Black Legion: Gates of Cilicia by Michael G. Thomas Read Free Book Online Page B

has to be them, it must be. He was wary of speaking out in case it was a false alarm. He couldn’t keep it quiet any longer though.
    “Lieutenant, I think I’ve got something!” he called out.
    Lieutenant Devereux connected to his computer system and looked down at the object Xenophon was looking at.
    “Where is it?” she asked, a hint of desperation in her voice.
    Please be something . He worried that he was wasting the crew’s time but also wanted to impress her.
    Xenophon drew a mental box around the anomaly that was immediately added to her own computer display. It was a faster way of communicating than simply trying to point it out on a display, or even worse, attempting to explain with words.
    “Good work,” she said and actually smiled at him.
    Yes! Something right, for a change, he thought happily.
    “Sir, something is out there,” she said, her tone of voice less convinced than Xenophon would have liked. As if to answer her, the Tactical Officer spoke quickly.
    “Jump signature, something is coming in!”
    Xenophon rechecked his display and spotted more shapes rush past their position. The blurred shapes took form as an enemy formation shut down its FTL engines. There was always a brief moment between the engines being deactivated and the ship approaching normal speed, where the subject would be blurred and indistinct. It lasted the briefest of times but could give those waiting an advantage, if only for a moment. At first, he couldn’t make out the shape, but then he recognised the silhouette from his training back at the fleet headquarters.
    That looks like a drone carrier.
    It was one of the largest military ships he had ever seen and easily the size of an Alliance cruiser. From memory, these ships were used to command small strike forces. It was rare they travelled alone, and if he was right, it could be a serious problem.
    Lieutenant Devereux had already sent the data to the Captain.
    “Good work, Xenophon,” she said. “It’s definitely a drone carrier, and probably leading a small force to wipe out our scouts, one group at a time.”
    “That why they left a derelict to draw us in?” he asked.
    She nodded, but he couldn’t tell if she was impressed or irritated by his questions. Either way, they were interrupted buy the voice of the Captain.
    “All crew, prepare for FTL jump. Gunners keep the carrier busy until we’re underway.”
    Xenophon could sense the worry in the Captain’s voice. He could see why, as he watched three-dozen drones detach from the ship and set an intercept course with their own small formation of ships. The drones were small, perhaps ten metres, maybe slightly more. They were fast and lightly armed, no match for heavy fighters but easily able to swamp a few frigates, given enough time. As he watched them, he forgot to check his own tactical display. It was too late when he finally spotted the lock errors on the system.
    “No, no!” he cried to himself. The gun tracking system shutdown as powerful enemy countermeasures saturated their vessel. It was a textbook attack, and it had rendered the entire targeting matrix defunct.
    “It’s the drones,” explained Lieutenant Devereux. “Switch to manual gunnery and look for the Wild Weasel drones. Take them out.”
    A cloud of plasma rounds scattered the formation of drones, but they were already in range. The computer-controlled attack aircraft rolled with speed and precision that made his gunnery harder and harder. He looked at the first group of six, staring intently to find the illusive Wild Weasel craft. They were specially modified to suppress air defences and destroy the frigates capacity to destroy other drones. Blasts of energy fired from the guns of the drones struck their own frigate, but he was able to draw two into his sights.
    He managed to hit the first, a standard interceptor drone with two direct impacts. One plasma round was easily capable of destroying a drone, and the two simply vaporised the craft,