Exodus: Empires at War: Book 7: Counter Strike

Read Exodus: Empires at War: Book 7: Counter Strike Online

Authors: Doug Dandridge

Exodus:

 

Empires
at War:

 

Book
7

 

Counter
Strike

 

by

 

Doug
Dandridge

“Missile impact in three minutes,” called out
the voice of the Tactical Officer of the
Manila.
  Klaxons were going off
all over the ship, including the control room where the Emperor stood.

The tactical plot showed the incoming missiles,
spread out in formations that would distribute their attack over several
minutes.  Not the best of formations for an attack, but they had the advantage
of having closed before detection, making counter missile engagement short and
indecisive.  The plot also showed all of
Manila’s
escorts moving at best
emergency speed to get between the missiles and the heavy cruiser.  A moment
later all of the escort ships for the carriers started to move away from their charges,
frantically trying to join the other light cruisers and destroyers in the
screen.  And leaving their hyper VII fleet carriers unprotected, except for
their own defensive fire.

“We need to get you out of here, your Majesty,”
said Senior Agent Catherine Mays, the head of his protection detail, putting an
armored hand on Sean’s shoulder.  “Please.  We have to move.”

Sean looked at her for a moment, wanting to
protest, to demand that he be allowed to stay at his post. 
But my post is
nothing in this battle.  Everything has run fine without me. 
Sean nodded
and let her lead him away, the other men and women of the detail forming up
around them in the corridor.  There were some Marines in the corridor as well,
looking all directions to ward off any threat to their Emperor.  The corridor
was otherwise empty, everyone else on the ship at their battle stations.

“We need to hurry, your Majesty,” said the
woman, keeping him moving until they got to the sealed hatch near his
quarters.  At least it had been sealed, up until this moment.  Now it was wide
open, as was the hatch inside the three meters of open space.  And inside of
that was his special ejection capsule, with three acceleration couches waiting.

“In you go, Sir,” said the woman.   “And
hurry.”

“Missile impact in two minutes,” called out the
voice over the intercom.

Sean patted the woman on the arm.  “Thank you,
Catherine.  And get your people to their own pods.”

Sean walked into the capsule and fell into one
of the couches, letting it strap his suit in.  Two of the Marines, a Sergeant
and a Corporal, followed him in and fell into their couches, slapping their
particle beam rifles into the racks provided.  The hatch sealed closed, leaving
Sean and the two Marines alone.

Kind of silly sending a pair of Marines to
guard me
,
he thought, linking into the ship through the pod’s interface. 
If we get
picked up by an enemy, there isn’t a whole lot they can do, except die beside
me.
  He slapped the pistol holstered by his side, imagining using it if he
was picked up by the Cacas, making them kill him so he didn’t become some kind
of hostage.

The missiles were on the way in, on final
approach.  Every escort was jamming for all it was worth, doing all they could
to mask the heavy cruiser.  The
Manila
herself was oriented to put him
into space on a path that would hopefully avoid all the debris if multiple
ships were shattered.

Twenty light cruisers and fifty destroyers,
most of them specialized anti-missile ships, were firing for all they were
worth at the incoming missiles.  Forty of those ships were interposed between
the enemy weapons and the flagship, while the other thirty were further to
spinward.  They were still targeted by the enemy missiles, but most of the
counter fire was directed toward the missiles that could end up targeting the
flag.  Only the weapons they couldn’t bring to bear for the protection of
Manila
were firing in their own defense.  Even the carriers were firing everything
they had at the missiles coming at the flag squadron, ignoring their own defense.

Sean took a moment to look around the pod,
which was much more advanced than the standard model, with three meters of
armor and its own electromag field.  When he had been told about it, he had
insisted that in the future all pods be improved, if not to this standard, then
at least enough to significantly improve the chances of his spacers.  Then his
attention was again taken elsewhere.

Dedication

 

This novel is dedicated to Larry Southard, a
true fan and friend who had helped me immeasurably.  You got your wish, Larry. 
A death of cosmic proportions.

 

Contact
me at
[email protected]

Follow
my Blog at
http://dougdandridge.com

Follow
me at
@BrotherofCats

 

 

Copyright
© 2014 Doug Dandridge

All
rights reserved.

 

Please respect the hard work of this author. 
If you found this book for free on a pirate site, please visit Amazon and buy a
copy of your own.  I feel that I charge a reasonable price for this work.

 

For more information on the Exodus Universe,
visit
http://dougdandridge.net
for maps, sketches
and other details of this work.

 

Acknowledgements:  I would like to thank all of
my fans, especially those who sent emails or commented on blogs about how much
they enjoyed the first four books of this series.  Your kind words gave me the
impetus to continue through the not so kind words left in some reviews.  And
special thanks to Ruth de Jauregui, who helped with the covers on all of the
Exodus series.  Her changes improved all of the covers.

Cast of Characters

The
Capital

Emperor
Sean Ogden Lee Romanov
:  Born Year 971 (29 years old).  Fifth child and the third
son of the late Emperor Augustine Romanov.

Doctor
Jennifer Conway: 
Physician
and Fiance’ of Emperor Sean.

Grand
High Admiral Sondra McCullom:  C
hief of Naval Operations.

Field
Marshal Betty Parker: 
Commandant of the Imperial Marine Corps

Grand
Marshal Mishori Yamakuri: 
Army Chief of Staff.

Prime
Minister Countess Haruko Kawasaki.

Lord
Garis: 
Minister
of State.

Lord
T’lisha
: 
Phlistaran Minister of Security.

Lord
Halbrook:
 
Minister of the Exchequer.

Laura
Goolsby: 
Speaker
of Commons.

Mohamed
Ishner: 
Chief
of Scholars.

Ekaterina
Sergiov: 
Chief
of Imperial Intelligence Agency.

Samantha
Ogden Lee
.
Sean’s cousin and Regent. 

Countess
Esmeralda Zhee
:
Member of the Lords’ Opposition Party.

Count
Cornwell
: 
Member of Lord’s Opposition Party.

H’rressitor: 
Gryphon
Minister of Commerce and Industry.

Baron
Emile von Hausser Schmidt:
Leader of the House of Lords.

Archduke
Percival Marconi: 
Leader
of the Lords’ Opposition Party.

Capital
Police Lieutenant Ishuhi Rykio
:  former Naval Commando.

The
Fleet

Commodore
Duchess Mei Lei: 
Hyper
VII battle cruiser squadron commander.

Captain
the Duke Maurice von Rittersdorf: 
Squadron Commander hyper VII destroyer
squadron.

Ensign
Lasardo: 
Rittersdorf’s
tactical officer.

Commodore
Bryce Suttler
: 
Commander HIMS
Seastag
(Stealth Attack 421). 

Lieutenant
SG Walter Ngovic. 
Tactical,
HIMS
Seastag.

Grand
Fleet Admiral Duke Taelis Mgonda
:  Admiral in command of Hyper VII battle
force.

Grand
Fleet Admiral Gabriel Len Lenkowski: 
Commander: Battle Fleet.

Vice
Admiral Mara Montgomery.
  Commander, Hyper VII Scout Force, Battle Fleet.

Admiral
Chuntao Chan
: 
Director of Fleet R & D.

Commodore
Natasha Romanov
:
Commander of NTR Light Cruiser
Orleans.

Captain
Stella English
: 
Commander  light cruiser HIMS
Lancanshire.

Chief
Petty Officer First Jana Gorbachev: 
Former Prisoner of the Ca’cadasans.

Captain
Mary Innocent
: 
Sean’s Intelligence Officer.

Captain
Javier Montoya
: 
Captain,
Augustine I.

John
Jacobs: 
Sean’s
Steward.

Fleet
Admiral Benjamin O’Hara:
  Naval Commander of the
Donut.

Commodore
Natasha Sung:
 
Commanding Officer, exploration mission to the far side of Ca’cadasan Space.

Commander
Marc Dawson: 
Engineering
Officer,
Augustine I
.

Rear
Admiral Kelso: 
Sean’s
Flag
Captain
and Chief of Staff.

Captain
Vincent Oldenburg
:
commander of the
King Edward II.

Captain
Hyori Gae
:
Admiral Kelvin’s Flag Captain.

Captain
Lauren Hoyt
:
commander, Hyper VII BB
Genghis Kahn
.

Petty
Officer First Satrusalya
:  Naval Commando.

Captain
Svetlana Komorov
: 
Wing Commander, Inertialess fighter wing.

The
Donut

Doctor
Lucille Yu, PhD
: 
Assistant Chief Scientist and Engineer of the
Donut
Project.  Born Year
928 (72 years old).

Jimmy
Chung:
IIA Agent in Charge, Donut.

 

Imperial
Army

Cornelius
Walborski
: 
Cadet Lieutenant and two time holder of the Imperial Medal of Heroism.

Major
General Samuel Baggett
:  Division/Corps Commander,

Major
General Walther Jodel, The Preacher
:  Army Ranger Brigade Commander.

Brigadier
General Dagni Thorwaldsdottir
:  Assistant Division Commander.

Lieutenant
Jay Cummings
: 
Platoon Commander: Main Battle Tanks.

Colonel
General Mich Satapatra
:  Ground force commander, Massadara.

Lt.
General Jonah Nowitski
:  Commander XXXXI Heavy Corps.

Major
General Lanbardran
:
Phlistaran commander of the One Ninety-fifth Heavy Infantry Division.

Sergeant
First Class SanJames
: 
Ranger Platoon Sergeant.

 

Ca’cadasans

Great
Admiral Miierrowanasa M’tinisasitow:
  Ca’cadasan conquest fleet commander. Born
2843 AD (1,418 years old).

High
Admiral Kellissaran Jarkastarin: 
Third Cousin to the Emperor and rival of the
Great Admiral.

 

Elysium

Archduke
Horatio Alexanderopolis
:  His Imperial Majesty’s Ambassador to the Court of the
Elysium Empire.  Born Year 821 (179 years old).

High
Lord Grarakakak, Brakakak: 
High Lord of Elysium Empire
.

 

Others

Sonia
Rupert: 
IIA
Agent, former member of Imperial Protection Detail.

Citizen
Prestor Johnson: 
Trillionaire
and developer of
Congreeve
System.

Devera
Walborski: 
Warrant
Officer Medic and the wife of Cornelius.

Rebecca
Walborski: 
Sean
and Devera’s adopted daughter.

Dr.
Larry Southard: 
Mathematician
and Astrophysicist, expert on Supernovas.

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