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

human mining ships released their drones directly at his frigates. He hissed urgent further orders around the bridge and to his other ships.
    ‘All ships are to only target drones and larger human ships on collision vectors. All ships are to fire at the lead human ships.’
    The Jerecab commander now knew that a supposedly easy attack and destroy mission was suddenly becoming more complex.
     
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    Dave Edmonds was still frantically altering the course of his mining ship when the proximity alarm went off. Moments later a mining drone from another ship had spiralled into the rear of his own ship after it had been struck down by the Jerecab.
    The drone had exploded and he had blacked out for several moments as his ship had tumbled away in ruin. A series of secondary explosions had then torn his ship in half and it had spun off into deep space.
    Dave came back to consciousness and realised that he still had air and emergency power in the front of his ship. Fortunately the forward generators had survived and they still showed ten percent power. He still had his view screen and he watched as the larger rear section of his ship was destroyed by the Jerecab. The colony administrator killed the alarms blaring away in front of him and zoomed out one of his three remaining cameras.
    Dave was just in time to catch two of his three drones striking one of the Jerecab frigates. The enemy ship shivered for several seconds before it erupted in a silent explosion across space. He then noted that the three other frigates were at risk from mining drones, and he watched as another frigate was destroyed and four more received heavy damage.
    Dave noted that he had six hours emergency power left with shields and he felt bleak as he considered his options. He watched as the remaining mining craft were quickly destroyed and the Jerecab moved away to attack the Ceres colony. He also noted that the four damaged Jerecab ships hung in space nearby as his own wrecked ship drifted way. Dave came to a decision and switched to only suit power as he cut power to the rest of the ship. His ship continued to drift way with no detectable power and he knew he was at risk of freezing to death or running out of air.
     
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    Neanres had stifled his anger and rage as he lost two ships and four more were badly damaged. He issued a curt series of orders as he also took in the wreckage of several human ships nearby.
    ‘All ships are to cease fire and form up for the attack on the Ceres colony. The four damaged ships will rejoin us after they are repaired.’
    The undamaged frigates were soon attacking the colony with their bean weapons, and bright explosions rent the surface of the asteroid as the colony facilities were destroyed. After an hour it was all over and Neanres ignored the life signs of the human survivors now trapped deep underground.
    The Jerecab captain then moved his ships across towards the Vesta colony. Neanres then transferred four of his undamaged ship forward from guarding the lifters and ensured that the four damaged ships took their places. Within three hours he had taken his ships across to Vesta and encountered a smaller group of defenders. He was more cautious this time and had then made a false attack to draw the humans forward.
    Neanres was expecting the human tactics this time around and he had modified the orders of his commanders. As the humans had switched across to their second series of shields, his ships had merely kept up continuous fire. The smaller number of defenders had been destroyed even as their second lot of shields had started to activate. However he was annoyed to find that another two of his frigates had been badly damaged by the mining drones,