knocked off course and were tumbling helplessly, maneuvering systems too badly damaged to control the ships. The fifth had tried to stagger onward after the first two, but several specter missiles fired by the Alliance light cruisers had swung through tight turns to slam into the stern of the dark ship. It vanished in a flare of light and heat, leaving an endlessly expanding ball of dust where it had been.
“Still accelerating,” Desjani commented, displaying no elation at the damage done to the hostile forces. The two surviving dark destroyers were pushing their velocity higher, which would make targeting them even harder for the Alliance warships in the screen. “What’s Armus doing?” she grumbled in a voice too low for anyone but Geary to hear.
“He’s setting them up,” Geary said. “
Warspite
,
Vengeance
, and
Resolution
are holding fixed orbits, so anything aiming to intercept them will have to come down a predictable path.”
“Oh.” Desjani grinned. “Sorry, sir. Battle cruiser captain here. I tend to think in terms of maneuvering.”
“Whereas Captain Armus knows battleships and thinks in term of forts and firepower,” Geary said.
If the dark ships had attempted to dodge, to simply tear through the thin screen of widely spread Alliance ships, they would almost certainly have succeeded in making it through intact. If the Alliance ships had not guessed that the dark ships intended to ram, they would have faced a difficult fire-control solution for their weapons. But the two survivors bore down on their targets, one aiming for
Warspite
and the second for
Resolution
, and the Alliance fire-control systems only needed to solve for one, simple solution. The two battleships and the remaining Alliance light cruisers and destroyers near them hurled a wall of fire down the bearings along which the dark ship destroyers had to come, and the two destroyers hit those walls and disintegrated under the blows.
Coming on behind, though, were the remaining dark ships, and those were just trying to run through the screen. The two battle cruisers and the trailing heavy cruiser tore past the still-thinly-spread Alliance ships and onward, without any hits being scored on them.
Geary’s jaw tightened as he checked the maneuvering data again. His battle cruisers were still angling in toward the dark ships, but the intercept point was far ahead, past the place where the dark ships would be able to fire upon Ambaru Station.
None of the fixed defenses near Ambaru were showing any signs of alert or alarm. They were all apparently still blind to the presence of the dark ships.
All that lay between the surviving dark ships and Ambaru Station were the sixteen heavy cruisers forming the last defensive barrier.
THREE
“HOW do we stop two battle cruisers like that with sixteen heavy cruisers?” Desjani asked. “If they were typical battle cruisers, we could do it, but the dark ships are not typical.”
Geary indicated the intercept point on his display. “We don’t have to stop them. We just have to push back their time to reach Ambaru and push up the time when we get within range of the dark ships.”
“Make them maneuver off a straight shot at Ambaru?” She nodded, then tapped a symbol. “The heavy cruiser formations are under Commander Rosen. What do you know about her?”
“That she’s commander of the First Heavy Cruiser Division,” Geary said, “as well as commanding officer of the
Tanko
. And that in previous engagements she has shown a tendency to hit hard.”
“Then you need to realize that when you send Rosen after those dark ships, she’s not going to just dance around,” Desjani said. “She’s going to go after them and try to land some hard blows.”
“Rosen has seen the data on how heavily armed those dark battle cruisers are.”
“And she’s going to try to hit them hard,” Desjani repeated.
“I know,” Geary said. “That’s the idea.” He saw her surprise, then the dawning
“Still accelerating,” Desjani commented, displaying no elation at the damage done to the hostile forces. The two surviving dark destroyers were pushing their velocity higher, which would make targeting them even harder for the Alliance warships in the screen. “What’s Armus doing?” she grumbled in a voice too low for anyone but Geary to hear.
“He’s setting them up,” Geary said. “
Warspite
,
Vengeance
, and
Resolution
are holding fixed orbits, so anything aiming to intercept them will have to come down a predictable path.”
“Oh.” Desjani grinned. “Sorry, sir. Battle cruiser captain here. I tend to think in terms of maneuvering.”
“Whereas Captain Armus knows battleships and thinks in term of forts and firepower,” Geary said.
If the dark ships had attempted to dodge, to simply tear through the thin screen of widely spread Alliance ships, they would almost certainly have succeeded in making it through intact. If the Alliance ships had not guessed that the dark ships intended to ram, they would have faced a difficult fire-control solution for their weapons. But the two survivors bore down on their targets, one aiming for
Warspite
and the second for
Resolution
, and the Alliance fire-control systems only needed to solve for one, simple solution. The two battleships and the remaining Alliance light cruisers and destroyers near them hurled a wall of fire down the bearings along which the dark ship destroyers had to come, and the two destroyers hit those walls and disintegrated under the blows.
Coming on behind, though, were the remaining dark ships, and those were just trying to run through the screen. The two battle cruisers and the trailing heavy cruiser tore past the still-thinly-spread Alliance ships and onward, without any hits being scored on them.
Geary’s jaw tightened as he checked the maneuvering data again. His battle cruisers were still angling in toward the dark ships, but the intercept point was far ahead, past the place where the dark ships would be able to fire upon Ambaru Station.
None of the fixed defenses near Ambaru were showing any signs of alert or alarm. They were all apparently still blind to the presence of the dark ships.
All that lay between the surviving dark ships and Ambaru Station were the sixteen heavy cruisers forming the last defensive barrier.
THREE
“HOW do we stop two battle cruisers like that with sixteen heavy cruisers?” Desjani asked. “If they were typical battle cruisers, we could do it, but the dark ships are not typical.”
Geary indicated the intercept point on his display. “We don’t have to stop them. We just have to push back their time to reach Ambaru and push up the time when we get within range of the dark ships.”
“Make them maneuver off a straight shot at Ambaru?” She nodded, then tapped a symbol. “The heavy cruiser formations are under Commander Rosen. What do you know about her?”
“That she’s commander of the First Heavy Cruiser Division,” Geary said, “as well as commanding officer of the
Tanko
. And that in previous engagements she has shown a tendency to hit hard.”
“Then you need to realize that when you send Rosen after those dark ships, she’s not going to just dance around,” Desjani said. “She’s going to go after them and try to land some hard blows.”
“Rosen has seen the data on how heavily armed those dark battle cruisers are.”
“And she’s going to try to hit them hard,” Desjani repeated.
“I know,” Geary said. “That’s the idea.” He saw her surprise, then the dawning
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