"It's still coming," Cho Ming said. "And still unidentified. Two, one-"
And suddenly they were there, meshing in in rapid succession: the conglomerations of thick milky-white hexagons that were the unique design of Conqueror warships.
"I make the count six," Daschka said, peering out the canopy and adjusting its magnification. "Regrouping into probably a battle formation. Where are the rest?"
"They meshed in a hair too soon," Cho Ming said. "I make five ships about fifteen thousand klicks back."
Daschka grunted. "Backup."
Aric grimaced. As if they really needed more than six ships against the Yycromae.
The Conqueror ships finished their maneuvering, and for a long moment nothing happened. Almost as if, Aric thought, both sides were sizing up their opponents. Then, abruptly, drive trails blazed as a dozen Yycroman freighters surged toward the enemy.
"Yycromae ships engaging," Cho Ming reported tightly. "Looks like they're firing shredder-burst guns."
"They're old Celadonese models," Aric said. "I saw a lot of them in the conversion hangar."
"Probably the easiest things they could get their hands on," Daschka said. "Not much use against Zhirrzh hulls, though."
From one of the Conqueror ships a laser beam lanced out, its path dimly marked by ionized upper-atmosphere atoms and vaporized shredder-burst projectiles. One of the Yycroman freighters flashed brilliantly, its drive trail suddenly waggling like the tail feathers of a wounded bird. Two more lasers fired from different hexagons of the same ship, and with two more flashes the drive trail flicked out.
As if that were the signal everyone had been waiting for, the other Conqueror ships opened fire, and for a handful of agonizing heartbeats the black of space flared as the Yycroman freighters flamed into instant death pyres for their crews. Another dozen drive trails appeared as a second group of ships joined the battle, and then another group, and then another. The Conquerors' lasers flashed in response, systematically tracking and destroying the defenders.
And then, as quickly as it had begun, the last of the drive trails was cut off, and it was over.
Supreme Commander Prm-jevev flicked his tongue in perplexity, gazing at each of the displays in turn. "You're absolutely certain?" he demanded again of the cloud of Elders hovering around him.
"There's no doubt at all, Supreme Commander," one of them said again. "Within range of our anchorlines, that's all that's out there."
Another Elder appeared, joining the group. " 'What's going on?' " he demanded. " 'Supreme Commander Prm-jevev, report.' "
Prm-jevev flicked his tongue in annoyance. He'd forgotten what it was like to be at this end of the battle-communication pathway, taking valuable time to describe what was happening to the rest of Warrior Command. "We've just repulsed an attack by a group of small spacecraft," he said. "Extremely small, with virtually no weaponry at all. There are many others in the area, with equally weak weaponry."
The Elder nodded and vanished. "Check the area again," Prm-jevev ordered, looking up at the other Elders. "Order the other warships to spread out a little. This makes no sense at all."
The Elder reappeared. "Speaker Cvv-panav: 'What are you waiting for? Destroy them and launch your ground attack.' "
Prm-jevev flicked his tongue in contempt. That was the Speaker for Dhaa'rr, all right, his slash-tongue attitude blazingly obvious even without the Elder's identification. "I'm waiting, Speaker, because these are clearly not the Human-Conqueror warships we were led to expect," he said tartly. "I have no interest in laying a world waste just for the exercise of it."
The Elder nodded and was gone. "Supreme Commander?" one of the warriors called across the command/monitor room. "Messages are coming in via direct link from the other warships. Their commanders want to know when we will attack."
"When I give the order," Prm-jevev growled. "Until then they are to fire only in defense of themselves."
The Elder was back. "Speaker Cvv-panav: 'Your principles are admirable, Supreme Commander. But they have no place in warfare. If the Human-Conquerors plan a trap, you are merely playing into their snare.' "
A second Elder flicked in. "The Overclan Prime: 'Have you determined there are no warships waiting on the surface or hidden behind the planet itself?' "
"There's nothing on the surface our telescopes can detect," Prm-jevev said, deciding that Speaker Cvv-panav's comment wasn't worth a reply. "As to the horizon, the answer is also no. I dropped part of my force a distance behind me, in a position where they could see the parts of the planetary far side, which we cannot."
The Elder vanished. "More incoming spacecraft, Supreme Commander," a warrior called.
Prm-jevev nodded. "Repulse their attack," he ordered.
"I obey."
The warriors and Elders set about their work... and the Supreme Commander settled down to watch. And to try to figure out what exactly was going on here.
With an effort Aric forced moisture into his mouth. His hands, he noticed suddenly, were gripped rigidly around his restraint straps. "They haven't got a chance," he whispered. "Not a chance."
"It's not looking good," Daschka admitted. "Were shredder-bursts all they had?"
Aric took a deep breath. The Conqueror ships were just sitting there, waiting with arrogant patience for the Yycromae to decide which of them would be next to sacrifice themselves. "No," he said, forcing his mind to unfreeze from the horror he'd just witnessed. "No, they also had some Nadezhdan space-to-space missiles-Deathknell XIIs, I think they were-and some NorCoord 110 mm cannon. They had some weapons of their own design, too."
"They were using some pretty good stuff back when we first ran into them," Daschka said. "Let's hope they've still-there they go."
A new group of drive trails had appeared, perhaps fifty of them this time, driving with suicidal directness toward the Conqueror ships. "Opening up with the 110 mm cannon," Cho Ming reported. "Looks like... well, I'll be damned."
"What?" Daschka asked.
"That first assault wave wasn't as useless as I thought," Cho Ming said, sounding impressed. "This group's doing some bull's-eye targeting on the laser ports that fired on the last group."
Aric stared out the canopy as the Conqueror ships belatedly began returning fire. "They sacrificed themselves just to pinpoint the laser ports?"
"Looks that way," Daschka agreed. "I told you this would be a battle worth recording."
The exchange this time lasted a little longer. But only a little, and in the end the Yycroman offensive was once again quashed with little trouble. "Any damage to the Conquerors?" Daschka asked.
"Hard to tell," Cho Ming said. "But it looks like they had ten or fifteen of their lasers put out of commission."
The words were barely out of his mouth when another group of Yycroman drive trails blazed to life. "Third wave away," Cho Ming announced. "Directing more cannon fire against the laser ports." The Conqueror lasers fired in reply, and once again the night was lit by vaporized Yycroman freighters-
"Fourth wave!" Cho Ming barked. "Cutting in behind the third. I'm getting missile-arming signals... there they go."
Aric squinted out the canopy. The drive trails themselves were almost lost in the sputtering flashes; but he could occasionally catch glimpses of faint secondary trails as the Deathknell missiles shot outward from the Yycroman defenders. The lasers shifted direction toward this new threat, and smaller flashes began to appear where they found their targets. Aric gripped his restraints....
And suddenly a flash of acrid blue-white light blossomed on the side of one of the Conqueror ships.
"Got one!" Aric blurted, slamming his fist down on the edge of the control board, the recoil bouncing him up against his restraints.
"Steady," Daschka advised him. "Let's see if it did any damage before you break out the champagne. Cho Ming?"
"Can't tell yet," the other said. "Too much after-scintillation. It's sure as hell gotten them riled up, though."
Aric nodded silently, his elation of a few seconds earlier crushed back down to reality. The Conqueror ships were blazing with laser fire now, the Yycroman defenders flashing to plasma and shrapnel all around them. In the midst of the slaughter two more of the Deathknells got through, and two more blue-white fireballs briefly silhouetted the sharp hexagonal edges of the Conqueror ships. But if the blasts caused any damage, it wasn't obvious from where Aric sat.
Or even from where Cho Ming sat. "I don't read any damage from the Deathknell blasts," the Intelligence man reported with a sigh. "If there is any, it must be negligible."
"So much for the missiles," Daschka said. "So much for the Yycromae, too. You got any more good news?"
"Plenty," Cho Ming said. "Those five ships we thought might be hanging back? They've kicked into gear and are on their way."
Aric shook his head in horrified disbelief. "How many ships do they think theyneed to take this place?"
"Maybe they're not planning to take it," Daschka suggested darkly. "Maybe Phormbi's going to be a special sort of object lesson."
Aric gazed out at the laser flashes, a cold chill running through him. That other incoming ship, with a wake-trail like nothing Cho Ming had ever seen... "You suppose that's what that unidentified ship is for?" he asked. "Something to-I don't know-burn off the planet, maybe?"
"I still say it's Yycroman," Daschka insisted. But the stubbornness had an edge of uncertainty to it now.
"We'll find out soon enough," Cho Ming said grimly. "ETA's something around fifteen minutes."
"About the same time those other five warships will get here?" Daschka asked.
"Just about."
And at the rate these first six ships were going, Aric knew, fifteen minutes would be all they would need to eliminate the rest of the Yycroman defenders, leaving the planet wide-open before them. "Are we still going to stay?" he asked, though he knew what the answer would be.
"As long as we can." Daschka threw him a gruffly sympathetic glance. "There's no reason you have to watch this, though. If it gets too bad, you can go back to your cabin. Cho Ming, what's this going on now?"
With an effort Aric focused his attention back on the carnage of the battle zone. Amid the flashing lasers the current wave of Yycroman ships was rapidly dwindling, but now another fifty or so drive trails had appeared behind them. Again he could half imagine he saw missile trails lancing out ahead of them-
"Cho Ming?" Daschka repeated.
"You got me," the other said, sounding puzzled. "They're firing something, all right, but I can't get anything on it. Almost reads like some kind of stealthed missiles-"
"There!" Aric snapped, pointing out the canopy. On one of the Conqueror ships a splash of white light had appeared.
He paused, frowning, finger still pointed. The white flash wasn't expanding as an explosion ought to. Or fading away, either, for that matter. "Whatis that?"
"Whatever it is, they've landed six more of them," Daschka said, frowning. "Four more on the port hexagon of that ship, and one each on the two ships to starboard. Come on, Cho Ming, look alive."
"I'm working on it, I'm working on it," Cho Ming growled. "The albedo's incredibly high-maybe they're some kind of targeting markers. Let me try this..."
His voice trailed off into the soft clicking of keys. Aric gazed out the canopy, catching sight of three more white explosions as they appeared against the lead ship and froze in place. If they were targeting markers, there ought to be missiles firing in right behind them. But so far, nothing.
And then, from behind him, came a sound that sounded suspiciously like a strangled-off laugh. "I don't believe it," Cho Ming said. "Daschka, get this: it's paint."
"It'swhat?"
"Good old-fashioned white paint," Cho Ming said. "Well, notthat old-fashioned-it's pretty high-tech stuff, really. Quick-dry, adhesion coefficient right off the scale, and an albedo of just a hair below one. And every one of those paintballs is dead center on top of a Conqueror laser port."
Daschka turned back around, shaking his head slowly. "I'll be damned."
"I don't get it," Aric said. "Are they trying to seal over the laser ports?"
"Basically," Cho Ming said. "But they've added a nice touch. Albedo measures reflectivity, on a scale of zero to one, which means that paint is a nearly perfect light reflector. If the Zhirrzh fire that particular laser-you see?"
"Got it," Aric nodded, finally understanding. "The beam reflects straight back into the mechanism."
"Which probably won't hurt it any," Cho Ming said. "But it should keep it out of the fight for a while."
Another blue-white flash erupted against one of the Conqueror ships, followed immediately by two more. "More Deathknells?" Daschka asked.
"Some of them are," Cho Ming said. "Others are more of those stealthed missiles-pretty potent warhead on those things. Looks like they're concentrating on the connecting edge between the first two hexagons."
"Any damage?" Daschka asked.
"Hard to tell," Cho Ming said. "And getting harder. There's a lot of debris between us and them."
The remnants of the Yycroman ships, and of the Yycromae who had flown them. "Have you seen any escape pods or suits?" Aric asked.
"I haven't noticed anything," Cho Ming said. "Doesn't mean they're not out there. Okay, I'm starting to get something from that last salvo of Deathknells... looks like we've got a few pieces of Zhirrzh hull floating around. They're small, but they're there."
"Which may not mean anything," Daschka grunted. "The ships that took out theJutland had a few pieces cracked off of them too without-"
"He's pulling back," Aric interrupted excitedly, pointing at one of the Conqueror ships. "Look-he's pulling back."
"He's pulling around, anyway," Daschka agreed cautiously. "Whether he's actually pulling out, we'll have to-"
He broke off as the ship, with a flicker from its aft surfaces, abruptly meshed out.
"One down," Cho Ming announced, a note of grim satisfaction in his voice.
Aric looked out at the five remaining Conqueror ships, their lasers still methodically blasting the Yycroman freighters into fiery dust. In the distance behind them he could see the faint drive trails of the other five enemy ships as they hurried to join the battle. "It's not going to work," he murmured. "They just don't have the firepower."
"No, they don't," Daschka said quietly. "Strange, isn't it? I've spent really my entire career working to make sure the Yycromae never became a military threat to the Commonwealth. Almost wish now we hadn't done such a good job."