Page 174 of Star Claimed Omega
By defying expectations and jumping straight into Cybele’s periphery, Santi exploited the gambit of total surprise.
The Accord legion had been lulled into complacency by plans for a round of negotiations refuting Signet’s claims on the station.
The stealthed Signet capital ship glimmered within the station’s security perimeter.
They came in quietly and cloaked.
Santi stood at the bridge of theÚltimaEl Lobo, his arms crossed over his chest as the forward view displayed the looming station.
Metal loading dock struts, rotating habitat wheels, and a staggering web of outdated Accord tech ringed the port.
His eyes narrowed, jaw clenched as a cluster of Accord’s convoy ships lazed about the perimeter, unsuspecting.
‘Legion’s sleeping,’ Kaal muttered at his side, eyes glued to the tactical readout. ‘Poor bastards.’
‘They’re gonna learn today,’ Santi growled, motioning toward the comm. ‘Miral, light it up.’
Miral’s voice crackled back, calm as a scalpel. ‘Target lock confirmed. Firing.’
Outside, a silent blaze of radiance erupted, precise, surgical strikes from theEl Lobo’spulse cannons.
The engines of patrol boats split like paper in the black.
The shock was absolute as the comms Miral had hacked into went wild with shouts of terror, while the Accord tried to get a bead on what had hit them.
Legion gunships tried to scramble, but Signet’s second wave of interceptors surrounded them, boxing them in.
On the view feed, Santi spotted one gunship launching a barrage in his cruiser’s general direction.
Until a harmonized drone volley from theEl Lobosurgically clipped its thrusters, flipping it into a spin and sending it crashing against Cybele’s outer cargo ring in a fireball of twisted steel.
‘Confirmed hits,’ Kaal called. ‘Most vessels are out of play.’
‘They’re not taking it well,’ Santi drawled, as the Legion’s autonomous defense platform on the station launched a swarmof three hundred steel-spined insects meant to intercept, retaliate, and overwhelm.
Miral anticipated the pattern.
Interceptor pods activated from El Lobo’s drone bay, bursting into synchronized clusters of counter-fire.
The Accord’s mini horde got shredded mid-flight, cut to ribbons.
‘Damn,’ Santi muttered, eyeing Miral as she manipulated the assault via a holo display. ‘You’ve gotten harder, freakin’ meaner.’
‘I’ve always been mean,’ she intoned. ‘You used to think it charming.’
‘Nada,this level of zerofokksgiven is new.’
‘Perhaps I’ve an incentive, seeing your eyes light up as wefokkshit up.’
‘You know it,’ he chuckled.
With the outer defense grid wiped, Miral turned her precise focus on the comm tower arrays next.
‘I’m disabling all external comms from the station,’ she said. ‘Slicing off the tongue before they can call for help from their patrols.’
One by one, the Legion’s satellite arrays flickered, then died.
On the lower deck, a junior squad member piped up. ‘No signals are getting out, Commander. They’re isolated.’
