Free Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action by David Buck Page A

the Jerecab. We have to stop these bastards for as long as possible.’
    Dave was pressed firmly into his pilot seat as his mining craft accelerated forward on a mission it had never been designed to perform. He had command of his three mining drones slaved directly to his console, and his ship ducked and weaved as the docked drones used their powerful engines to steer the mining ship. Around him he could see that the other mining ships were following his actions.
    The Jerecab frigates had now opened fire with all their beam weapons and his shields would flash white for several seconds as they took hits. Dave noted that already his ship had lost twenty percent of its shields strength, though the Jerecab frigates were now almost in range of the defender’s improvised weapons. A pair of active scans from the Jerecab rattled the defenders and Dave knew that this alien technology could prove dangerous very soon. He yelled out further instructions over his radio link while it still worked.
    ‘Go to the aid of no-one and keep on attacking. Expect to lose your radios and telemetry if they fire their electronic pulses again. Activate your phase two shields once your initial shields are down below twenty percent.’
    Dave’s ship tumbled as he anticipated a combined burst of laser fire from three frigates just in front of him. He grimaced in grief as he noted that his wingman Simon’s ship had taken the full force of the attack. Simon’s ship exploded behind him as the mining ship’s shields gave way under the onslaught. Dave noted that his own shields had taken further hits and were now down to twenty percent. He held his breath and refused to look at the enemy ships as he switched across to his phase two shields.
    The ship took no more hits for several seconds as the second phase of shields activated. A pair of large explosions off to one side told Dave that two other miners had also exploded, either as they received a full blast of laser fire, or they had been struck when the miners had been momentarily without shields.
     
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    Captain Neanres was looking with satisfaction over the one sided battle with the human craft, and he noted that several of their ships were already destroyed. He watched closely the rapidly closing defenders and was considering further orders, when one of the lieutenants called across the bridge.
    ‘Captain, the miners are activating a second series of shields…’
    Neanres responded by yelling an urgent pair of orders.
    All ships are to take evasive action and watch for ramming attempts. We will continue to attack each of the mining ships in turn.’
    Neanres pulled tight on his shoulder harness as his frigate altered course and accelerated heavily.
     
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    Dave Edmonswas frantically driving his mining ship in series of twists and turns as he sought to close with the Jerecab frigates. He noted that the ships had changed course even as they continued to attack the human defenders. Dave could see that nine of the defending ship were still intact and yelled an urgent order over his radio link.
    ‘Launch all drones now at the Jerecab ships….’
    The mining drones leapt from the sides of the mining ships and accelerated away towards the frigates. The colony administrator continued to jink his ship back and forth across space, but the loss of the drones meant that his ship was less manoeuvrable. The laser fire from the Jerecab continued to strike his ships for several further moments and Dave noted that they had lost two further ships.
     
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    Neanres watched in surprise as the