offer."
E'Aria had been
studying the captain’s face and saw a flicker of relief for a moment. "We
will see you there, Captain."
"E'Aria,
they have fired on us. If you two are done gabbing, we should respond in kind,
don't you think? Safe travels, Aisling," Andrea was yelling from her
station.
Captain
O'Shaughnessy smiled at E'Aria. "Safe travels, Claymore. We are ready, go
slap them around some and then a little extra for the Warhammer."
E'Aria cut the
transmission. "Lorelei, you heard Captain O'Shaughnessy, let's slap them
around. Andrea, 25 percent power on the laser cannons should get their
attention. Aft cannons fire on the portside and forward cannons the starboard.
Shields at max power. I don’t think they will be as kind as we are. Target
their weapons, later we will target their drives once we have them at a
sufficient distance from Anubis."
The Claymore
fired precision salvos as it entered space dividing the two corvettes. The
Allond, compared to the Colonial and Trillond standard of starship was building
more capabilities over their starships. The drives and generators could power a
colonial destroyer with surplus in reserve. E'Aria used her engineering
knowledge to compare the Claymore to a number of Colonial warships during the
months on Anubis. She knew after her research what her ship was capable of,
lacking any practical experience other than the trip home from Hyson.
Lorelei
maneuvered the Claymore in a way that wouldn’t give away their advantage. She
tapped the thrusters spinning the Claymore while engaging the drive for a
second at a time. She kept the ship moving erratically just to irritate
everyone, including Andrea and E'Aria. The two corvettes had to move apart by
default so they didn’t end up hitting one another in a crossfire.
"Did you
learn these maneuvers in pirate school?" Andrea asked.
"You
colonials are all the same. Three hundred years of shooting at dumb Allith
raiders using text book maneuvers the Allith are too dumb to figure out. If
pirate school means being chased around, shot at and chased some more, and
surviving it for 20 years then yes, I learned something and know what your
people are going to do probably before they do it. Being alive, sitting here,
means I passed the class," Lorelei answered.
****
The Warhammer
eased forward, giving as much as she was getting against the other two ships.
Captain O'Shaughnessy had faith in her crew. It was understandable if their
hearts were not totally on board with engaging their own people.
"Lieutenant
St. James. When those two corvettes are 250,000 kilometers apart, I want full
thrust, then FTL jump number 1. Pick a spot off the beaten path to drop out and
make sure it has some cover."
"Aye,
Captain. Coordinates already loaded just waiting for your order."
****
"Lorelei,
set course for Hyson and let’s start drawing them away. We should have given
them sufficient incentive to follow," E'Aria ordered "Andrea, keep
firing at them." Lorelei completed the slow turn and increased speed. The
corvette on their starboard side accelerated to cut them off.
"Increase
speed, Lorelei. Andrea, increase power to the laser cannons. Let’s hit them
hard enough to discourage their current course. Target the area just below the
bridge. Let’s rattle their cage."
****
"Captain
Mahajan, the alien ship is accelerating. It looks like Captain Henderson is
accelerating to intercept."
"Lieutenant,
notify Captain Stren to break formation and assist Captain Henderson,"
Captain Mahajan ordered.
"Captain
Mahajan, we cannot let that ship escape." The voice from the tall man in
black standing next to him grated on the captain's nerves. He hated having
anyone stand next to him looking over his shoulder. Especially a
E'Aria had been
studying the captain’s face and saw a flicker of relief for a moment. "We
will see you there, Captain."
"E'Aria,
they have fired on us. If you two are done gabbing, we should respond in kind,
don't you think? Safe travels, Aisling," Andrea was yelling from her
station.
Captain
O'Shaughnessy smiled at E'Aria. "Safe travels, Claymore. We are ready, go
slap them around some and then a little extra for the Warhammer."
E'Aria cut the
transmission. "Lorelei, you heard Captain O'Shaughnessy, let's slap them
around. Andrea, 25 percent power on the laser cannons should get their
attention. Aft cannons fire on the portside and forward cannons the starboard.
Shields at max power. I don’t think they will be as kind as we are. Target
their weapons, later we will target their drives once we have them at a
sufficient distance from Anubis."
The Claymore
fired precision salvos as it entered space dividing the two corvettes. The
Allond, compared to the Colonial and Trillond standard of starship was building
more capabilities over their starships. The drives and generators could power a
colonial destroyer with surplus in reserve. E'Aria used her engineering
knowledge to compare the Claymore to a number of Colonial warships during the
months on Anubis. She knew after her research what her ship was capable of,
lacking any practical experience other than the trip home from Hyson.
Lorelei
maneuvered the Claymore in a way that wouldn’t give away their advantage. She
tapped the thrusters spinning the Claymore while engaging the drive for a
second at a time. She kept the ship moving erratically just to irritate
everyone, including Andrea and E'Aria. The two corvettes had to move apart by
default so they didn’t end up hitting one another in a crossfire.
"Did you
learn these maneuvers in pirate school?" Andrea asked.
"You
colonials are all the same. Three hundred years of shooting at dumb Allith
raiders using text book maneuvers the Allith are too dumb to figure out. If
pirate school means being chased around, shot at and chased some more, and
surviving it for 20 years then yes, I learned something and know what your
people are going to do probably before they do it. Being alive, sitting here,
means I passed the class," Lorelei answered.
****
The Warhammer
eased forward, giving as much as she was getting against the other two ships.
Captain O'Shaughnessy had faith in her crew. It was understandable if their
hearts were not totally on board with engaging their own people.
"Lieutenant
St. James. When those two corvettes are 250,000 kilometers apart, I want full
thrust, then FTL jump number 1. Pick a spot off the beaten path to drop out and
make sure it has some cover."
"Aye,
Captain. Coordinates already loaded just waiting for your order."
****
"Lorelei,
set course for Hyson and let’s start drawing them away. We should have given
them sufficient incentive to follow," E'Aria ordered "Andrea, keep
firing at them." Lorelei completed the slow turn and increased speed. The
corvette on their starboard side accelerated to cut them off.
"Increase
speed, Lorelei. Andrea, increase power to the laser cannons. Let’s hit them
hard enough to discourage their current course. Target the area just below the
bridge. Let’s rattle their cage."
****
"Captain
Mahajan, the alien ship is accelerating. It looks like Captain Henderson is
accelerating to intercept."
"Lieutenant,
notify Captain Stren to break formation and assist Captain Henderson,"
Captain Mahajan ordered.
"Captain
Mahajan, we cannot let that ship escape." The voice from the tall man in
black standing next to him grated on the captain's nerves. He hated having
anyone stand next to him looking over his shoulder. Especially a
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