falorr, as a large number of red threat icons appeared behind his fleet.

“Those are Earth ships,” answered the sensor officer. “There are 1,412 warships in that formation.”

Falorr suddenly felt a cold chill run down his back. The battle had been even after the planet’s defense grid opened up. Now he was not so sure. The Earth Humans were considered the most dangerous of all the Humans.

-

Rear Admiral Barnes smiled as the Phobos locked on one of the enemy battleships with its new accelerator cannon. The cannon could accelerate a projectile almost up to the speed of light. Each cannon was capable of firing once every thirty seconds. However, every dreadnought and battlecruiser in her fleet was equipped with just one pair.

“Target locked,” called out the tactical officer.

“All ships fire!” ordered Barnes, her gaze focused intently on the viewscreens, so she