Jin had already decimated half the buildings on the base when the man she’d sent out on the ATV called in on a video chat.
“I’m at the end of the runway,” he said. “There’s a ship out there.”
“Show me,” she said.
He flipped the phone around. It showed the open ocean and the blue sky. The camera swung around until an object came into view.
It was a ship all right, a break bulk freighter with four cranes, but it moved at the speed of a light craft.
The camera shifted more, and land came into view. Jin recognized it as the headland of the harbor.
She ran out to the bridge wing and looked toward the harbor entrance. At first she saw nothing. She squinted, flipping between the image on her phone screen and what was out her window. Suddenly, she saw the ship round the headlands and turn toward the harbor entrance.
She ran back into the bridge and shouted at the XO, “We have an enemy at twelve o’clock. Turn us around and prepare to fire.”
“What about me?” the man on the ATV asked.
“Get back to the base and help the others finish off those intruders.” She hung up.
“She’s not fully clear of the landscape,” the XO said. “I can’t get a firm lock just yet.”
“Then we’ll have to aim manually,” Jin said. “I’ll do it myself.”
* * *
—
They’re coming about,” Juan said.
The nimble trimaran was turning quickly, as was the plasma cannon. It would now be a race to see who could fire first. The Oregon wasn’t in the right position yet to eliminate the threat of an errant shot hitting the building that Eddie and his team were in, but they couldn’t wait any longer.
It was as if they were two World War I dreadnoughts about to stand off at point-blank range.
Juan gave the order. “Sylvia, activate the rail gun.”
“Activating,” she said.
The rail gun rose into place on the forward deck, its menacing black barrel rotating as soon as it was clear of the hull.
“Fire at will,” Juan said.
“Weapon is charged,” Murph said.
Juan could see the aiming reticle on the main screen. It was locked on the plasma cannon turret, which was now facing them dead-on.
It launched a salvo a moment before Sylvia fired the rail gun.
The plasma round hit the Oregon’s armored hull, its energy rocking the ship just enough that the rail gun shell missed the turret. Instead, it blew through the crew section of the ship, shattering every window on the trimaran, including the bridge.
“Keep firing,” Juan said.
Sylvia’s second shot grazed the turret and tore up the hillside behind the base, knocking down a dozen trees in the process.
The Marauder fired again. This time the ball of plasma went right between two of the cranes, melting the paint as it went by.
“Now I’ve got it,” Sylvia said as she loosed a third round.
The tungsten projectile slammed into the turret, ripping a gaping hole in the metal. The plasma cannon’s barrel was torn free and catapulted into the water.