Admiral Stonefist's mouth was a tight, pinched line.

"All right. Cycle engines up to two-thirds, bring the dampeners online. How much can you overload your supercapacitors?"

Captain Prower raised an eyebrow.

"Overcharged?"

"You know, beyond spec."

Captain Prower's eyebrows drew down.

"We operate within safe ranges, with a reasonable buffer."

Admiral Stonefist ground his teeth.

"That cruiser has over two hundred blasters. Do you think they'll operate within your spec?"

"Gently, sir," Kinnit said. "They're civilians. They're not used to... unusual circumstances."

"I can manage without your input, Assistant," Captain Prower said. "I only meant that we haven't ever run our equipment beyond spec, so I don't know."

Kinnit's expression stiffened.

"How fast can those charge up?" Admiral Stonefist asked.

"We charge them slowly, to save wear and tear--"

"Okay, dump power into them hard. Thirty percent over spec is usually fine."

"Thirty?!" Prower squawked. "Won't that--"

Grimthorn pointed at the screen which showed the heavy cruiser closing in. Prower swallowed heavily.

"Power to the supercapacitors," Prower said to her lieutenant. "As the Admiral has said." She turned to Grimthorn. "Do you have a plan, Admiral?"

"I rarely have a plan," Grimthorn said. "Plans lock you into a mode of thinking. Combat is too fluid, too fast for you to be able to afford to get stuck in a way of thinking."

"I think she just wants to know what's next, sir," Kinnit said. Prower frowned, but said nothing.

"Fair enough. We'll stay in orbit, but get high. Just barely within the grip of gravity. And prepare for emergency maneuvers. And you should probably tell the passengers to get into their quarters and strap in tight." He thought for a moment. "Very tight."

Prower's lips tightened, but she passed along the orders. The cruiser closed the distance, but the fighters held back.

"Hmm. No fighter attack yet," Grimthorn said. "They must be preparing to board us if the heavy cruiser can't knock us out. But they'll save their fighters if they don't need them."

"I wonder if that means they're already running low on Vylar fighters?" Kinnit asked. "Maybe we've attritioned enough of their equipment that they need to be cautious."

"That's a good thought, Kinnit, but not for right now."

She nodded.

"Heavy cruiser's nearly in firing range, sir," Kinnit said.

"Okay, Captain, we'll let cruiser hit us a few times, then I want you to dive for the surface as hard as you can."

"I don't understand how this is going to help us, Admiral."

"That cruiser's fast, but not powerful, if that makes sense. I'm hoping they'll chase us down, get caught in the gravity well of the planet deep enough that they can't power out."

Captain Prower looked dubious, but nodded.

"Bring the speed up another 10%. Let them think we're running full out, now."

The Ophir sped up. The heavy cruiser closed in fast, now 5 klicks out, now 4, then 3.

Their blasters opened up at 2 klicks. Thumping crackles sounded through the ship as the heavy energy slugs slammed into the shields.

"These are good shields," Admiral Stonefist noted, nodding appreciatively as the thumping picked up in pace. "I might talk to CenCom about looking into these Xyntic shields."

"Yes, sir," Kinnit said, making a note in her scanner.

Captain Prower looked like she was about to throw up.

"How long can the shields hold?" she asked.

"Against this?" Admiral Stonefist said. "All day, if we need to. The cruiser's just getting us dialed in. When they get within a klick, they'll really open up."

Captain Prower paled further.

"Are we ready to dive, Captain? We'll want to get within 800 klicks of the surface."

"800 klicks?! Are you nuts? We'll never be able to pull out of that!"

Grimthorn tapped the side of his nose.

"That's where your inertial dampers come in. I've been reviewing the specs on them. When we're ready to stop, dump every erg of energy on the ship into them. Supercapacitors and all. That much damping won't just keep the passengers safe, but it'll slow the whole ship down. It should shed enough speed that the engines can take us out again."

Captain Prower looked aghast.

"That's a wretched plan!" she shrieked.

"Idea, not plan," Grimthorn said. "We might have to change it on the fly."

"I'm not doing any of that!"

"Okay. Then we'll get shot to pieces by that heavy cruiser back there."

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At that point the Oryndrax cruiser closed to 1 klick. True to what Admiral Stonefist had said, she opened up with hundreds of heavy blasters. The thumping crackles grew louder, coming faster, nearly deafening now.

"I figure it will take about 15 minutes for them to get a hull breach," Grimthorn yelled over the noise. "These really are very good shields."

"There are no good options," Kinnit yelled to Captain Prower. "Only bad ones and worse ones!"

Grimthorn gave Kinnit a proud smile. Captain Prower's face paled.

"Very well!" she shouted back. "Dive! Dive! Dive! Full power!"

The Ophir tipped toward the surface, and her engines flared, driving the graceful vessel toward the planet's surface.

The sudden burst of speed, boosted by the draw of the gravity well, caught the heavy cruiser off guard. The Ophir pulled away quickly, exiting the cruiser's firing range. The noise in the ship quieted as the cruiser could no longer blast them.

Captain Prower did not relax at all, watching the altimeter. It indicated their distance from the surface of the planet, and the numbers dwindled with shocking speed.

"Prep those dampers," Grimthorn said. Prower nodded and adjusted some settings. She waited breathlessly, her hands hovering above the controls. The numbers on the altimeter continued to implode.

"On my mark," Admiral Stonefist said, "cut engines and dump dampers." Prower nodded. "3... 2... 1... now!"

The galaxy-class dampers on the Ophir surged, swallowing more power than they had ever been designed to handle. The tactic worked somewhat better than expected. With a horrible cracking sound that vibrated the entire ship, the Ophir came to a dead stop over the surface of Mebrin.

All the passengers and crew on the Ophir briefly got to experience dampening overload. Movement was nearly impossible. It felt as though one where cast in concrete. Even breathing was difficult; the air felt thick as honey, and eyes popped wide all over the ship as people struggled to breathe.

"Port!" Admiral Stonefist managed to squeeze out. His voice was drawn out and slow.

Then the dampers cut out.

"Strafe port!" Grimthorn repeated, now at normal speed. The nav officer jerked the control without waiting for confirmation from Captain Prower.

The Ophir surged to the left. With the dampers at critically low power, the entire crew was slung hard into right-hand wall of the bridge.

People scrambled back to their stations. The heavy cruiser surged through the spot where the Ophir had been. It plummeted toward Mebrin. The cruiser's engines fired wildly, trying to shed velocity, but she was too big and moving too fast into the gravity well of the planet. She hit the atmosphere at speed. Her shields flared briefly, then cut out. The massive cruiser splashed to pieces against the dense atmosphere, flaring into a fireball and falling in chunks into the ocean below.

"Engines! Get us up out of here!" yelled Prower. Gravity had begun to take hold of the Ophir again. The engines flared to life, and began to lift the cruise ship away from the deadly embrace of Mebrin. The dampers were coming back online, but everyone still felt the downward pressure as they rose.

"Comms are open again!" called the communications officer. His right arm hung at a strange angle. His shoulder had been dislocated after the dampers had failed.

"Send that distress to the Ninth!" yelled Prower. The comms officer complied as quickly as he could, using only his left hand.

Things on the bridge slowly calmed down as they stabilized the ship.

"Damage report," said the Captain.

"All supercapacitors are down. The overload and surge destroyed every one of them. Two of the reactors are offline. Engineering is working on them. It's not clear yet how long until they'll be back. Inertial dampers at 70% capacity. All other systems nominal."

Captain Prower nodded and turned to Admiral Stonefist. The adrenal crash was beginning to take hold of her.

"Was that your plan?" she asked.

"Idea, not plan. I didn't expected them to actually crash into the planet," Grimthorn said, staring at the video of the disintegrating cruiser. That was well done, Captain Prower. As fine a maneuver as ever I've seen, even in the Navy." He saluted.

Captain Prower looked at him, ashen-faced and silent.

"Now Kinnit and I have to go," Admiral Stonefist said. "The Ninth is still going to take time to get here, and there are a lot of fighters. Keep a line of sight to the jumphole, and stay as close to atmo as you can. The fighters won't hold up well against that."

"Wh-where are you going?" she asked.

"Kinnit and I are going to set up some defenses. Would you be willing to let me take command of your security forces?"

"But we won," she said shakily.

"We're going to be boarded," he said gently. "The Ninth is forty minutes away at best, and with as many fighters as they have, they're going to get through the shields quickly. They won't be able to do much damage to the hull, but they will be able to board."

"How?"

"That's not important. Keep the shields up as long as you can. Barricade the bridge after we leave. Be prepared to destroy the controls if the bridge is breached."

"I... I will."

"All hail the Imperium," he said, saluting her.

"All hail," she repeated numbly.

And Admiral Stonefist and Kinnit left the bridge. The door sealed behind them with finality.

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The buzzing and crackling of hundreds of fighters firing at the shield resounded throughout the ship as Grimthorn strode quickly down the hallway.

"Did you learn to shoot rifle in the Academy, Kinnit?"

"I earned the Distinguished Marksman designation, sir."

Grimthorn chuckled.

"Of course you did. Now, if the bugs can't cut through the hull, where do you think they'll breach?"

"The Star Deck," she said sadly. "Once the shields are down, they'll crack the dome and land on the ballroom floor. They won't have to cut through the hull that way."

Grimthorn nodded.

"Exactly. The good news is, that gives us some clear routes to defend. What will they go for on the ship?"

"The bridge first."

"That's where you'd go. Think like a bug. What's your purpose?"

"To destroy the ship." She thought for a minute as they power-walked. "Engineering? If they're not worried about their own casualties, they could get in and overload the reactor."

"That's my guess, too. Are you ready to defend Engineering?"

"With my life, sir!"

"Well said."

They arrived at the security station and paneled open the door. A mixed crew of security personnel stood around in various stages of preparation.

"Are you Admiral Stonefist?" one of them asked.

"That's me. And this is my Assistant, Kinnit."

"Captain Prower told us to expect you, and briefed us on the situation. We're ready to follow your orders." He held out a hand as Grimthorn saluted. Then he pulled back to salute as Admiral Stonefist held out his hand. They chuckled and finally managed to connect a handshake.

"How many men do you have, and what equipment?" Grimthorn asked.

"We have thirty men, all equipped with Phoenix VR-7 blaster rifles and Karter pistols as sidearms."

"Any explosives? Grenades, mines, anything like that?"

"No. We're not equipped for a military siege."

"Understandable. Have you done any tactical movement training?"

"No, sir. We're mostly used to handling drunks and petty theft."

Grimthorn nodded.

"That's fine. What do you have in terms of surveillance? Cameras?"

The security man handed Grimthorn and Kinnit a pair of wristbands.

"We have these A/V units. You can tie into any camera on the ship with this. They have communicators. There's a map, as well."

"Perfect, this will be a huge help. Let's all suit up and get ready to head out. Kinnit and I will need weapons as well. And could one of you find a suitable outfit for my Assistant? Her dress was not selected for combat-readiness."

Kinnit blushed, thankful that he'd thought of her.

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

Kinnit went into a locker room to change as the rest of the security staff finished getting ready. She disrobed and carefully hung the beautiful dress in a borrowed locker, straightening it as best she could. It took some careful tucking to fit it all in. She removed her sandals and set them on the floor of the locker, and took the dangles off the tips of her horns, carefully placing them on the shelf. With a small, sad sigh and a last wistful gaze, she closed the locker door.

She hoped she would be able to come back for it all soon.

She dressed in the drab brown uniform of Ophir security. The uniform was new and stiff, and smelled of the harsh cleaner it was last washed in. She wrapped the belt around her, making sure the holster was clear.

She picked the pistol up off the bench and holstered it, then lifted the Phoenix rifle. She checked the charge, safety, and action. She wished they had some magnesium slugs to load in with the blasters, but they would make do with what they had.

She squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and walked back out to join Grimthorn.