Admiral Stonefist stood on the captain's dais, gripping the railing. He was always tense while waiting for the results of an operation.

The recon ships should be done with their work, and the cruisers should be hitting the docks right about now.

He knew how it should be going. But he also knew how often combat failed to follow his expectations.

Grimthorn glanced at the new helmsman, Lieutenant Phet. He was talented but untried in combat. He'd demonstrated his abilities well, but he was young, and he had never been in combat.

Grimthorn went with his gut. Phet had to be tried in combat sometime. Might as well be now.

Lieutenant Renning perked up as his console pinged.

"Message capsule just came through the jumphole, sir. Decrypting."

Admiral Stonefist breathed deeply, exercising his patience.

"Sir..." Lieutenant Renning trailed off. "Sir, the message is from one of the cruisers. The Oryndrax are not in dock! They've wiped out the recon fleet. The cruisers are under attack!"

Grimthorn swore mightily.

"Let's get in there and help them!" he yelled. "Attack ships to the fore! Swordheart will lead the way! All support vessels, clear the jumphole! Charge weapons!"

The ISS Swordheart streamed toward the jumphole, her engines screaming with power, and tipped in.

Grimthorn tensely endured jumpspace. He reached out, as best as he could, and tried to lay a hand on Kinnit's shoulder. The shifting number of dimensions around them made it difficult know if he'd succeeded. He hoped he had, for all the good it'd do.

They blasted from the exit jumphole at top speed.

"Seven point nine relative minutes in jumpspace!" the temporal officer cried.

His notice was soundly ignored as every eye shot to the main screen that wrapped around the bridge.

"Oh no... sir..." Kinnit breathed.

The sector was filled with Oryndrax ships. Fighters filled the screen like, well, like a swarm of bugs. Oryndrax cruisers and battleships swam through a sea of fighters to hammer the beleaguered Imperial cruisers that had jumped in earlier.

Grimthorn hissed through his teeth.

"Get those bugs off our cruisers! Ion cannons, aim for our cruisers, danger close! One klick range to cruiser, max. Burn those bugs off! Mass drivers, hit that battleship, speed of point nine C. Make 'em smoke. That battleship will put a pile of hurting on our cruisers if it gets to them. Hold torpedos. Blasters, shoot at any bug you can reach. You have plenty to choose from."

A massive contingent of Oryndrax fighters broke toward the Swordheart. The ship's hundreds of blasters lit the sky, burning away fighters by the dozens every second, but more and more rushed in, filling the bridge monitor. The ion cannons thumped heavily, sending blue streaks toward the cluster of ships surrounding the cruisers.

The mass drivers lobbed massive balls of depleted uranium at the Oryndrax battleship. They punched straight through the battleship, but didn't hit anything critical. The mass drivers began charging up again.

"Lieutenant Phet, take us away from the jumphole, planetward. Clear the way for the rest of the fleet. Turn broadside to the jumphole, protect our incoming ships as much as possible. We'll draw as much fire as we can. Comms, relay our tactics to incoming ships." He glanced at the shields. "Wish I'd had time to get the Swordheart outfitted with some of those Xyntic shields," he muttered. "Any recon ships left?"

"No, sir, we can't get them on comms," Lieutenant Renning said. "We've just lost contact with cruisers Warpstrike and Sentinel."

Kinnit tapped Grimthorn's elbow.

"Sir, our battleships are coming through."

"Good, let's get them in the fight. The bugs don't have many big ships. Focus on those, knock them out first. Remember, the priority is to get those jumpholes closed."

Grimthorn shook his head, reviewing the data on the bridge monitor.

"No shuttle will survive this," he said. "We'll have to fire quantum disruptor torpedoes from the Swordheart. Contact the shuttles, get those torpedos off the shuttles and into our aft tubes. I hate to tie up torpedo tubes right now, but we don't have a choice. Torpedos, fire tubes three and four at those Oryndrax cruisers."

Two torpedos streaked toward the battleship, which was turning to face the Swordheart. It responded with torpedos of its own. They struck home on the Swordheart's flank. The deck swayed and seemed to sag for a moment.

"Sir!" cried Renning. "Shields are flickering! And we just lost two inertial dampers!"

"Acknowledged. Helm, keep our maneuvers below 40 G. We don't want to snap the ship in half. Or turn the crew into paste."

Lieutenant Phet nodded. Sweat glistened on his brow.

Fighters swarmed the Swordheart, relentlessly firing into her shields. Their blasters had a lot of power, but they were unfocused, blaring damage that cooled quickly in the cold void of space. To compensate, they made suicidally close strafing runs. The Swordheart's blasters were racking up a record number of kills and many fighters got too close and were cooked by the shields, but the endless mass kept sweeping across the Swordheart, pouring destruction out on the flagship. The shields crackled loudly as the relentless attack ate away at them.

"Get some towships to those patrol boats, get them to the exit jumphole! Send a message capsule through as well, let them know we'll have more derelicts incoming. How are those cruisers looking?"

"Two down, sir," Kinnit said. "The rest are fighting back. We've taken the pressure off so they can respond."

"Excellent."

"Sir, more of our battleships have arrived," Kinnit said. Four more Imperial battleships waded into the fray, their blasters lancing into the swarm.

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"Hmm. Why aren't we getting some pressure taken off?"

"The fighters seem to be focused on us, sir. Seems like they're trying to soften us up."

"For what?" he said. "They've got something else going on."

He thought for a moment as the battle raged around them.

"Okay, let's give them what they want. Mass drivers, ion cannons, and all blasters on the starboard side of the ship, on my mark, stop firing. Helm, on my mark I want you to flare main engines one, two, and four, then shut them down. Everybody be ready to bring it all back online."

Kinnit grinned up at Grimthorn.

"You're going to make it look like we've taken critical damage. Like we've lost a reactor."

Grimthorn smiled back at her.

"Exactly. Let's see what they do when they think we're dead in the water." He turned back to the bridge crew. "3... 2... 1... mark!"

The engines howled as the Phet flared them, expertly flicking power through each of the engines to simulate a catastrophic reactor failure. The guns all fell silent. The lights dimmed as the remaining engine tried to power the ship by itself.

The strident crackling of the shields continued as the Oryndrax fleet continued to attack. Time stretched out. Grimthorn and Kinnit watched the shield's batteries deplete with shocking speed, now that only one engine was powering them. The port blasters kept firing, but they were no longer holding back the roiling swirl of fighters, not even close.

"Come on, what are you bugs planning?" Grimthorn muttered. "Show your hand."

The shield's batteries continued to drop. Kinnit started sweating.

"Sir?" she said quietly.

"Okay, I don't think they're buying it. All engines, prepare--"

The crackling of the shields stopped. The fighters cleared away, turning their attention to the battleships. Grimthorn grinned.

"Well, look at that. Good. Helm, get us to the lee side of the planet. We'll set up in a good spot and open back up on them."

"Sir," Lieutenant Phet said. "It will take ten minutes to get there on one engine."

Grimthorn nodded.

"And it'll take their fighters twice as long to reach us over there. They'll be flying unprotected across open space, and we can hammer them the whole time. Get us moving." Grimthorn grimaced. "That is a long time to be out of action, though. The superior position could be worth it. We'll see how the battle unfolds. Where's that bug battleship?"

"It's engaged with our battleships, sir," Kinnit said. "Our damage seems to have slowed it down some. But our battleships are swarmed with fighters."

"We'll keep an eye on them. And our cruisers?"

"They're rallying, sir. They're grouping up to fight back against the fighters."

"Perfect. Once they're together, they can get in closer to the battleships. Get their fire focused. Are the quantum disruptors ready to go?"

"Quantum disruptors are loaded and ready to fire," said the torpedo officer.

"We'll wait until we've got a clear shot. We don't want to waste those."

They watched the battle unfold as they limped toward the planet. Kinnit's eye was caught by one of the readings on the main screen. She gasped.

"Sir, the mass readings..."

"I see it," he said.

From the far side of the planet emerged an enormous vessel. It was a giant blob shape, almost like a hornet's nest.

It crested from behind the planet, and kept coming, growing larger and larger on the bridge monitor as more of it was revealed.

An awed hush fell over the bridge as the great Oryndrax hiveship cleared the planet. Hundreds of engines lit up across the massive vessel, pushing it toward the Swordheart.

"What the..." Lieutenant Renning said. "That thing's the size of a space station!"

"Look how many engines are driving that thing!" Lieutenant Phet said. "How can they power that many engines? How many reactors have they got?"

"That's what they were waiting for," Kinnit breathed. "They wanted us worn down so they could finish us off with that thing."

"Why would they wait?" cried the Phet, his voice edging on panic. "Why didn't they bring that thing out earlier? It's not like we can stand up to it!"

"They don't want a fair fight," Grimthorn said, nodding. "That's the mistake that we made, getting into a fair fight against the bugs. They think they wounded us, and now they want to smash us flat with that beast of a ship."

"That seems personal, sir," Kinnit said. "I think you must have really ticked them off."

There was a moment of silence on the bridge.

"Ah, you see what I did there, sir? Because 'tick' is a kind of bug, and--"

"Not the time, Assistant. Okay, let's deal with this hiveship. Wait until it closes in. All hands, be ready to go active."

The looming bulk closed in on the Swordheart.

"That's a carrier," Grimthorn said. "That's where all these fighters came from."

The pointed end of the hiveship irised open slowly, exposing a massive, gaping hole. A sickly orange glow shone from within. The glow slowly grew more intense.

"It's an energy cannon running the entire length of the hiveship," Kinnit said quietly, looking nauseous. "We can't stand up to that. The whole fleet couldn't stand up to that."

"We can get some torpedos in there, sir," said the Torpedo officer.

"No, we can't," Grimthorn said, smiling slightly. "That's the biggest, most obvious target in the galaxy. Even the bugs aren't that dumb. They'll have it well shielded. The mass drivers could get through, but they won't be able do much damage to something that big. The Oryndrax must have stripped their planet half bare for the materials to build that thing." He looked thoughtful. "That's a big investment. A big, expensive investment."

Kinnit swallowed heavily.

"What are we going to do, Grimthorn?" Kinnit asked.

An unexpected smile split Grimthorn's face.

"We're going to play chicken."

"Sir?"

"An old Terran game." Grimthorn pointed at the gaping hole on the hiveship. "What does that look like to you, Kinnit?" Grimthorn asked.

"It looks like the biggest gun in the galaxy, sir," she said, a small quaver in her voice.

"Really? Because it looks like an invitation to me. Lieutenant Phet, I need every erg of power those engines have, right now. Bring them up."

The Swordheart rattled as the engines roared back to life, shaking the whole ship.

"Very good. Now I want you to park the Swordheart in there."

"S-sir?"

Grimthorn pointed at the hole in the hiveship.

"Right there. That ridiculous cannon looks large enough to fit the Swordheart. Can you get us in there?"

Lieutenant Phet swallowed heavily.

"In... the cannon, sir?"

Grimthorn smiled.

"As fast as you can. Then stop on a dime."

"I... I don't think I can--"

"I trust you."

The glow of the cannon brightened.

"Do it."

Lieutenant Phet clenched his teeth. He fired the engines and the Swordheart leapt at the hiveship. They closed the distance with dizzying speed. The hiveship filled the screen, the gaping maw of the cannon growing every second.

"The hiveship is trying to evade, sir!" Phet cried.

"They're too lumbering slow to escape. Keep going."

Lieutenant Phet's breath whistled through his nose as he watched the range to the hiveship and the power output of the engines.

"Oh, and remember we're missing two inertial dampers," Grimthorn said.

Phet nodded tightly and dialed back some of his controls. The Swordheart barreled closer, closer...

There was an ear shattering crackle as the two ships' shields met, gigawatts of energy clashing and spitting lightning into cold space as they cancelled each other out.

Lieutenant Phet slammed all his controls over. The Swordheart slowed suddenly. The mightiest flagship of the Imperium reeled to a stop, the front third of the ship inside the hole of the hiveship. There were only a few dozen meters of clearance on either side, a whisper's width between the two ships, but there was no contact anywhere.

"Now," Grimthorn said. "If they want to shoot us, they'll blow up their big fancy hiveship, too. Well done, Lieutenant Phet. If we survive, I'm putting you in for a commendation."

"I think I need to change my uniform, sir," Lieutenant Phet said weakly. "Permission to leave the bridge?"

"Permission denied. We're almost done here, one way or another."

Grimthorn gazed deep into the guts of the cannon.

"I can't win," he said quietly, "but we can both lose. So go ahead. Shoot me, big boy."

There was a long, tense silence as the entire bridge crew, aghast, stared directly into the heated reactor of the largest energy cannon ever built.