heavy cruiser would simply guarantee a swift firing squad for incompetence. No, she’s going to attack.”
On her display, the crippled C-818 had kept onto the same vector, heading helplessly away from the other warships. But Kolani’s other ships were bending into as tight a turn as they could manage. That turn covered a lot of space at the velocity they were traveling, but it was plain that Kolani intended to reengage as soon as possible.
“All units, come up one one zero degrees.” Iceni brought the rest of her own force curving upward to join with her cruiser, then continued the upward turn, not trying to match the hull-straining tightness of Kolani’s maneuver. “She’ll come to us,” Iceni said, steadying out her force.
Using the standard human conventions for maneuvering in a star system, up was the direction arbitrarily designated above the plane of the planets orbiting the star while down would be below that. Port meant a turn away from the star while starboard meant a turn toward the star. The conventions were the only way of ensuring that one spacecraft understood directions issued by another spacecraft when they were operating in an environment without any real ups or downs. To an observer on a planet, Iceni’s warships would have turned so far “up” that they had passed the vertical and were upside down, angling farther above the plane of the star system. Kolani’s force had done the same, so that the tracks of the two forces were coming together at an angle as if aiming to complete two sides of a triangle whose base was the original tracks of the warships before their first encounter.
“This time,” Iceni said, “we will target everything on CEO Kolani’s cruiser.” There was a chance that would destroy cruiser C-990, but there was also a chance that Kolani, if she was desperate enough and convinced that victory was impossible, would still launch a bombardment of the planet. That had to be prevented even if the price was a heavy cruiser that Iceni didn’t want to lose.
“Madam CEO,” the comm line worker said, “we’re getting broadcasts from the planet that you might want to review.”
“Is General Drakon still in control?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll deal with that after we’ve finished with CEO Kolani.”
The wait wasn’t nearly as long as before as the two forces rushed back together. Akiri seemed resigned to the damage that might still be inflicted on his unit. Marphissa appeared enormously pleased with herself but was keeping it mostly under wraps.
Only twenty seconds from contact, the odds changed again.
Iceni watched an alert pulse on her display as two of the three light cruisers under Kolani’s control and three of the four HuKs with her suddenly altered their tracks, pulling away from the rest of Kolani’s warships. A last-moment trick to create trouble for Iceni?
“They’re pulling away from contact,” Marphissa said. “Bolting out of CEO Kolani’s force.”
Iceni only had time to nod before the remaining warships slashed by each other. All of Kolani’s remaining units hurled their fire at the cruiser holding Iceni, but that now amounted to only one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and one HuK. On Iceni’s side, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and four HuKs concentrated their weaponry on Kolani’s flagship as the two sides raced past each other in far less time than the blink of an eye.
Iceni’s cruiser C-448 was still shuddering from the hits on her shields when the sensors began reporting on the status of Kolani’s cruiser. C-990 had been hit hard. Kolani’s flagship tumbled through space, with maneuvering systems knocked out, the bow a total ruin, and numerous hull penetrations marking internal damage. “Try to get communications with C-990,” Iceni ordered.
“We could finish off the ship,” Marphissa offered. “C-990’s shields are completely gone.”
“No.” They were watching her, clearly wondering at a CEO displaying any
On her display, the crippled C-818 had kept onto the same vector, heading helplessly away from the other warships. But Kolani’s other ships were bending into as tight a turn as they could manage. That turn covered a lot of space at the velocity they were traveling, but it was plain that Kolani intended to reengage as soon as possible.
“All units, come up one one zero degrees.” Iceni brought the rest of her own force curving upward to join with her cruiser, then continued the upward turn, not trying to match the hull-straining tightness of Kolani’s maneuver. “She’ll come to us,” Iceni said, steadying out her force.
Using the standard human conventions for maneuvering in a star system, up was the direction arbitrarily designated above the plane of the planets orbiting the star while down would be below that. Port meant a turn away from the star while starboard meant a turn toward the star. The conventions were the only way of ensuring that one spacecraft understood directions issued by another spacecraft when they were operating in an environment without any real ups or downs. To an observer on a planet, Iceni’s warships would have turned so far “up” that they had passed the vertical and were upside down, angling farther above the plane of the star system. Kolani’s force had done the same, so that the tracks of the two forces were coming together at an angle as if aiming to complete two sides of a triangle whose base was the original tracks of the warships before their first encounter.
“This time,” Iceni said, “we will target everything on CEO Kolani’s cruiser.” There was a chance that would destroy cruiser C-990, but there was also a chance that Kolani, if she was desperate enough and convinced that victory was impossible, would still launch a bombardment of the planet. That had to be prevented even if the price was a heavy cruiser that Iceni didn’t want to lose.
“Madam CEO,” the comm line worker said, “we’re getting broadcasts from the planet that you might want to review.”
“Is General Drakon still in control?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll deal with that after we’ve finished with CEO Kolani.”
The wait wasn’t nearly as long as before as the two forces rushed back together. Akiri seemed resigned to the damage that might still be inflicted on his unit. Marphissa appeared enormously pleased with herself but was keeping it mostly under wraps.
Only twenty seconds from contact, the odds changed again.
Iceni watched an alert pulse on her display as two of the three light cruisers under Kolani’s control and three of the four HuKs with her suddenly altered their tracks, pulling away from the rest of Kolani’s warships. A last-moment trick to create trouble for Iceni?
“They’re pulling away from contact,” Marphissa said. “Bolting out of CEO Kolani’s force.”
Iceni only had time to nod before the remaining warships slashed by each other. All of Kolani’s remaining units hurled their fire at the cruiser holding Iceni, but that now amounted to only one heavy cruiser, one light cruiser, and one HuK. On Iceni’s side, three heavy cruisers, one light cruiser, and four HuKs concentrated their weaponry on Kolani’s flagship as the two sides raced past each other in far less time than the blink of an eye.
Iceni’s cruiser C-448 was still shuddering from the hits on her shields when the sensors began reporting on the status of Kolani’s cruiser. C-990 had been hit hard. Kolani’s flagship tumbled through space, with maneuvering systems knocked out, the bow a total ruin, and numerous hull penetrations marking internal damage. “Try to get communications with C-990,” Iceni ordered.
“We could finish off the ship,” Marphissa offered. “C-990’s shields are completely gone.”
“No.” They were watching her, clearly wondering at a CEO displaying any
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