Then the bridge lights dimmed, as Barron knew they were doing throughout the ship. It took virtually all the power Dauntless could produce to fire the massive main guns. There was a loud noise, almost like the sound of metal twisting. The sound the primaries made was unique, like nothing he’d ever heard before. But it could have been music to him now, and he felt some of his tension fade. Travis had gotten the shot off. But it would be another few excruciating seconds before anyone on Dauntless knew if she’d scored any hits.

Indeed, he realized, the shot had already reached—or missed—the target. The primaries were usually fired at ranges of up to two light seconds, but the enemy was barely fifty thousand kilometers from Dauntless. It had taken less than a fifth of a second for the particle beam to cover that distance. The delay—if a few seconds could be called such—was the time required for scanners to analyze and report the results of the shot.

His eyes were fixed on the display, waiting…the same as everyone else on the bridge. Then he saw the images update, two small starburst icons. Hits.

The bridge erupted into applause, even as Barron was still processing what he saw.

She hit with both!

The display changed, a small image appearing to the side, a blow up of the enemy ship…at least the best schematic the AI could guess at. And there were two glowing circles, both of the in the vessels’ aft.

Right by the engines…

“Nice shooting, Atara.” His head snapped around toward the communications station. “Lieutenant, any thrust readings from the enemy ship?”

Vin Darrow stared at his screens for a few seconds, turning away and snapping his head right back as if he felt compelled to check what he’d already seen. “No, sir. No thrust at all. Enemy moving away at previous velocity.”

Dauntless shook again, a reminder that he might have damaged the enemy’s engines, but their guns were still operative.

His com unit buzzed. He tapped the small control on his headset. “What is it, Fritzie?”

“The primaries are out again, sir. The reactors are at sixty and forty-five percent output. It will be hours before I can get the main guns up again…if I can do it at all this side of a space dock.”

“You did what we needed, Fritzie. Just do what you can to keep us in this fight.”

“Yes, sir.” The com line clicked.

Barron looked over at Travis. “Secondaries, resume fire.” He knew the order was premature—and unnecessary. The primaries had diverted almost all of Dauntless’s power, leaving her other weapons momentarily silent. His gunners would fire again as soon as they could power up their batteries, which would take longer with the reactors working at half-power.