Galen relaxed a bit. “Okay, let the Interceptors get rid of that destroyer and then have them pull back.”
Sevin nodded and gave a thumbs-up without looking away from his terminal. Apparently the order was already sent because Sevin did nothing but swivel his chair toward the main screen. The Interceptors closed to standoff range, fired one missile each and banked down toward the planet and then upward to rake the destroyer’s belly with rail gun fire right after the missiles exploded. As the Interceptors fled, the pilot switched the view to his rear camera so the commanders in the TOC could watch the destroyer explode. Its forward section separated and spun wildly to the right while the aft section was sent backward by the blasts, back toward the other ships of the Mosh fleet. The three light cruisers fired on the debris of the destroyer, blasting it into pieces too small to do significant damage to them.
After the cheers died down Galen said, “Hey Guns, put some projectiles in their path.”
“Roger,” Tad was seated at the sky battery command terminal. He did some brief calculations and ordered the conventional guns, the ones salvaged from the abandoned battle cruiser, to fire projectiles that would intercept the Mosh in space if they didn’t change their course. For the next thirty seconds the floor of the bunker vibrated and the air thundered with the sound of half a dozen 240mm guns firing rocket-assisted projectiles into space at maximum charge.
The Major charged into the bunker and would have sat in Galen’s lap if he hadn’t gotten out of the way quickly enough. “Okay, what’s this?”
Tad said, “The interceptors took out their last destroyer and circled back. I fired a battery six into the Mosh fleet’s path.”
Major Ross looked around. “Okay, guess I should have been here. From now on let’s hold our fire until they get a little closer. At least wait until they get over the horizon. I want solid hits, not pot-shots.” He switched the main screen back to a display of the tactical situation. The planet was in the center, the air base marked as a blue triangle. A vector showing line of sight ran from there into space. Red markers for the Mosh ships were below the line but gradually moving toward it.
Galen discreetly reached over to stop the recording of the office and folded the small screen back into the arm rest. Major Ross didn’t seem to notice, or didn’t care. Galen couldn’t tell. He made his way over to Tad’s side and then sat at a conference table chair and stared at the main screen. The Mosh fleet approached. Without changing course, it shot the projectiles out of its path. The debris had a nominal effect on the hulls of the light cruisers. Tad fired the laser batteries, which lost most of their energy from passing through thousands of kilometers of atmosphere. The angle of attack was still too low to be effective.
“Cease fire and put up the shield,” said the Major. “Guns, stand down your lasers and divert their power to fill the reserve banks, then use it to hold up the shield after we take the first plasma hit. Now give them a few minutes. As soon as they hit us with plasma, shoot back with projectiles. Battery three.”
The Mosh took longer than expected, probably wanting to fire through less planetary atmosphere by holding their first volley until they could attack from an acute angle. Or, thought Galen, they just wanted to put on a good show, did not want to destroy their pre-arranged booty. The first blast of plasma fire came from six cannons, two from each light cruiser. The lights in the TOC flickered and Galen felt tazed for a moment as ions washed over and through his body.
“Shield down to forty two percent,” said the fleet commander, impressed with the effect of the enemy weapons. Tad shunted power into the shield and it went back up to ninety three percent. The sky battery technician returned to the bunker and relieved Tad at the terminal. The technician made a few keystrokes and flipped a switch and the shield went right up to one hundred percent. Then he switched the main screen view to zoom in on the light cruiser on the right, entered a command and the 240mm guns rumbled.
A full minute later the light cruiser fired point defense lasers to stop the incoming rounds and was able to hit the first twelve before the small defensive lasers lost power. The remaining six artillery shells slammed into the light cruiser simultaneously, one shearing off the bridge, two more destroying the front particle cannon turret and the other three making large dents along the hull. The thin vapor of venting atmosphere showed the hull breaches that slowly expanded as the force of escaping gas pulled them apart. Finally, two dozen escape pods popped out and headed toward the main battle cruiser.
“Good show,” said Major Ross.
“That shouldn’t have worked,” said the technician. All business, matter-of-fact.
The fleet commander jumped in to explain, “I think they were using most of their power to recharge their particle cannons and maintain shield. That left only reserve battery backup for the defensive lasers, which ran out of juice before the threat was neutralized. They won’t make that mistake again. But it means they will fire less often because...”
The Major interrupted, “We get it. Nice shooting anyway, Guns Tech. Good job.”
The two remaining light cruisers came to a halt. The main battle cruiser stopped long enough to retrieve the escape pods and then took up a position in between the light cruisers. It fired its four plasma cannons in a ripple, five seconds between shots. The shield took the hits, dropping to sixty six percent before coming back up to full power. The sky battery technician said, “With your permission, sir—”
“Jus do it,” said the Major.
The technician pressed a single key. The rail guns fired a sustained burst, followed by the 240mm guns, with another sustained rail gun burst. “That ought to annoy them.”
The light cruiser to the left was showered with sparks caused by the impact of thousands of rail gun projectiles. Confused, the ship’s fire control wasn’t able to stop all the incoming artillery shells. This time, the shells were armor piercing. Three made it through to punch holes right in the front of the ship. The follow-on burst of rail gun rounds sparkled as they hit solid hull; others went right into the holes made by the armor piercing shells. Atmosphere vented for a moment, then stopped. The light cruiser turned broadside to prevent further attack on the damaged area.
The fleet commander said, “Looks like that skipper has his craft back under control.”
He was proven right when the damaged cruiser fired both its plasma cannons. One shot hit the base shield; the other went wide and hit the ocean near by. Major Ross switched the view of the main screen to a playback from a surveillance camera of the plasma shot that missed. The particle beam glared bright white as it came from the sky at a low angle and gouged into the water for a brief moment, as though both were a solid mass. Then the bolt of plasma disappeared, followed instantly by a huge bubble of boiling sea water that burst from the surface as a blast of steam, followed by a column of water that fell back in an enormous splash. Water vapor hung thick over the area in an opaque fog, obscuring the camera’s view.
“That’s what it looks like with no shield, gentlemen.” Major Ross switched the main screen back to the tactical display.
The Mosh drop boats detached from their transport ships and entered the atmosphere. They quickly dropped to the surface to get below the horizon and flew along at ten meters above the sea as they approached. The light cruisers and the battle cruiser continued to fire their particle cannons singly at the base defense shield, at a slow, randomly timed rate, to force the defenders to keep the shield up. The Mosh fleet learned from its earlier mistakes and used its defensive lasers so effectively against further projectile fire, the Major ordered the guns to stop firing.