Changed Circle
by Warringer
Chapter Twenty Three
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Loral Refa swallowed as one of the two Primus just blew up right next to his ship.
"Great Maker," one of the bridge crew called out and Loral looked over at him and the screen in front of him.
Than he swallowed. A Terran warship just came straight at them. From within the atmosphere of the planet. That was something that should be impossible. But here he had the proof right in front of him.
Worse yet it happened to be one of the new warships he had no data on. This could end bad.
"Fire!" he yelled," Open fire at that ship!"
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Lexington shuddered as Centauri weapons started to hit the hull and Sheridan growled deep from the back of his throat.
"Get me a fire solution for the other Primus."
The bridge crew was working as professionally as always and held the same calm they had at the Battle of Zendamor. Sure there was a Minbari aboard the ship and on the bridge, but in the end it didn't matter at this moment.
"Fire solutions for Bogie Three and Five."
"Fire."
The six massive turrets of Lexington turned towards two of the Vorchans and not even three seconds later they opened up on them, spitting Gamma Ray bursts and Gauss Projectiles at them.
The lance like beams of the Grasers dug deep trenches into the armor of the Vorchans, while the Gauss Projectiles just penetrated them before their high explosive warhead detonated, causing massive hull breaches on the ships and opening them to hard vacuum.
One of the Vorchans was reduced to nothing moire than debris, having been literally shred to pieces by Graser and Gauss fire. The other detonated in a huge ball of atomic fire as their reactors lost containment and bathed the whole ship with super hot plasma.
"Three down, eight to go," Rommel said from one side," And I don't like it that they scratch my finish. We just left dock a week ago."
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Lennon didn't know what to think of the display that was playing in front of him. The humans were to calm about this battle for his taste and he wasn't sure how he should react now that they had clearly shown him that they were more than capable of doing things he never had thought could be done.
Landing a two Mega ton ship on a planet. Lifting off and reaching space in less than two minutes. Destroying a Centauri Primus with a single salvo of spinal mounted weapons. Sure the last could have been done by a Tanashi, but it was still quite a feat by a young race, especially of one that was in space for only about two or three centuries.
Sheridan proved himself to be what the Warriors thought of him. He was worthy of being a Warrior. But at the same time he was doing everything different to the Warrior caste.
"Firing solution for VLS One. Three Vorchan."
"Launch."
Lennon was a bit puzzled at the last order. Lauch? Several green dots appeared on the holographic representation of the ship and he had the urge to sigh. The humans were using missiles. Not really the choice of weapons he would have used.
"Missiles have acquired targets. Final engagement sequence."
He winced as he watched another hologram, showing simultaneous detonations all over the surface of three Vorchans. That was insane, but effective. The missiles, in other cases not the best weapons against a capital ship, had blown apart three Vorchans at the same time.
"What about Primus two."
"Ten seconds, Major. Were still turning to face him."
Spinal mounted weapons, Lennon thought.
"Primus two acquired."
Lennon saw how the Primus started to turn away from Lexington, as if he was knowing what would come now.
"Fire."
Again Lennon could feel a rumbling going through the whole body of the ship and swallowed as he Primus met the same fate as the other had done.
"Hull Breach starboard. Deck Three. Emergancy Forcefields in place."
Forcefields? Lennon swallowed again. The humans had force fields. How did they manage to get those? And why didn't they use them to protect their ships? Had the Abbai given them the force field technology?
Somehow Lennon doubted that they had done so. The Abbai never had even shared their technology with the Minbari.
"Lets mop up the rest," he heard Sheridan say," Lay covering fire into the direction of the Jump Gate. And get me an intact ship. I want a few answers."
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Lord Refa shuddered. It was as if someone had suddenly emptied a bucket of cold water down his back.
Something had gone wrong. But he doubted that it was his small black operation.
He shook his head and drank from the goblet of fine French wine, looking at the movements of the dancer in front of him with a smile on his face.