The little craft’s landing motors fired and her undercarriage deployed. I watched her drop through the thin atmosphere, ionisation flaring around her nose and the leading edges of her wings. And then, suddenly, she was gone, swallowed by one of the deep, narrow canyons. There was nothing more we could do for her, save keep the Trouble Dog’s siblings distracted for as long as possible and try to cause as much trouble as possible. If they were chasing us, they wouldn’t have time to interfere with the surface expedition. At least, I hoped they wouldn’t.

A proximity alarm shrilled. One of the Fenrir’s projectiles had breached our defensive screen, its twisting course somehow avoiding the hail of bullets thrown its way.

“Brace for impact.”

I screwed my eyes tight, but the glare shone through the lids. It seemed to shine right through the hull. The blast wave followed a second later, hitting us head-on. The Trouble Dog bucked, and the lights flickered.

When I reopened my eyes, we were still in one piece, but all the radiation sensors were flashing red and I could smell something burning—the acrid tang of fused electronics and melting plastic.

“Both our torpedoes destroyed,” the Trouble Dog intoned. Her voice was flat. The battle was taking all her concentration. “Two birds remaining in their tubes. Three still inbound.”

I felt a pang of dismay. We’d already used half our stock of missiles to no effect.

“The shuttle’s down,” I told her, although she would already have known. “They’re on their own now. Do what you have to.”

“Yes, Captain.”

The chatter of the anti-missile batteries subsided. The planet wheeled aside, wiped from the screen by a sudden change of heading. Acceleration alarms filled the cabins and corridors, and I groaned inwardly. I had seen many ship engagements during the war. They tended to be nasty, brutish and short—like speed chess played with live ammunition. The next few minutes were liable to be uncomfortable and terrifying in equal measure—and would most probably culminate in our violent deaths.