The punch of its massive spinal guns disrupted the shields of the next three corsairs. The blast impacts knocked the Matayan destroyers aside in mid-space as if they were toys.
The Slipper’s spinal gun disrupted the shields on another, leaving them vulnerable to killing strikes. But they could still fire back.
Shinai exchanged hits with yet another.
Enemy fighters locked on and swept in.
Naero watched the rush of combat on her viewer.
Her targeting analyzed approaches, selecting optimal targets.
The Matayan fighters attacked in well-timed waves, launching missiles from afar to distract and soften up their opponents.
They worked as a unified team, coming in on optimal attack vectors, revealing their advanced military training.
Outnumbered, the Spacer fighters held their formation close to take advantage of the fleet’s guns and countermeasures.
Naero had only been in a few skirmishes. This was her first all-out fight. Friends fought out there in those ships. Her Clan.
Some wouldn’t return–more Spacer wakes.
Blood pounded in her ears over the chatter of the pilots. The continued pleas of mercy from the helpless freighters.
“All batteries,” Aunt Sleak’s voice thundered over the com. “Open fire. Fire at will.”
“All right,” Naero said out loud. “Give me some shootin’ music.”
Her AI answered with the pulse and hammering beat of preset throck tunes.
Naero cut loose. Her pulse turret spun, fired, and took out three missiles. New targets came up. The system directed her.
She winged an enemy fighter. It shot past out of range.
Analysis. The attacking Matayan fighters were Omni GT-82s, a bit old but tough, serviceable, and well-armed.
Her people flew Kima A-12s, fast and maneuverable, but with slightly less weaponry. Aunt Sleak had meant to update them with better armaments and ordnance.
Missile and blast hits burst in bright energy flashes.
The corsair destroyers returned coordinated fire.
Dromon took the brunt of the damage like a juggernaut and kept coming. The Slipper listed from two strikes, one from a spinal gun, the other from a missile–but her shields held at sixty percent.
Seventeen Matayan Omnis got vaporized or knocked out in the initial clash. One Spacer Kima. Two more floated dead in space.
Naero tried not to think about who was gone.
The fleet’s two smaller ships, The Nevada and The Ardala, defended the rear, unable to do little more than protect that and themselves. The enemy fighters ignored the armored Dromon and directed all their fire on the more vulnerable Slipper and Shinai.
Shields on The Slipper buckled, but her armor held. No major damage yet.
More mining freighters exploded, more screams silenced.
Cries of victory from the corsairs.
“Dromon, all ships,” Aunt Sleak ordered. “Continue closing; concentrate all fleet batteries on the destroyers attacking the freighters.”
“We’re going to take a pounding from the others,” Zalvano said.
“We’ve rattled them,” Aunt Sleak said. “Now make the bastards pay. Put fire on them!”
The fleet bore down on the killers.
The Slipper’s rapid-fire spinal gun knocked out the first destroyer’s shields with three direct hits. The Shinai blasted the next, disrupting its shields and doing further damage to its weapons.
The Matayan destroyer leading the assault on the freighters broke off and immediately withdrew.
The Dromon’s massive quad cannons pulsed blue-white throughout its length.
Its beams ripped into the third destroyer’s shields and armor, and tore through the jump drives of the second from behind as the enemy turned to run.
The area went blinding white suddenly. The second destroyer’s energy core detonated like a small nova.
Heavily damaged, corsair number one went into jump.
The other enemy destroyers regrouped and closed in.
They swept past the lumbering Dromon to get at The Slipper and The Shinai close-up, exchanging broadsides and point-blank strikes from their main guns in a whirl of intense fire.
Dromon surprised everyone and spun violently on its axis. Its secondary batteries and the main guns of the two smaller ships raked the enemy.
The Matayans broke off and limped away, badly mauled. The remaining enemy fighters tried to break off to rejoin their fleeing ships. Naero locked onto two Omni’s and kept at them until they exploded. He first kills, and she felt no remorse.
The Slipper listed further and burned, crew scrambling to contain the damage. Her teks flung her shields back up at the last instant to keep her from being destroyed.
The remaining Spacer fighters chased the enemy down ship to ship. The final showdown lasted only seconds.
Only a handful of the enemy fighters survived to rejoin their ships. The Spacers took one other casualty. Several Kimas limped home or got towed, in very bad shape.
The Dromon came about and blasted another destroyer to atoms with direct hits from all four main guns.
The Matayans had enough. Their remaining destroyers jumped.
Captain Ensel Volaski let out a wild howl from The Dromon. “Turn and run, you filth. We’ve broken the scum!”