Beauty and the Fleet (Intergalactic Fairy Tales Book 2) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Robert McKay
had suffered the least damage. A group including Hands and Gadget took the next best looking one. That left one more to the rest of the Flight if it made it through the artillery.
They all hunted for good places to tag the Hounds, but it was hard to concentrate with the remaining shield Raptors still buzzing around. Just when Beatrix thought she saw a potential weak spot, she would have to dodge fire and spend the next few minutes shooting down the smaller ships.
"How about I mop up the rest of the meat shields?" said Beatrix. "The rest of you find a weakness on the Hounds before they get all the way through the artillery line. Then we can regroup and take on the Raptors hiding behind them."
"Sounds like a plan, Sting," said Torch.
Beatrix studied the Raptors, weaving around them in tight patterns. They only seemed to react when she was on a certain angle of approach. A theory blossomed in her mind, and she bolted for the edge of the artillery field. She flipped a quick one-eighty to come at the Raptors from their rear, hoping to catch them off guard. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. The ones that saw her on the way in shot plenty, but they showed no compulsion to break formation once she was behind them. Absolutely confounding. "Just stay behind the shield Raptors! They won't turn to get at you!" she shouted on all channels, to give her comrades in the other Flights their best odds.
"I'm lighting this Hound up everywhere I can and it isn't flinching," said Pickle.
"Same here," called Torch. "Looks like we're going to need missiles to take them down, but I'll be damned if I know where to put them that will make a dent. These things must be ninety percent armor."
They continued to mop up the Raptors that made it through, not wanting to waste ammunition on the Hounds. There weren't nearly enough to occupy the entire Flight. Beatrix let the rest of them score a few kills while she took a break to think. "What the hell do the Hounds even do?" she asked herself. "It has to be something to do with those crazy looking legs."
The Hounds moved at a stately pace compared to Talons, but the three remaining behemoths cleared the artillery field at about the same time with a speedy complement of Raptors behind each one. Once they were clear, they all adjusted course for the largest cluster of Flight 1230s Talons. So far they hadn't lost a single ship. She hoped the other Flights were faring as well on the other sides of Harbinger.
Unfortunately, the rear complement of Raptors didn't seem concerned with preserving the Hounds. Their relatively tiny grey forms darted all around the Flight's defensive formation, firing as if they had an unlimited supply of ammo. Beatrix studied them while casually shooting down five Raptors that got too close to her vantage point. She knew there was some sort of game afoot and she wanted to figure it out before it cost the Fleet any more lives. The part of her brain that had called this an exercise in futility had been washed away on a tide of adrenaline and curiosity. Since the Hounds took up a bulk of their flight deck space, they didn't have nearly as much room for Raptors. Typically, Raptors were the big offensive threat, relying on numbers to win the day. The Hounds hadn't displayed any offensive capabilities up to that point. They needed to take them down before they got the chance, because they had to be alarming.
"Torch, I'm going in for a look underneath one of these things. Maybe there's some sort of weakness we can take advantage of."
"Don't you dare, Beatrix!" called Torch, but it was too late.
Beatrix swooped underneath the Hound. It wasn't long before she was joined by a trio of Raptors, apparently none too happy with her being there. They came at her from three different directions. Beatrix fired a burst at the one nearest her field of vision and yanked her control stick hard up and to her left. It put her into a quick, vertigo-inducing dive, and thankfully kept her from being
They all hunted for good places to tag the Hounds, but it was hard to concentrate with the remaining shield Raptors still buzzing around. Just when Beatrix thought she saw a potential weak spot, she would have to dodge fire and spend the next few minutes shooting down the smaller ships.
"How about I mop up the rest of the meat shields?" said Beatrix. "The rest of you find a weakness on the Hounds before they get all the way through the artillery line. Then we can regroup and take on the Raptors hiding behind them."
"Sounds like a plan, Sting," said Torch.
Beatrix studied the Raptors, weaving around them in tight patterns. They only seemed to react when she was on a certain angle of approach. A theory blossomed in her mind, and she bolted for the edge of the artillery field. She flipped a quick one-eighty to come at the Raptors from their rear, hoping to catch them off guard. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. The ones that saw her on the way in shot plenty, but they showed no compulsion to break formation once she was behind them. Absolutely confounding. "Just stay behind the shield Raptors! They won't turn to get at you!" she shouted on all channels, to give her comrades in the other Flights their best odds.
"I'm lighting this Hound up everywhere I can and it isn't flinching," said Pickle.
"Same here," called Torch. "Looks like we're going to need missiles to take them down, but I'll be damned if I know where to put them that will make a dent. These things must be ninety percent armor."
They continued to mop up the Raptors that made it through, not wanting to waste ammunition on the Hounds. There weren't nearly enough to occupy the entire Flight. Beatrix let the rest of them score a few kills while she took a break to think. "What the hell do the Hounds even do?" she asked herself. "It has to be something to do with those crazy looking legs."
The Hounds moved at a stately pace compared to Talons, but the three remaining behemoths cleared the artillery field at about the same time with a speedy complement of Raptors behind each one. Once they were clear, they all adjusted course for the largest cluster of Flight 1230s Talons. So far they hadn't lost a single ship. She hoped the other Flights were faring as well on the other sides of Harbinger.
Unfortunately, the rear complement of Raptors didn't seem concerned with preserving the Hounds. Their relatively tiny grey forms darted all around the Flight's defensive formation, firing as if they had an unlimited supply of ammo. Beatrix studied them while casually shooting down five Raptors that got too close to her vantage point. She knew there was some sort of game afoot and she wanted to figure it out before it cost the Fleet any more lives. The part of her brain that had called this an exercise in futility had been washed away on a tide of adrenaline and curiosity. Since the Hounds took up a bulk of their flight deck space, they didn't have nearly as much room for Raptors. Typically, Raptors were the big offensive threat, relying on numbers to win the day. The Hounds hadn't displayed any offensive capabilities up to that point. They needed to take them down before they got the chance, because they had to be alarming.
"Torch, I'm going in for a look underneath one of these things. Maybe there's some sort of weakness we can take advantage of."
"Don't you dare, Beatrix!" called Torch, but it was too late.
Beatrix swooped underneath the Hound. It wasn't long before she was joined by a trio of Raptors, apparently none too happy with her being there. They came at her from three different directions. Beatrix fired a burst at the one nearest her field of vision and yanked her control stick hard up and to her left. It put her into a quick, vertigo-inducing dive, and thankfully kept her from being
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