Ted nodded, studying the display as if the answers would magically appear.  It didn't look like anything they recognised, not a point defence system or a FTL drive.  Or a normal space drive, for that matter.  There was a sudden energy spike ...

Ark Royal rocked, violently.  Ted was nearly pitched out of his chair as the compensators struggled to handle the unexpected assault.  Alarms sounded; the display glowed red, sounding the alert. Ted gripped hold of his chair and held on for dear life as the network attempted to identify the damage.

“Direct hit to our starboard launch tube,” Farley reported.  He sounded badly shaken.  “Our armour took most of the blow, but there's some internal damage.”

He paused.  “Something damaged our external sensors too,” he added.  “We're down thirty percent of capacity.”

Ted swore.  He’d thought they were out of alien weapons range.  Clearly, the aliens had had other ideas.  But why hadn't they used the system earlier?

“Rotate us,” he ordered, quickly.  Damage control teams were already on their way, he was pleased to note, although they were somewhat undermanned with the absence of the Marines.  If worst came to worst, they could withdraw the crew to the main hull and then separate the launch tube from the remainder of the starship.  “Present our strongest armour to them, then launch decoy drones.”

“Aye, sir,” Farley said.

Ted looked back the alien ship, clearly preparing to take another shot.  Ark Royal was tough, but tough enough to take several more blows like that?  Somehow, he doubted it.

“Launch sensor drones too,” he added.  His display pinged as the analysts finally came up with a theory about the alien weapon.  They’d supercharged a plasma cannon, then used it to take shots at Ark Royal.  Their best guess, he saw at the bottom, was that the weapon couldn't be fired very rapidly or the aliens would burn out their own systems.  “And hold us here.”

He wanted to pull back, to escape the alien weapon.  But he needed to keep their attention focused firmly on the carrier, not on anything else.

“Continue firing,” he ordered.  It would be the height of irony, he decided, if they actually scored a hit with the mass drivers.  The alien battlecruiser didn't look tough enough to survive a direct hit.  “Don't give them a moment to think.”

***

“They're advancing towards us,” Rose reported.  “Alien point defence is coming online.”

Kurt nodded, then threw his craft into a series of evasive patterns that no computer could hope to match, let alone predict.  It was just in time.  Apparently heartened by scoring a hit on Ark Royal, the alien battlecruiser was gliding forward, intent on getting into range for another shot.  According to a stream of data at the bottom of his screen, the alien weapon lost its effectiveness at long range.  A shot at close range might blow the carrier apart like an eggshell.