Free Stand Into Danger: Empire Rising Book 0 by D. J. Holmes

began, “I see you have brought some of my compatriots with you. I am in your debt mon ami .”
     
    “Nonsense,” Somerville said, “I’m just doing my duty. I’m glad to see you’re still alive though. I’m sure the last weeks have been a living hell. Hopefully you can have a bit more fun with the Russians now that you can tackle them on a level playing field.”
     
    “Indeed I will,” Ney said with a feral smile, “They won’t know what has hit them. When all this is over I’ll have to have you down to the planet for a meal with my wife. We can show you around. Let you see what we are fighting for.”
     
    “It would be my pleasure, we are about to round the planet now so until then,” Somerville said with a salute. As Ney saluted back he switched off the COM and refocused on his ship.
     
    Villeneuve had taken the coalition fleet deep into the colony’s orbit in order to drop as many shuttles as they could as they flew past the planet at their top speed. He then used the colony’s gravity to slingshot the fleet onto a trajectory out of the system, directly towards the approaching Russian ships. If they wanted to attack the ground troops, they would have to go through Villeneuve’s fleet.
     
    “Signal from the Flag,” the Lieutenant manning the communications console called to Somerville. “All ships form line of battle.”
     
    Somerville smiled. The historical reference wasn’t lost on him. He loved to read books on the Earth wars that occurred during the age of sail. Back when ships were forced to go with the wind, the best way to engage an enemy fleet was to form a single line of ships to present as many cannons at the enemy as possible. In the modern era of interstellar war things were remarkably similar. Whoever could bring the most missiles to bear on the enemy fleet would likely win.
     
    As the different sections of the coalition fleet moved into their allotted slots in the formation, a counter appeared on the main holo display. The Russian fleet would enter missile range in twenty minutes. For Somerville, time seemed to slow down as he surveyed the Russian fleet. Surrounding the five Behemoths were twenty light cruisers, thirty four destroyers and ten of the smaller frigates. The coalition fleet had nine medium cruisers, eighteen light cruisers, thirty destroyers and twenty five frigates. The majority of the French fleet had come to New France and so this battle would prove decisive. If Villeneuve lost, France would have to concede their colonies to Russia. Even if Ney won the ground war on New France the French government would have no more ships to send to support him.
     
    As if aware of the significance of the battle, the Russian commander began to slow his ships as soon as the coalition ships began to come around the planet. He wanted to keep Villeneuve’s fleet within his missile range for as long as possible. One way or another, there would be a decisive outcome to the coming battle.
     
    When the counter on the holo display showed sixty seconds to go, Somerville took his eyes off the approaching Russian fleet. “Prepare to fire,” he ordered. In his head he counted down the remaining time. “Fire!”
     
    As one the ships of the coalition fleet opened fire and the ripple of multiple missiles igniting their engines could be seen going down every ship. Just over four hundred missiles raced off towards the Russian fleet. Moments later they replied by firing their own salvo of four hundred and eighty.
     
    As both fleets were approaching each other on almost converging courses the flight time for the missiles was less then ten minutes. Five minutes in both salvos passed each other in the dark emptiness of space. Then, when they entered range of their target’s point defenses, space lit up like a fireworks display. Green plasma bolts tore through space, trying to hit the dodging missiles, while AM missiles added their explosions to the display of color. The occasional hit that