The second rail-gun projectile entered aft of the first, following a parallel directory, but failed to fragment; its exit wound was only marginally larger than its entrance wound. It made up for this failure by breaching one of the engines of the Rraey craft. The cruiser’s automatic damage controls slammed down bulkheads, isolating the damaged engine, and took the other two engines off-line to avoid a cascading failure. The Rraey ship was switched to emergency power, which offered it only a minimum of offensive and defensive options, none of which would be at all effective against the Kite.
The Kite, its own power partially drained (but recharging) through the use of the rail guns, sealed the deal by launching five conventional tactical nuclear missiles at the Rraey cruiser. It would take them more than a minute to reach the cruiser, but the Kite now had the luxury of time. The cruiser was the only Rraey ship in the area. A small flash issued forth from the Rraey ship: The doomed cruiser was launching a Skip drone, designed to quickly get to Skip distance and let the rest of the Rraey military know what happened to it. The Kite launched a sixth and final missile toward the drone, which would be overtaken and destroyed less than ten thousand klicks from Skip distance. By the time the Rraey found out about their cruiser, the Kite would be light-years away.
Presently the Rraey cruiser was an expanding debris field, and Lieutenant Sagan and her 2nd Platoon received their clearance for their part of the mission.
Jared tried to calm the first-mission nerves, and the mild fear brought by the choppiness of the troop transport’s descent into the Gettysburg atmosphere, by trying to close out distractions and focus his energies. Daniel Harvey, sitting next to him, was making that difficult.
::Goddamn wildcat colonists,:: Harvey said, as the troop transport plunged through the atmosphere. ::They go off and build illegal colonies and then come crying to us when some other fucking species is crawling up their holes.::
::Relax, Harvey,:: said Alex Roentgen. ::You’re going to give yourself a migraine.::
::What I want to know is how these fuckers even manage to get to these places,:: Harvey said. ::The Colonial Union doesn’t bring ’em out here. And you can’t go anywhere without CU say-so.::
::Sure you can,:: Roentgen said. ::The CU doesn’t control all interstellar travel, just the travel that humans do.::
::These colonists are human, Einstein,:: Harvey said.
::Hey,:: said Julie Einstein. ::Leave me out of this.::
::It’s just an expression, Julie,:: Harvey said.
::The colonists are human, but the people who are transporting them aren’t, you idiot,:: Roentgen said. ::Wildcat colonists buy transport from aliens the CU trades with, and the aliens take them where they want to go.::
::That’s stupid,:: Harvey said, and looked around the platoon for agreement. Most of the platoon were either resting with their eyes closed or studiously avoiding the discussion; Harvey had a reputation as an argumentative blowhard. ::The CU could stop that if they wanted to. Tell the aliens to stop picking up wildcat passengers. That would save us from having to risk getting our asses shot off.::
From the forward seat, Jane Sagan turned her head toward Harvey. ::The CU doesn’t want to stop wildcat colonists,:: she said, in a bored tone.
::Why the hell not?:: Harvey asked.
::They’re troublemakers,:: Sagan said. ::The sort of person who will defy the CU and start a wildcat colony is the sort of person who could cause trouble at home if he wasn’t allowed to go. The CU figures it’s not worth the trouble. So they let them go, and look the other way. Then they’re on their own.::
::Until they get in trouble,:: Harvey sneered.
::Usually even then,:: Sagan said. ::Wildcatters know what they’re getting into.::
::Then what are we doing here?:: Roentgen said. ::Not to take Harvey’s side, but these are wildcat colonists.::
::Orders,:: Sagan said, and closed her eyes, ending the discussion. Harvey snorted and was about to reply when the turbulence suddenly became especially bad.
::Looks like the Rraey on the ground just figured out we’re up here,:: Chad Assisi said from the pilot’s seat. ::We’ve got three more missiles on their way. Hang on, I’m going to try to burn them before they get too close.:: Several seconds later came a low, solid hum; the transport’s defensive maser fired up to deal with the missiles.
::Why don’t we just plaster these guys from orbit?:: Harvey said. ::We’ve done that before.::
::There are humans down there, aren’t there?:: Jared said, venturing a comment. ::I’d guess we’d want to avoid using tactics that would injure or kill them.::
Harvey gave Jared the briefest of glances and then changed the subject.