Supreme Leader of Anstractor: A Sci-Fantasy Space Adventure (The New Phase Book 3) by Greg Dragon Page A

then solid again, and Rend got up and walked to the big screen in front of him.
    “I want you to prime a void projectile, Mister ABA and launch it as soon as it is ready!” Rend barked into the air.
    Mayvon ABA was the head of the engineering team on Rendron , and as soon as he heard his captain, he hustled the men and women who were standing around to rack a vacuum bomb and prime it. They moved like a well-oiled machine, coaxing the droids to lift the payload into the arming device, and then to carefully walk it over to the loading shaft.  Within five minutes it was ready, and the crew got back to their stations, eager to take on the next challenge.
    The appropriate commands were made and the missile flew out into space at an insane velocity, narrowly missing a barreling Geralos fighter before catching the shielded stern of Huythen and detonating. A circular ripple of suction formed where the collision had occurred, and the shields on the Huythen struggled to stay relevant as the trace laser took advantage of the brief malfunction. A deep gash was cut into the center of the ship, and fires began to erupt on the inside.
    “Got you, you cruta ,” Rend mumbled. “Any captain dumb enough to sit idly while the Rendron bears down on him is a fool, and you’re going to lose that beauty today. All because of your foolish Geralos pride.” He raised his voice. “Break our fighters off of those mosquito ships and put all fire on the Huythen’s shields!”
    “But they will be open to enemy fire,” Connie pleaded, too quickly to contain herself, and Rend shot her a look of impatience that made her stand at attention and shut up.
    The fighters did as they were commanded and while a number of them were torn apart by the Geralos zip ships, the Huythen ’s shields were decimated and the Rendron’s trace laser continued to cut into its hull.
    “They’ve fired up the engines!” Phimanila announced, and then glanced at Rend to see if he was happy.
    “Put another void on that’s bird’s aft feathers. I don’t want her fleeing; I want her stalled and ready for boarding as soon as possible. Put some damn fire on that bird!” the old captain commanded, and as they had been doing for over thirty years of his life, the crew of the Rendron complied.
    The next void missile sucked in a sizable chunk of the Huythen ’s thrusters and destroyed the FTL drive along with any poor soul that worked in its engineering wing. Escape pods began to deploy, and the zip ships broke off to make their way back to Geral in order to escape capture.
    The Huythen stood sparking, a lifeless, pathetic shadow of its former glory, and Cilas “Rend” MEC turned around and looked at Connie. Their eyes met briefly and she felt young and foolish. She averted her gaze and saw that Phimanila was regarding her with a look of cynicism that made her want to pull her sidearm and plug her in the chest.
    Cruta , she thought and then brought her attention back to Rend. He was looking at her, and so was everyone on the bridge. She didn’t realize that they had all heard her question the legend whenever he gave the order to weaken the shield. She glanced again at Phimanila, the Captain’s brat of a favorite apprentice, and she felt her role being questioned in his hard eyes as he regarded her. The stare was only a mere second or two but it felt like an eternity. He was giving her a chance to make it right and she knew it, but what could she do to fix insubordination to Rend MEC?
    Connie placed the microphone down on her desk and faced her commander. She then bowed deeply to him until he asked her to stand and retake her command.
    “Put traces on that thing and begin the process of transferring their fuel reserves over here,” Rend commanded, and the bridge echoed with words of obedience immediately. If Constance had doubts that the officers on the bridge had noticed her insubordination with the commander, it was made clear by the way they all snapped to their