Chapter 60. Plan of Attack.

  “I’m going to slow us up a bit, we need more data before we engage,” Watkins said, allowing time for his sensors to develop additional information on the station’s defenses. He could already tell it was shielded, but he would have no idea how powerful their shield generators were until he was able to land some blows on the station.

  “We need to limit the damage to the station, let’s see if we can identify weapons emplacements and other critical defensive structures,” Lani said, adding her newfound efficiency to Watkins’ sensor network. Information started to flow in, and though there was a lack of detail due to the distance still separating them, a picture of the station’s abilities started to appear.

  “For a station, they’re packing a lot more firepower than the kobolds or halflings,” Watkins said as they identified no fewer than four point defense lasers mounted across the station. By varying their approach, they could keep all four from coming to bear on them at once, but at least two would have a shot as they approached within range of them.

  “I’d like to think that the AI was competent enough to not place any critical structures or cargo near their weapons. Oh, and look at that,” Lani said, drawing Watkins’ attention to the partially deconstructed kobold ship. There was a slight glow of power starting to feed onto the vessel, and it was far more power than tearing it apart for scrap would require.

  A section of the ship’s bow remained untouched by the salvage operations, and that was where the majority of the power was flowing into. Partially hidden by scaffolding, Watkins could just make out a point defense gun charging up. As they watched, the scaffolding was jettisoned away from the ship, giving the gun room to traverse.

  They were still too far out to see who was doing the actual salvage work, and Watkins wondered if the station’s AI had repair drones similar to his own. If they did, there would have to be some alternative way of powering them, as he didn’t detect any unusual power signatures aboard the station, just a pair of fairly standard reactors that seemed to be operating in much better condition than the ones aboard the research station or any of the ships they’d encountered so far.

  The armed ship put another wrinkle in their attack plans. At least the station didn’t seem to mount anything in the way of a main gun. He also didn’t see any missile launchers, but with the engines that flew and attached themselves to the other kobold ship, he knew they had some way of launching similar weapons. It wouldn’t be too much of a leap to go from autonomous booster rockets to missiles.

  “What’s the plan, Captain?” Lani asked as they parsed though all the information that they were likely to get on the station defenses.

  “I think we lead off with a missile strike. We can outrange the station by a considerable amount, and a strike will give us an idea of how capable their point defense weapons are, as well as the strength of their shields,” Watkins said.

  “Won’t that risk too much damage?” Lani asked with concern.

  “No, I don’t think so. There’s a good chance they get taken out before hitting the station, and even then, they’re protected by shields. Also, our missiles aren’t powerful enough yet to do significant damage to the station,” Watkins said.

  “They may not do significant damage, but they also can’t be precisely targeted. We run the risk of accidentally destroying the very things we’re looking for on the station,” Lani warned. Watkins considered the threat, and if there was even a slight possibility of killing his crew if they were aboard the station, he’d have to pass.

  “Fine, we’ll head in with guns only. We’ll try to pick off the point defense weapons, then move to board,” Watkins decided. He maneuvered the Canon closer to the station where his main guns could fire without being in range of the enemy point defense weapons.

  Looking over the data, Watkins decided to assume that the station’s guns were probably closer to the ones aboard his ship, rather than the less powerful weapons the kobold’s converted freighters mounted. AI controlled or not, the guns still wouldn’t have the same targeting precision that Watkins and Lani were able to provide. They also wouldn’t have the same amount of power to use as he did with his core.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “I can help with targeting. It’s still not much, only a 4.43% improvement, but everything that we can do to avoid extra damage will be necessary,” Lani said. Watkins could feel her linking with his guns, assisting in the targeting calculations.

  “We’ll take it slow and see how long their shields can hold up,” Watkins replied as he fired the first beam at the station. The shot was off a bit, but they were still closing in and their accuracy would only get better as the range shortened.

  A glowing halo of energy appeared on the station as the shield dissipated the main gun’s blast. It didn’t even flicker, telling him the shield had a lot more energy than the one aboard his ship. Firing at a slow pace, he alternated between the two main guns, giving each time to cool and prepare for the next shot. Beam after beam hammered into the shields until they started to flicker.

  “We’re almost there, another shot or two should do the trick,” Watkins said. He was happy with their accuracy, it was improving with each shot, and they were now just outside of their point defense gun range, and so far, the station had been helpless against their firepower.

  Their next shot caused the shields to flicker and die, allowing some of the beam’s energy through. It was a near miss, the beam cutting into the station’s hull just next to the point defense gun he was targeting. Small wisps of atmosphere leaked out, but the breach was quickly sealed. His next hit landed right on target, burning through the point defense gun and turning it into slag.

  “One down, three on the station, and one on the kobold ship to go,” Watkins said. He maneuvered to bring the guns to bear on their next victim. The number one battery fired, and it was another hit. Their targeting was slightly off, the shot just missing the station, but managing to clip the barrel of the point defense gun, shearing it off.

  “With the focusing array damaged, they won’t be able to fire that one. The good news is, we can easily repair it once we take the station,” Lani advised.

  “We’ll finish off the other two guns on the station, then we’ll get to work on the kobold ship that’s docked there,” Watkins said. Their next target took a bit of maneuvering, it was on the other side of the station, and it took some time to bring it into line of sight, while keeping out of enemy weapon range. A flicker of light and movement on the station caught his attention.

  “It’s their cargo hold opening,” Lani explained. As they watched, several objects drifted out of the station before the cargo hatch sealed itself again.

  “We got vampires,” Watkins announced, hitting the main trusters and taking them on a heading away from the station. He recognized that the objects were more of those booster rockets, and his sensors lit up as the rockets ignited their drives and began to head toward the Canon.

  “I’ll shift my targeting assistance to the point defense weapons,” Lani called out. There were seven booster rockets heading toward them, and Watkins had already shifted the main gun fire to the new threat. Not a great substitute for a dedicated point defense weapon, the main guns still managed to pick off a pair of rockets before they could build up much velocity.

  “They’re not doing much in the way of evasive maneuvers,” Lani added.

  “I doubt that they can, these things are designed to move cargo around, not launch precision strikes on warships. Even so, with all the mass they’re carrying. I don’t think we want to be hit by one. It wouldn’t take much of a warhead for one of them to do some real damage to our ship,” Watkins said as the rockets began to close the gap on his ship.

  He would begin his own evasive maneuvers once the rockets were close, but for now, he would keep things steady to give his point defenses the best chance to score a hit. There was a bit of an uproar in the crew quarters as the verminkin watched the battle unfold, several screeching in fear as they saw the number of rockets heading toward them.

  “Skitterbach, we’re under attack so get the crew strapped in. If I need you for damage control, I’ll send word,” Watkins ordered, giving the crew something to focus on other than the attack heading their way.

  His inertial dampeners would make the most violent maneuvers feel like nothing at all, but there was always the chance, if he was hit hard enough, that the system could fail. If that were to happen, he’d rather give the verminkin a better chance of survival by having them strapped into their bunks, which were designed to help with this very situation.

  Watkins could feel it as all four of his point defense mounts began to fire. He kept the main guns active as well. There was more than enough energy to power both systems and every bit of fire they could muster was needed. He also had the beehive system if things got up close and ugly, but that would be his last-ditch effort.

  One, then another of the rockets detonated when the point defense beams reached them. It seemed they lacked much in the way of explosive power, and the blasts he observed were more the result of the solid propellant the rockets carried igniting rather than any kind of military grade explosive.

  “Another hit, I think we’ve got this,” Lani said as their guns continued to work. The rockets never performed any evasive maneuvers and long before they got close to the Canon, they were wiped out.

  “That’s done, now, we just have to finish pulling their teeth,” Watkins said, bringing the ship back into range so they could complete the task of destroying the station’s defenses.