No Middle Ground (Spineward Sectors: Middleton's Pride) Read Online Free Page B

volley when the sensors read a clear enough gap in the ring system, causing Sarkozi to report, “Five direct hits, Captain. Their stern shields seem to have buckled and I’m reading trace atmo venting from their hull, but their engines appear undamaged.”
    Rather than ask, Middleton brought up the Shields status display and saw that their forward generators were at 62% of maximum. There had been multiple power grid failures that had necessitated re-routing of the lateral generators’ supply, but fortunately that was of little concern.
    If the two corvettes had worked together, they could have outflanked his slower, heavier vessel and made achieving firing position difficult for the Pride ’s crew. But with one of the nimble corvettes already down for the count and the other well on her way to the same, by Middleton’s way of thinking, it would be little challenge to keep their bow facing the pirate vessel long enough to disable her.
    Still , Middleton reminded himself somberly, if we can’t disable those Starfires’ fire-linking system like we did with the first wave, I doubt that even our reinforced bow shields will hold.
    “Captain,” the Comm. stander began hesitantly, “I’m picking up some unusual chatter from the station.”
    “What do you make of it?” asked Captain Middleton.
    “It’s coded, sir,” the man replied as his fingers flew over his console, “but I’m getting…” he paused as he listened intently for a moment before continuing, “it’s an awfully powerful signal, Captain, and it’s being broadcast throughout the system. I don’t recognize the protocols…it must be some sort of automated SOS.”
    “Log it for later review,” Middleton ordered. He wanted to know where these pirates’ allies were located, and that signal might point them in the right direction.
    “Already done, sir,” the Comm. stander replied promptly, “I missed the first two seconds, but the rest—” he cut off mid-sentence, cocking his head briefly before shaking it in negation. “It’s gone now, sir.”
    “Contact,” reported the Sensors operator, who Middleton turned toward as she continued, “I’m reading a heat bloom at the edge of the ring system, Captain. Looks like…Captain, it’s accelerating. These energy emissions readings are off the charts.”
    “Put it on the main viewer,” the captain instructed, feeling a knot form in his stomach at the introduction of an unforeseen variable.
    The view screen shimmered, and the image of the ring system was replaced with a three-dimensional tactical overlay of the gas giant. Clearly depicted were the positions of the disabled corvette, the corvette still burning at maximum speed for the ring gap, the Pride of Prometheus , and even the gas collection facility with the trio of approaching merchantmen.
    But a new, flashing yellow icon had appeared on the far side of the planet. Its energy emission spike was incredible, and after a moment’s calculations Middleton knew that that much power could only be generated by a Dreadnaught class battleship’s multiple fusion generators—or potentially something even bigger.
    Then the flashing yellow icon disappeared without warning, causing the Sensors operator to report, “We’ve lost contact, Captain. The emissions have vanished as well…I don’t know what to make of it, sir.”
    “Give me a visual scan,” Middleton demanded, leaning forward in his chair. If there was another hostile out here—especially one so large—then a tactical withdrawal had to be considered, regardless of how it irked the Pride ’s captain. “I want to lay eyes on it.”
    “Scanning now, sir,” the operator reported as the Pride ’s forward weapons array fired yet again. Sarkozi had the good sense to hold her own report on the volley as the Sensors operation continued, “I’ve got visual on their last known location, sir.”
    The main viewer shimmered again, this time being replaced with a view of what appeared to be