few ships would charge the frigates. Despite their layers of basalt-rock armor, they’d burn, usually sooner, sometimes later. Some would even get within range of Yi’s battle squadrons. Yi would have to slow his squadrons down, sometimes even flip ship to bring his stern batteries to bear.
The alien ships died, but Yi was slowed, maybe even damaged.
While the humans were thus engaged, the rest of the alien fleet racked up maximum acceleration toward the nearest jump.
Which was what Kris wanted. She was the bear waiting behind that jump with open jaws.
While the main battle raged with its ebb and flow, a couple of dozen warships escorted the lumbering alien base ship toward that jump.
“Nelly,” Kris said, “give me an estimate for when the base ship will reach the jump. Match that with the rate at which their battle line is giving ground to Admiral Yi.”
“The base ship should be in a position to come through the jump in four hours. What’s left of the alien battle line should arrive an hour later. I will start a countdown when the base ship gets closer.”
“Thank you, Nelly.” One of the few nice things about Nelly’s present state of intelligence and human interactivity was that she had given up the need to be accurate to the thirteenth decimal place. Now she settled for approximates like any sane person.
Kris tried to tell Nelly when she did well. There were enough times when she didn’t.
Once more, Kris eyed the screen that showed the jump. There was the Mary Ellen Carter , the biggest blip on the screen. There were plenty of other blips. Four even showed on the gravity sensors.
Four Hellburners were arrayed around the rear of the jump point. That was one of the few nice things about the jump points; if you went in with a certain vector with respect to the center of the galaxy, you came out on that vector.
There was no question, the alien base ship would come out pointed in Kris’s direction.
That meant that the dormant Hellburners and 12-inch antimatter torpedoes would be aft of the target, just where Kris wanted them.
Still, when should she pull the Carter back from the jump?
Command decisions. Kris shrugged. Well, at least I have four hours to gnaw on it.
Kris made a face at the screen.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “I hate it, too. Absolute, gut-wrenching terror is headed our way, but right now it’s boring as hell. Would you care for some coffee and a sandwich, Admiral?”
Kris gauged her tummy and found it . . . uninterested.
Now if Jack had offered a quickie, came from the imp side of Kris.
With four hours, it wouldn’t have to be so quick, Kris’s logical side replied.
Kris had revised her fleet’s policy on fraternization. Still, she didn’t think even the revised version was that loose.
“No thanks, Jack, I think I’ll sit here and mull my options.Or maybe read a boring report. Anybody have a truly dull report?”
Her team had the good sense to laugh.
Jacques did speak up when things quieted down. “Dr. Meade has finished her analysis of the alien genome.” That got everyone’s attention. “I won’t try to give you the guts of the full report, but the executive summary is that somewhere between a hundred and a hundred and ten thousand years ago, someone did a major rework on their DNA to optimize them all to be slaves.”
Kris raised an eyebrow. “And we saw what those ‘slaves’ did to their masters.”
Everyone around the table except the cat admiral had seen the planet reduced to rock, and she had seen the pictures.
“So how’d they manage to get back at their masters?” Jack asked, ever a Marine.
“Your guess is as good as the doctor’s,” Jacques said. “Throughout our history, there have been slave uprisings. What you do to most, even nearly all, doesn’t mean you’ve done it to every last one. Moreover, what you did last century might not be working next century. Don’t you love mutations?” the anthropologist said.
“No plan is
The alien ships died, but Yi was slowed, maybe even damaged.
While the humans were thus engaged, the rest of the alien fleet racked up maximum acceleration toward the nearest jump.
Which was what Kris wanted. She was the bear waiting behind that jump with open jaws.
While the main battle raged with its ebb and flow, a couple of dozen warships escorted the lumbering alien base ship toward that jump.
“Nelly,” Kris said, “give me an estimate for when the base ship will reach the jump. Match that with the rate at which their battle line is giving ground to Admiral Yi.”
“The base ship should be in a position to come through the jump in four hours. What’s left of the alien battle line should arrive an hour later. I will start a countdown when the base ship gets closer.”
“Thank you, Nelly.” One of the few nice things about Nelly’s present state of intelligence and human interactivity was that she had given up the need to be accurate to the thirteenth decimal place. Now she settled for approximates like any sane person.
Kris tried to tell Nelly when she did well. There were enough times when she didn’t.
Once more, Kris eyed the screen that showed the jump. There was the Mary Ellen Carter , the biggest blip on the screen. There were plenty of other blips. Four even showed on the gravity sensors.
Four Hellburners were arrayed around the rear of the jump point. That was one of the few nice things about the jump points; if you went in with a certain vector with respect to the center of the galaxy, you came out on that vector.
There was no question, the alien base ship would come out pointed in Kris’s direction.
That meant that the dormant Hellburners and 12-inch antimatter torpedoes would be aft of the target, just where Kris wanted them.
Still, when should she pull the Carter back from the jump?
Command decisions. Kris shrugged. Well, at least I have four hours to gnaw on it.
Kris made a face at the screen.
“Yeah,” Jack said. “I hate it, too. Absolute, gut-wrenching terror is headed our way, but right now it’s boring as hell. Would you care for some coffee and a sandwich, Admiral?”
Kris gauged her tummy and found it . . . uninterested.
Now if Jack had offered a quickie, came from the imp side of Kris.
With four hours, it wouldn’t have to be so quick, Kris’s logical side replied.
Kris had revised her fleet’s policy on fraternization. Still, she didn’t think even the revised version was that loose.
“No thanks, Jack, I think I’ll sit here and mull my options.Or maybe read a boring report. Anybody have a truly dull report?”
Her team had the good sense to laugh.
Jacques did speak up when things quieted down. “Dr. Meade has finished her analysis of the alien genome.” That got everyone’s attention. “I won’t try to give you the guts of the full report, but the executive summary is that somewhere between a hundred and a hundred and ten thousand years ago, someone did a major rework on their DNA to optimize them all to be slaves.”
Kris raised an eyebrow. “And we saw what those ‘slaves’ did to their masters.”
Everyone around the table except the cat admiral had seen the planet reduced to rock, and she had seen the pictures.
“So how’d they manage to get back at their masters?” Jack asked, ever a Marine.
“Your guess is as good as the doctor’s,” Jacques said. “Throughout our history, there have been slave uprisings. What you do to most, even nearly all, doesn’t mean you’ve done it to every last one. Moreover, what you did last century might not be working next century. Don’t you love mutations?” the anthropologist said.
“No plan is
Similar Books
Dead Man's Bones
Susan Wittig Albert
Scimitar Sun
Chris A. Jackson
My Shit Life So Far
Frankie Boyle
Black Hornet
James Sallis
Burnout (Jack 'Em Up Book 0)
Shauna Allen
Wayne of Gotham
Tracy Hickman
Reluctant
Lauren Dane
The Way They Were
Mary Campisi
Dead Zone
Robison Wells