Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War by Seth Libby Page A

have a heavy fire in hanger bay two as well as reports of several smaller fires throughout the ship. Halon fire suppression systems have activated and are dealing with the smaller fires.”
                  “Get a fire team to hanger bay 2.”
                  “Yes sir, already on their way.”
                  “Mr. Dow, give me a report, why didn’t we detect any enemy incoming?” Captain Donaldson commanded of his radar officer.
                  “The Shenkar fleet didn’t fire upon us, we seem to have entered a mine field.”
                  “Why didn’t we detect them? Why didn’t the proximity alarms sound?”
                  “I cannot be positive but they seem to have some sort of electronic dampening field that prevented us from detecting them.”
                  Captain Donaldson turned back to his operations officer and spoke.
                  “Mr. Fredricks, what is the fleet’s current situation?”
                  “We lost the Valiant , Hidakei , Melbourne , and Centurion . The Renown , Avenger , Charlotte , Gettysburg , Key West , and Warrior have suffered heavy damage and have lost propulsion as well as weapon systems. A number of ships…..”
                  Whatever Lieutenant Fredricks was going to say was cut off as another explosion shook the Phoenix .
                  “What the hell was that?” commanded Captain Donaldson.
                  “Sir, it seems one of our fighters collided with a mine.”
                  “I thought I ordered the entire fleet to halt?” Captain Donaldson asked his operations officer.
                  “We did sir; I believe the mines are attracted to our metal superstructure. The fighter was probably just in its path when it exploded.”
                  Another explosion sounded through the hull followed quickly by another explosion. It seemed Lieutenant Fredricks theory was correct. If this were true it was only a matter of time before the fleet was destroyed or too heavily damaged to mount any kind of defense.
                  “Signal the fleet! All ships are to lay down blanket fire. Have the fighters cover those ships that cannot defend themselves. In the meantime try and find a way to find those mines.”
                  Energy cannons throughout the fleet opened up, laying down salvo after salvo of energy. Explosions began to register across the threat board as mines were intercepted. It looked positive so far, yet unfortunately in Jensen Donaldson’s life whenever things looked up something negative always occurred.
                  “Captain, we just lost the Key West and the Charlotte .”
                  “Shit,” muttered Captain Donaldson.
                  For the next fifteen minutes the constant salvos of energy lanced out, destroying the Shenkar mines whenever they found them. Captain Donaldson had just settled back into his command chair when his operations officer spoke.
                  “Captain, we haven’t registered any more explosions for the past five minutes.”
                  “Signal the fleet to hold fire.”
                  The order was given and silence permeated the air. Five minutes passed and no explosions were heard. Captain Donaldson finally broke the silence as he noticed Jacque Lecroix still lying prone upon the floor where he had fallen.
                  “Get a medical team up here and help Mr. Lecroix,” his didn’t bother to hide the disgust in his voice when he spoke the President of Frances name.
                  Captain Donaldson studied the holo display upon his personal display. Continuous reports of the damage the fleet had sustained continued to download. All he could think is; what a shit storm this turned