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.”“If they take out the Word,” said Captain Sheppard, “they can deal with the rest of us at their leisure.Comm the fighters.See if they can hit the super dreadnought before it can get to the Word.”Asp 01, COROT-7 System, March 12, 2021“Asp 01 copies,” Lieutenant Sasaki ‘Supidi’ Akio replied.“We’re inbound to the target.” He punched the new target into the system.“That’s our target,” he said to Calvin.Calvin looked over at Supidi’s system.“Big one,” he grunted.They were a long way off, but he could still see it in the long range viewer.“Yeah,” said Supidi, “they want us to shoot the engines out of it.”“Wonderful,” said Calvin.“This is going to suck.” He switched to the squadron frequency.“All Asps, join on me.We’ve got a high priority target.They need us to take out the motors of the super dreadnought in front of us.”“Do you suppose they’ll even notice we’re here?” asked Lieutenant Martyn ‘Tinman’ Sinclair from Asp 08.“Their missiles are bigger than our fighters.”“They’ll notice when we shove a few megatons of explosives up their ass,” replied Calvin.“Follow me!”Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, COROT-7 System, March 12, 2021“New contacts!” the OSO called as the ship shuddered from another missile strike.The Gulf’s shields were down, and they had already been hit several times.One of their engines was out, and Captain Sheppard could see flashes from the ongoing battle through the window-sized hole in the bridge.“Sir, I’ve got ships coming from around the other side of Drakon.They must have been hiding there with their power turned down.There are five more dreadnoughts and eight more battleships accelerating toward us!”“Damn,” said Captain Sheppard.“We were close to pulling this off, but there’s no way we can beat all of them.”“Sir, I have an incoming transmission from the Holy Word,” said the communications officer.“On screen,” replied Captain Sheppard.The ship shook as another missile hit it.“Missile hit in officer berthing,” said the duty engineer.“Damage repair crews responding.”“Ye must all retreat,” Grand Admiral Michael ordered from the front screen.“We do not gain anything further from thy destruction.We will stay as a rearguard and hold them off as long as we can.Get back to Alliance space and mine the stargate.Perhaps ye will have time to rebuild the fleet before they attack again.”“Helmsman, proceed to the stargate,” Captain Sheppard said.“Head to the stargate, aye,” confirmed the helmsman.“We’re not going to run, are we?” asked Steropes.“We’re not running,” replied Captain Sheppard.“We are retreating, as ordered by Grand Admiral Michael.”“They just called in the Mrowry fighters,” the OSO noted.As he watched, all six squadrons launched simultaneously, and over 350 missiles streaked inbound toward the super dreadnought approaching the Holy Word.“That’s going to leave a mark.”* * * * *Chapter Forty-FiveDrakon, COROT-7 System, March 12, 2021The Overlord hated the stupid Archons.If their wings didn’t taste so good, there wouldn’t be any reason for keeping a single one of them alive.As it was, he was going to have to teach them a lesson.After he destroyed this pitiful fleet, he would send out the Home Fleet and wipe them out, all the way up the star chain to their home world.With the Home Fleet committed to the battle, it wouldn’t be long.He could sense that they were about to break.No.it wouldn’t be long at all.Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, COROT-7 System, March 12, 2021“Sir, Captain Smetlurge is hailing the fleet,” said the communications officer.“On screen,” replied Captain Sheppard.The front view screen changed to a live feed of Smetlurge from his bridge.“Everyone else may do as they desire,” he said.“As for us, we have a different mission.We have experienced the rape of our system by the Drakuls, and we will not suffer it again.Hopefully our versions of the afterlife will line up, Grand Admiral Michael.I would very much like to talk strategy and leadership with you some time.Captain Smetlurge, out.” The front screen returned to the tactical plot.“Sir, he just cut off the transmission,” the communications officer said.“The Hooolong ship is moving out of formation,” Steropes noted.“It has begun accelerating toward the new Drakul fleet
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