[SFAP] Chapter 10:1

This is the first section of the tenth chapter of Sonnets from a Proton. The novel starts here.
The next section is here.


“Status”
“They’re dropping missiles, the PDLs seem to be getting most of them, the armor is taking the brunt of the damage.”
“How long until the engines are up again?”
“Just under thirty seconds”
“Okay here’s the plan. The enemy fighters are very high speed, too fast to be hit by our missiles, they have too much range for the attack rockets to catch them. Thrust away from the last known vector of the ships. Hopefully some of the high energy particles will intercept the fighters and badly damage the crew. If they want to follow they have the thrust to catch the battleship, but they’ll have to put themselves at increased risk of harm from the exhaust.”
“Captain” Laurence came out from hiding in the corner “You’ve got to get that drive extended, we’ll be a sitting duck until we can get mobilised, jettison all unneeded cargo to form a debris field around the ship to stop the enemy fighters getting close give us a chance to get the AM drive up and running then let’s get out of here”
“Coward” the XO stood up and moved towards Laurence “Marines get in here and escort Mr Stephens off the bridge”
Two burly men strolled over and grabbed Laurence “Computer, executive override” uttered Laurence, the marines pausing in their manhandling of him while he spoke “recognise Stephen Fillwick, code Tango Three Zero Oscar Seven Two Delta Echo”
“Access code confirmed, Bioscan failed” chimed the computer’s voice , it added, “Sorry Laurence.”
The marines carried on and finally pulled Laurence off the bridge.
“Orders Sir” asked the XO
“He was onto something there, but not in the way he thought. get the fab drones out there pulverising some of the smaller rocks around here and get a good fat debris shield around us.” the Captain sat down as he said this “Looks like he’s got a quiet rest of the journey.”