Free TFS Navajo: The Terran Fleet Command Saga – Book 3 by Tori Harris Page A

ship’s Cannae sublight engines to emergency power, temporarily allowing them to deliver twenty percent more thrust than their design maximum. Theseus responded without hesitation, accelerating away from the battleship in a tight arc as if it were a stationary target.
    “Warning, initiate Anti-G Straining Maneuver to prevent G-induced loss of consciousness,” the ship’s AI announced.
    “AI, Prescott. Discontinue G-force warnings,” he ordered impatiently. Out of habit, he had begun tensing the muscles in his legs and abdomen as soon as his helmsman had started the series of aggressive turns. “Watch the Gs, everyone,” he grunted, trying to sound more in control of the situation. “We can’t afford to have anyone passing out right now.”
    “I guess we just found Admiral Naftur’s gravitic beam weapon,” Logan continued over the intercom, resuming normal breathing as the ship stabilized on its new course.
    “Maybe so,” Prescott said. “Let’s hope that’s the only trick they have up their sleeve. Any idea what kind of range we’re talking about?”
    “Not really, no. The Baldev has a number of heavy gravitic emitters mounted at various locations on her hull, so I can’t even tell you at the moment which ones are responsible for the beam,” he replied, sending a high resolution image of several examples to the bridge view screen. “But I will take a wild guess that they have a pretty substantial range … probably a few hundred thousand kilometers at least. If they didn’t, I can’t imagine there would be much point in mounting them on a warship in the first place. I can also tell you that she has arrays like the ones I just sent you on both her ventral and dorsal surfaces, so we’re unlikely to find much of a ‘dead zone’ where they can’t hit us.”
    “Thank you, Commander. Keep the shields up and the engines running, please.”
    “As if my life depended on it, Captain. Logan out.”
    “Sir, Charlie 4 is firing on us now as well,” Schmidt reported from Tactical 1, “but so far, she doesn’t appear to be giving chase.”
    “Insult to injury at this point,” he replied, glancing up at the hull impacts counter below the tactical plot, which now stood at thirteen. The ship had taken six additional hits to its hull thus far since beginning its attack run against the Baldev . Fortunately, with the distance between the Theseus and the two remaining enemy ships rapidly increasing, her shields had once again become highly effective at deflecting the incoming fire. “Helm, I think it goes without saying, but get us as far away from that battleship as you can, as fast as you can, and as soon as you get a stable hyperdrive field, execute your C-Jump.”
    “Aye, Captain,” Fisher replied, still rapidly entering commands at the Helm console.
    Even with the Keturah now sending a sizable fraction of her considerable firepower in their direction, the intensity of the incoming energy weapons fire had lessened somewhat from what it had been just moments ago. With Theseus’ stern now facing the enemy ships, shield intercept events continued to occur at a rapid pace behind the destroyer as she streaked out of the area. Each interaction with an incoming bolt of energy produced a brief flash of light in the visible spectrum, resulting in a ghostly, white glow that seemed to ebb and flow like flashes of lightning revealing a whitecapped, following sea.
    “Okay,” Reynolds said, looking up from her touchscreen, “the AI had originally misidentified the Baldev’s gravitic weapon as a problem with our own field generators. The good news is that the effects of the weapon are relatively easy for us to detect since we have an extensive network of sensors in place to monitor the various gravitic systems we use onboard. From now on, the tactical plot should display a warning indicator when we detect the beam. The Helm console’s C-Drive interface should also display the same warning and trip the flags