“I do not believe in Spirits!” Admiral Tanner growled back. “Especially not ones that can cripple a Drasin cruiser with one attack. Find me that ship’s identification. I do not care if you have to go outside with a telescope and read the name off its hull!”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sir…One of the Drasin is looping back! They’re coming here!”

Silence descended as they watched the cruiser circle back around and make for the planet.

“Alert the orbital defenses. Prepare to engage landers,” Tanner replied, half turning to see the action in another section of the bunker.

A huge hulk of a man just in sight nodded to him, and Tanner turned back, assured that his counterpart was already on the job.

For all the good it was going to do.

Tanner left that job and worry in the hands of the one most able to accomplish it. He turned his focus back to the mystery ship that had managed to cripple one of the “invincible” Drasin cruisers.

Who are you? he asked as he glared at the purple dot on his threat board.

Weston watched the tactical display, the cool-blue and red dots dancing across the screen like the display of some warped video game. It would be more than an hour before the capacitors for the torpedo tubes could be recharged, and the laser array was nearly worthless at this range. Weston found himself debating two bad options, looking for the lesser evil. Intercepting the closer enemy vessel would be the safest route for the Odyssey. With the support of the Archangels and the formidable close-range firepower of the Odyssey, the single enemy vessel could be dispatched of relatively quickly. However, the second enemy vessel would have thirty, perhaps forty, minutes or longer in orbit of the planet, an eternity to those on the surface. Even so, Weston hesitated to attempt an intercept of the second ship. Moving thus would place the Odyssey in the cross fire of both enemy vessels.

With seconds ticking down to conflict with the nearer enemy vessel, Weston reached a hard decision. “Helm, replot our course. Put the Odyssey between the second vessel and the planet. All available thrust.”

As the ship began to rumble off its flight path into a tighter trajectory, Weston linked into the Archangels’ tac-net. “Stephanos, I’m ordering the Odyssey to intercept the second ship. We have to cut them off before they can begin planetary bombardment. We’re going to need you and the Archangels to stay on course to harass and delay the first ship so we can get into planetary defense position.”

Stephanos replied with a simple acknowledgment, belying the concern he felt. Their earlier encounter with the enemy had nearly turned disastrous and had only been successful after the combined strengths of both the Odyssey and the Archangel fleet were pitted against their adversary. In spite of this, he knew that Weston could no more allow the bombardment of a helpless planet than he could have allowed a civilian town to be bombed back during the war.