Carinae Sector: 02 - Admiral's Fury - Part 3 - Fleet Action Read Free

as long as we do so quickly. Note that all alien ships present in the solar system are fighting ships, and so I claim precedence of command under the emergency martial laws the council itself created many years ago.’
    Mary broke the video connection and looked confidently around the bridge to reassure her crew. John Griggs looked at her from his console and gave her a nod of both respect and agreement as he considered her words.
     
                                                                         ***
     
    Admiral Baunrus watched the rapidly increasing complexity of the coming battle with unease. He could accomplish only one of his objectives before the humans followed by the Barus arrived at his location near Neptune. Something about the approach of the two fleets of ships caught his eye and he sent an urgent order to Captain Neanres.
    ‘Captain, we will divide your task force and I will take fifty ships from your command. You will take forty frigates and the two lifters and use Neptune to swing across at speed towards Earth. Your new orders will force the human admiral to make an early choice while we occupy both the humans and the Barus. Also this course change will keep you and those lifters away from the Sspol cruisers near Neptune.’
    Neanres altered course with his allocated ships, and the fifty requested ships from the taskforce had soon formed up closer to the rest of the armada. Admiral Baunrus noted the peaceful overtures of the approaching Sspol cruisers, but he responded by snarling a response across the bridge to his junior officers.
    ‘The Sspol think they can attack isolated Jerecab ships in secret but when I corner them at one of their own colonies they do not want to fight. Well today we drive the Sspol from our section of space for good.’
    The admiral turned his attention back to the imminent battle, as the targeting computers chimed to advise the crew that they would shortly be in missile range. The lead frigates had released several more active scans and the admiral knew his next orders would spell death to many Sspol.
    ‘All ships are to launch three missiles each according to section number, with sections one and two targeting the cruiser that appears to be weakest. The other sections are to engage the remaining cruisers to prevent them interfering in our attack.’
    A storm of missiles erupted from the Jerecab armada and raced towards the fleeing Sspol cruisers. Baunrus considered that he would neutralise at least one Sspol cruiser with very little risk to his armada in about thirty minutes.
     
                                                                         ***
     
    The Maveen probe was quietly monitoring the communications between the humans as the first reports of the Jerecab arrived. For an advanced mechanical life form, the simple nature of human encryption systems hardly delayed his monitoring efforts. Probe three, still masquerading as scout probe eleven, now made an urgent call to Robert Seville.
    ‘Robert, your civilian authorities jeopardise the response of your admiral to the Jerecab armada. I concur with both Captain Gindane and Admiral Neilson in their battle strategy and I suggest you forward this information to your council. Also advise your authorities that I will act as a last line of defence for the Earth itself against Jerecab missiles.
    The Maveen probe wasted no time in heading back towards Earth from Luna orbit. In the southern ocean near Antarctica the ancients huddled under their suppression field and evaluated the coming battle. Queen Angwene was considering ordering just Seliandre and Altarebe to flee, but she knew that the rest of them would surely die later as a result. The queen fought to remain calm as she watched the first parts of the battle begin between the Sspol and Jerecab, and she knew that with the delay in