“Good. Bring all weapons online and increase power to forward sensing systems. I want to know the instant they notice us.”

The Odyssey arced a long parabola, turning sunward to intercept the looming figure that was entering the planet’s orbit. The Odyssey’s engines fired to life as the ship accelerated deeper into the system’s gravity well. The giant ship was four minutes out from its target when it became apparent that they had been spotted.

“Sir! The unidentified ship!” The technician’s horrified voice snapped Tanner around.

He turned to the screen again, having looked away after their last defending ship had died, and his eyes widened. “What in the oath do they think they’re doing?”

The ship had arced in from its nice safe course and was now closing on an intercept course with the Drasin cruiser.

Whoever they are, they are no transport, Tanner thought, with a mixture of disbelief and shock.

No transport captain in the colonies would be this stupid, and the merchant fleet habitually screened their people for insanity. The admiral growled to himself as he turned to his people.

“Order them off! There’s nothing they can…” Rael Tanner paused, grimacing as he considered something else. That ship was as good as dead. He knew that they couldn’t fight the Drasin. But maybe, just maybe, they could delay them just a little longer. It might even—by some unimaginable miracle, he supposed—be enough. He gritted his teeth, hating himself with every fiber of his being for what he was about to do, but he had a world to consider. “Cancel that,” he said as the technician started to access the com-channels.

“Sir?”

“You heard me.”

“But, sir, they’ll be—”

An icy pit lodged in his stomach, but the small man just nodded. “I’m aware of that.”

There was a long silence.

“Yes, sir.”

“Sir! Enemy vessel turning to port. They’re adjusting course to intercept us.”

“Stand down from passive sensors,” Weston said. “Get an active lock on the enemy ship.”

“Active lock, aye, sir.” There was a brief pause as the ship’s tachyon-based sensors locked on the Drasin ship’s position. “Captain! They’ve launched fighters.”

Weston thumbed the intercom switch again, his voice booming over the rumble of activity on the Odyssey’s flight deck. “The enemy has launched fighter craft. All fighters prepare to launch.”

“Passive sensors are reading an outgoing transmission from the Drasin ship’s radio frequency.” Roberts looked up from the tactical display he was monitoring. A sharp look of concern crossed his features. “Captain, they’ve received a response!”

Weston sprang alert, his eyes gleaming with a mixture of fear and a sudden adrenaline. If they had picked up a radio transmission this soon and replied to it…“Step up the scanning! I want to know who answered them.”

A long, tense moment passed before the answer was found. “Got them! Captain, two more enemy ships and full fighter complements closing. One was hiding behind the gas giant’s second moon. The other is moving in from two-point-zero-three AU away.”