Empire Ebook Full by B. V. Larson Page A

a few hours before our reinforcements were
     scheduled to arrive. We listened intently to scraps of voice audio.
    “…we’ve got a new force…definitely hostile…”
    Everyone stopped working and listened in, except for Marvin, who I could see on a
     live monitor. He was out on the skin of the station, exposed to space. He made final
     adjustments by tentacle, tuning our makeshift antenna like an old-fashioned set of
     rabbit-ears. His skinny arms whipped about outside the station, aiming the antenna
     with tiny adjustments, and guiding it to track what must be a moving source of transmission.
    “…ship configuration unknown. They have come through the ring and are approaching
     the dead station. Relay this to all commanders, we have new contacts…”
    The antenna buzzed and warbled incomprehensibly for a time. I finally couldn’t take
     it anymore. “Marvin, can you identify the source of those transmissions?”
    “I believe they are coming from the destroyer Berlin , sir.”
    “They’re from the relief task force then?”
    “Definitely, sir.”
    “Keep working on that signal. Get whatever you can.”
    I turned back toward the others on the bridge. Their faces were pale and drawn. I
     could hear their thoughts, despite the fact no one spoke. New ships were coming here?
     We were practically helpless.
    “There’s no reason for them to come here other than to board this station,” I said.
     “That means they’ll have to decelerate and come in very close. We have one working
     battery, and we need to use it at point-blank range.”
    “We need time to put a lot of steel up into space, Colonel,” Welter said. “If we start
     firing toward the ring now, we might catch a few of them as they make their approach.”
    I shook my head. “We’re blind now, and might not hit anything. We have no active sensor,
     pinging away to give us valid targeting data. We’ll have to eyeball it when they make
     their final approach.”
    “We’ll only get off one or two volleys before they knock us out.”
    I took a deep breath and let it out again. “You’re probably right. But at that distance,
     we’ll blow holes in their ships if we do hit. It’s better than hitting nothing and
     getting smashed by missiles at range.”
    After a bit more wrangling, they agreed to my plan for a point-blank ambush. We decided
     our time was best spent now trying to get another battery operating. If we could do
     enough damage, maybe we could disrupt their plans and continue breathing long enough
     for the cavalry to get here.
    We worked furiously after that, and by the time the alien ships were flaring their
     braking jets in near space, we had a second battery operating. We aimed them both
     toward the ring, and waited until their hot exhaust trails left no doubt concerning
     their speed, trajectory and mission: They were braking hard, coming in to dock with
     our wrecked station.
    By my count, there were about twenty-five exhaust flares. Without active sensors and
     the holotank, I wasn’t sure exactly what we were facing, but I was sure they were
     too small to be dreadnaughts or cruisers.
    “Eight thousand miles,” Welter announced.
    “Hold your fire,” I ordered.
    Everyone was tense and sweating in their suits, including me. I’d been enduring a
     tickling sensation on my left eyebrow for the last ten minutes or so. The sensation
     was driving me mad, but I didn’t dare open my helmet now.
    “Seven thousand out now, decelerating hard.”
    We watched as the invading ships flared brighter. Their exhaust plumed into flaring
     fireballs at the base of every ship. I wondered if they had gravity repeller drives
     at all.
    “Six thousand.”
    “Marvin, calculate a firing solution for me: At what point will they have less than
     a one-second warning before our railgun projectiles reach them?”
    “Given their rate of approach and presuming a continued matching rate of deceleration,
     I’d say six seconds ago.”
    I looked at