On board the Cainth cruiser the navigator said, Weve been detected. The human ship has turned and is coming towards us.
How did they see us? the Cainth commander asked.
I dont know. I didnt detect any sensors, but somehow they see us. Theyve turned directly toward us and are picking up speed.
Contact the Glod ship immediately and begin the operation.
On board the Glod ship the commander saw the coordinates of the Earth ship appear on his screen and heard the Cainth commander say, Jump now. Jump now. Weve been detected.
All of his bridge crew heard the message and grew excited at the upcoming attack. They were ready for action at battle stations and had been so for two rotations. Enter the location and jump, the commander ordered.
Sir, we have a star drive breaking normal space forty-five miles off our port side, Mikado said.
Change course, take us away from that entry point, Kosiev ordered, and Ensign Smith turned the ship and moved ninety degrees away from the star drive disturbance. Kosiev looked at his display and saw the distinctive silver-blue flash that a ship makes as it breaks into normal space. Moscow completed its turn and started picking up speed as it moved away from the entry point of the Glod cruiser.
What kind of ship is that? Kosiev asked. It has to be ten times our size!
Sir, theres nothing like that in our records, Mikado answered. Ive even compared it to all the ships from all of the Cainth invasions and nothing matches.
Kosiev turned to Ensign Kelley, the communications officer, and said, Get a message out to Earth station and tell them were avoiding confrontation. How far are we now from that ship?
Mikado looked at his console, Were eighty miles away and maintaining that distance at one-third speed, sir.
Maintain that distance and speed. Dont let them get close enough to hit us with a beam to prevent us from using our star drive. Have you been able to detect anything about that ships armaments?
Yes sir. Their screen came on right after they entered normal space, however, our sensors determined that they are heavily armed with both missile and energy weapons before their screen cut off our vision. The power of their screen is quite strong. Its about the size of a medium Cainth battleship and they are matching our speed; so far they have not attempted to communicate, Lieutenant Mikado said.
Ensign Kelley said, Sir, theyre sending us a message.
Put it on audio.
will drop your screens and prepare to be boarded, a voice said in standard Alliance. If you resist, you will be destroyed.
Captain Kosiev turned on his com and answered, saying, This is the Directorate Ship Moscow and we are inside our territory enforcing Alliance rules. You have entered our space without permission and I will not let you board my ship. I have contacted our Alliance ambassador to inquire as to who you are and what youre doing here. Captain Kosiev knew that every ship had standing orders to self-destruct before allowing the Alliance any access to Coronado technology. He could not allow his ship to fall into the Alliances hands.
Then prepare to die, the voice said, and the ship fired ten heavy high-speed missiles.
Sir, do we want to show them the capability of our screens? Lieutenant Alverez, the weapons officer, asked while watching the huge missiles coming from the strange ship.
No, I dont, although I think theyll learn if they get into range to discharge their energy weapons at us, Kosiev answered.
Then why dont we just destroy the missiles and run or just jump away?
Because I have a feeling that if we dont stand and fight, then someone else is going to be attacked, later and if we destroy those missiles the next attack will have more than just one ship and more than just ten missiles. If we jump out, then we also avoid our duty to defend the twenty-light-year limit.
But that ship is at least ten times our tonnage, and each of those ten missiles is just about half as long as our ship. Do you think that this is an attempt to determine our strength, captain? Ensign Smith asked while adjusting Moscows acceleration.
Yes, I do, and I believe that other object we detected is a ship sent there to record whatever happens. Its aces to deuces that the object we saw first is a ship powered down and doesnt think we can see them. I also believe that if we call in additional ships that the next attack will be even greater and might be further inside the twenty light year limit.
Mikado watched his screens as the missiles came closer and said, What are your orders, sir?
Kosiev knew that the time of peaceful coexistence was about to end. He could avoid risking his ship and jump away from the attack, but then he would leave the invader inside Directorate space, and that was just not acceptable. He decided that if peace were to end now then he would do his best to make sure that whoever planned this attack would not get any information. It ticked him off that he was being attacked without doing anything to provoke it. It was just another example of humans being attacked for no justifiable reason.
Kosiev stared at the main screen and asked, How long till missile impact?
Mikado looked at his board and replied, Twenty seconds, sir, at our current speed. We could probably outrun them at three-fourths speed.
Kosiev looked at his helmsman and said, I dont want to show them our maximum speed. Mr. Smith, go to half speed and head towards that first object we detected; at that speed how long before impact, Mr. Mikdado?
Forty-five seconds, sir.
How long before we reach the first object?
Forty-two seconds, sir.
Good, I dont have to use full speed.
On board the Glod ship, the Earth ship appeared to leap forward at an amazing speed on their sensor displays, then abruptly change course and make a hard left turn. The Glod commander was stunned and looked at his navigator. Can we match that speed?
His navigator looked up and said, Sir, theres not a ship in our fleet that can come close to moving that fast, much less change course that quickly. The only way we are going to come close is to cut the corner of his turn and angle toward his new course.
Then he couldve run away from us at any time. Why didnt he?
He might be doing that now, but our missiles should be hitting him within forty sems.
Why hasnt he fired at the missiles? the Glod commander wondered out loud. He might have been able to knock down some of them.
As slow as theyre catching up to him, he could have probably got them all, the navigator replied. Perhaps the humans dont want to reveal their armaments.
The Glod commander was nervous. He had never seen a small ship that was so much faster than his own. Large ships were always faster because they had more power in their screens to overcome resistance. The small ship also made that left turn in one-third the time it took him to alter course to cut the corner and continue the pursuit. Maximum power to our screen and go to maximum speed; try to get into beam range. I dont want them to jump away, he ordered.
The commander of the Cainth cruiser saw the human ship turn and accelerate straight toward his position. It was going to be on top of him in seconds, and he could look at the plot on his screen and see that it would be there before the Glod missiles could strike the human ship. Then he realized what the Earth ship was doing. Holy groad, theyre going to run those missiles into us. He stood from his chair and yelled, Power up all systems immediately Get the screen active, prepare all missiles to launch, get us underway, now!