Free Rumors of Honor (System States Rebellion Book 2) by Dietmar Wehr

protecting that one ship!”
     
    “Damn.
They’re trying to sneak one through,” said the CO. “As soon as our first wave
hits their targets, the Rebels will realize that we’re not firing nukes
anymore.”
     
    It
doesn’t matter, thought
Remington. By the time they realize what we’re firing at them, they’ll have
used up most or maybe all of their counter-missiles except for that one ship.
The question will be do we have enough remaining Mark 1s to overwhelm that one
ship’s defenses?
     
    When
the Union ships stopped firing counter-missiles before being hit by any of the
FED missiles, Remington nodded. That’s it! They’ve run out of counter-missiles! She watched with growing excitement as the counter-missiles cleared a path for
that one Union ship, while wave after wave of HE warheads impacted harmlessly
against the armored hulls of the other three ships.
     
    The
range between them was now less than 50,000 klicks, and with the combined rate
of closure at 987 kps, the two groups of ships would pass each other at
white-knuckle range in less than a minute.
     
    A
new icon appeared on the display. Commodore Stevens’ flagship had fired three
missiles which the sidebar data said were carrying Mark 1 warheads. They were
obviously targeted at the three ships that appeared to have used up their
counter-missile capability. If the fourth ship elected to use some of its
remaining counter-missiles to protect its comrades, that was okay too. It would
then have less missiles to defend itself when the other four FED ships fired
their Mark 1s at it during the last few seconds before the two groups would be
at their closest approach to each other. With three seconds to go before
Stevens’ missiles hit, those three Union ships vomited 60 missiles. Remington
did the math quickly. Sixty missiles spread over six ships meant that each
ship’s six rail-gun cannon stood a pretty good chance of intercepting those
missiles. But she felt a chill go down her spine when she realized that those
60 Union missiles weren’t spread evenly over the squadron. They were all
concentrated on just two ships.
     
    Events
were happening fast now, too fast for the Weapons Officer to keep track.
Stevens’ three Mark 1s hit their targets. One Union ship blew apart. The other
two showed signs of major damage. The Union volley of 60 missiles reached their
two targets, Corpus Christi and Vicksburg, before they fired their few
remaining Mark 1s. Both ships stopped maneuvering and vented atmosphere.
Remington shook her head. Stevens should have ordered them to fire first but
hadn’t reacted fast enough. With the range now down to less than 5,000 klicks
and only five seconds to go before interpenetration, the rest of the squadron
fired their 13 remaining Mark 1s at the fourth enemy ship. It initiated
counter-missile fire almost immediately. Twenty counter-missiles streaked out
towards the thirteen incoming missiles. Remington held her breath. The two
missile icons merged and…both disappeared. The Union ship had lucked out and
stopped all the Mark 1s, even though the probabilities said that at least two
FED missiles should have gotten through. By the time she realized what had
happened, both groups of ships had passed each other and the range was now
widening again.
     
    Remington
heard her CO curse. One Union ship would get away now that the FED ships no
longer had any Mark 1s left to fire. Remington turned to the Weapons Officer
and told him to switch the main display to show what had happened to the
attacked industrial centers. The news was bad. Enough Union HE warheads had
gotten through the ground-based defenses to cause significant damage and loss
of life at all six targeted centers. It was hard to see how this battle could
be considered an outright victory. The Commodore would have a lot of explaining
to do.
     
     
     
    Chapter Six:
     
    Day
90/2544
    It
wasn’t quite the middle of the night when Janicot entered the underground
complex that