Omega Force: Rebellion (OF11), стр. 65
"We'll be able to— It's beginning, master. The Imperial ships have activated their targeting scans."
They were the only two on the bridge of the small courier ship. Mok had sent the crew below to the galley and ordered all sensor feeds to other parts of the ship shut off. The crew was loyal to him, but if they talked to their peers and word got out that Mok had been orchestrating things here in the Miressa System, he would have some uncomfortable questions to answer from his subordinates.
Similan let out an anxious grunt as, on the sensor display, one hundred and seventeen ship-to-ship missiles leapt from the launchers of forty-two Imperial Navy warships, streaking towards the antique display pieces that made up the Miressa Home Defense Force below. Each missile was tipped with a fusion penetrator charge meant to weaken a ship's armor and an antimatter primary charge that would do the real damage. They were some of the most advanced munitions any nation had in service, expensive and difficult to manufacture.
"What a waste," Mok sighed as the missiles approached the delineation zone, where they would receive the shutdown orders from the Phoenix and go inert.
"Master!"
As Mok watched, the sensor display scrambled as the weapons all activated their formidable counter-countermeasure systems. The primary engines, a single-use miniature grav-drive, engaged to send the missiles accelerating towards their targets at full speed. At first, he couldn't understand what he was seeing and thought maybe their plan had failed…right up until he saw the missiles begin to separate and prioritize targets.
"Omega Force," he hissed, the anger building up inside him. Burke had taken it upon himself to change the plan.
"What can we do?"
"We can do nothing. Not anymore," Mok said shortly. "Get us out of here, Similan."
"Shall I recall the Sarafin?"
"No. The spacers aboard those ships deserve a fighting chance. I won't deprive them of that because of the stupidity of one stubborn human."
22
"First wave is tracking clean," Kage said. "All commands accepted and acknowledged. The HDF won't know what the hell hit them."
"Second wave?" Jason asked.
"Veering off in approximately four minutes to head towards the secondary target package."
"Mok?"
"His ship is leaving the area. The Sarafin is still coming down towards the Eshquarian line," Doc said. "I can't imagine how pissed he is right now. You may not have to worry about the Machine. You just crossed one of the most powerful crime lords in the known galaxy."
"Won't be the first time."
"Yeah, but it could be the last," Crusher said. "You don't get too many chances to tweak a person like Mok before he has to teach you some respect."
"Fuck him. He thought he could kick off a civil war with half-measures and keep his hands clean so his profit margins stayed high." Jason sneered. "If we're going to do this, let's do it right."
The secondary protocols Jason had instructed Kage to program were commands to turn all the missiles back to full function and unleash them on the hapless ConFed fleet waiting below. Instead of a choreographed show where the Eshquarian volley would break against the HDF's defense screen, the observers in the system would witness a slaughter as the most advanced ship-to-ship missiles in service tore through a group of outdated, outclassed ships like a wet tissue.
While he'd been planning the operation, Jason hadn't wanted to waste the opportunity on just taking out a bunch of ships that the Phoenix could probably handle on her own. His plan had caused some uproar among his own crew because of the certainty of civilian casualties but, in the end, he had won the argument. A third of the missiles the Eshquarian ships had fired would soon veer off and target the Cardalir Shipyards and T'Acren Base, the two massive landmark orbital facilities in the Miressa System, and a sizable part of the ConFed's entire military operation.
"First missiles are going evasive…the HDF point defense screen is pitiful," Kage said. "Enemy is trying to— Oh! Holy shit!"
On the sensor display, Jason watched as the HDF formation was ripped to shreds. He felt a pang of remorse as he realized that damn near all of the spacers aboard those ships weren't evil, they were just doing a job.
It was over quickly.
The Eshquarian missiles didn't leave a single ship intact. Multiple hits made sure all that was left of the entire formation was just an expanding debris cloud. Jason turned his attention to the other missiles they still had in flight just in time to see the shipyard take three direct hits, one of the main docking complexes shearing off completely and spinning towards the surface. The facility was in orbit over larger of Miressa Prime's two moons, so even if the structure fell from the sky completely, there wouldn't be a mass casualty event on a populated planet.
"T'Acren Base put up an admirable fight," Kage said. "Four missiles still got through. They're declaring an emergency and escape pods are launching now." The T'Acren orbital facility was actually in a heliocentric orbit, anchored behind Taus as it orbited the star. Jason watched on the computer-generated image as one last missile slammed into the superstructure and hit something critical. The base blew apart in slow motion, splitting along three faults and drifting apart.
"All weapons have been expended," Doc said quietly. "All targets destroyed."
"Mok's crews have deployed and are moving towards the Eshquarian ships now," Kage said. "Maybe we should try and—"
"New contact! Huge! It just meshed-in deep in the system!" Doc's voice cracked as the sensors began tracking over two dozen new arrivals, all arrayed within the system.
"Beacons are resolving," Kage said. "Uh, no…it's the 405th. That big one that just meshed-in is a dreadnaught."
"I thought those were just rumors," Crusher stood up. "They actually exist?"
"That's…not good," Jason said as he saw how the ships were deployed around the system. The massive dreadnaught hung in space over Taus while the other ships fanned out to provide cover for Miressa Prime. The sight of it made Jason's blood