Ted nodded, thinking hard.  The bombers had lost nearly a third of their number, a staggeringly high loss rate even if they had taken out a single alien carrier.  And the aliens were in full retreat.  But he didn't want to let them escape, if it were possible to stop them.

“Order them to launch again once they have reloaded,” he ordered.  “And then ...”

He broke off as a red light flashed up on the display.  “Sir, Amati is gone,” Farley snapped.  “They just blew her apart!”

Ted stared down at the display.  There was nothing left of the missile frigate save an expanding cloud of atoms.  “What happened?”

“Unsure,” Farley said, after a moment.  “I think ... I think they have a short-range plasma weapon of staggering power.”

It would have to be, Ted realised.  A mass driver would have been noticeable – and logically the aliens would have fired it at Ark Royal, rather than one of the smaller craft.  And, whatever it was had to be short-ranged or Ark Royal would have been blown apart by now.

“Hold the range open,” he ordered, thinking hard.  What was the minimum range?  He keyed his console.  “Analysis; I want to know what happened and why.”

There was a long pause.  “Our best guess is that they have an intensely powerful plasma system,” the analyst said, finally.  She sounded unhappy; analysts were rarely called upon to provide data during a battle.  Or at least they hadn't been.  That too was going to change.  “I think they couldn't maintain containment for very long, sir.  Once the field fails, the blast would simply come apart.”

And be harmless, Ted thought.  One by one, the alien escorts were slowing their retreat, threatening to bring the human ships into range.  If he wasn't careful, he would wind up impaling himself on their weapons.

“Thank you,” he said.  Unlike a mass driver, the alien weapon’s plasma would move at the speed of light.  There would be no warning before it struck home ... and it was clearly an order of magnitude more powerful than the weapons mounted on alien starfighters.  “Will our armour be able to handle it?”

“Unknown, sir,” the analyst said.  “However, the weapon did manage to take out a frigate.  We have to assume the worst.”

Ted closed the channel, then looked over at Farley.  “Target missiles and mass drivers on the alien escorts,” he ordered.  He was effectively letting the alien carriers go – they were picking up speed at a surprising rate – but there was no alternative.  If nothing else, the aliens had taken a very definite bloody nose after trying to outflank Earth’s defences.  “The bombers are to attempt to engage the alien carriers.”