Less than zero (RN: Book 1) Read Online Free
Author: David Gunner
weapons to batter us from a distance. The Manchester took a hell of a beating, and at one point she had seven ships bearing on her. Seven! One hundred and fifty six guns to her sixteen and almost nineteen times her tonnage. I’ve never seen a ship take so much punishment and keep firing. But these were pre-limitation days and our ships were built from sterner stuff. However, none of us could continue to take such abuse for long, so when their fighters destroyed the last colonist ship, we broke away.”
“This is when they destroyed the Manchester.”
“Not at this point, no.”
“Her destruction was all over the media.”
“No losses, I’m telling you.”
“But how can this –“
“Three of their ships we took before leaving. Three! Two light and one heavy. The Manchester absorbed more than seven hundred large bore hits and countless lesser shots and missiles, and she still left under her own power. Did you hear me? Under her own power! The Skye took one hundred and twelve hits to the Bristol’s ninety-two. But the Bristol’s engines were disabled and she had to be towed out by the Skye in the wake of the Manchester. So you heard wrong. The destruction of the Manchester was unrelated to this battle. Security restrictions limit what I can tell you about it, but let’s just say certain of those Red Moon types were involved. The common media stories were a smoke screen to prevent the people from becoming downhearted by the cowardly destruction of another military vessel by terrorists who sabotaged her magazines whilst she lay compromised with much of her crew dead or dying. The news read better when she died a heroine’s death.”
“I would hardly believe this information if it came from anyone else.”
“Indeed. No other ship in service could have done what the Manchester did that day. Her remaining guns were still firing right up until she gated out. Did you know that? A quarter of her crew dead! So much out-gassing that you didn’t know if she was coming or going. But two of her turrets were still serviceable and she held them back until we could leave. What a piece of work she was. One of only three in her class. And If we would have had the others with us, the Belfast and the Newcastle, I believe we could have reversed the situation and it would have been they who left. This engagement was the reason we lost interest in the Bismarck class. If they had accompanied the Manchester instead of the Skye and the Bristol, they would never have survived as they would have had nowhere to bleed the heat without exposing that weak hull.”
“I can only imagine witnessing such an event. The battle of a lifetime! A true David v Goliath.”
“Not quite as David limped away that day. However, one thing we couldn’t know at the time was that the incident at Devon held far more significance than we could possibly imagine. Their encounters with EDP forces, the whole episode at Devon, and especially what the Russians and Americans did at Amarak, caused The Koll to stop dead in their advance for eight months as they reconsidered Earth’s ability to defend herself. There were some probing skirmishes that had our ships running here and there, but these were to see if we would respond as we did at Devon, which we did on every occasion. Even if it meant borrowing vessels from allied navies or recommissioning the mothballed fleet. However, The Koll learnt their own lessons and they massed more and more of their forces with every engagement. The culmination of this massing was the invasion of Chinese space. I suspect you have heard of the action at what the western fleets refer to as LN-0R?”
“The Battle of Eleanor. Where The Koll slaughtered the Chinese fleet. Who hasn’t heard of that. The Chinese let The Koll walk in and make mincemeat of them.”
“It’s so simple to be critical, isn’t it? Everyone condemns the Chinese for how they handled the situation at
“This is when they destroyed the Manchester.”
“Not at this point, no.”
“Her destruction was all over the media.”
“No losses, I’m telling you.”
“But how can this –“
“Three of their ships we took before leaving. Three! Two light and one heavy. The Manchester absorbed more than seven hundred large bore hits and countless lesser shots and missiles, and she still left under her own power. Did you hear me? Under her own power! The Skye took one hundred and twelve hits to the Bristol’s ninety-two. But the Bristol’s engines were disabled and she had to be towed out by the Skye in the wake of the Manchester. So you heard wrong. The destruction of the Manchester was unrelated to this battle. Security restrictions limit what I can tell you about it, but let’s just say certain of those Red Moon types were involved. The common media stories were a smoke screen to prevent the people from becoming downhearted by the cowardly destruction of another military vessel by terrorists who sabotaged her magazines whilst she lay compromised with much of her crew dead or dying. The news read better when she died a heroine’s death.”
“I would hardly believe this information if it came from anyone else.”
“Indeed. No other ship in service could have done what the Manchester did that day. Her remaining guns were still firing right up until she gated out. Did you know that? A quarter of her crew dead! So much out-gassing that you didn’t know if she was coming or going. But two of her turrets were still serviceable and she held them back until we could leave. What a piece of work she was. One of only three in her class. And If we would have had the others with us, the Belfast and the Newcastle, I believe we could have reversed the situation and it would have been they who left. This engagement was the reason we lost interest in the Bismarck class. If they had accompanied the Manchester instead of the Skye and the Bristol, they would never have survived as they would have had nowhere to bleed the heat without exposing that weak hull.”
“I can only imagine witnessing such an event. The battle of a lifetime! A true David v Goliath.”
“Not quite as David limped away that day. However, one thing we couldn’t know at the time was that the incident at Devon held far more significance than we could possibly imagine. Their encounters with EDP forces, the whole episode at Devon, and especially what the Russians and Americans did at Amarak, caused The Koll to stop dead in their advance for eight months as they reconsidered Earth’s ability to defend herself. There were some probing skirmishes that had our ships running here and there, but these were to see if we would respond as we did at Devon, which we did on every occasion. Even if it meant borrowing vessels from allied navies or recommissioning the mothballed fleet. However, The Koll learnt their own lessons and they massed more and more of their forces with every engagement. The culmination of this massing was the invasion of Chinese space. I suspect you have heard of the action at what the western fleets refer to as LN-0R?”
“The Battle of Eleanor. Where The Koll slaughtered the Chinese fleet. Who hasn’t heard of that. The Chinese let The Koll walk in and make mincemeat of them.”
“It’s so simple to be critical, isn’t it? Everyone condemns the Chinese for how they handled the situation at
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