Read Time Commander (The First Admiral Series) for Free Online Page B

either side of the centre attack wing. No sooner had one salvo of pulsar-bolts left the Star Cruisers, than another salvo was set in flight, followed by a third. Admiral Parbe’an was running a very high risk of damaging those pulsar-cannon by using them on rapid-fire. However, after the third salvo had been released, the pulsar-cannon ceased fire.
    “ We’ll have to remember that one of the future,” Lokkrien said.
    On the three-dimensional image, the pulsar-bolts from the attacking Eagles were just beginning to strike the front line of Ganthoran Destroyers.
    However, in the heart of the battle itself, the little images on Billy’s War Table were all too real. Like a white-hot and deadly rain, the pulsar-bolts scythed into the hulls of the unshielded Ganthoran warships. The larger Ganthoran Destroyers were tough enough to sustain a hit from one Alliance pulsar-bolt. But when the bolts flew thick and fast in great streams of weapons fire, multiple hits began to wear down the resilience of the Ganthoran Destroyers’ Hulls. For some of the Ganthoran crews, it took only one or two hits to rupture the hull and release the energy they were accumulating prior to firing the weapons, resulting in catastrophic explosions.
    In the space of a few seconds, the first Alliance pulsar-bolts slammed home into the first ranks of Ganthoran Destroyers. In an instant, dozens of Destroyers began to explode in blood-red roaring flames throwing debris in every direction. Some of them, having sustained only a few hits, began to lose orientation and smashed into neighbouring vessels with fatal, fiery consequences. The narrow streams of pulsar-bolts continued to snake forward from the noses and wings of the Alliance Eagles as they hurtled towards the Ganthoran line.
    Everywhere, tear drop weapons pods were being torn from their extending arms and great gouts of metal were being ripped from their hulls. For the most unfortunate of Ganthoran crews, the pulsar-bolts began to find the frontal vents. One direct hit on the propulsion fans was a certain death sentence. With the rapidly-spinning fans damaged or destroyed, it took only a few moments for the vessel to shake itself into its explosive demise. The Ganthoran Destroyers facing the lanes between the Eagle attack wings fared no better. The three salvos of one hundred and forty high-yield pulsar-bolts hit them like a massive tidal wave. Once again, the Destroyers charging the weapons pods were hit not by the small low-yield pulsar-bolts, but by the heavier and far more destructive high-yield bolts.
    In the first ranks, many the Ganthoran Destroyers were hit squarely on the front and were annihilated instantly. For many, the high-yield pulsar-bolt grazed their hulls; tearing great gouts of metal or smashing the extending arm of the weapons system, before speeding on to strike another vessel behind them. In some cases, a single pulsar-bolt could damage or destroy two, three or even four vessels. For some Ganthoran Destroyers, the graze of the pulsar-bolt was enough to create the feedback of the weapons system that shattered their vessel in red-roaring ruination. For others, it shattered the stabilization system, that sent them careening into another vessel with equally fatal consequences for both ships.
    The Alliance ships, having fired three salvoes, led to the Ganthorans facing even greater losses. As the first salvo scythed into the first three or four ranks of Destroyers, the second and third salvoes were smashing their way into the ranks behind them. For the first six or seven ranks of Ganthoran vessels, there was carnage for the high-yield pulsar-bolts. The Ganthorans on the flanks of the formation were to fare even worse than their comrades.
    As the second salvo of high-yield pulsar-bolts was striking the Ganthoran line, Admiral Parbe’an was unleashing his final and most deadly surprise.
    “Trionic Cannon fired,” a young Scanner Technician announced from her console in the middle of the