USD: A few hours later

Location: Nu Crateris, IND Iron Horse, maneuvering to engage PF 131 Picket Group

The bridge of the Iron Horse was quiet as the clock slowly ticked down. A muted order or adjustment by an officer monitoring his console was the only break in the ship’s thrum as Thraker watched the tactical plot.

The Tears had settled in a close formation almost directly astern of his ship. It was slightly offset, so its lasers would have a clear line of sight on incoming weaponry, but the separation distance was enough that the Iron Horse would likely remain the target of any missile barrage.

The rest of the convoy had continued to decelerate, so they had gained a considerable separation that would ensure their safety. Deciding they didn’t want to get too far apart, Thraker signaled his comm officer and helmsman.

“Begin braking maneuver. Signal the Tears our projected course.”

“Aye aye, sir.” Both men answered.

The two ships burned their linear drives in unison, slowing the rate of separation between them and the rest of the convoy. It also would lengthen the time they were in combat range of the enemy fleet, which had cut their own thrust. The enemy commander had likely realized the risk of a joust that was indecisive if the two faster ships survived the pass.

The Iron Horse and the Tears could not risk the Corpos surviving to fly past them to hit the civilian convoy ships. The Corpos could risk none of the convoy ships making it past them and entering the jump point. So, both sides would court a low velocity engagement that was decisive.

It was not an uncommon event in space warfare, but Thraker knew the deadly results all too well.

“Sound Depressurization alarm. Rig ship for CQB.”

The red flashing General Quarters light switched to a rapidly blinking yellow. An overhead announcement from the ship’s engineer carried through every inch of the ship clearly. A few minutes later, a klaxon loud enough to wake the dead blared and pumps pulled out the atmosphere from the ship back into storage tanks.

The smell of sterile air in Thraker’s helmet replaced the ship’s old oiled-metal smell as it clicked over to bottled oxygen. The alert lights returned to their slow, flashing red.

The enemy was in a traditional Corporate formation with the heavy cruiser leading the center of an inverted claw. That was a non-standard one, but it would allow their heaviest ship to act as the anvil while allowing the lighter elements freedom to cover its flanks and act as hammers or chasers.

With only two ships, the Tears and Iron Horse had fewer options to play.

Their intelligence had some inkling on the Corpo’s missile engagement range, and several tentative lines had been drawn on the now working main screen. The icon of the Iron horse and Tears finally crossed the first dotted gray line. The game was afoot.

Thraker frowned as minutes ticked by. “No launch from hostiles?”

“No signature, Sir! Neither our sensors nor the Tears has picked anything up!”

“Comms, signal Tears, warn them the enemy might be planning something after all.”

Thraker’s mind raced. Had the enemy noted his maneuver weeks before in the engagement with the Tears? While it was against what he knew of Corporate doctrine, that did not mean that it was impossible if they had a creative commander. Especially if he had been briefed on the engagement between the Tears and IHMC.

As they cleared far beyond the Corpo’s maximum missile range line, the certainty that they had either forgotten to bring munitions, or they were going to cold launch solidified more and more.

“Tactical, pre-charge laser capacitors to maximum.”

“Sir, we can’t hold charge for extended periods. Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Aye aye, captain.”

Thraker could tell the ship was running well. The hum of the ship’s internals seeping into the CIC. Engineering readouts were reporting green and yellow that he hadn’t seen in years.

They were having some rare luck, and why not push it a little further? The reactors on the ship struggled to recharge the laser capacitors at full speed, lowering the number of beams the ship could use to cut down incoming fire.

By pre-charging the capacitors, he would give them extra shots against the first wave of missiles. The risk was that a capacitor could blow at the wrong time from degraded capacity and being over-charged.

“VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE! VAMPIRE! EM Spikes recorded by Tears, 223 signatures! ETA: 137 seconds!”

The Iron Horse’s PDC system was one system that had remained steady through its entire service. Computers hummed out responsibility zones for each turret. The heavier 10cm PDC-Ls allocated to the more distant missiles that had locked on the Tears.

As the time ticked down, the incoming missile wave spread out into a small cloud. As they crossed the range threshold the long-range lasers of the Iron Horse and Tears lashed out to slash their numbers by the dozens.

Servos whirred as old turret mounts struggled to bring their deadly light onto a new target. The crew only had scant seconds to react as they monitored the automated system’s actions.

The lasers were joined by dozens of 32mm cannons that made the entire ship vibrate with the thrum of a rapid fire of over two thousand rounds every second. Thraker let out a breath as he watched the sea of red turned into a mass of black and gray X icons.

Back and forth from the ship’s officers bled into the background as Thraker let out a sigh of relief. The ship had lived up to its nickname as the ‘Iron Wall’ once again.

Tactical confirmed the picture on the monitor. “All birds accounted for. Scope is clear. CQB range closure in 96 seconds!”

Thraker’s comms officer turned toward him. “Sir, Tears reporting it is moving forward.”

Thraker watched the screen and the Shrike’s icon suddenly launched itself forward.

A swear came from tactical. “Ertan, that thing can move!”

The tac-net link allowed them to watch the Tear’s moves as it made them even though their sensors would have been unlikely to pick up every minute detail.

The other ship’s railgun load-out icon flipped to LRPSGSM, and a single shell was fired from far outside normal railgun range.

Thraker watched as the shell continued to speed up as it arced, its path making a slight wave as the random evasive maneuvers of the cruiser tried to elude it. The shell, like most railgun shells, was painfully difficult to detect, and Thraker doubted the crew of the Corpo cruiser even knew it was on the way.

The shell smashed right into the nose of the single-hulled post-collapse ship. The penetration rod converting a narrow path through the ship into liquefied plasma and metal. As attitude control failed, the cruiser lurched wildly, debris and gas pushing it into a slow spin.

Near the center of the cruiser’s mass, the anti-matter warhead detonated. The hull of the ship warped as the pressure wave inside the ship grew into a sudden sphere. Liquid metal blew out from between straining armored hull plates, and then the rear of the ship finally blew out the back in a blaze of liquid metal and vapor.

The SigInt officer gulped, the man remembering the same shell bouncing around inside the Iron Horse’s hull. “S..Sir. Bandit one destroyed. No life pod signatures.”

“No, I wouldn’t think there would be.” Thraker responded.

USD: Same time

Location: Nu Crateris, SRS Tears of Fire, maneuvering to engage PF 131 Picket Group

“Confirming CVA Golden Parachute destroyed. Two DD, four FF remaining.” Elis said.

“Nameless, cut acceleration. We don’t want to get too far ahead.”

[Affirmative: Linear Drive output reduced to standby status.]

They had launched forward, adding the ship’s own acceleration to the smart munition as they fired it. The difference had only been a few seconds in flight time, but every second counted.

Nameless had done a good job of boosting and cleaning the Iron Horse’s mainframe and calculations confirmed the enemy had only one missile remaining, or more likely, they had a dud or misfire.

Alex had kept their missiles in reserve. They didn’t have enough to make much of a difference, and she was feeling confident despite being outnumbered.

“Launch ECLS. All drones maximum ECM.”

Nameless kicked out their advanced drones that immediately spread out so they could overlay the ship with static noise, decoys, and fake signatures. Thanks to the tac-net link with the Iron Horse, they didn’t have to worry about blinding their ally, either.

[Notice: CQB Range imminent. Recommended evasive pattern inputted.]

“Confirmed, Nameless. Swap from main Linear drive to Magneto-RCS.”

The reaction mass shunt to the ship’s primary drive slammed shut, dozens of inner channels opening up to allow Nameless to control the flow of the energetic Linear Drive system and shunt it out from hundreds of different ports along the ship’s hull.

The ability to channel so much thrust in any direction allowed the Shrike an unparalleled maneuverability.

[Notice: Hostile ships have reversed course and are deploying chaff canisters.]

That made sense to Alex. They didn’t want a laser duel. The Shrike and Iron Horse both had dozens of lasers with more capacitors and larger lenses.

“Signal the Iron Horse, breaking maneuver.”

Elis nodded and confirmed as she sent the message. Both ships burned hard at the same rate to extend the time they remained beyond railgun and PDC-k range.

The Tear’s lasers opened fire first as it was closer, all of them focusing on the nearest destroyer in the enemy formation. Lines of fire illuminated the space between the two ships as the micro-lattice mirrors did their best to reflect and turn away the deadly light.

Seconds later, the Iron Horse entered range as well and began focusing on its own target. The old destroyer carried more and larger lasers than the Shrike, but its power systems were degraded, resulting in a staggered firing of weapons instead of a constant continuous stream.

The frigate they targeted was forced to rapidly deploy more and more of its precious chaff canisters to maintain the protective cloud.

Several other Corporate ships swapped to a lower rate of dispersal to conserve their supply.

“Send disper—”

“Receiving disperse fire order!” Elis announced over her.

Alex grunted, unhappy that the old man was faster than her at seeing their strategy. Confirming with Nameless, both ships began a rapid round robin game of lasers lashing out at random to all the enemy ships.

One frigate was caught with a thin cloud when one of the Iron Horse’s lasers struck, the beam piercing the ship in the flank, sending a fiery jet of plasma trailing off its side. Outer components melted and slagged before breaking off and crashing back into the ship’s hull.

A second laser punched through the nose of one destroyer, sending it yawing to one side before it corrected its orientation.

More minor hits continued to build until suddenly the chaff clouds ceased completely and the Corpo ships all turned as one to dive at their foe in order to bring their rail weaponry into range.

Lasers lashed out back towards the Tears and Iron Horse. Beams from both sides slashed into each other with no further interference from the micro-lattice clouds, and gouts of fire erupted from hull plates designed to eject into directed plasma streams, hoping to deflect the coherent light for a few more seconds.

A beam struck the Tears on the nose, gouging out one array of sensors before the beam lost track, another settled on a top hull plate long enough to send it blasting off into space in a fiery blast. The ship shook and Alex held on to the arm of her chair.

“Nameless, full acceleration, take us into them!”

The AM Bi-phase Linear drive opened up its main port and then slammed the thrust at full military power. Nameless continued to increase the power output slowly until Alex felt herself pressed by an invisible hand into the back of her seat as the A-Field inertia dampening reached its limit.

Lasers still struck the ship from multiple directions, but the advanced outer armor layer continued to react and prevent a total penetration by the lower-powered lasers the enemy used.

Red gouges and lines dug across the hull of both the Tears and the Iron Horse. But the hostile Corporation ships were taking more damage as well.

A laser from the Iron Horse punctured through one frigate’s midsection, sending its fusion reactor into a meltdown. The lucky crew ejected the power plant before it detonated. The ship was left a drifting wreck as a frantic comm officer called out their surrender.

The Tears diving forward entered railgun range first. The sudden hand of force released Alex. She glanced over to check on Elis, who looked like she was about to pass out. “Are you ok!?”

“F..fine. A bit rough of a ride.”

Railgun rods flashed out of the Tear’s twelve rail barrels while nearly three dozen fired back in reply.

Nameless shunted the Linear Drive’s exhaust into its maneuvering thrusters to strafe rapidly, side stepping the incoming munitions.

A crippled frigate wasn’t so lucky and the shell impacted it on the bow, driving straight through the length of the ship and leaving its power systems dead. Gases and debris spewed out both ends of the gaping wound as the hull rotated in a slow dead roll.

Another shell smashed into a destroyer, temporarily sending the crew scrambling to restore weapon systems to working order.

The enemy fleet suddenly focused lasers on the Shrike just as all ships entered PDC-K range with each other. Alex was almost tossed out of her seat as the ship rocked from an explosion on their port side. A hail of lighter 22mm bullets pelted the ship’s outer armor in a steel rain.

Even as the Tears ripped itself through space, dodging more rail rounds, the complete saturation of the area prevented it from avoiding all the smaller caliber weapons. Some shots found gaps and holes that had been carved out by lasers and flashed through the Shrike’s inner-outer hull gap, leaving red sparkling trails in their wake. A few bounced off the inner hull’s lighter armor but failed to penetrate.

The Shrike’s own PDC-K systems found much more luck. The 22mm and 32mm shells flashed out in rapid streams in every direction as the Tears punched through the center of the Corpo inverse claw formation.

An already damaged destroyer was an easy to hit target and a wave of bullets slammed into its side, drawing a line of holes from bow to stern, leaving the ship disabled and blinking a surrender.

A frigate wasn’t so lucky as a thick accurate stream of projectiles nailed it center of mass, passing through the reactor room, leaving the entire damage control team there dead. There was no one close enough to eject the damaged core, automated systems failed to activate and the ship detonated from the inside out.

With fewer targets, the Iron Horse flashed in to focus its heavier beam weapons on the remaining already damaged destroyer, two dozen of the weapons pulsing in a rapid gatling fire that punctured hundreds of narrow stab wounds into the ship no longer capable of maneuvering.

The ship let out another volley of railgun fire before losing power completely. Life pods flashed out of the ship’s sides to join a growing number of them that had filled the area from the other disabled ships.

The last remaining frigate continued to burn its drive on and off as it spun frantically doing its best to move an unpredictable evasive pattern even as its weapons switched targeting to the now closer Iron Horse.

Half of the frigate’s rail shells missed completely, but the older FedTech ship had run out of endurance for rapid maneuvers and the three remaining 2kg penetrators smashed into the destroyer’s flank and nose.

Alex glanced up at the tac-net readout feed. Massive sections of the other ship had turned crimson red, but the central spine and the main fusion reactors still showed green with yellow lines.

The Iron Horse’s lasers had been rendered non-operational, but the wounded ship opened up with a return volley with its massed PDC-K fire. Fifty-three of its sixty-four guns had the frigate in their firing arcs, and a massive hail of 32mm rounds jutted out at a rate of 33 rounds per second from each gun.

Lasers from the Tears slammed into the ship from further away, silencing the Frigate’s weapon systems a second before the hail of fire from the Iron Horse arrived, thousands of 32mm AP rounds slamming into the lightly armored frigate’s nose and walking its way down to its stern.

Emergency fail-safes in the reactor room disabled the fusion process before it went critical, and the now lifeless ship trailed atmosphere as a few lucky survivors boarded life pods to escape the tomb.

Weapon fire fell silent throughout the battle space. They had won.

Alex looked over to Elis to make sure she was ok, and the other girl gave her a thumbs up.

“Can you get a hold of Captain Thraker? Damage report looks bad, but not critical.”

Elis nodded. “On it.”

Alex let out a breath she hadn’t known she had been holding. Damage reports flooded her vision in a rapid scroll down across her HUD.

[Informative: Repair drones are currently restoring ship functions. A preliminary ledger of damaged components is available. Outer armor integrity is at 89%. A source of replacement panels will be required to fully restore ship integrity.]

“Start scanning the disabled ships. If we can pull what we need from them, that would be ideal.”

Elis looked over at her. “Are we leaving the convoy behind?”

“Well, the main Corporate fleet is light-hours away. At the very least, we can grab enough to fix the ship. We don’t know what status A31 is in, but if they attacked it…”

Elis nodded and turned back to hailing the damaged Iron Horse.

[Notice: A transmission from Dedia IV has arrived.]