The Synchronicity War Part 2 Read Online Free Page A

make this
work. Stay sharp and we’ll get through this. That is all.” With
that out of the way, he nodded to Tanaka, who was once again
manning the Helm station. As Defiant got ready to microjump, it
notified Valkyrie of the planned jump.

Chapter 2 - It Was an Honor Fighting Beside
You

    The jump itself was completely routine. Shiloh
listened to the Bridge chatter and watched the tactical display.
The first wave of recon drones was on its way towards the gas
giant. Defiant was swinging around to face that direction too. The
plan assumed a worst case scenario whereby the enemy fleet began
accelerating away from Green4 as soon as it detected and destroyed
the recon drones above it. Given that approximately 30 minute head
start, and accelerating at the same 110Gs that all enemy vessels
had demonstrated, the first wave of recon drones should detect the
fleet after 62 1/2 minutes and at that point, Defiant would still
be 11.8 million km away from the fleet with plenty of time to
decelerate and avoid coming within laser range. Iceman’s Strike
Force would then fire their attack drones 25 minutes later at very
close range, based on active scanning data from follow up waves of
recon drones. The attack drones would then streak in at 800Gs.
Defiant would still be almost 4 million kilometers away at that
point. It looked good in theory.

    The reality was quite different. With just under
6 minutes left to go before the earliest estimated time of enemy
detection, the ping from the tactical display interrupted Shiloh’s
chat with Tanaka. The display zoomed in to the first wave of recon
drones. Ahead of them appeared 55 red dots. Shiloh had just enough
time to read the sidebar data, indicating that the enemy ships were
accelerating at 155Gs, not the anticipated 110Gs. and the range to
Defiant was now 9.58 million km away instead of 11.8 million km,
before all six drones in the first wave disappeared from the
tactical display, having been clearly destroyed by enemy laser
fire. Shiloh didn’t know if they still had a margin of safety. The
worst case scenario projected a minimum distance of 6.68 million km
by the time that the Strike Fleet’s attack drones were expected to
intercept their targets. Shiloh knew from his vision that not all
of the enemy ships would be destroyed and that extra distance would
give Defiant time to veer off at 206Gs, which would keep the ship
out of effective laser fire range. But that safety margin might be
gone now. Not only was the fleet 2.22 million km closer, it was
also going much faster than predicted. Shiloh decided to not wait
for the Astrogator’s assessment of the new situation.

    “Helm! Bring us around 180 degrees and go to
maximum thrust! Astro, send that contact data and our intention to
begin deceleration to Iceman via relay by Valkyrie!” The XO and
Astrogator both acknowledged their orders. Shiloh prepared to
record a voice message to Iceman.

    “CAG to Iceman. Do whatever you have to do to
hit the enemy at the earliest possible moment. As soon as you
launch your attack birds, veer off. We’ll try to send you targeting
data as long as we can. Your attack drones will have to rely on
their internal radar guidance for their final seconds before
interception.” he paused then added, “Good luck. Message ends.” By
the time he transmitted the message to the sentry fighters, one of
the small screens at his Command Station received data sent by the
Astrogator. The news was not good. It would take almost two minutes
for the com laser pulses carrying the initial contact data, to
reach the sentry fighters and another 95 seconds for them to send
it to the strike Force. That delay in notifying the Strike Force
meant that by the time they reacted, they would not be able to get
within striking distance of the enemy fleet before the enemy fleet
got within striking distance of Defiant. And if Defiant veered off
in time to avoid exchanging laser fire with the enemy, the Strike
Force would lose the