Excerpts from Cry Havoc Chapter 4

After the Commanders left the ready room, Futu headed to the Bridge.

As Futu entered, “Sit Rep, Bridge.”

 “Sir, we were about to call you.” said Bridge.

       “Is something wrong?”

Bridge at the long-range scanner motioned Futu over, “Sir, the scanners show not one but three Hangar Ships.

      “What?”

      “Yes, sir. Three Hangar Ships. The good news is they’ve pissed in their oatmeal.”

 “They what?”

      “The first ship has increased speed to close the gap created by Pound 1 and the trajectory of the asteroid. The second and third Hangar Ships I believe are from different Clans than the first. One Clan sending three Hangar Ships two hours apart is not a great tactic. The second and third Hangar Ship won’t be a factor.”

Futu broke out in laughter, “I see what you mean, Bridge. We will make sure it leaves a nasty taste in their mouth.”

 “There is one thing, we’ll not arrive ten to fifteen minutes before the first Hangar Ship as we originally thought. Because of the first ship increased speed, we’ll have less than two minutes before they arrive at the asteroid.”

“You make that sound as if it was a bad thing, Bridge.”

Bridge looked at Futu, puzzled.

 “This should raise the Commanders and Pilots’ spirits. They were afraid they’d miss a good battle.”

Futu turned from the scanner toward Bridge. “Have we heard from Pound 2?”

 “No, sir, but we just picked them up on long range scans. They are not letting any moss grow underneath their feet.”

 “I guess that means they’re making good time?”

 “Yes, sir. They should beat their ETA by 15 minutes. They must have put 200-proof whiskey in those hyperdrive engines.”

 “I’d like to call them, but we need to maintain radio silence. Keep those scans short. We don’t want to give away our surprise.”

Futu left the bridge for the hangar deck and his bot.

After Futu left the Bridge room. The Bridge Tech went back to his duties of monitoring the progress of the red alert. He checked the status of the sections and how they were moving along with the shuttering of the Hangar Ship. He also was monitoring the enemy ships and the approach of Pound 2.

After 45 minutes, two sections reported shuttering complete.

Once they analyzed the surface, sites near the P.E.L.B. was selected for Locator Beacon deployment. Locator Beacons crews reported them programmed and ready.

At the 30-minute mark before launch, each section reported shuttering complete.

The Bridge Tech looked at the scanner five minutes before launch confirming rates of closure of the first ship and confirm the other two ships were still maintaining their original speed. Everything remained constant. Bridge walked to his console after he completed and confirmed his checks, then he grabbed the intercom mic to start his announcements.

“Over drop site in 30 seconds.”

“Locator Beacons launched.”

“Locator Beacon signal confirmed,”

“Space Fighters Launch.”

“Bot launch in 5.4.3.2.1, launch.”

Before the launch of the bots, Bridge checked for loss of the Locator Beacon signal. Then verified Space Fighters had launched from their hangar decks.

After the Bridge reviewed his checklist and confirmed it complete, he sat back in his chair, “You-all come back now, ya hear.”