Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War by Seth Libby

warship analogs folding into the space below and just beyond the asteroid field. Intel shows them to be the warships of the humans,” explained the operations officer.
                  The trap had been sprung and the humans had fallen for the bait. Now to see what they did next.
                  “Excellent, are they moving to engage us or just sitting in position?” asked Overlord Gyliene.
                  “Enemy warships are forming up, launching both light and heavy fighter craft.”
                  “Recover all our fighters, but don’t make it obvious. Make it look as if we are moving to re-arm our fighters for the coming human fleet,” ordered Overlord Gyliene.
                  Slowly the fighters of the Shenkar fleet began landing sequences. The human fleet was moving at top speed in an attempt to move within striking distance of his own small fleet. Soon it would be all over and the humans would be in ruins.
     
     
     
    December 24 th , 2013 9:15am
                                                       EDF Phoenix , System 238
     
                  “How soon until we are within weapons range?” demanded President Lecroix.
                  The operations officer didn’t respond to the demand, he only looked to Captain Donaldson. Captain Donaldson nodded to the officer to answer the question.
                  “Enemy warships will be within firing range in four minutes thirty two seconds.”
                  Over the next few minutes the Earth’s battle group moved forward, closing the distance to the Shenkar fleet. Captain Donaldson studied the holographic display as the two fleets grew closer to each other. Something bothered him but he couldn’t put his finger on it. For one the numbers reported do not remotely match what they were facing here. Before he could figure it out anymore his operations officer spoke.
                  “Sir, I can’t be positive but it looks as if the enemy fleet is...retreating.”
                  Once again, before Captain Donaldson could inquire on these new events, President Lecroix spoke in a most condescending way.
                  “The Shenkar do not retreat, you must be mistaken.”
                  Ignoring the President, Captain Donaldson looked to his communications officer and spoke.
                  “Mr. Fredricks, what leads you to believe they are retreating?”
                  “I have been monitoring the Shenkar fighter’s and they seem to be decreasing in number. I had thought they were simply recovering their fighters to refuel and re-arm them for us but only half the number recovered launched, the count of fighters is slowly decreasing. It also seems the Shenkar warships have been slowly moving away from us.”
                  Captain Donaldson thought this over; he had a bad feeling about this whole thing. Why attack the outpost if not to draw out the Earth forces? He was just about to call for the fleet to halt its advance when an explosion shook the Phoenix slightly. This was followed by another massive explosion that heavily shook the entire ship. President Lecroix, who had been standing, was thrown to the floor, his head catching a nearby railing on the way down. Captain Donaldson stood and went to the prone figure of the President of France.
                  “Halt the fleet, give me a damage report!” he commanded.
                  Lieutenant Fredricks hurriedly tapped at the console in front of him before responding. Leaning down he checked for a pulse on President Lecroix. Finding a pulse, he then stood and retrieved his commset.
                  “Sir, we have suffered heavy damage to our portside. Sixty percent of weapon systems on the portside have been damaged or destroyed. We