Greenies

up with an answer. 'We'll have to burn at point zero eight G on a course of 139 mark 180 in order to clear that range,' she announced.

He shook his head. 'That's too damn much,' he said. 'If we light up the engines that much they'll detect us for sure.' He took a few deep breaths, looking around, trying to find some inspiration. Finally, the glimmer of an idea came. It would be risky, but he didn't really see any other option. 'Helm, put us on an intercept course towards them. Get us aligned to firing range as quickly as possible using as little engine power as possible.'

'An intercept course?' she said doubtfully.

'You heard me,' he told her. 'If we can't run away from them and we can't hide from them, we'll have to fight them.' He pushed a button on his panel. 'Torpedo room, get a weapon ready for launch.'

Since the ship was already heading almost directly towards them, it didn't take much maneuvering to put them on a collision course. A short burst of the thrusters and a five minute burn at .02G did the trick. The A-22s, which were still circling about, were on the far end of their latest circle as the burn took place and therefore didn't see it.

'Timing is the key here,' Brett said, watching as the Seattle grew closer and closer to them. 'We have to wait until those 22s have moved far enough past us so that they won't be able to engage us when we start our separation burn. Because once we start that, the whole fleet is going to know we're out here.'

'Will we be able to clear the area?' Sugi asked.

Brett gave a worried smile. 'We'll have to hope so I guess, won't we?'

The minutes ticked by, the atmosphere on the bridge thick with tension. The A-22s, which were identifiable by the heat of their thrusters and the frequent burns of their main engines, continued to circle about, their distance getting further and further away with each arc that they made. Finally they went beyond 40,000 kilometers, still blind to the enemy ship they had just encircled. There was no way that they could circle back at the speed they were moving without burning up all of their maneuvering fuel.

'Okay,' Brett said, 'let's get it on here. Sugi, what's the distance to that Seattle?'

'86,000 kilometers and closing rapidly,' he replied.

'Got it,' Brett said. 'Helm, go ahead and dump the waste heat now. We should be safe from detection.'

'Dumping,' she said, flipping the switch that controlled that.

'Torpedo room,' Brett then said into the intercom, 'launch tube one immediately. Set detonation for sixty kilometers and get a lock on that thing as quick as you can.'

'Launching now,' was the response.

Once more the torpedo tube irised open and the hydraulic arm pushed out a weapon into space. It drifted forward, moving slightly faster than the ship, and the laser system achieved a lock on it.

'Sugi,' Brett said, 'get ready to employ every piece of jamming equipment at your disposal. The moment we light those engines up they're going to see us. It won't be more than a few seconds after that before they try to engage us. Your job will be to make sure that they don't get a laser locked onto us before that torpedo gets on target.'

'Right,' Sugi said softly, his hands trembling a little as his fingers hovered over the panel.

Brett thought about saying a few last words to the crew, telling them that he had been proud to serve with them in case his plan didn't work out the way he wanted. Instead he kept his words to himself, figuring that it was bad luck to make such a speech.

'Helm,' he said, 'initiate breakaway maneuver. Turn to new course 180 mark 90.'

Mandall swallowed audibly and then punched in the new course. The maneuvering thrusters fired, turning the ship in space. There was no sign that they had been detected from this.

'On course,' Mandall told him when the thrusters were finished doing their work.

'Okay,' Brett said. 'Sounding acceleration alarm.' He pushed the button and let the alarm go through its course. When it was finished he looked at Mandall once again. 'Full power to the engines,' he told her. 'Point two- five G.'

'Point two-five,' she repeated, sliding the computerized dial all the way to the end.

The fusion engines lit a second later, expelling a stream of plasma out the back of the ship and pushing her away from the drifting torpedo. Everyone on board was pushed forcibly downward in his or her seats as gravity returned and the ship began to pick up momentum.

'Active fire control systems coming on line from the Seattle,' Sugi reported.

'All jamming systems active, right now!' Brett ordered. 'Don't let them get a lock on us or we're dead!'

'Coming on line,' Sugi said, his voice breaking just a bit. Nevertheless, he did his job, instructing the powerful transmitters to send a haze of conflicting radar and infrared data out towards the Seattle.

'Torpedo room,' Brett said into the intercom. 'How's that torp looking?'

'We're still locked on it,' was the report. 'All systems on line.'

'Copy that. Let's pray to God that thing closes and puts that ship out of action. Keep a close eye on it.'

'I'm getting laser fire from the Seattle,' Sugi reported, watching as the tell-tale flashes came from the target's weapons. 'They're firing at us, all weapons. Unknown how close they're coming.'

'You'll know when they get too close,' Brett said. 'Trust me, there will be no mistaking it.'

The minutes passed with agonizing slowness. Mermaid picked up speed second by second, moving further and further away from the torpedo she had launched, although the Seattle continued to close on them. Every ten to fifteen seconds the four main lasers of the Seattle would fire one by one, trying desperately to make a hit on the fleeing Owl but unable to make the beam and the ship intersect because of the confusing jamming. Some of the beams passed within a half a kilometer of the ship. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before an impact occurred, either because the Seattle had burned through the jamming or because of blind luck.

'Torpedo range?' Brett asked Hamilton via the intercom.

'22,000 kilometers and closing,' was the report. 'Just over four and a half minutes to detonation.'

'Sugi, any signs that they know the weapon is out there?'

'Nothing yet, Brett,' he answered. 'All of the fire control systems seemed to be focused on us.'

More weapons flashed, sending more laser energy shooting through space. Mermaid's distance from the torpedo continued to grow as her momentum picked up. But the Seattle just kept getting closer and closer and the powerful active systems kept getting more intense. And on the bridge of the ship there was nothing to do but wait. Wait and see if the lasers would find them, wait and see if the Seattle would detect the torpedo and destroy it.

Brett turned on the intercom once again. 'All laser teams, get ready to engage. If that torpedo doesn't work we're going to have to slug it out with them.'

This thought did not do much to encourage anyone. The weapons lasers on the hull of the Mermaid were enough to take out a crippled ship or to maybe knock out an attack craft, but it would be next to impossible to destroy a huge anti-stealth destroyer with them. Nevertheless, the gun crews manned their terminals and began to sight in on the rapidly approaching target. The lasers themselves were charged up and readied for action.

'Ten thousand kilometers and closing,' Hamilton reported. 'Two minutes to detonation.'

'It looks like they're picking up the torp,' Sugi said suddenly. 'Two of the fire control radars are shifting target.'

'Jamming systems just went active on the torpedo,' came Hamilton's voice a second later. 'They've got it.'

'Hopefully that'll detract their attention from us,' Brett said. 'Hammy, light up the engine on the torpedo. They know its there now, might as well push it a little faster.'

'Lighting it up,' he responded.

On the view screen they watched as the huge thermal plume of the torpedo's rocket engine made itself known. It began to close the range even faster. All over the Seattle itself, anti-missile lasers began to fire, sending more flashes of energy onto the display.

'Eight thousand kilometers and closing,' Hamilton said. 'Detonation in 94 seconds.'

'Come on, baby,' Brett mumbled, his hands clenched nervously. 'Just slip in a little closer.'

Suddenly there was a violent jolt, making the entire ship shudder. On the master panel alarms began to blare.