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that he didn’t recognize and couldn’t quantify annoyed the ever-living hell out of him. There was something about it that was niggling just at the edge of his brain, something of which he felt he should be aware.
    “Aft tubes ready to fire, Captain.”
    He shook his head, trying to ignore the feeling as best he could. He had things to do at which he didn’t have to guess.
    “Do we have a firing solution for the pursuing ships?”
    “Yes, Captain. Solution has been locked and updated continuously.”
    He nodded, checking the numbers briefly himself. As promised, the squadron had been locked in and tracked since he’d given the order. At the range they were dealing with, getting a solid lock was out of the question, but it was firm enough.
    And there’s every chance that the corona is interfering with them as well.
    “Very well. All tubes go to rapid fire,” he ordered.
    “Yes, Captain. Rapid fire on all tubes!”
    The ship didn’t shake or rattle as the tubes belched their lethal payloads into space. The
Weifang
was too massive for that by far, but a chime sounded with every shot to let the crew know that things were running according to plan.
    “Stand by to go to full counter-mass and break out,” Sun ordered, eyes on the projective plot he was watching.
    He barely noticed the acknowledgment, focused as he was on the plot while a portion of his mind was still being distracted by the crackling sound that reminded him of a live wire continuously shorting out. There were no reported drains on any of their trunk power leads, however, so he knew that it couldn’t be that.
    A grinding of metal on metal caught his attention, and he turned to see the Command deck airlock slide open. Beyond it his first officer, Kong Sha Tu, was waiting for the door to clear.
    “Captain,” he called as the door lock opened fully and he pushed off. “There is unusual electrical interference through the entire ship.”
    The word “electrical” clicked something in his mind, oddly perhaps since he’d been thinking it many times once the humming sounds began. Sun’s eyes widened. He wrenched around, fighting his restraint straps, and glared back over his shoulder.
    “Kong! Freeze! Do
not
move!”
    His warning came a moment too late, however, as the first officer glided through the airlock door and thus between two separate metal poles.
    The bolt of lightning that intersected his position was blinding, and in an instant Sun could taste ozone in the air as he released his straps and pushed out of the chair. He lifted his arms, hands out to stop anyone from moving past him.
    “Everyone, halt where you are!” he ordered, eyes not moving from the lifeless form of his second in command.
    “Wh…what happened?” a rather stunned junior officer managed to mumble out despite his shock.
    “The magnetic induction field created a charge in the metal hull of the ship,” Sun said, a bad taste in his mouth. “The entire hull and many of the internal components of the ship have been turned into live electrical capacitors.”
    He thumbed open the ship-wide communications. “All crewmembers, this is the Captain. Remain in your acceleration bolsters and do
not
move through the ship until further notice. These are your orders.”
    He closed the channel, then flipped over to the engineering channel. “Pan, this is the Captain.”
    “Yes, Captain?” the head engineer came back quickly.
    “The ship’s hull has become electrified. I need you to work out how to safely discharge the energy,” Sun said. “Be aware that the first officer has been killed by a discharge.”
    “Electrified? How?”
    “Most likely”—Sun sighed—“via the magnetic fields we’ve been flying through.”
    “Ah, same as an induction oven. Yes, I see. I’ll begin immediately, Captain. Will not be possible to finish until we’re clear of the corona, however,” the engineer warned.
    “Understood. That will not be a problem. Captain out.” Sun broke the