SETTING THE TRAP
Skink chortled when he saw the Imperial convoy appear on the monitor. First two little scout ships, then a medium-sized cruiser, followed by half-a-dozen squat tugs.
The ’bot controlled tugs were strategically arrayed to haul their precious cargo, using powerful tractor beams whose particles glowed eerily in the reflected light of one of Punta Royal’s moons.
He knew from Fehrle’s charts and specs that they in turn were controlled by the agworld’s guidance system. That was also unmanned. The Imperial command ship, which had yet to appear, operated the tugs and their burden remotely. In the battle’s aftermath he’d make the tugs his own and slave them to his ship, the Swagman.
The agworld’s beauty was so astounding that it affected even Skink’s calloused senses. He was caught up in the shimmering blue of Demeter as if it had been a warming campfire.
“Uh, you okay, Captain?” came Raynor’s voice.
Skink snapped out of his reverie in time to see his main adversary come into view.
It was the battlecruiser, Salamis. A formidable sight. He knew from his copy of Jane’s Fighting Ships that it was bristling with arms.
In ordinary circumstances he would have turned tail and run when he saw the Salamis. Especially since it was normally accompanied by half-a-dozen smaller warships, ranging from Avenger class to Frigates.
But the only thing accompanying the Salamis was an insignificant supply ship. Fehrle had said the Emperor was deliberately using a small convoy to avoid attention, but this was ridiculous. Some underling had obviously gotten his orders wrong and sent out the Salamis with no backup.
His hand hovered over the button that would signal his force to attack. Waiting to see if something else would appear. He checked the bank of side monitors that showed what the drones were seeing. Each screen showed emptiness. No other Imperials were coming.
Was it a trick? Something the commander of the Salamis had up her sleeve?
He did another drone search. The little suckers zipped about the area, checking possible ambush sites.
Nothing.
He did it again.
The drones kept beeping all clear.
Raynor spoke up: “Uh, skipper. If we don’t make our move soon they might twig to us.”
“Just making sure,” Skink said.
He slapped the button.
“Launch,” he said.