Fragments

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"Get these lads clear of their posts! I want this section sealed off in five minutes!" Gunnery Chief Frost ordered over his proximity radio. The gunnery deck of the Triton was a disaster. He listened to the frantic chatter of his deck crew as he inspected the heat damage that had warped the outer hull and seized several of the large overhead gunnery turrets in position. The larger, three-meter tall loader suits were working to pry gunners from their seats and remove one-ton cartridges from the railgun emplacements before real repairs could begin. Their work worsened the combat damage, but there was no other way to get the gunnery crews free.

Past them Shamus could see the light twisting energy wall of the wormhole the Triton had used to escape the Ossimi Asteroid Ring. The damage they sustained to the aft dorsal section of the ship during their getaway was devastating. The Caran Enterprises battlecruisers had used broad particle beam pulses to superheat the hull of the Triton. Super cooled, high velocity rounds weren’t far behind, and the Gunnery Chief couldn’t remember being more frightened. Watching the outer armour of the transparent hull crack and shatter centimetre by centimetre was surreal. The memory had to be put aside. His people were at incredible risk while they worked beneath the fatigued section of hull. "How many gunnery positions do we have left, Hunsler?"

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