Star Force: Penance (SF49) by Aer-ki Jyr Read Free Book Online

could begin, for it would draw
immediate attention from the Scionate, he called for his ace in the hole,
knowing that he had to bust up this fleet before the enemy got majorly
reinforced. As the battle with the two warship/jumpships continued in earnest,
with their massive hulls eating up a lot of weaponsfire that otherwise would
have been targeting the drones, thus extending their battle life, another
warship pulled an insanely difficult jump into the gap between the enemy fleet
and the planet, braking so hard that Paul could see the stress levels on the
ship’s status display when it finally popped up.
    That warship immediately began to release drones…new
drones, for it was a new warship, fully equipped with not only bloon launchers
but cleansing beams, maulers, and even its own Ta’lin’yi. The Mk. 32 variety was
the most lethal yet, and some 21% bigger than previous models. That cut down on
its available jump speed, but with progressively better gravity drives being
developed it nulled out the disadvantage, leaving a
‘normal’ warship with a much larger carry capacity.
    It disgorged 126 drones in a plume falling behind it
as it too dove into the enemy fleet targeting their battleships, simultaneously
with a second warship jumping into the planet on the topside of the enemy
fleet…a much easier jump to accomplish, with the now four warships bracketing
the Scionate on three sides and putting them in a momentary disadvantage that
Paul pressed. He had more warships to call on if needed, for he’d brought a lot
into the system in case the Scionate didn’t respond well to their diplomatic
complaint, but he didn’t want to show his full hand yet.
    That said , he needed to take
advantage of opportunities when they arose and take as many enemy chess pieces
off the board as possible, which the torch-enhanced drones were beginning to do
in earnest.
    The four warships were manned, of course, meaning this
ploy was a bit of a gambit. If those ships were destroyed, tough as that was to
accomplish, he’d be losing people, and that was something that Star Force
abhorred. But with him monitoring the situation on the planet below, he knew he
had to aid the ground troops…which was why as the Scionate were suddenly
getting more resistance than they could handle in orbit he sent a third warship
in to the planet at a location some 1000 miles off, having it brake not far
above the atmosphere and send its drones skimming across the top and over to
the engagement zone.
    There they made a dive into the planetary gasses and
headed towards the surface, with only a few Scionate warships moving to
intercept them. Some of the drones pulled back up and intercepted the enemy
warships in a high altitude brawl with the others moving down to surface level.
Paul watched all three fleet engagements closely, but knew that he had to get
to the Scionate ground troops before they got safely inside the cities…with a
tone sounding that informed him that the Sentinel was now repositioning. It
wasn’t a warship, and couldn’t move all that fast, but putting full power into
its gravity drives would allow for some slow jumps between planets.
    So with its drives cranked up as high as it could
manage, it sucked itself down towards the planet and put itself on a descending
track that would bring it towards the enemy fleet in approximately 27 minutes. That
was slow compared to what the drones and warships could do, but it was going to
be enough. Now the Scionate had a choice to make…wait and fight until it
arrived, or leave now and try to hit somewhere else in orbit.
    They decided to fight on for several more minutes…then
they took an approach that Paul had thought was of low likelihood, but none the
less effective in the short term.
    With the Scionate fleet beginning to even out its
disadvantage with the influx of a lot more ships, they suddenly broke off…not
leaving to a higher orbit or going after Star Force’s shipyards or other
facilities, but