“Response teams and drones report multiple hull breaches!” Urle shouted. “But we’ve lost no vital systems!”

“Two PDCs and three lasers disabled,” Jaya said, her voice clipped but still calm. “They were targeting the main body of the ship, going for a disabling strike, but they did not have the numbers or penetration to cause major damage.”

“Casualties are coming in,” Y spoke, his voice remote. “Twelve DOA, seventeen more wounded.”

Brooks heard it all, but his eyes were fixed on Ks’Kull’s flagship, looming ever closer.

“Fire anti-ship missiles at everything except his flagship,” he ordered. “Target PDCs and lasers on their weapon systems and drives, send all combat drones to go for targets of opportunity – ours outclass theirs and we’ll shred them if we’re aggressive. I want as many of them out of the fight as possible. Full launch, as soon as you’re ready.”

His eyes narrowed. “And set our course through his flagship.”

Ji-min Bin looked back at him, hesitant. But she saw the look on his face, and then gave a clipped nod.

“Course plotted, Captain.”

“Missiles away, PDCs and laser locked,,” Jaya said. “Firing for effect!”

The pulsing beams lashed out, striking at the speed of light into the Hev ships, leaving scorches across the hulls, piercing through the covers of missile launchers – with explosive results.

The sides of two Hev cruisers blossomed into balls of fire that spread across their hull – until they began to break apart.

From the crew cockpits below came a cheering, and while he knew it meant that many lives had just ended, he could feel nothing at the moment for those dead.

“Their missiles were armed!” Cenz said. “Why in the stars would they-“

“We’re too close for their stand-off range, so they had manually armed them,” Brooks said. “Keep targetting them!”

“Ks’Kull’s realized our course,” Urle said quickly. “He’s starting an emergency jump procedure – we estimate thirty-seven seconds until his entry.”

“He feared I’d come for him after he failed to kill me,” Brooks said. “Place our gravitational pull between us and his ship. I want to slow him down.”

“You want to keep him trapped so we can ram him?” Cenz asked.

“Yes,” Brooks replied simply.

“We can’t counter the strength of a full-on jump field-“

“But we can slow him down.”

“It’s done,” Ji-min Bin said. “Having some effect. If we keep this up . . . We’ll hit him just before he jumps.”

“Then keep it up,” Brooks ordered. The ship loomed larger, and he brought up the time to impact. Twenty-five seconds. Only two seconds shy of his predicted jump.

Their missiles streaked out in another volley, striking other Hev ships. Lasers and panicked return fire came, but uncoordinated, merely scorching parts of their hull. Where it struck the adamantine cratonic rock, it did not even leave a mark.

“Fifteen seconds!” Bin yelled. Like all of them, Brooks felt like his head was ringing, felt the pressure. Two ships colliding, at this speed, would spell doom for them both – not even cratonic rock would resist the energies of objects so massive, at these velocities.

He watched the numbers counting down, saw the increase of defensive fire, even more panicked, from Ks’Kull. The ships around them began to veer away, not wanting to be close to the debris that such a collision would create.

Ji-min Bin was watching him, sweat on her brow. He knew she was ready to drop their field the instant he ordered it.

Five seconds.

“Stop,” he said simply.

Bin hit the button, and the gravity field that was restraining Ks’Kull’s ship and pulling the Craton inexorably closer disappeared.

In a flash, Ks’Kull’s ship was gone. With three seconds left on the clock.

Urle slumped back in his seat.

“Ks’Kull’s ship has successfully made a jump – I don’t know if he even had a destination in mind, I cannot plot his path from his entry angle . . .”

“Anywhere but here,” Jaya said. Even she looked shaken.

“We’re not out of this yet,” Brooks said. “They’re leaderless but not beaten. Roll the ship, bring to bear the coilguns. Target their comm ship!”

“Aye!”

The ship began to rotate, and their view swung. Lasers were still striking out at them from the nearest Hev ships, but fewer and fewer, as bracketing fire from the Craton’s PDCs and missile strikes tore into the fragile weapons systems.

“Launching third wave!” Jaya cried. More missile went out, hammering the larger cruisers, that could do little to return fire at this close range – afraid to open their missile ports, with their bow coilguns still pointed ahead.

They were a wolf among sheep.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Coilguns locked – firing!”

The ship shuddered, and he saw the coilgun rounds fire out, highlighted on their screen as white streaks.

The Hev communications ship was pierced through her stern as she tried to turn away. The shots tore through the ship and came out the bow, explosions bursting from all along her length.

“Good hit!” Jaya said. “At least three reactors punctured – if she doesn’t shut down she’s going to rip herself apart.”

“Even if she does they will,” Urle said soberly. “We broke her spine.”

Brooks could see it, and they all watched; the ship, a multi-kilometer battleship in its own right, began to break apart. It was impossible to tell the escape pods from the debris, and Brooks knew that even those that got to such pods in time were unlikely to be rescuable. Those not destroyed by other debris would be surrounded by it – and help would not be able to risk getting near.

It was sobering, but he hadn’t wanted or started this conflict.

“Charge for another attack – find any ship that seems like it might be in command and target.”

“Target found!” Jaya said. “Rolling . . . locking . . . firing.”

The ship shuddered again, and the shot ripped through another battleship – this one had been trying to turn to face them, and the ship only pierced diagonally from her port to her starboard.

Objects darted away from the ship, though, veering towards them. Too large to be missiles . . .

“Boarding pods en route!” Urle said. “Counting fifty- no, ninety – fisc, they’re all launching, Captain.”

It was their only move left, he knew. To board the Craton, and either seize her in a bloody fight, or destroy her – or even just keep her busy long enough for the Hev to regroup.

“Target with all defensive weaponry – but keep finding targets for the coilguns, and try to knock out as many as you can!” he ordered. “If any line up – take the shot, we need to wreck as many ships as we can, while we can.”

They couldn’t let the pods through – the Hev numbers here would let them pour troops aboard until they were swamped. But likewise, they could not let the Hev fleet reorganize. For they were too numerous, and if they got even a modicum of order back-

They wouldn’t stand a chance.

----------------------------------------

“HOSTILE BOARDING PARTIES DETECTED!”

The words were louder even than the blaring sirens, as Iago rushed towards the armory.

His team was not meant for combat, he knew. But they could fight – and the breaching pod had smashed into the ship near their area of operation.

Two of his people had been killed.

As soon as word had come that pods were inbound, he’d given orders to pull his team out. But Conrad and Pavlov had been too slow, dragging between them an injured crewman.

It had been brave to try and save him. But it had cost them their lives.

And now he was seeing red.

They had no weapons, but an armory was near, and as he reached it, he saw it was locked. He sent his command codes – and the door did not open.

He looked at his system – the room was empty. There was no Armorer.

“Blast your eyes!” he yelled. “Who the hell abandons their post!?” He pounded on the door, all his confusion, anxiety, and fear pouring into his words.

“I’m here!” he heard a rumbling voice, and turned back to see a large Abmon trundling as fast as it could. “I’m sorry, I was helping another team-“

“Just open the fiscing doors!” Iago screamed at him. “We have enemy espatiers boarding!”

The Abmon got the doors open, and Iago rushed in. He tried his codes, but found that they’d been shut down, and had to wait as the Abmon unlocked the weapons safes.

Kessissiin was right behind him, and Iago tossed him a rifle. “Pass these out to the rest of the team!”

His comm blasted in his ear.

“We have contact with enemy boarders,” the voice said. It was Pirra.

----------------------------------------

Her breathing was so loud in her ears.

She was only aware of it in moments when she was not yelling orders or the fire was not so loud, but there was never a moment of silence.

Chemicals pumped through her veins, putting her in a state more heightened than even adrenaline in a human. Her heart rate per minute was almost 250, high for her kind but not so high she was in danger.

It was to be expected in combat.

And she could think icily clearly.

All ordinary thoughts were gone; as alien to her as any being from another planet.

She just commanded, because that was her job.

“Fire team two left!” she barked, her throat hurting from the shouting – not even necessary through helmets connected by radio, but it was automatic.

The Hev were driving straight for Reactor Five, counting on speed to succeed. But their moves were obvious, the goal predictable, and both her own mind and the tactical simulators did not see any significant likelihood of them altering that.

Her Fire Team One would block them. Fire Team Two would come around from behind them.

Pincer, destroy, move on. Fire Team Three was in reserve.

Alarms rose from her drone cloud ahead of her; contact.

It was not even combat yet, at the smallest level their drone squad were essentially just floating sensors, no intelligence or ability to fight. They encountered the Hev advance drones seconds later.

Technologically, the P’G’Maig were so far behind them. The had simple and crude firearms, their drones large and clunky in comparison.

But at close range a bullet could still hit a lucky spot and kill any one of them.

The firing drone lines engaged; hers fired first, quicker to get target lock. Their drones firing back. This was their assault wave, ready to burst through a defensive line and clear a path. For each shot of her drones, they fired seven. Yet hers outnumbered theirs.

They still managed to force the first wave, but it cost them valuable ammo. Her side had more, and if they could bring it to bear, then the Hev would lose.

At least with this wave. If there was a second, a twentieth, a two hundredth, then eventually they’d fire every single bullet on the Craton, every potential bullet would have been made, and they’d lose.

No time to think on that, and she shoved the thought aside.

“Contact!” Kiseleva yelled. The Hev had come around a corner, firing.

Bullets were intercepted by guardian drones, their own shots intercepting those that would have killed her. A veritable wall of fire from each side met, grinding against each other.

Small bits of shrapnel from shattered bullets pinged off her armor. A dusting of it began to cover the walls and floor.

No one needed the order to fire. They already were.

Her rifle was in her shoulder without a thought and she was aiming, firing. Where the Hev drones were focused on offense, their Guardian drones were few in number. After her first couple bursts were intercepted, she saw her next punch through the armor of the opposing squad leader, and he slumped to the floor without drama.

She took fresh aim and fired. Another Hev, this one recklessly charging, took it and fell forward. The third took several bursts to stop. Others fell.

She heard “I’m hit!” from her team, but she was the point of the lance of battle and the medic drones were already indicating they were moving in.

She kept firing. A round somehow got through her guardian fire and pinged her shoulder, but she shrugged it off.

More Hev fell. Fire Team Two was taking them out from behind, as planned.

In a few moments her sensors were blaring an all-clear.

“Hold fire!” she ordered, raising a hand.

Her breathing was so loud in her helmet.

“Confirmed Hev vanguard down in Layer 1, Section 5,” she signalled to command. It was acknowledged, and she received further orders.

“Regroup,” she said. “Fire Team Two, advance to Hev breaching pod to disable and disarm.”

It was expected that when the drop pod detected all its soldiers as being down it would detonate. It was what she would expect, at least. Not only was it some consolation, but would rip a larger gash into the hull that further waves of boarders could exploit.

Right now she knew the Craton’s powerful computer system had probably breached their security and was mimicking that their espatiers were still alive.

Fire Team Two acknowledged and moved closer. She gathered her fire team and moved forward, sending Team Three instructions of where to go for support.