But the Fortresses had an even deadlier fault, for they were only massive armor frames drawing their power from their replaceable cannon and engine modules. Those modules, each with their own generator, were by necessity on the surface of the ship, vulnerable to attack. The shields may repel bolts from the Starwolf cannons, but no shield was proof against shielded missiles, and the carriers had hundreds of missiles bearing small conversion charges. Although the carriers were forced to fire blind into the shields, each explosion cut a large hole in the unprotected hulls of the Fortresses.
Velmeran had just made the final shift of advantage unavoidable, and he knew it. The Mock Starwolves would surely be closing by now, coming to the rescue of the Fortresses. Whatever they have been waiting for, this was more important. He guessed that they would strike either at the carriers themselves or at Alkayja Base, distracting the Starwolves from their prey. He would do both, demanding a division of forces. The Starwolves had only one hope, to take out as many of the Fortresses as they could, while they could.
When it came, the response surprised him. The area was suddenly full of stingships, bringing their own missiles and cannons to bear on the carriers, and the fighters that were slowly but steadily cutting away their numbers.
“Relay this order to the Vardon and the Karvand,” he shouted. “Launch all remaining packs.”
“Hold that order!” Consherra declared, and turned to Cargin. “That one will be dropping her shields any moment. I doubt very much she sees us. I will hold us on target.”
“Building to power now,” Cargin answered. “I can give it seventy percent instantly.”
The end of the wait came suddenly, the Fortress some 1,000 kilometers ahead dropping her shields. The Maeridyen had been flying sideways, engines still, while Consherra held the nose of the carrier locked on target. The carrier shuttered once as a half-megaton warhead rolled harmlessly off her reinforced shield, then Cargin had a clear shot at his target.
Deep in the Maeridyen’s conversion cannon, several kilograms of water were suddenly converted into thousands of megatons of energy. A slender, tubular force field leaped out of the nose of the cannon, locking onto the Fortress, forming a pathway as that tremendous destructive force was shot toward its target. The entire Fortress glowed red and then white for a long instant out of time, then it disappeared in a blinding flash that leaped out like the explosion of a small star.
“Good shot,” Velmeran commented approvingly, honestly surprised that they had managed that tactic unaided by computers. “Now could we please get those extra fighters away?”
“Commander Velmeran, this is Daelyn on the Karvand.” The voice sounded distant over the com in the camera pod retracted overhead.
He looked up, fearing the worst. “Go ahead.”
“The remaining battleships are closing on Alkayja station.”
“Can you handle that?” For some reason that he could not begin to understand, this was not the worst that he had expected.
“If you can give me the rest of the fighters at the station,” Daelyn answered. “There are no stingships in this group, so we have little enough to fear from missiles. I will take the Karvand right through the middle of them.”
“Do what you can.” He glanced at Korlaran at the com station. “Dispatch the Methryn’s remaining fighters at the station.”
Space around them continued to snap with the cannons of Starwolf ships and the detonation of missiles, and then the blast of the Vardon’s conversion cannon froze the scene of battle in the brilliant flash of the destruction of another Fortress. Consherra wove the carrier deftly through the crowded skies, while Cargin directed his weapons every time he saw a chance on his array of targeting scanners. Velmeran watched them for a moment, realizing that he had overlooked one important fact. His bridge crew was working as hard as any of the fighter pilots, and he had no replacements to take their place when they exhausted themselves.
“Commander, the Methryn just took a bad hit in her belly,” Larenta announced suddenly.
Velmeran turned to Consherra. “Get us there quickly. If she is down, the stingships will make short work of her.”
“On our way,” Consherra responded without looking up from her monitors.
They found the Methryn within half a minute. The older carrier was drifting helplessly, the perimeter cannons along her hull groove trying to hold off the attention of half-a-dozen stingships that scattered before the Maeridyen’s fury. The stingship crews had been coming at the carriers from beneath, aiming their missiles at the only possible weak link in their armor, the massive bay doors in the lower hull. The Methryn had taken a direct hit on one of her two large holding bays, ripping away the doors and tearing out her entire belly from her transport bays to the twin modules of her fighter decks. Although her interior was burning and flashing with arcs of power from broken lines, the explosion did not appear to have bitten deeply into her engineering.
Even as the Maeridyen approached, Valthyrra managed to get main power up and brought herself under control, moving slowly forward. None of her drives were damaged, and she was apparently able to get power from at least one of her main generators. Fluctuations caused her to lurch with engine fades and surges, but she turned in a wide, slow circle as she continued to gather speed steadily.
“Maeridyen, stand away!” Valthyrra ordered sharply.
“Valthyrra, can you get yourself clear of battle?” Velmeran asked. “We have support vessels on the way. We can save you yet.”
“To what end, Commander?” she asked. “I have told you my opinion regarding scrap. Let me do what I can.”
“Valthyrra, please.”
“We both knew that this was inevitable,” Valthyrra insisted. “That was the whole purpose in duplicating my memory cells, so that I could come out here and sell my old life for the best price I could get. I expect to fetch a very high price indeed.”
Velmeran seemed to understand what she meant. He turned to Consherra. “Stay well clear of her, but guard her tail. She will never forgive us if we let stingships take her.”
The Methryn continued to accelerate, orienting herself on her target. One of the Fortresses lay directly before her, working its slow way through a series of course corrections and seemingly unaware of her approach. At the very last moment, she fired her conversion cannon directly into the Fortress, pouring out all the limited power she had left. Not waiting for orders, Consherra turned the Maeridyen away, heading for open space and safety as quickly as she could get there. The Fortress glowed briefly as her kilometers of metal drank in the accumulation of raw energy for as long as it could before it exploded in a brilliant cloud of stellar heat. The Methryn did not even try to turn away as she hurtled into the blast.
If she had been intact with hull shields up on full, she might well have emerged unharmed, but the Methryn was wrecked and burning already. She shot out the other side of the white-hot cloud, her armored hull battered and rent, the entire forward quarter of her nose and the leading edges of her wings ripped and melted away. And yet she lived still, finding just enough power for her field drives to correct her course before her nose dipped and she began to tumble slowly. A second Fortress lay ahead, coming directly toward her, and there was nothing it could have done. Its shell was of little use against solid objects, and it’s quartzite hull shield was gone. It saw her coming and tried to evade, but the Fortress was only just beginning to turn away when the Methryn slammed against its forward hull. Their combined impact speed of more than a quarter that of light vaporized both ships in an explosion as fierce and brilliant as the detonation from a conversion cannon.