“Except for those two,” Kris pointed out.
“Yes, the Saladin and the Genghis Khan are decelerating at 3.5 gees and are rising a bit above the direct exit from the jump. They’ve got those new 22-inch lasers with a range close to two hundred thousand klicks. If they can anchor some three or four hundred thousand klicks from the jump, they’ll be in position to take solid shots at our fast visitors for a long, long time.”
“And the ships you sent up from here?”
“I’ve got four of the 22-inch frigates of the ghost division headed out. Phantom and Voodoo to Alpha, Banshee and Daemon to Beta.”
“But they’ve got a ways to go. When do you expect our hostiles?”
“I hate to say it, but your guess is as good as mine. They don’t maintain a constant acceleration. The report on jump activity will likely arrive after they do. Assuming they don’t miss the jump point and not show up at all.”
“Your best guess?”
“Anytime from five minutes ago to an hour from now. They could be later. Obviously, they weren’t earlier.”
“Nelly, do you have an opinion?”
“No, Admiral. The admiral’s guess is as good as mine.”
“Smart computer,” Masao was heard to whisper.
“May I get you some coffee?” Jacques asked.
“Do you want some coffee?” Kris asked the anthropologist right back, arching an eyebrow.
“I would, thank you so very much, Admiral. And I do believe Amanda would as well.”
“Me too,” Penny put in.
“Zarra, would you and your admiral like some?”
“May we have some of that other dark warm liquid?”
“Chocolate?”
“Yes, please.”
“Get me some hot water for tea,” Kris said. “Please bring a few bags of that relaxing kind.”
“Me too,” Jack said.
“Masao, would you lend me a hand? I’m going to need a pack mule to haul all this,” Jacques said.
“Of course, since you ask me so kindly,” the Musashi officer said, smiling.
“Oops,” Amanda said. “And he calls himself an anthropologist.”
“Maybe I’m just a little bit worried and off my game,” Jacques said as he opened the door for his putative pack mule and intelligence lieutenant.
No sooner had he closed the door than the screens lit up.
No doubt, what was now showing up had taken place hours ago. That made it no less nail-biting.
A bright blip shot out of Jump Point Beta.
The Saladin and Genghis Khan were still braking, their bows with six 22-inch lasers aimed at the jump point. However, the alien raider was moving fast, some six hundred thousand klicks an hour and accelerating at close to 3.5 gees.
It was also spawning bullets, lots of bullets.
Were they just iron slugs or atomics? No way to tell from here.
It seemed like forever, but it couldn’t have been more than a minute before the two Earth ships opened fire.
Their first shots missed; the alien was accelerating and jinking. They’d learned something from watching Kris’s fights.
The ship was a haze on the screen as it went up first, then down. Then right, then right, and finally left.
The Earth ships fired, then fired, then fired again. They must have fired their forward battery empty because it looked like they paused, cut deceleration, then flipped ship and started firing their aft battery.
One of those must have scored a hit because the aliens’ vector went off hard and long to the right. And it held its course.
Lasers from both ships transfixed it before it could make corrections and get back into a jinking pattern.
Where a ship had been, was now only a quickly gone cloud of hot gas.
The Saladin and Genghis Khan took fifteen seconds to finish recharging their forward battery, then flipped ship again. They were braking at 1.15 gees as they took on the bullets.
They were just dumb iron with no engines, no jinking. They were melted to drops of slag quickly under the cuts and slashes of 22-inch lasers.
The battle was over before it had barely begun.
“That was well done,” the feline admiral said.
“But how much more of these will we face?” Jack asked.
“There was no way for this one to report on their success or failure. They likely already have more on the way,” Kris said.
“Ships hurled at us blind,” Penny said softly, “with crews that have no chance to survive.”
The war had entered a new phase. It was now a war of attrition where the enemy could hit them anytime, and only had to succeed once to rack up a terrible butcher’s bill.
“We’ll have to be on guard every hour of every day,” Jack was heard to mutter.
65
Two days later, the Old Earth fleet arrived above Alwa.
With the Wasp in dock, Kris had no Forward Lounge to meet with all her skippers. She briefly considered having the Princess Royal grow one but quickly dropped that idea. Her adjustments to the fraternizing rule was quite enough. No need to reintroduce alcohol to the fleet as well.
She’d connected Admiral Benson and Mother MacCreedy and in two shakes, Canopus Station now had a very nice Officers’ Club.
As Kris crossed the brow to the station, Captains Taussig and O’dell met her. She’d asked for them, and they’d obeyed her gentle order.
“I’m converting four empty supply ships into two fast warships,” Kris began without preamble. “They’ll have four reactors and twelve rocket motors. Design tells me they’ll easily maintain three gees for as long as needed. One will have all eight of the 18-inch lasers we have left. Four forward, four aft. O’dell, she’ll be your new Endeavor.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the merchant skipper answered evenly but with no visible reaction.
“The other will have six of the new 22-inch lasers. Three forward, three aft. Phil, we’ll name her Hornet.”
“And I take it that she’s mine?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “The last two Hornets have been good to me and my crew. Though, I must admit, we’ve been hard on them.”
They walked in silence for a moment.
“As many guns fore as aft,” Phil finally said. “What do you intend?”
“I’m sending you two back to Wardhaven with a cargo of information and biologicals that is critical to our survival effort. At least one of you must get back.”
“Ma’am, do we have to take the ships back?” Captain O’dell asked. “I know that me and my crew don’t want to leave you.”
Kris eyed the two. “I’ll make it a written order if I have to.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” Phil said. He knew how much Kris hated to be Highnessed.
“Yes, Phil.” Kris tried to keep her reasonable voice. “This is coming from My Highness and your admiral and the Viceroy all rolled up into one mean package. Both of you saw what’s under that damn pyramid. For the first time, we’ve got a full physiological study of those bastards. We’ve got their intent in their own words as well. There’s something more. The scientists have found a plant here that all sentient civilization needs and we can’t let the aliens destroy it or, worse, let it fall into the aliens’ hands.”
“Are you going to tell us what this is?”
“Not now. Not until you leave. But you will be carrying boffins and cargo that you cannot let the aliens capture.”