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

observing the distant battle it was already either won or lost.
     
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    The first Sspol cruisers had just cleared the atmosphere of Neptune when the missile warning alerts sounded. Greppun was controlling one of the point defence arrays as the first Jerecab missiles raced towards the flagship. Captain Hallime calmly altered course towards the armada and the other three leading ships quickly followed. The captain watched critically as his cruiser’s point defences acquired the nuclear missiles and began to swat them down.
    ‘Good shooting Cadet Greppun and remember to allow both adequate lead ups for targeting and a sphere of avoidance for the other cruisers.’
    Greppun was too busy to reply and watched as the bulk of the hundreds of missiles launched at them were quickly destroyed. Several missiles survived though and the massive cruisers of the Sspol rang with a series of large explosions as their shields were struck repeatedly. The cadet felt desolation as the cruisers broke out into clear space, for a great many other missiles were heading for cruiser four some distance behind them.
    ‘Captain Hallime, the remaining missiles are beyond the range of our point defences and are heading towards cruiser four…’
    The captain took on a colour change that signified both sadness and desolation as he softly replied.
    ‘Courage and strength are needed now; for the crew and engineers on board cruiser four will shortly die.’
    The Sspol on the leading four cruisers went into the mental training expected of them with this news, and all watched what happened next with a mixture of grief and anger.
    Cruiser four made a decent attempt to destroy the incoming missiles, but Greppun noted that a third of the point defence arrays were not firing and the ship was struggling with her power levels.
    A series of explosions tore across the ship as over a dozen missiles detonated, and the other Sspol watched in horror as cruiser four’s shields failed and the ship itself exploded. A brilliant flash lit the upper atmosphere of Neptune as the cruiser vaporised instantly. Immediately a howling storm of mental pain struck out at both the surviving Sspol and the more distant Jerecab in their armada.
    ‘Father, Father…’
    Greppun’s voice trailed off in grief that all the other Sspol were also experiencing over the deaths of so many of their race nearby. He knew at a basic level that his training was working as he sought to fight the mental anguish inside his mind. The cadet weakly updated the bridge crew on the status of the remaining missiles and got a brief call of both sympathy and gratitude from his nearby captain.
    ‘Captain the remaining missiles are now too distant to reach us, and are instead attacking the colony platform.’
    The bridge crew noted the subdued skin colour of their captain as he gave a soft acoustic reply.
    ‘Cadet, thank you and my deepest sympathies for the loss of your father.’
    The surviving Sspol cruisers accelerated out into space as their shields slowly recovered and Greppun now moved across to the primary weapons of the cruiser. He knew that they would be in laser weapons range in only a few moments, and the cadet forced his grief and anger down as he brought his assigned laser weapon online. The Sspol felt that the later destruction of their vacant colony platform by the remaining Jerecab missiles was almost an after thought. They watched in renewed anger as the massive platform exploded and the fragments plunged into the depths of Neptune’s atmosphere.
     
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    Admiral Baunrus picked himself up off the deck and noted the shaken condition of his crew. The mental anguish of the dying Sspol had raced across and severely