Two individual ships and one group of ships were all moving through space at very high speeds, but because they were all heading for pretty much the same point in space where their paths would intersect, they grew closer and closer but maintained the same relative bearings to each other. From Saber, the group of invaders was slightly above and a bit to the right, while Piranha was also slightly above but farther to the left. As the distances between them dwindled from light hours down to light minutes, everyone seemed eerily suspended in space, only visible because of the magnification offered by Saber’s sensors.
Rob and Commander Salomon had exchanged a few more messages, setting up a dance that would hopefully surprise the invaders. Salomon had been cautious, but once she understood the idea had seen its potential.
Saber’s vector had been adjusted so she was heading for an intercept not just of the invading force but aimed precisely at the enemy Founders Class destroyer. To the invaders, it must look like a reckless charge against the primary villain in the destruction of Claymore, with Saber on a mission of revenge regardless of all other factors.
Piranha had also adjusted her vector, aiming to bypass the escorts and hit the freighters. Piranha had also braked her velocity to point zero five light speed, an obvious attempt to ensure her weapons could score as many hits as possible on the troop carriers. But that change in velocity also meant that Piranha would come in behind Saber, striking brief minutes later.
“It looks exactly like Piranha is going to let us take the brunt of enemy fire so she can get to the freighters with minimal risk,” Vicki Shen commented.
“The Scathan commander ought to believe that’s what’s intended,” Rob said.
“I believe it! Are we sure Piranha won’t let that happen instead of doing as you and Salomon agreed?”
“I’m certain,” Rob said. As certain as he could be, anyway. If he’d badly misjudged Salomon, Saber might end up paying a heavy price. “We’re going to act as Salomon and I agreed. If this fails, it won’t be because Saber failed to live up to her commitments or I failed to live up to my word.”
Shen studied the depiction of the enemy warships. “Do you think they’ll be suspicious at how easy it will be to counter Saber, then Piranha? All they have to do is collapse down that triangle at the right time so they can hit Saber with all three ships at once, then pivot up and to the side a little to catch Piranha as she comes through.”
“I’m hoping that tempts the enemy commander enough that he doesn’t question his good fortune,” Rob said. “He has a chance to knock out both of us on our first firing runs. Is he going to question that? Because if he doesn’t react with the textbook solution you described, he’ll miss that chance. And if he does react that way, we’ll have him.” Rob checked the time. “One hour left to intercept. It’s still a little early to set battle stations.”
Vicki Shen smiled. “I’ll bet you that everyone in the crew is already at their battle stations. They know who we’re going after this time, the ships that destroyed Claymore. They want blood, Captain. But I suggest waiting until forty-five minutes prior to estimated contact to go to full combat readiness.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s when the Earth Fleet checklists call for going to full combat readiness. When we do that, increasing our shields to maximum and powering up the pulse particle projectors, the enemy will be able to see it. If those enemy ships see us acting as if we’re still using the checklists, it will help convince them they have nothing to worry about.”
Rob grinned. “That’s an excellent suggestion. Thank you.”
“But we’re still coming in at point zero eight light,” Shen noted. “Deke, what velocity would the old checklists require?”
Lieutenant Cameron paused, frowning in thought. “They mandated a combined speed at contact of point zero six light speed or less to maximize hit potential. The velocity adjustments are to be completed ten minutes prior to contact.”
“Ten minutes?” Rob said. “That gives the other guy plenty of warning, doesn’t it? All right, work up when we need to start braking.” He called Piranha. “Commander Salomon, we’re going to act as if we’re following Earth Fleet checklists on this engagement. That means braking down to just under point zero six light speed by ten minutes prior to contact. I’ll send you the exact planned maneuver prior to that. If you wait until you’ve seen us start braking to begin slowing down yourself, it’ll support the image that we’re not coordinating actions. Geary, over.”
“Coordinate.” That was a great word. One of its definitions was, literally, “equal in rank, degree, or importance.” He and Salomon could coordinate back and forth all they wanted without either accepting subordinate status.
Another definition of “coordinate” was “actions or processes properly combined for the production of one result.”
Yes. “Coordinate” was definitely Rob’s favorite word at the moment.
With one hour left to contact, the ships were much closer. Only about five light minutes separated them so Rob got a reply in ten minutes.
“I understand that you’ll begin braking down to point six light speed,” Salomon said, looking far more relaxed than Rob thought he appeared. “We’ll act as if we had no advance knowledge and react after sighting your maneuver to apparently brake down our own velocity to maintain the same distance behind you at contact. By the time the enemy realizes that we’re not braking velocity as much as we ought to, it should be too late for them to figure out what we’re doing. Let me know of any other changes. Salomon, out.”
At forty-five minutes to contact Rob ordered full combat readiness aboard Saber, everything happening right on schedule as mandated by the old checklists.
Be complacent, Rob wished at the enemy commander. Assume you’ve got this nailed. Assume we’re dumb enough to charge right in.
“Three light minutes to intercept point,” Lieutenant Cameron reported.
Three light minutes. The distance light traveled in three minutes. About fifty-four million kilometers. An impossibly huge distance in human terms because human senses thought in planetary concepts where fifty kilometers was a long ways to go on foot or even by ground vehicle. But traveling at point zero eight light speed meant Saber would cover that remaining distance in a little less than forty minutes. They’d slow down some before then, to just point zero six light speed, so the actual time left was a bit more than that.
The apparent position of the enemy hadn’t changed, slightly above and to the right as Saber saw it. Saber’s path wasn’t aimed at the enemy ships but at where those ships would be when Saber got to the same place.
“No reaction by the enemy yet,” Vicki Shen commented. “Everything looks good. With your permission, Captain, I’ll head back to engineering.”
“Permission granted,” Rob said. Aside from the benefits of having Shen’s experience in the engineering compartment, that also physically separated the ship’s second-in-command from where he, the captain, was located. Any damage to the bridge that claimed the captain should leave the executive officer alive and able to assume command. It felt odd, Rob realized, that the arrangement didn’t feel odd, that it was simply something to be accepted, an acknowledgment of the dangers that Saber and her crew were about to confront.
That despite all of their planning, things might go wrong, and he might soon be dead.
Rob did his best to banish that thought. He couldn’t let it affect his decisions and couldn’t let it show in his voice or his expression or his body language. The crew would pick up on that. Fear was contagious, racing from person to person at a rate no other malady could come close to matching. And fear of impending danger carried its own risk of creating the conditions under which that imagined danger became real.
So Rob relaxed a bit in his command seat, breathing in deeply and letting it out slowly. To keep himself occupied as the minutes crawled by he tried replaying the projected course of events.
Physics made doing things hard but made predicting them easy. If Saber held her current vector aiming at the Founders Class destroyer, the most effective move for the Scathan warships would be that, with the Sword Class destroyer moving there, and the Adventurer Class cutter moving there. In order for those two ships to get to those positions, they’d have to move this way at that time. If the Scathans did as expected, then Rob could predict exactly where all three warships would be at a certain point in time.
And he had done all he could to ensure the Scathans did do as he hoped, offering them an apparently perfect target. Just as Claymore had done. Militaries were notoriously slow to learn lessons inflicted by opponents in battle, clinging to doctrine as long as possible, sometimes past the point where that refusal to change made it impossible to win. Rob had done something unexpected three years before to defeat a Scathan ship, but the details of that action had been fogged by time and official accounts, and in any case the enemies here in Kosatka Star System probably didn’t even know yet that Rob was now in command of Saber. The commander of Scatha’s warships had every reason to expect his foes to be blindly predictable, ignoring what the enemy might do in favor of their own preconceptions.
“Captain, the braking maneuver should begin in five minutes. Request permission to set maneuvering system to automatic for that maneuver.”
“Permission granted,” Rob said.
Ensign Reichert spoke up next from the weapons watch station. “Request permission to lock weapons systems on enemy Founders Class destroyer.”
“Permission granted,” Rob said. “But be prepared to shift targets immediately when I give the order.”
“Shift targets, sir? What’s the secondary? I can set that up so all I have to do is tap it and redirect all weapons systems.”
“Good. Secondary target is enemy Sword Class destroyer.”
He had to admire the calmness with which the bridge crew were going about their tasks. They didn’t know in any detail what was intended, but even if they were diving straight into the teeth of the worst Scatha could throw at them they’d do it without flinching. “You’re all exceptionally fine sailors,” Rob said out loud. “Everyone on this ship. I’m proud to be leading you into battle again.”
No one said anything in reply. What could they say? But their smiles told him that his words had gone home.
“Braking maneuver initiating,” Lieutenant Cameron reported.
Thrusters fired, pitching Saber’s bow up and around so it was facing toward the rear, the main propulsion aft now forward as the ship raced backward through space. As the ship’s aspect reached the proper position the main propulsion lit off, its force now directed toward slowing down Saber to just under point zero six light speed. Saber shuddered under the stress, her hull groaning, the whine of the inertial dampers rising to audible levels as they worked to keep the strain from tearing the ship apart and crushing the human crew.
As the stress levels shown on Rob’s display climbed into the yellow caution zone, he saw a message appear and called Vicki Shen in engineering. “Is this right? The system will automatically ease off if we go into red?”
“That’s right,” she said. “It’s built into the software to prevent overstress.”
“What if we need to go into the red?”
She took a moment to reply. “We’re not supposed to.”
“What if we need to?” Rob repeated.
“Right now, we can’t.”
“Can we fix that? So I can override if necessary?”
Another pause before the reply came. “It’ll take awhile, but I’m sure we can go through the system and create an override. However, I’m not sure how good an idea that would be, Captain,” Shen added in a diplomatic tone of voice.
“Understood. Remind me to talk about it once this is over.”
Lieutenant Cameron called out as the main propulsion shut off and thrusters fired again. “We’re at point zero five seven light speed. Bringing bow around to face the enemy. Ten minutes to contact.”
“Piranha is braking velocity,” Ensign Reichert added. “It looks like she’s still planning on passing the enemy escorts a few minutes after we go through.”
Rob felt tension knotting his stomach as he gazed at his display. The maneuver he had to order was there, constantly updating as the time ran down to contact. Saber would reach a point where he could no longer make the necessary corrections in time, but that was still several minutes away. “Very well. I’m entering a last-moment maneuver into the system. I’ll execute that maneuver from my command display at the right moment.”
Scatha’s commander would also be waiting to give maneuvering orders, waiting until it seemed Saber and Piranha were committed to their own paths. Waiting until it would be too late for Saber and Piranha to realize what he was doing and adjust their vectors. Even with the distance separating the different warships down to light seconds there would still be a slight delay in seeing what the other side was doing.
With ten light seconds separating the warships from intercept, less than two minutes to contact at their current velocity, Rob called the maneuver out loud at the same time as he pushed the command to carry it out. “Up point zero one five degrees, come starboard zero zero one degrees.” Immediately afterward he called out again. “Switch weapons systems to secondary target, Sword Class destroyer. That is now primary target.”
“Understood switch all weapons to target Sword Class destroyer,” Ensign Reichert responded, her words as rushed and sure as her movements as she tapped the commands. “Sword Class destroyer is now the primary target.”
“The enemy is maneuvering!” Lieutenant Cameron said.
Rob waited, tense, to see whether the enemy was doing as he and Commander Salomon had hoped.
“Sir, Piranha ceased braking early! She’s going to intercept within seconds of our own attack and . . . she’s shifting vector!”
Rob grinned. “Very well.”
It would be a few seconds before the enemy could see that Saber and Piranha weren’t doing what they were supposed to do. How much longer before the commander realized the implications? He wouldn’t know for certain until Saber and Piranha steadied out. Would he flinch? Or would he try to bull through?
At Saber’s velocity she was covering about seventeen thousand kilometers per second. One moment the enemy was very far away as humans thought of such things, but very close in terms of space. The next moment Saber had passed close to the Sword Class destroyer and was still shuddering from the impacts of hits on her and the jolt of firing her own weapons.
The Sword Class destroyer was a bit smaller than Founders Class ships like Saber and Piranha, and carried fewer weapons as well as shields that weren’t as strong. Against only Saber, the enemy ship could have gotten off with only minor damage from the exchange of fire.
But Commander Salomon had made the last-moment changes necessary to also bring Piranha close to where that enemy destroyer would be, at almost the same moment as Saber engaged. Grapeshot from both warships hit the Scathan vessel’s forward shields, knocking them down so that every pulse particle beam projector on Saber and Piranha had clear paths into and through the enemy ship.
“Bring us up and over to intercept that cutter,” Rob ordered while Saber’s systems were still trying to assess the damage done to the enemy destroyer.
Saber went into a wide, wide turn, climbing up and over to swing back at the Adventurer Class cutter.
“Piranha is diving down,” Lieutenant Cameron reported.
“She’s going to come back at the Sword Class destroyer,” Rob told him. “How’s Saber?”
“Our forward shields held, Captain. Spot failures, but nothing got through.”
“Outstanding. Ensign Reichert, what did we do to that Sword?”
“Still evaluating, Captain,” Reichert said, speaking quickly but clearly. “His forward shields are not recovering. Unknown amount of damage to weapons, but at least one of his particle beams is assessed destroyed. Maneuvering capability appears to be compromised.”
“You set him up,” Lieutenant Cameron said, his voice reflecting admiration and surprise. “You and Piranha.”
“That’s right,” Rob said. “We coordinated our actions. Our best chance was to take out the Sword Class ship by surprise. With that one badly hurt, we’ll have a chance to beat the remaining enemy warships.” He had been watching the movements of the enemy warships, seeing the Founder Class ship and the cutter moving close to the Sword Class ship to protect it. “Shift our vector. We’re going to hit the freighters.” He tabbed the comm channel. “Piranha, this is Saber. If the enemy continues to protect their damaged ship, I intend striking at the freighters. Either that will draw them away from the Sword Class ship so you can hit it again, or leave me free to hit their troop ships if they stay close to their damaged companion. Geary, over.”
The two warships were still close enough together that the reply came in less than a minute. “Saber, this is Piranha. I will continue my attack run on the damaged ship but break off if I face all three combatants at once and join you in a strike at the troop carriers. Salomon, out.”
Coordinating didn’t seem all that difficult, Rob thought. Perhaps he and Salomon weren’t doing it “right.”
“You’ve got him stuck,” Ensign Reichert said with sudden comprehension. “He either protects that warship we’ve already damaged, or he protects the freighters. He can’t do both.”
“He’ll have to leave the destroyer, won’t he?” Cameron said. “His job is to protect the troop ships.”
“You’re right,” Rob said. “I expect he’ll try to intercept us before we can hit those freighters. We’ll let Piranha try to finish the Sword Class ship.”
“We helped take that ship down,” Ensign Reichert insisted.
He knew why she felt the need to say that. Claymore wouldn’t be properly avenged if someone else struck the death blows to one of the warships that had destroyed her. “That’s right,” Rob said. “It’ll be a joint kill in which Saber played an equal role.”
Saber was at the top of her loop and Piranha just beginning to turn up from the bottom of her curve when the enemy ships made the move that Rob was expecting.
“Enemy Founders Class destroyer and cutter are breaking away from the Sword Class ship,” Cameron reported. “They’re coming back and up.”
“They’re going to try to hit us,” Rob said, “or make us turn away. For now, keep us on a vector to pass through the enemy formation, targeting the passenger ship. We’ll shift vectors on final approach to avoid giving him a shot at us and try to hit one of the freighters.”
An internal comm alert came on as Mele Darcy called. “He’s going to be mad,” she said, obviously speaking about the enemy commander.
“I know,” Rob said. “Mad enough to make mistakes.”
“Maybe. Also mad enough that if you give him an opening he’ll go for your throat. You’re feeling pretty confident right now. Don’t.”
He hesitated, recognizing that Mele was right, that without realizing it he was feeling almost giddy with assurance after the success of the first maneuver. So confident that he might have given the enemy commander just such a shot at him. “Thanks. I needed to hear that.”
“That’s why I’m here,” Mele said. “That, and to break things that need breaking.”
“Captain!” Ensign Reichert said. “Warrant Officer Kamaka reports that we’re getting some very aggressive attacks on our system firewalls. The transmissions carrying the attacks appear to be originating from the enemy passenger ship. So far nothing has gotten through, but he’s monitoring the situation closely and wanted you to be informed.”
“Thank you,” Rob said. “Mele, if your code monkey isn’t busy maybe he can help Kamaka.”
“Will do. I’ll have Corporal Giddings get in touch with Warrant Kamaka. Sir,” Mele added, “if those software attacks are coming from the passenger ship, that means their offensive hackers are aboard it, and most ground forces I know of keep their hackers close to the headquarters unit.”
“Understood,” Rob said, his eyes on the display where the arc of Saber’s path through space was projected to meet with the near-future position of that passenger ship. Piranha was still coming around as well, her vector aimed at hitting the crippled Sword Class destroyer. And the remaining enemy destroyer and cutter were curving up and back to hit Saber just before she reached the passenger ship. He was still twenty minutes out from encountering those enemy warships.
Rob tapped his comm control again. “Piranha, this is Saber. We’re under software attack from the passenger ship and assess that the enemy ground forces command structure is probably aboard it. Recommend we concentrate attacks on that ship. I’ll try to draw off the enemy combatants. Geary, over.”
The reply took about a minute to show up. “Saber, this is Piranha. I may not be able to finish off the damaged enemy warship on this firing pass. It’d be helpful if you could make another run on it after mine. I agree with trying to cripple and destroy the passenger ship. That’s their highest value target. Salomon, over.”
Rob checked his display, realizing that personally running the options would be too distracting. “Lieutenant Cameron, have someone work up some options for hitting that Sword Class destroyer again if Piranha doesn’t finish him.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Piranha, this is Saber. Understood. Will attempt to hit the damaged enemy ship again if necessary. Geary, out.”
That left the question of whom to try to hit on this pass. Ensign Reichert took that moment to complicate the answer. “Captain, the enemy warships are going to intercept us at a point close enough to the other enemy ships that if we engage them our weapons won’t be able to reload or recharge before we’re past the passenger ship or freighters.”
He took a closer look, realizing that not only was Reichert right, but that the intercept point was perfectly positioned to catch Saber if she continued a firing run on the freighters or passenger ship. The enemy warships would catch Saber no matter which ship Rob tried to target with a last-moment course adjustment. “He’s good,” Rob muttered in reluctant appreciation of how well the enemy commander had planned his intercept maneuver. “Ensign Reichert, what’s our worst case if we take the maximum number of possible hits from both of those remaining warships?”
“Wait, sir,” Reichert replied as she ran a simulation. “There’s a better than even chance of spot failures in our shields and hits on Saber. Our combat systems are estimating anywhere from one to three hits on this ship.”
He didn’t bother asking where those hits would fall. There were too many variables to offer any meaningful prediction. The hits could pass through nonessential areas, or through some of the crew, or strike critical systems and knock them out. There wasn’t any way of knowing in advance.
Rob took another long look at the aspects of the two oncoming enemy warships. They were close enough to each other that he couldn’t hit the cutter without the destroyer also hitting back at Saber.
None of his options were looking good. But if he didn’t press the attack, Piranha might feel that Saber was failing to live up to its part of the bargain. Could he risk that?
A red marker abruptly appeared on Rob’s display.
“We’ve lost primary controls for thruster group two,” Chief Petty Officer Quinton called out from the engineering watch station. “Cause unknown. Auxiliary controls . . . Captain, the auxiliary controls are having trouble taking over.”
Rob took only a couple of seconds to confirm where maneuvering thruster group two was located on the hull of Saber before realizing that he couldn’t continue this attack run. With one of the three primary maneuver thruster groups out, the loss of a second could render Saber a sitting duck. Coming right or up was already hindered, so he ran a hasty vector change to the left and down. Even if the enemy warships pursued, that would give at least half an hour to get those thrusters back online. “Come port five zero degrees, down zero three zero degrees.”
“Understand come port five zero degrees, down zero three zero degrees,” Lieutenant Cameron replied. Saber rolled to the left and dipped her bow as the remaining thrusters fired.
“Let me know if they come around to intercept us,” Rob ordered, worried that the enemy would spot Saber’s problem and attempt to attack while the ship couldn’t maneuver well in all directions.”
“There’s no sign they’re following,” Ensign Reichert said. “Holding position near the passenger ship. They probably think we’re pulling an injured bird.”
Rob twisted in his seat to look at her, puzzled. “An injured bird?”
Reichert in turn appeared startled that he didn’t know the term. “It’s a deception maneuver to try to draw off escorts or attackers by feigning damage and apparent vulnerability, sir.”
“It’s on the checklists,” Lieutenant Cameron said.
“Right. So the enemy would have known we might try that if we were paying attention to the checklists and probably assumes that’s what we’re doing.”
“Thank you,” Rob said, surprised that something from the Earth Fleet checklists had proven so useful in confusing the enemy about the real problem that Saber was experiencing.
An internal call from Vicki Dorset came in as Rob settled in his seat again. “Sir, I’m on-site where the failure occurred. It’s a relay junction.”
“Can you identify the cause of the failure?” Rob asked, thinking of hacking messing up a critical part’s functions.
“It looks like a normal failure,” she replied. “Relay junctions on Founder Class ships are notorious for sudden no-apparent-reason RJ fails. That’s why we carry several spares. I’ve sent a team to pull a spare so we can do a replace. If nothing else complicates things we should have the junction up, synced, and working in ten minutes.”
“Thank you,” Rob said, grateful that he had people with so much experience working for him. With the enemy not in pursuit of Saber, and now sure of the problem, he called Salomon. “Piranha, this is Saber. I suffered the temporary loss of a thruster group due to part failure and broke off my attack run. Saber should be fully combat ready again in ten minutes and will reengage at that time. Geary, out.”
He refocused on his display in time to see as Piranha raced past the injured Sword Class destroyer. The battered enemy ship had tried to shift his bow away, but Salomon had correctly anticipated the maneuver so that Piranha crossed the enemy bow. With the enemy’s forward shields still down, Piranha was able to fire her pulse particle beams down the length of the Scathan warship. Rob flinched, thinking about those streams of highly charged particles tearing through everything in their path, whether equipment or members of the enemy crew.
A moment after the particle beams hit, Piranha’s grapeshot struck the enemy’s bow. The grapeshot, nothing but metal ball bearings depending on their mass and velocity to do damage, hit with enough energy to vaporize the front of the Scathan destroyer.
That was one ship that wasn’t going to be worth salvaging after this was over.
Piranha continued up and around, aiming for the Scathan troop carriers as a reply came in from Salomon. “Saber this is Piranha. I think your guess regarding the value of the passenger ship is right. I’m going to try to draw off the remaining escorts by hitting the freighters farthest from them. If they go after me, that should give you a shot at the passenger ship. Salomon, out.”
“Lieutenant Cameron,” Rob said, “as soon as we get all thrusters online again I’ll want an intercept trajectory on the passenger ship, timed to get there right after Piranha makes her run on the enemy freighters.”
“I’ll have it ready, sir.”
“Ensign Reichert, how badly hurt is that Sword Class destroyer?”
Reichert shook her head as she studied her display. “He’s either completely dead or very good at playing dead. His power core has shut down, and we’re seeing no signs of any systems still working.”
Something about that didn’t fit. “Why haven’t the surviving crew abandoned ship?” Rob wondered.
“I have no idea, sir.”
Out of commission as it apparently was, the Sword Class destroyer continued moving with the enemy formation since the passenger ship and freighters hadn’t maneuvered. But the hits on the destroyer had slowed it a little and knocked it onto a slightly converging vector, so the Sword Class ship was slowly drifting higher and closer to the rest of the ships. If none of the freighters or the passenger ships changed their own vectors, the badly damaged warship would drift through them and out the upper edge of their formation. “Maybe they’re waiting to abandon ship until they’re in among the other ships friendly to them,” Rob said. “How are the repairs on thruster group two going?” he added, realizing that ten minutes had come and gone.
Chief Petty Officer Quinton relayed the question, remaining impassive as he heard the reply. “Lieutenant Commander Shen says the junction repair is complete but something else is causing problems. She’s got specialists trying to run down the problem.”
“Any new estimate of repair time?” Rob asked, trying not to snap the question in frustration and afraid that he already knew the answer.
“No, Captain. Until they find what’s wrong they can’t say how long it’ll take to fix. Whatever this problem is isn’t showing up on remote diagnostics so they’re having to do physical checks.”
Rob rubbed one side of his face, thinking, as Saber continued to arc past the enemy formation. Maybe if we . . .
“Captain?” Lieutenant Cameron said. “I don’t know how much experience you have with our systems. They will automatically analyze and report any unusual behaviors in another ship.”
Rob looked back at Cameron, trying not to glare. “And?”
“Sir, the enemy destroyer came from the same source and has the same analysis systems as we do. If we maneuver without using thruster group two, the systems automatically will spot that and notify the enemy commander.”
Damn. “Thank you, Lieutenant,” Rob said. “I didn’t know they’d do that. There’s no way we can maneuver without giving it away?”
“No, sir,” Cameron said.
“Then we’ll have to do the best we can without those thrusters and make sure we don’t give the enemy warships a chance to intercept us while we’ve got limited maneuvering capability. Work me up an intercept on one of the freighters.”
What to tell Salomon? Regardless of her wishes, he couldn’t hazard Saber in an attack in the ship’s current condition. Coordination could only go so far, and his primary duty remained to Glenlyon.
Unhappy but determined, Rob tapped his comms again. “Piranha, this is Saber. My number two thruster group is down for an undetermined period. I’ll attempt to continue attacks on enemy shipping but cannot risk an engagement with the enemy warships while my maneuvering is compromised. Geary, out.”
Salomon didn’t respond as Piranha swept around to hit one of the freighters at the end of the enemy formation. Rob watched, frustrated by Saber’s inability to match the maneuvers, as Piranha’s weapons tore up one side of the freighter. “Give me an intercept for that trailing freighter,” he ordered. As soon as the solution came in, he approved it, Saber’s remaining thrusters firing to bring her around in the long sweep to the left that should end at where the freighter would be.
“Sir!” Ensign Reichert called out. “Piranha’s trying something else!”
Rob took another look at Piranha’s vector. The enemy warships protecting the passenger ship had lunged back and up in an attempt to catch Piranha as she pulled away for another firing run. Piranha had seen, too, and was rolling down and over to strike at the momentarily unguarded passenger ship.
Had the enemy lunge always been intended as a feint, or had the enemy commander lost his nerve and aborted the attack run? Piranha and the enemy ships were close, very close, and moving very fast as Piranha dove at the passenger ship and the enemy destroyer and cutter abruptly altered their own vectors.
At the velocities such ships were moving, any misjudgment could be catastrophic. Cruel momentum held them in its grip and would not yield easily to even the power of thrusters.
Rob felt a reflexive yell of caution stick in his throat, too late even as it formed. By the time anyone on the other three warships could see what might happen, by the time even the automated maneuvering systems could spot the danger and make the necessary changes, the enemy cutter and Piranha had momentarily touched hulls as both crafts raced past each other moving at thousands of kilometers per second.
At that velocity, the energy of the impact was enough to vaporize most of the cutter and at least a third of Piranha. The cutter and its crew simply vanished, turned into dust and tiny fragments. Piranha, slammed off vector by the collision, with all propulsion and maneuvering knocked out, tumbled away from the enemy formation, pieces of the stricken warship breaking off as the wreck spun wildly through space.
Rob stared at his display, momentarily shocked into inaction. Salomon might have survived, since the bridge was located in one of the best protected places inside Piranha’s hull, but even if she and some of her crew were still alive, they and their ship were out of this fight.
“Captain?”
Lieutenant Cameron’s stunned question brought Rob out of his paralysis. “Continue attack run on the last freighter,” Rob ordered as he tried to grasp what had just happened.
The enemy cutter was gone, but so was Piranha. That left Saber against the enemy Founder Class destroyer. Even odds, or it would be if Saber didn’t have one-third of her maneuvering thrusters down.
Lieutenant Commander Shen took that moment to call the bridge again. “When the junction failed so did protective breakers along control lines. We’ve got burned-out lines to most of the thrusters.”
“Can we replace them?” Rob asked, his mind mechanically seizing on something he could still control.
“Yes, sir. But I’m estimating at least ten hours for the job.”
Rob inhaled slowly before replying. “Make it as much shorter as you can. We just lost Piranha. Saber is all that’s left to stop that invasion force.” The words felt hollow as he gazed at the surviving enemy destroyer and the freighters and passenger ship. Saber couldn’t handle that all on her own.
He might be able to inflict some more damage, but barring the miracle that had yet to appear this invasion wasn’t going to be stopped short of the planet it was aiming for.