"Scramble all available interceptors, Melek," Thrakhath commanded, starting toward the door. "Including my own squadron. We will show them they cannot defile the Homeworld with impunity!"
"Eighty kilometers up . . . two hundred ten kilometers to target," Blair said over the comm channel. There was no need for comm silence now. The Kilrathi had surely detected the Terran fighters. "Maniac, you take point. Open me a path. And you watch my tail, Flint. They're going to throw everything they can our way."
"Affirmative," Flint replied.
"You got it," Marshall chimed in a moment later. His fighter swept past Blair's to take the lead.
He was hardly in position before the first targets appeared ahead. "We got bogies," Blair said. "They look like atmospheric craft — ground-based interceptors.
"Piece of cake," Maniac told him. The Excalibur's afterburners cut in, and Marshall surged ahead, his blasters beginning to fire as he closed in on the enemy aircraft.
Conventional atmospheric fighters weren't as well-equipped as space fighters, but they were fast and maneuverable in their own element. Marshall's guns cut a swath through the leading fighters, but the others rolled out and then swung inward from either flank, unleashing a massive bombardment. Caught in a crossfire from four aircraft at once, Maniac rolled left to concentrate on one threat. Blair banked sharply right and opened fire on the remaining pair. His blasters raked across the nearer target, which came apart under the savage force of the beams.
The second fighter looped up, turning away from the battle and accelerating fast. Evidently the pilot had decided against a glorious death today . . .
"There's more of the bastards up ahead, Colonel," Marshall reported as he finished off his last opponent and swung back into formation. "Looks like we're not welcome around here."
"As long as they're just conventional aircraft, they shouldn't be much trouble," Blair said. "Stay focused, though. You can bet they'll bring in the big guns soon enough . . ."
"Targets! Targets! Targets!" Flint chanted. "I've got six . . . eight targets on my board. Coming in from orbit!"
They weren't showing on Blair's sensors yet, so they were still at extreme range. "Watch em, Flint," he ordered. A whole squadron of space-based fighters would be a lot harder to handle than the aircraft ahead, but they'd be hard-pressed to close the range as long as the Terrans could keep moving.
The second wave of interceptors closed in from below, eight high-performance jet aircraft in a tight formation. They broke just as Maniac opened fire, scattering, curving in on the Terrans and engaging with missiles and beam weapons. Once again Maniac and Blair had to engage them, and by the time the attackers had been destroyed or forced to flee Blair realized what the enemy strategy was. Each time the Terrans got caught in a dogfight, however short, the orbital fighters closed the range a little more . . .
A near miss by a missile buffeted her fighter, and Lieutenant Robin Peters had to fight her steering yoke to maintain control. It had been years since she'd last had to fight a battle in a planetary atmosphere, where all the rules were different from those she was used to in deep space fighting. Shock waves carried. . . and shields were weakened by the energy they absorbed from friction in high-speed maneuvers.
"They're firing," Flint reported. "One Vaktoth . . . and a Bloodfang, both of them in combat range. More Vaktoth coming up fast behind them."
"Bloodfang . . . Thrakhath s personal fighter." Blair's voice was grim. "Damn it all!"
She nodded Intelligence reports on the Prince's personal fighter, code-named Bloodfang by the Confederation, suggested it would be one hell of a tough opponent. "Don't know if I can take the bastard, skipper," she said. "You have any bright ideas?"
"Go to afterburners," Blair ordered. "Let's see if we can outrun them."
She kicked in the extra power, but the Vaktoth matched her. . . continued closing the range. Another missile detonated, even closer this time. "No joy, skipper," she said. "Looks like there's going to be a fight . . ."
Kilrathi blaster fire probed at her rear shields, sapping the power levels with each hit. Cursing, she pulled up in a sharp loop and opened fire on one of her two pursuers with blasters and a spread of four missiles. The two fighters were having as much trouble fighting in atmosphere as she was, and the weakened forward shields of her target went down under the fury of her attack. The Vaktoth exploded in a shower of debris, and Flint let out a whoop of triumph.
It died on her lips as the Bloodfang opened fire. She tried to roll out, but blasters pounded at her shields. They were going down . . . and a pair of heat seekers were already on the way.
"He's got me, skipper!" she called. Can t . . evade. Don't forget . . . I could have loved —"
She didn't live to finish the sentence.
"Flint!" Blair shouted, but it was too late. The rearmost Excalibur went up in a dazzling fireball, and Robin Peters was gone.
A new voice crackled in his headphones. "So it shall be with you as well, Heart of the Tiger." He recognized the harsh, sibilant voice. Thrakhath . . . "You are foolhardy, to venture with so few against my Homeworld. Once before you lacked the courage to fight me. This time, you shall not escape. Welcome, Heart of the Tiger, to Kilrah . . . and to your death!"
"The canyon's in sight ahead, Colonel," Marshall reported. "I'll drop back and have the next dance. You get in there and do your stuff!"
Blair hesitated. Thrakhath had challenged him once again . . . and he couldn't stand and fight. It took every bit of his self-control to grit his teeth and acknowledge Marshall's call.
Maniac executed a tight Immelman loop, swinging up and around to head back toward the on-coming Kilrathi fighters. Thrakhath's Bloodfang was still well in the lead, but there were two others closing fast.
Blair saw the canyon ahead, a long, jagged scar on the surface of Kilrah. His target was there, at the far end of the deep trench . . .
"Watch your tail, Colonel!" Maniac called suddenly. "Don't know if I can cover you!"
His sensor board told the story. Thrakhath had ignored Maniac's Excalibur entirely, refusing to be drawn into a dogfight. Instead he had plunged past Marshall, and the two trailing Vaktoth were all over the Terran pilot now. Blair cursed aloud Maniac couldn't last long against two heavy fighters . . .
And his underarmed Excalibur was no match for Thrakhath's Bloodfang.
He swung sharply left, away from the canyon, as the Kilrathi prince opened fire. The blaster shots went wide but the Bloodfang followed his turn, still clinging stubbornly to his tail. All the advantages lay with Thrakhath now.
Blair was only dimly aware of the explosion higher up and off to his right. His monitor told him it was one of the Vaktoth facing Maniac. Somehow Marshall had managed to savage one of his foes, but the other was still pressing hard. For the moment Blair couldn't afford to think about him, though. He cut in full afterburners and tried to climb up and out of range of Thrakhath's fighter. A Kilrathi missile exploded against his rear shields, sending the power levels fluctuating wildly. And still Thrakhath held on behind him.
"Heads up, Colonel! Incoming!" Maniac's call was loud and almost exultant. Marshall had swung away from his second opponent and was diving down on Thrakhath, heedless of the Vaktoth behind him slashing at his shields with bolt after bolt of raw energy.