Free Hero's Trial: Agents of Chaos I by James Luceno Page B

lasers stand a good chance of scoring.”
    “Understood, Captain.”
    Graff pivoted his chair. “Main batteries, commence fire.”
    Blinding projectiles streaked into space, followed by lances of blue-green light, converging far in the distance with radiant, strobing flashes.
    “Direct hit.”
    “Fire,” Graff repeated.
    Again, torpedoes and coherent light streamed from the ship and explosions wreathed the enemy ship, vying with the stars for brilliance.
    “Cease fire.” Graff glanced at his executive officer. “Let’s hope that softened things up. Commander, tell Gauntlet to begin their run.”
    The XO relayed the order over the command net. On the bridge’s main display screen, magnified views showed T-65A3 X-wings and E2 B-wings commencing attack runs against the lapidary ship. Bursts of scarlet laser-fire spewed from the snubfighters’ wingtip cannons, and proton torpedoes loosed by the B-wings blazed radiant pink trails through space. But the enemy ship merely consumed the energy and answered the attack with geysers of molten rock. Resembling shards of mirrored glass, individual hull facets flared to life, then winked out, becoming black as the ship’s background.
    “
Soothfast
, this thing’s going after our shields,” Gauntlet One reported a moment later.
    “Gauntlet One, order your fighters to expand the field of the inertial compensators and switch over to newscan and targeting protocols. And keep an eye out for coralskippers.”
    “Already done,
Soothfast
. But shields can’t be expanded enough to compensate for the warship’s drawing power.”
    “Shields down,” another voice said. “Breaking off.”
    “Stay with your wingmates,” Gauntlet One shouted. “Keep your lasers quadded up on rapid cycle.”
    “Compensator is in failure. Aborting attack run.”
    “Watch your tail, Gauntlet Eight!”
    “Captain, energy massing in the Yuuzhan Vong vessel.”
    Graff swiveled to his XO. “Instruct Gauntlet to abort.”
    “Enemy vessel is firing.”
    On the main screen, real-time holo showed three starfighters vanish in fleeting explosions. A sense of urgency punctuated Gauntlet One’s words over the net.
    “We’re taking casualties—Two, Four, and Five. Still can’t get a fix on dovin basal or weapons emplacements.”
    “What’s he talking about?” Graff asked brusquely.
    The Twi’lek enlisted-rating flipped his head-tails over his shoulders and studied console displays. “Battle analysis computer is working on it, sir. Enemy weapons and singularity projectors appear to be mobile. Sir, it’s like the entire hull is capable of delivering fire and creating gravitic anomalies.”
    “Captain, module has drawn another bead on us.”
    No sooner had the words left the comm officer’s mouth than the cruiser was jarred by a powerful strike. Bridge illumination diminished, then brightened, and blue electricity danced over one of the consoles. Vibrated free of its magnetic hold on the bulkhead, the R-seriesdroid tipped forward to the deck. Fans clicked on, exhausting smoke from the area.
    “Damage assessment coming in from forward technical station. Number-two power generator is down. Deflector shields are marginal.”
    “Order Gauntlet to regroup and pull back,” Graff said quickly. “Alert crash and recovery crews to make ready. Fire control: stand by to coordinate forward turbolasers and ion cannons. I want a sustained burst to rake that ship pole to pole.” A glance at the display screen showed him what remained of Gauntlet squadron fleeing for their lives. “Fire!”
    Once more, energy streaked from the ship, but no telltale flashes followed.
    Graff studied the display screen. “Did we miss?” he asked in disbelief.
    “Negative, sir. Enemy vessel appears to have absorbed the energy.”
    “All guns,” Graff said. “Fire!”
    Light painted local space with such intensity that everyone on the bridge had to turn from the viewports. It was as if the
Soothfast
had been clipped on the