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Chapters (42)
  1. Cover Blurb
  2. Contents
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty

On the display, Ark Royal and her escorts went to rapid fire.  Moments later, the enemy point defence came to life, spewing out blasts of plasma fire like machine gun bursts ...

Ted gritted his teeth.  If they shot their magazines dry, the aliens could still win.  This was going to hurt ...

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Kurt had expected, he realised now, the alien carrier to look rather like human carriers, which tended to follow the same basic design.  Ark Royal was the only real exception and then only because her designers hadn't known as much about designing starships as their successors.  But the aliens, it was clear, had their own aesthetics.  Their carriers were giant spheres, seemingly completely unarmed.  And yet, when the human starfighters came within range, bursts of plasma fire swept out towards them from hidden gun ports.

“Evasive action,” he snapped, yanking his starfighter away from a burst of light that almost ripped him apart.  The aliens, it seemed, didn't have to worry about running out of ammunition.  Nor were they inclined to hold back some of their starfighters to provide a combat space patrol.  “Let the bombers go in to launch missiles.”

He watched, grimly, as the bombers launched their missiles.  The aliens, realising the threat, focused all of their attention on the nuclear-tipped warheads, wiping all but one of them out before they stuck the alien hull.  One missile made it through and detonated, significantly damaging the alien carrier.  It drifted out of formation, then exploded in a shockingly powerful blast.  Kurt wondered, absently, just what the aliens used for a power source.

Antimatter would have killed us all, he guessed, as he led the fighters back towards the carrier.  Nearly a third of the bombers had been wiped out, while the remainder had shot their missiles.  The aliens had a definite advantage ... he hoped, silently, that the human race managed to improve their own directed-energy weapons or plasma cannons.  Without them, they were always going to be at a disadvantage.

The alien starfighters lanced back towards the human craft, intent on killing them before they could return to Ark Royal and rearm.  Kurt barked orders, then led his craft through the enemy formation, firing madly at brief targets.  Two alien craft died, the remainder fell back and let the humans escape.  Behind them, Ark Royal and her escorts were approaching rapidly, launching a steady stream of missiles.  Another alien carrier, already badly damaged, exploded into a ball of expanding plasma, leaving the remainder to escape as best as they could.  The alien escorts were already putting themselves between the carriers and Ark Royal.

Brave of them, he conceded, reluctantly.  They’re safeguarding the carriers at the cost of their own lives.

He watched grimly as the bombers returned to Ark Royal, then turned his starfighters to cover the carrier as she advanced on the alien craft.

***

“Sir, the bombers are reloading.”