Yet another set of torps flared from the Revenant as the Joyau continued to cut the distance between the two ships.
Van could see the acceleration from both the frigate and the other corvette as they began to move toward the Joyau and the corvette, but it would take hours for either to reach them.
The corvette fired another set of torps.
The first set of torps detonated on the shields, as did the second set, several minutes later.
By then Van was almost on top of the Revenant corvette, and he was carrying more than a little mass in the photon nets. He began to condense the photon nets, concentrating the mass as much as he could, then contracted them, before squeezing and accelerating the mass into the corvette’s screens—he followed with a single torp.
Under the mass/velocity impact, the corvette’s screens oscillated between amber and red, then flashed red and collapsed. The single torp was enough to turn the corvette into dust.
Van rebuilt the photon nets to collect as much energy and as mass as possible, and watched as the accumulators fed the mass to the fusactors. Then he studied the system, checking the plot, particularly of the cometary belt and the outer gas giants.
After a time, he adjusted the ship’s course, so that the Joyau angled both in-system and above the ecliptic. Again, he checked the positions of the mining tugs, but they were not that much closer to Beldora. That was both good and bad—good because he might have time, and bad because the slowness of their approach meant they were pushing all too many tonnes of mass.
Finally, he turned to Eri. “We’ll have about an hour before we meet the next Revenant.”
“How many are there?”
“Two more. A frigate and a corvette. They’ll probably try to coordinate an attack on us.” Van loosened his harness, then released it and stood. As usual, the back of his shipsuit was damp.
“Would you like some café, Commander? And something to eat?” Eri also unstrapped and stood, stretching.
“Yes, please.” He almost felt guilty. Almost.
The curried fish that Eri created with the compact formulator in the galley was tasty. That might have also been because he was hungrier than usual.
“We’re likely to see more combat-type situations in the next year,” Van said quietly. “Do you still want to stay on as tech?”
“Why would I not?”
“It’s going to get more dangerous.”
“Life is dangerous.” Eri sipped from her mug of green tea. “You do not move away from danger. Should I?”
Van laughed. “I had to ask. You told me how you became a tech for Commander Desoll, but never why.”
“I had been a Coalition tech before I had children. They grew up. My husband wanted me to raise him as well after they left the house. I did not want another child. So I left.” She shrugged. “IIS is better than the Service. You and Commander Desoll use your tools to make the Arm a better place. The Service only worked to make it a safer place for those who were Eco-Techs.” The impish grin appeared. “And I make far more credits than anywhere else.”
Van wondered what Eri did with the credits. He’d certainly never seen her spend much.
He concentrated on the shipnet. The Revenants were less than a half hour away. “We’d better button up. I need to get back forward. Thank you. I was hungry.”
“You’re welcome.” She motioned for him to go forward.
“Don’t be too long.”
“With you or Commander Desoll at the conn, that would not be wise.”
“I hope you’re not saying that we’re hard on techs.”
“You’re both hard on the unprepared.”
Van was afraid he understood. Even before he was fully strapped into the command couch, he was checking and calculating. The Revenant corvette and frigate had closed up, almost to the point where their shields overlapped. That alone told Van that their strategy was very basic—get close enough to fire enough torps to overload the Joyau’s shields.
While the Joyau could take the impact of three or four torps close to simultaneously, the frigate might be able to get off as many as four at once, and the corvette two. Van had no thought of allowing that to happen. He studied the system’s cosmography and density plot, then made a few more calculations, easing the Joyau ten degrees to starboard, still on close to a head-to-head intercept, but knowing that the Revenants would adjust their course.
He smiled as they did.
Eri slipped into the second seat and fastened her harness.
Van edged the Joyau another ten degrees starboard, watching the Revenant ships as they readjusted their course accordingly. The frigate was to the left of the corvette. That was why Van was edging the Joyau to starboard. Ten minutes passed in silence.
Unidentified Coalition vessel, you are intruding. Drop your shields immediately or be destroyed.
“I think not,” Van murmured under his breath. “I think not.”
He cut all power to the drives momentarily, used the steering thrusters to turn the Joyau ninety degrees to her course line, then pushed full power to the drives once more, watching as the separation between the Revenants and the Joyau widened. With both the recognition and response lag, Van opened up enough distance that the Joyau was beyond practical torp range. The Revenant frigate had responded first, not surprisingly, since the frigates were a newer class and probably had better monitors and EDIs than the corvette, which was something Van had factored into his plans.
The back sensors from the photon nets flashed amber, signifying greater density ahead, and isolated chunks of mass. Van had to back off the power, recalculating the distance to the areas of increased dust and ice density and the Revenant frigate.
He found another corridor and angled the Joyau along it.
The Revenant abruptly slowed, then altered course to follow the Joyau.
While most of the cosmic debris was dust-size or perhaps pebble-size, Van knew that there would be an ice fragment somewhere, large enough
