That was the problem with escaping combat in space; there was currently no known way to block a rift jump, however preventing one was easier than you might think.
That was because rifts large enough to move a ship through could only be opened at certain general locations, and even then finding viable destinations for rifts from those locations required calculations so precise it took either a genius working with a powerful computer to compute them, or an actual AI with a lot of processing power.
It was a process that took minutes at the best of times. And although a person could make the necessary computations on the go, that wasn't the biggest obstacle.
That would be the fact that you had to be moving at a constant speed and in a constant direction, but not too fast or you'd fly right past the opening rift to disastrous results, to make the final calculations and open the rift. Which was somewhat difficult to do when, say, an enemy ship was shooting at you while you were flying along at the speed of a drifting asteroid, since only capital ships had shields resilient enough to absorb sustained weapons fire without evading at least some of it.
There was an old proverb that said, “You can't run away by standing still.” It had been made before the invention of rift travel, but it applied perfectly here; during the middle of a battle, standing still to run away was suicide.
Which meant all you had to do to keep an enemy ship from making a rift jump to escape was keep shooting at them.
Which wasn't to say running away was impossible, of course. Some captains bent on escape would focus any shots that got through an enemy's shields at their engines, so they could then fly a safe distance away and get out of there. Others customized their ships for speed and tried to outrun attackers, hoping to buy themselves enough time to slow down and make the jump.
Others, the more daring ones, tried to calculate a rift at a specific point, and then during the chaos of battle have their pilots fly towards that point and time an opening for when they'd pass through it. Aiden had done that exactly once, with Barix and Ali both working together on the calculations.
After replacing his starboard wing and part of his starboard bulkhead, as well as having to almost completely replace a minor system or two, he'd decided to never try it again.
Which was all just a long way of saying that for most fights, running away wasn't a good option. And trying was risky, since most ships' guns were positioned for a forward or broadside field of fire and were useless if you were running away.
Which left either winning or surrendering. Unless, of course, you were outnumbered four to one in a system where more ships might enter the fray on the enemy's side at any moment; under the circumstances Barix's plan was probably the best option they had.
And Aiden had to admit that, little as he liked the slight man and detested his arrogant boasting about his genetic superiority, it was impossible to ignore that the Ishivi was hands down the best rift navigator he'd ever met. Aside from Ali, of course. And the gunner. But they were both occupied with other things at the moment.
“That's not the most terrible idea you've ever had, Ishiv,” he growled. “Calculate the jump.”
Barix was already working furiously to do just that. “See, this is why we excel as a team, Captain,” he said cheerfully. “I come up with the brilliant solutions, while you've got the “so stupid it just might work” ideas covered.”
Aiden took a moment to give the science officer an incredulous look. “You almost never have any useful ideas during a battle.”
The Ishivi mulled that over resentfully for a few seconds. “Fighting is inherently stupid,” he finally said. “That's your wheelhouse.”
“So in other words, on a ship geared for combat you're pretty much useless?”
“I'm about to save our butts, aren't I? Including Lana's, which apparently you can't stop thinking about.”
Aiden rolled his eyes, preparing to change his flight posture to indicate he was getting ready to engage the freelancer. “You're the only one talking about her, which smacks of black hole calling the neutron star dense. And by the way that talk is incredibly unprofessional, so stop. Half pay, remember?”
“Don't like me thinking about your new girlfriend's shapely posterior, huh?” Barix said snidely.
Surprisingly, the gunner cut into the conversation. Aiden almost could've sworn he sounded slightly annoyed, too. “Enemy ship powering weapons for imminent fire. Should I return fire?”
Aiden snorted. “Sure, why not? You can even waste some railgun slugs. Make this gambit look convincing, and if we're lucky and they're bad at their jobs we might even add another kill to our tally.”
“Killing mercenaries isn't terribly satisfying,” the young man replied.
It was a surprise to hear the gunner expressing an opinion. And also annoying. “They picked their side,” Aiden growled. “Hang on, we're almost in range.”
The gunner responded by opening fire on the freelancer with a hail of typically accurate railgun slugs, forcing it to reduce the accuracy of its return fire in order to dodge.
Of course, “reduce” was a relative term, since now Aiden had to commit to the plan by accelerating back to a straight trajectory without dodging. The best he could do was a corkscrew that barely slowed the Last Stand down, although it also wouldn't do much to throw off the aim of an experienced gunner.
Which, apparently, the mercenaries had.
He flinched as the triple laser bursts battered their shields, four of the six hitting on the first volley. The Last Stand's six shield layers recharged enough to withstand the three of the six that hit on the second volley, but the sustained fire was taking its toll.
“Shields are taking a beating,” Barix said tersely. “Recharge rate is getting sluggish.” Aiden waited, knowing it was coming, and
