Read Warlord's Invasion (Starfight Book 1) for Free Online

again, to reboot the electronic systems. Nothing. But he kept trying and trying...
     
    Supreme Battlecruiser Usha'Tera
    Bridge of Light…
     
    “They run, subjugator.”
    “As expected,” Hal-Dorat replied. “We will soon chase and kill each of the fleeing units. However, all lance commanders, follow shield wall procedures for now. Wait until the Pra’s main missile arsenal has been depleted before chasing their warships down. Proceed.”
    “Yes, subjugator!”
    Hal-Dorat grinned inside his interface tank. As expected, the Pra ran instead of meeting their deaths head on. But no matter, they would all die. They did not have the acceleration to evade his warships. However, by some sheer luck, one or two of those warships might escape. His battle doctrine wasn’t perfect by any means, but he intended to kill as many of them as possible.
    He eyed the battle display with precision. Something did disturb him. He saw the five thousand missiles aiming at his warships. Something about those missiles gave him pause. They were clustered in a very odd formation, and if he wasn’t careful, he felt he could actually suffer some minor damage. “All lance commanders, deploy phase nets. Shoot those missiles down.”
    He remembered how much minor damage one of his warships had suffered as a result of being overwhelmed with missiles. He hadn’t lost a single crewman in that encounter. But against a missile wave that was four times as large as the previous one? If the Pra were smart, they could very well target only a few of his warships with a much larger number of missiles.
    It was a simple fact that even technologically inferior species could inflict damage on his armada. It had happened before and from appearances, it looked like it could happen, again. Hal-Dorat reminded himself that it was impossible not to suffer some losses in battle. He would, of course, have to take full responsibility when he reported the outcome to the Great Commander.
    The Great Commander would understand, Hal-Dorat thought...He always did. Despite all appearances of might and ambition, the Great Commander never inflicted his wrath on him personally, although he couldn’t say the same about the other subjugators. The Great Commander had always taken a liking to Hal-Dorat, much like a father would to a favorite son.
    He shook his head. It was too early to think about the consequences of suffering damage to a few of his warships. The missiles had not even impacted, yet.
    He focused on the incoming missiles carefully...
    Time passed. He eyed the five thousand Pra missiles as they now accelerated to half the speed of light towards his warships. Soon, they closed to within one hundred C’lats of his warships and he witnessed his anti-missile countermeasure net fire. The net was made of thousands of drones that could fire multi-dimensional flak warheads. They detonated, and the region all around the Pra missiles shattered with millions of explosions that warped space itself. By the time the Pra missiles had penetrated through his defensive flak layer, less than four out of ten still functioned. Still, it was about two thousand Pra missiles. These remaining missiles veered towards only a few of his leading warships and slammed into the shields.
    Immediately, damage alarms rang throughout his fleet, centered around his forward ships. A hundred or so casualties blinked out of existence. One hundred Cats had been killed. His readouts reported that the forward armor on those ships had suffered severe damage, almost enough to penetrate the inner layers on those same ships.
    “Lance commanders, report!” Hal-Dorat demanded.
    “Forty-seven dead on the Krashlah! Krashlah’s forward nano hull has suffered extensive damage! Forward weapon bay has been dematerialized!”
    “Eighty-two dead on Putah!”
    And so the reports came in...
    Hal-Dorat hissed. This was something new. The Pra had indeed wounded him. However, the damage was minor. None of his ships had lost