WtSG snippet 1

Well! Goodlifeguide just shocked me and sent me back WtSG early! WOW!
So, I'll be publishing sooner than expected. As in most likely tomorrow!

Here is a snippet anyway:

Chapter 1

 

November, 2236

 

The crews of the two Tauren dispatch ships did their best to keep their small ships functional as their ships’ Alpha bulls tried to figure out what to do. They'd had plenty of time to discuss the situation, but they had not come up with a solution of their dilemma.

The two ships were trapped in a sector of space unfamiliar to them. Their flagship's navigational database had carried the full star charts of the galaxy. Unfortunately, the flagship and the rest of their task force had been blown into clouds of dust and debris in the alien home herd star system several weeks away.

Their ships had been in the rear of the fleet and had managed to escape. They had burned a lot of fuel to get to the alien world and more fuel in their escape. They had enough fuel for a couple of short jumps and then they would be utterly helpless. Neither ship had enough fuel for the long hyperbridge journey back to their home even if they knew where to start the journey at.

“Hyperspace emergence!” a technician on duty reported over the ship's intercom.

The ship's Alpha bull woke blearily and then stumbled onto the bridge. “Report?” he demanded.

“A hyperspace emergence.”

“Vector?” the ship's Alpha demanded. He was unkempt having just woken. Many of his crew looked slovenly. He saw the tech's ears flatten and then look at the plot. The ship's Alpha followed that line of gaze reluctantly to see the emergence point and a projected backtrack of their vector.

“Never mind,” he muttered. “I can see it for myself.”

“What do we do?” the tech asked quietly.

“We run. Fast,” the ship's Alpha bull said as he took his seat with a sinking heart. He was fairly certain they wouldn't be able to run far or fast enough.

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The Terran Confederation cruiser Republic and her small task force of nine ships cleared their hyper wake within a minute of their arrival at the Altair hyperbridge jump point. To the crew's surprise, within minutes of the ship's arrival, the plot blinked with two red icons 2.4 million kilometers away. “There are two ships at the jump point. Both of them match the profile of the ships that escaped Sol,” a CIC rating reported over the intercom as their sensors cleared the dissipating energy discharge and started to get more distant sensor returns. “They are running,” she said flatly. Vectors were projected on the plot. “There is no sign of a hyperdrive charging in either ship at this time,” the tech reported.

“Order Tau Chan and Dragonheart to go after them. ROE applies. If the aliens won't surrender they are to take them out,” Captain Saul Bao growled coldly.

“With pleasure, sir,” a communications rating replied.

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The destroyer Tau Chan's orderly bridge was grimly patient as they hunted down their prey. There was a sense of anticipation, of determination, maybe just a little bit of vengeance in the crew's thinking, Captain Presley reflected as she watched the range fall.

She was okay with that. She had the same feelings herself.

She wondered why the little ship hadn't tried to jump to hyperspace. Had they considered the option? Or had they tried to throw all of their power at their sublight engines in order to get out of range? It hadn't worked obviously.

“We are in firing range, ma'am,” the TO, Lieutenant Raul Hong, reported.

“No response to hails,” the ship's A.I. reported. “ROE is clear at your discretion, ma'am.”

Captain Chloe Presley nodded thoughtfully to the A.I.'s avatar and then turned to the TO, shifting slightly in her chair to see him at his station. “Do you want to fire now or let them sink a bit better into your basket to make sure you get a clean shot?” the captain asked mildly, arching an eyebrow his way. The TO had the final say in any engagement per protocol.

Lieutenant Hong cocked his head then shrugged. “I'd leave them twisting in the wind personally; I don't give a rat's ass how much they suffer. But I want to see how well we can hit a target at range.”

“On your order, guns,” the captain said with a nod.

The lieutenant nodded once as if to settle himself. “Aye aye, ma'am. All forward gun mounts, target the ship and open fire,” the TO ordered, turning to his section.

“Payback's a bitch and so am I,” Captain Presley murmured as her ship hunted her prey down. Her eyes glittered as the weapon turrets tracked and began to spit fire at the fleeing alien ship. Each of the destroyers had four single-barrel weapon turrets on their dorsal and ventral surfaces. They had six point-defense turrets on their flanks along with four missile tubes buried in the bow.

A cruiser like Republic had double barrel turrets twice as large. There were six on each surface along with twelve point-defense turrets and twelve missile tubes. She'd seen the new battleships being laid down; they had double and triple turrets as well as twice as many point defense turrets and missile tubes. There was some talk about trying to find a way to shoehorn in specialized turrets, but for the moment missile tubes doubled for offensive missiles as well as counter missiles.

She liked Tau Chan; she felt like she had just the right mix of speed and power. The turrets allowed her to fire off bore to some degree, as long as the super structure or the ship's own hull didn't obstruct the firing angle. She would have preferred more decoys and ECM, but one couldn't have everything.

At least she wasn't sitting in a fat slow carrier watching someone else do the shooting. Well, she was, she glanced at the TO, but at least Tau Chan was doing the shooting. All a carrier had was point defense turrets anyway. The crew of a carrier were referred to as chauffeurs by many in the battle-line community.

She glanced at the plot and then nodded subtly. The range was still long but falling steadily since their ship was faster. She couldn't see the weapons fire normally. Lasers and rail gun rounds were invisible or nearly so in the case of the fast-moving rounds, but Ensign Chan the ship's A.I., also known as TC to some of the crew, had thoughtfully highlighted the weapons fire for her viewing pleasure.

“Yeah,” a helmsman muttered as the alien ship bucked and tried to dodge the incoming fire.

“Let's make this quick. I want bragging rights with Dragonheart,” the captain urged. “First mount to score a hit gets a scoop of ice cream tonight,” she said.

“Aye aye, ma'am,” the TO replied with a nod as he leaned over one of his section tech's chair to look over her shoulder. He murmured orders to her.

A moment later the captain was gratified to see a barrage chase the enemy ship until it was boxed by the port turret. One clean shot hit the little ship in her stern, just above the drive thrusters. A second hit made her buck and her shields fluttered and then went out. A third hit near her dorsal surface made the ship falter and then her drives cut out. Tau Chan's starboard turrets walked their fire into the stern of the ship after that. After a moment, the concentrated fire tore the little ship apart.

There was only a little satisfaction in killing a ship that was running from her and couldn't fight back. But there was absolutely no guilt whatsoever Chloe thought as she heard the bridge cheer lustily.

“Good shooting, guns, damn good work,” the captain said as the crew cheered. The cheers settled down after a moment; within thirty seconds they were back to their normal professionalism.

The captain turned to a rating. “Com, send a report to Republic. Let them know the target has been destroyed, and we will scan it before returning to our station.”

“Aye aye, ma'am.”

“And raise Dragonheart. I want to razz Captain Brenslaw,” the captain said maliciously as she rubbed her hands together.

The TO shook his head and chuckled.

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