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

the interceptors for a mass attack. We have 12,000 of them on the bases, though I understand one thousand of them are being used as a missile defense.”

Layla looked deeply concerned. “Do you think some missiles will get through?”

This was a question Andrew did not want to answer, but he knew he had to. “If the Morag continue to attack and are willing to take major losses, eventually a few missiles will get through. Most of our larger cities sit inside a ring of energy beam turrets and have energy shields. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”

“We’ll make it,” said Chancellor Stein. “We won’t allow the Morag to destroy our world.”

-

Derrick had his fleets tucked inside the defensive grid. The interceptors from the surface bases were assembling, just behind the battlecarriers. Derrick had ordered Rear Admiral Carrie to give her interceptor crews a break, while the ground-based interceptors took the fight to the enemy.

“Where are you sending them?” asked Colonel Bryant, as he stared at the huge number of green icons around the battlecarriers.

“To attack the damaged ships in front of Rear Admiral Collison. He’s taken out most of the battleships in that section, as well as those small light cruisers. They’ll have the best chance of survival by hitting that section of the Morag fleet.” Derrick had to reduce the number of enemy ships he faced and had to reduce the incoming weapons fire, or this battle would not last much longer.

-

Orders were passed, and soon the amassed squadrons of interceptors swept through the defensive grid and headed for the Morag fleet—eleven thousand attack interceptors, all armed with four fusion-tipped missiles.

-

Fleet Admiral Colane gazed at the mass of Human interceptors coming toward his fleet. Bring up the light cruisers that still survive. It had been a mistake earlier to have them scattered throughout the formation. He had lost over half of them in the early stages of the battle.

Detecting over 11,000 Human interceptors, reported the sensor officer.

Colane looked once more at the massive wall of interceptors coming toward his portion of the fleet. Pull us back farther into the fleet, he ordered. He would not take the risk of a few lucky hits damaging his flagship.

-

Major Lisa Conroy led the attack. She was the senior commander and had originally been on the Orion. Major Barkley had her transferred permanently to help train the interceptor crews, and now, as the most senior pilot and officer still on the planet, she led the attack.

“We will not fly into the fleet as they probably expect,” she explained over the comm, which connected her to all the squadron commanders. “We will fly to the optimum range to launch our missiles and then do so. Once we launch, we will turn and get the hell out of there. Expect a massive wall of defensive fire, as well as antimatter missiles. Because of that I want all squadrons to practice maximum distancing. Now, let’s go kill us some Morag!”

The squadrons spread apart and accelerated toward the waiting Morag fleet. Before they got to their missile release point, a wave of defensive fire broke out. Looking out her cockpit window, Major Conroy saw numerous small bright explosions that marked dying interceptors, like flying through a wall of flak. The interceptors dodged, twisted, and changed course to throw off enemy tracking systems. The interceptors did have a powerful forward-facing energy shield that could take one hit, but the second hit would often knock down the shield, destroying the interceptor.

Several times Major Conroy narrowly missed being hit. She saw her wingman vanish in a bright fireball several hundred meters off her wingtip. Her interceptor was shaken several times by weapons fire but, so far, had escaped damage.

“Almost there,” reported her weapons officer. “Ten seconds.”

For a moment they seemed to burst out of the wave of destruction, and then the interceptor shook as its four fusion missiles were launched.

Without hesitation, Major Conroy kicked in the turbos and turned sharply, straining the gravity inertia controller. She felt herself pressed back briefly into her acceleration couch, and then the pressure vanished as the turn was complete. Now she had to fly back through the weapons fire to reach the safety of the battlecarriers.

Behind her thousands of fusion-tipped missiles slammed into the weakened energy screens of hundreds of Morag warships. Bright explosions walked across the forward section of the Morag fleet, turning night into day.

-

Fleet Admiral Colane stood in range as hundreds of his damaged ships were blown apart in the massive attack by the Human interceptors. Not only that but they had targeted his light cruisers, destroying twenty-three more. However, his fleet had inflicted devastating losses on the Human interceptors, destroying thousands of them. They would not make this type of attack again. Space was littered with their debris.

-

Derrick watched as the surviving interceptors returned to the battlecarriers to be rearmed. Already the squadrons on the carriers had launched again.

“How many did we lose?” He knew many of the interceptors had been destroyed, but it had been necessary to further weaken the Morag fleet.

“Four thousand two hundred and seventy,” reported Colonel Bryant. “From our scans, they took out 512 Morag warships.”

Derrick nodded. Now the battle would once more increase in intensity, as the Morag fleet was now in range of the ground PDCs. “Inform Rear Admiral Carrie that her interceptor squadrons are to go back to medium-range missile launches. I want to hold their losses to a minimum.” Derrick knew he might need them for a major attack later. On the tactical display, he saw dozens of SAR craft attempting to pick up crews from damaged interceptors and those who had ejected safely.

-

Morag Fleet Admiral Torrant shook his head. The Human interceptor attack had been far more successful than expected. The Morag just didn’t have enough of