Light spilled out into the void from somewhere on the other side of the nacelle. She peeked over the top in time to see the hull around the main hold tear open like putty, hull-plates silently spinning away as an inferno of light and energy burst outwards. The dazzling light pulsed as it reached a crescendo, casting off a great burning shell of plasma that expanded outwards from the frigate, before quickly dulling to a deep orange.

Trader’s yacht was gone. Dakota stared in shock at the devastation left behind it.

<Dakota! Dakota, are you still there? We’ve lost contact with everything beyond Deck E. Please respond.>

Yes, I’m here. Trader’s gone – along with most of the main hold.

Chapter Thirty-five

Half an hour later, Dakota was back on the bridge. She looked at the grim, worried faces around her, thinking how few of them were left now.

Five against an empire was not good odds.

Dan Perez was giving everyone booster shots, Dakota last of all. ‘For the nerves,’ he said, with an attempt at a smile, as he pressed the spray against her shoulder.

A numb, icy feeling spread through her where the spray touched her skin.

Corso sat next to a console, Martinez standing beside him with folded arms.

‘All right,’ began Corso, leaning forward slightly, with his elbows resting on his knees. ‘Whitecloud’s dead, Trader’s left our ship half-crippled, and he’s taken the Mos Hadroch with him. According to Dakota, we lost a third of the Meridian drones when he blew the hold apart.’ He shrugged and made a face. ‘But it could be worse, right?’

Dakota affected a weak smile.

‘I’m not kidding,’ Corso continued. ‘At least we’re still alive. We came very close to suffering a breach of one of our plasma conduits, and if that had happened, we wouldn’t be here now. Not only that, most of our critical systems are unaffected, despite losing most of the hold. Our jump drive is still functioning. A good part of the ancillary fusion propulsion system is screwed, admittedly, but enough of the reactors are still working that we might be able to compensate for what we’ve lost. Manoeuvring inside our target system isn’t going to be nearly as easy as we want it to be, but it won’t be impossible.’

Martinez sighed and shook his head. ‘Lucas, our reason for coming out here is gone. When the hold went up, it almost certainly took all our landing craft with it. The most sensible thing we can do now is turn back.’

‘We’re getting a response from the on-board systems for at least two of the landers,’ Lamoureaux pointed out. ‘I’ve already sent a couple of spider-mechs in to take a look, and I reckon they’re salvageable, but I can’t know for sure until we check them out.’