But there was one thing the report couldn't answer.  How, precisely, did the alien thought processes differ from human ones?

And just what were they planning for Ark Royal?

“Angle us towards the tramline,” he added, watching the timer closely.  Soon enough, the aliens wouldn't be able to intercept them before they made the jump.  There would be an opportunity, Ted calculated, to make an escape into silent running before the battlecruiser caught up ... assuming that there was no waiting ambush.  If there was ... they’d just have to fight and pray.  “Give me a countdown as soon as we reach the two-minute mark.”

***

“Why don't we just go faster?”

James concealed his tired amusement at Barbie’s question.  Ark Royal wasn't trying to crawl through space, not with her drives straining desperately to push them faster and faster towards the tramline.  But, compared to a modern human carrier – or the alien battlecruiser – she was a wallowing hippo.  The only thing preventing the alien ship from closing to engagement range was her commander’s reluctance to close the distance between them and the carrier.

“Because we don’t have the drives to go faster,” he said.  “It was a terrible oversight on the part of the designers.”

The thought made him scowl.  He’d read all the debates in the various naval forums, after Ark Royal had been commissioned into the Royal Navy, in what little spare time he’d had since becoming fascinated with the ship.  Some designers had argued that the carrier was simply too heavily armoured for her own good, that she would hold back the fleet if the Royal Navy ever went on the offensive.  And she was cripplingly expensive.  Even the American and Russian carriers that had come into service at the same time were lighter.

But now ... now Ark Royal had a survival rate the modern carriers could only envy.  New Russia had proven that; twelve modern human carriers, all wiped out with ease.  Even now the alien weapons were a known quality, the modern carriers would still be in trouble.  The last he’d heard, the designers were planning to add extra armour, hoping it would give the ships a fighting chance.

I guess the designers got the last laugh, after all, he thought.  But will they ever know what happened to us?

“Heads should roll,” Barbie said, with great certainty.  “When we get home, we will make sure everyone knows just how badly the designers performed.”

“Don't tell them that,” James said, quickly.  “They did better than the more modern designers.”

His communicator buzzed.  “We cross the tramline in ten minutes,” the Captain said.  “Report to the CIC.”

“Understood,” James said.  “I'm on my way.”

Barbie caught his hand before he could leave the compartment.  “Commander,” she said, “once we cross the tramline we’ll be safe, right?”