Battleship Destroyer by L.D. Roberts Page A

should have enough to add some armor around my engines. Next time I will hang with the fleet and take them all out."
    Tom was a damn go od fighter when he was cornered and had to fight. But that was Tom’s biggest problem, he had to be cornered. Jack knew that if he had taken on the enemy squadron from the beginning instead of running, he probably would have gotten holed a few times in the tanks but little else. He could have taken most of them out in short order before the rest escaped and went back to concentrating on the rest of the Enemy fleet. Though Jack realized that the Battlecruiser fit Tom's personality and fighting style perfectly.  At least from now on he would stay close to his fleet, even if he got within the enemy's gun range. Next time at what would amount to point blank range for his guns, Tom would decimate the enemy and they all would start going for the really big gunned ships. Possibly starting a mini arms race. Jack chuckled at that. But he also noticed Tom had gone back to talking about more armor and not the Targeting Scouts. Damn!
    "Ya. We have it bro ." Jack thought for a few seconds and then smiled.  "Tell you what Tom. Grow a few balls. Get your damn butt down with the rest of the fleet anyway and finish off the enemy battleships yourself. “Jack turned away as his squadron started closing back into formation after making their exit out of the enemy fleet's medium gun range. The big guns were much too busy concentrating on the battleships as he watched the Killer Queen's two Battleships turn from the main fleet and head around the flank to take out the damaged stragglers now the enemy fleet was outnumbered. Her move was also allowing her to keep her broadside across the T of the enemy fleet as they finally turned to present their broadside to the main portion of the Republic fleet. Jack smiled, she definitely had a head on her shoulders and wasn't afraid to charge to the attack when she had the advantage. But then he knew that about her already.
    Turning , Jack watched his number 4 destroyer return to his formation trailing reaction mass vapors.  It looked like it was missing a good portion of its Port side wings along with a chunk of the port side trailing tip wedge of the fuselage.  "Number 4, damage report!" He barked.
    " Sorry sir. That Damn Destroyer had to go and blow up in front of us. A section of it hit us. The outer portside guns are down and we are leaking reaction mass sir. But we are still running and ready for another attack."
    "Ya but just barely. Your cooling f ins are missing on the port side as are your tanks.  Head for home, you are done for the day." The damage report on his screen did not look serious or expensive yet, though another run could change that quickly, making Jack smile. One of the advantages of Destroyers unlike the larger armored ships which were costly to make repairs to no matter how minor the damage looked. Thick armor was always expensive if damaged but then it was also hard to damage. Not to mention the cost of cutting hundreds of square feet of thick armor to get equipment out to replace after a beam only inches across completely slags and destroys a major piece of equipment. The cost of replacing was usually more than the cost of the equipment. And then the best fact of all was that sending one Destroyer home for repairs before it received additional hits making the damage serious and expensive, was not a big loss to the squadron’s firepower.
    "Sir. Permission to transfer ships .  Twelve is cold and still in decent shape. Let the A.I. take this one home."
    "Very well. You have my permission to transfer crew and command." Jack realized he should have thought of that as he checked over the rest of his little fleet and decided they were in decent enough shape for another attack. His mind went to the enemy fleet now trailing a long line of damaged slowing ships and a surprising large group of dead hulks where Jack’s squadron had left them as the much