Star Force: Initiation (SF61) Read Free Page A

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handful of fortified locations, it would be more than enough to break through
their defenses…which were known to be formidable. Star Force and the lizards
had tangled aquatically on a few worlds, but the largest conflict had been the
initial one on Atlantica, during which both sides had learned much about their
opponents. That said, Star Force’s aquatics division had been wholly revamped
since then, and the two previous assaults that had taken place hadn’t left any
lizard survivors to inform the others how they’d been defeated.
    When the battleships hit the surface they came down
gently, sinking into the water with their defense shields covering the hulls in
a thin, protective layer that the enemy’s weapons would be hard pressed to
penetrate. Of the four ships one of the dark blue ones came down directly over
the location of the lizard colony, and as it pushed its hull into the water a
swarm of missiles came up at it, hammering the shield.
    That was part of the plan, for the ship was acting as
a distraction and continued to descend down through the deep water until it
reached weapons range, then a shield column extended down to the top of the
base, which was made up of numerous domes built on the seafloor that covered
all directions for miles. The tiny tendril of energy pushed through the water
and contacted its lizard counterpart covering the largest central dome where
Star Force knew they were building aquatics warships.
    Those were in the water nearby, but not directly over
the base for they had been out on patrol and not in position to defend against
an overhead assault. Their firepower was significant, but it didn’t match the
number of missiles coming up from below. The two combined would be enough to
get through the battleship’s shields, so it only had a short window of
opportunity before it would have to withdraw and recharge…but it wouldn’t need
long to do damage.
    The shield column made contact with the dome shield
and immediately a blue streak flew down the vacuum and hit the opposing energy
barrier, missing the sidewalls of the column by half a meter of clearance, else
the mauler blast would have breached them instead of the lizards’ shield. The
first blast destabilized a patch of the dome’s defensive layer, with the second
punching through and allowing the shield column to dip down another few meters
and touch the hull of the dome. The lizard shield reformed around and inside of
it, for it was being emitted from within the base rather than a lateral
generator.
    The problem with that was the Star Force shield
column, acting like a giant straw, wouldn’t allow lizard shield energy to flow
into the breach from the surrounding areas to help counter weaknesses and
breaches, leaving only a small patch inside that was recharging from direct
transmission from the emitter. That was sufficient to reseal the shield over
the light crater in the hull, but when the aquatic’s warship switched weaponry
and the Ta’lin’yi firecracker beam came down with the white/gold pinpricks slamming
into the shield patch, it punched through with only a slight hesitation.
    Suddenly the base of the shield column broke contact,
blowing apart along with that section of the dome as the talon cannon hit the
matter of the hull and did what it did best. A shockwave rippled out through
the water all the way back up to the battleship as another shield column
tracked down into the now damaged and unshielded dome to deliver another huge
punch, with a likewise impressive explosion when it contacted and sent an immediate
talon blast down.
    The battleship sat there and reached out into the
lizard infrastructure, attacking it with impunity as the missile swarms
continued to mount and drain shield strength. It wasn’t until they’d racked up
sufficient energy loss and the lizard warships were nearing weapons range did
the Star Force vessel begin sniping down the incoming missiles with its own
intercepts. The tiny glowing