“Then he could’ve run away from us at any time. Why didn’t he?”
“He might be doing that now, but our missiles should be hitting him within forty sems.”
“Why hasn’t 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 they’re catching up to him, he could have probably got them all,” the navigator replied. “Perhaps the humans don’t 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 don’t 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, they’re 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!”
“Sir, the object we’re approaching is a Cainth Cruiser. She’s powering up her screens, and her weapons just came online,” Lieutenant Mikado said.
“Are her screens strong enough to handle the ten missiles chasing us?”
“No sir, I don’t think so, but I’m not sure,” Mikado said. “They aren’t at full power and it will take a minute before they are, but it may be enough to stop the missiles. It will also take some time for their star drive to spool up.”
Kosiev said into his com, “Helmsman, I want you to fly right by that cruiser, close enough so that our screens overlap, and weapons, I want you to hit their screen with a low power beam when we come into range to prevent them from jumping.”
“Sir?”
“I think that our screens are stronger, especially since their screen isn’t at full power. We should punch a hole in their screen with ours. The missiles chasing us will then lock on them as we fly directly over the top of them. The beam will prevent their star drive from being able to resonate.” He then said into the com on his chair, “Weapons, extend our screens out to one thousand yards.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
Ensign Smith altered course slightly and barreled down on the Cainth cruiser at over two thousand miles per second.
On board the Cainth cruiser, the captain sat and grabbed the arms of his command chair as he watched the small ship coming straight at him on his display. “How much longer until we can jump?” he yelled. Then he saw the small ship’s screens expand to twice its size. As the ship flew by he felt a jolt throughout the ship.
“Sir,” his engineering officer yelled, “their screen just overlapped ours and we’ve lost screen integrity. Our star drive is at full power, but they are hitting us with a beam that prevents our screen from resonating.”
“Launch all missiles now!” the captain yelled.
Thirty missiles launched at the Earth ship as it passed just before the ten Glod heavy missiles hit the Cainth cruiser amidships and blew it apart.
On board the Glod cruiser, the commander watched as the Earth ship destroyed the Cainth cruiser. “I guess that’s the ship that was supposed to record everything that happened here,” he thought. “They obviously didn’t do a good job of hiding.” Then he saw that the Earth ship had turned and was coming straight at him with thirty missiles chasing it.
“Evasive maneuvers,” he yelled into the com, “fire all weapons at the Earth ship. Destroy those missiles with energy weapons, fire missile batteries three and four, and ready batteries seven and eight.” He didn’t care if he was ten times larger, and it appeared that the small ship obviously didn’t care either, which made his nervousness turn into fear.
The Glod Cruiser turned away from the rapidly approaching small white ship and began firing it’s weapons. Immediately the Earth ship’s screens turned yellow as seventy primary lasers of the Glod cruiser lanced out at them while twenty Glod missiles were homing in. The twenty missiles struck and there was a huge flash that engulfed the Earth ship.
“How are the screens holding, Mikado?” Kosiev asked. “And how long before those missiles behind us impact?”
“The screen is holding up fine, sir. Only four of their missiles hit us simultaneously, which was not enough to damage us and actually added power to the screen. The screen is starting to enter red, but at the current rate of beam strikes we should be fine for sixteen more minutes. This should be over before we get into real trouble. Some of their beams are missing and have knocked out five of the missiles chasing us. Most of the missiles are directly behind us and are shielded by our screen. They won’t catch us until we pass that ship ahead of us.”
“Expand our screen another thousand yards to better shield those missiles behind us, and hit that ship with a low power beam to prevent it jumping away.”
“Sir, the screens on that ship ahead of us are at full power, and my readings indicate they are much stronger than the Cainth screens we just encountered. The missiles chasing us will probably not get through it,” Mikado said. “With our screens extended as they are it would be risky to have them overlap with that other ship’s screen. It might allow their beams to get through”
Kosiev thought about what he should do. Then he made up his mind. “I didn’t want to use our weapons in this encounter. My hope was to make it look like these two ships destroyed each other.” Then he spoke into his com. “Lieutenant Alverez.”
“Yes sir.”
“Would it be possible to fire our port-side energy beam into their screen as we pass so that it would impact only the screen and not the ship’s hull?”
“I think so, sir. I need a reading on the distance so I can set the length of the discharge.”
Kosiev looked at his helmsman and said, “Our screen is extended two thousand yards. Can you fly by that ship’s screen at exactly three thousand yards?”
Ensign Smith looked at his captain for a moment and said, “I’ll set the proximity indicator at that yardage and have it beep if we get more than twenty yards closer. I’ll do the best I can, captain. He’s attempting to evade us, but he’s not fast enough and he can’t maneuver as fast as Moscow.”
“Weapons, set the range for 3,050 yards, and fire a pattern only large enough to cover three hundred yards of that ship’s hull. Do your readings indicate that we can penetrate the screen?”
Lieutenant Alverez looked at his sensors and said, “Captain, I think so. I can’t say how long the opening will last after the hit.”
“How far behind us are the missiles, Mikado?”
“Ten point four seconds, sir.”
“Smith, slow our speed so that the missiles will arrive less than one-tenth of a second behind us as we pass that ship. Prepare to fire when our fire control says we’re even with their ship, then go to full speed.” As the Moscow flew closer to the Glod ship, Kosiev said, “Weapons free to fire.”
The Earth ship was now traveling at a speed of eighteen hundred miles per second and closed on the Glod ship at an incredible rate. The Glod commander saw that his weapons were having no visible effect on the Earth ship except to turn its screen bright red, and he also knew that the small ship was traveling too fast for him to avoid it. “Engage star drive and jump immediately,” he ordered.
“We are being hit by a low-power beam that prevents our screen from resonating,” the navigator shouted. “It won’t hold a frequency.”
The Glod commander watched the small human ship glowing bright red as it bore down on his ship and thought, “If one of their small ships can do this, their larger classes must be incredible.” He turned to his communication officer and ordered, “Open a channel to the Cainth admiralty,” but it was too late. The Earth ship was too close. It’s not like any member of the Glod to feel terror, but that’s what touched him now. He watched the Earth ship flash by and fire an energy beam that hit his screen amidships and demolish three hundred yards of it; it then accelerated away faster than anything he had ever seen. Just before the twenty-five remaining Cainth missiles
