Stellar Fox (Castle Federation Book 2)

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Book: Stellar Fox (Castle Federation Book 2) by Glynn Stewart Read Free Book Online
Authors: Glynn Stewart
into formation,” Stanford snapped immediately. Silence was his only response, and his implant calmly informed him that Metzger had dropped the link.
    “What’s the plan, CAG?” Wing Commander Russell Rokos asked after the silence stretched a moment too long. As usual, the phlegmatic pilot knew exactly what needed to be done.
    Stanford shook himself physically, updating his plan for the lack of the Imperial fighters on the fly.
    “I’m sending everyone positions for their fighter wings,” he told the Federation officers. “With only our missiles, this could cut a lot closer than I was planning on.”
    “Our Starfires can’t intercept Stormwinds,” Wing Commander Andreas Volte, the leader of Cameroon’s Wing, objected. “Not without getting damn lucky.”
    “They don’t need to,” Stanford replied. “Get them close enough and the radiation wave will screw with their sensors royally – that’ll make them sitting ducks. Trust me, gentlemen, ladies – some of us have done this before.”
    He carefully ignored the Imperial starfighters flying off on their own course as he structured the firing patterns for the Federation ships. That was a problem… but it was a problem for after there were Commonwealth ships in his home system.
     
    #
     
    They swung wide around the Flotilla itself, Stanford taking a moment to mentally catalog the defense platforms and the main station weapons ready to defend the mothballed ships. There weren’t as many as he’d have included with hindsight. Anything more than a dozen missiles was going to cause headaches for the remaining defenses.
    Whoever was in charge of the station had clearly been watching for them. As soon as the Falcons passed the station, its massive radar arrays opened up at full power. While the missiles were capable of fuzzing their signatures and making them harder to locate , there was no way they could hide from the big stationary arrays.
    Ten salvos burned through space, closing on the helpless ships behind him. Three hundred missiles.
    “All Wings, fire missiles on my mark,” Stanford ordered calmly as the information slotted into his plans and the computers returned the appropriate responses. “Detonation patterns downloading now.”
    A few moments passed as the computers talked to each other, and then confirmed to the CAG that everyone had the details of where to fire their missiles.
    “All ships… maximum rate fire… MARK.”
    The rotary magazines attached to a Falcon’s missile launchers could be emptied in twenty seconds. It was rarely the best use of the Starfire missiles, but in this case it had its advantages.
    Over three thousand missiles launched into space in three waves. There were easily a dozen Starfires for each Stormwind.
    If the Starfires had been faster, or smarter, or more maneuverable than the capital ship missiles, that would have been all that was needed. Unfortunately, the Stormwinds were just as fast and maneuverable as the fighter missiles – and a few tons worth of smarter.
    Jammers flared to life and the suicidal robots began to dodge and weave. Entire regions of space dissolved into static, and Stanford watched it all with a practiced eye.
    “Rokos,” he said softly, opening a channel to just the Wing Commander.
    “You need us to play targets, don’t you?” the other man replied instantly.
    “You got it,” Stanford agreed.
    “Just cover us, boss,” Rokos replied. “Fifty asses in the wind, coming right up.”
    Ten seconds later, Rokos’ six squadrons lit up as their ECM went to full power. The Falcon had fewer missiles than the Arrow in the same mass – and the Federation had used every gram of that mass for powerful computers and emitters.
    Even knowing what was going on, Stanford’s computers were still almost fooled. A ghost image appeared on his scanners – forty-eight starfighters pretending to be six mothballed starships.
    Stormwinds were smart. They weren’t fooled immediately, still focused on the

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