“Angel Three, confirm the kill,” Steph ordered.

Archangel Three, Racer, paused briefly to double-check his sensors. “Confirmed. Nothing left but some dust.”

The Archangels growled in satisfaction.

None of them would admit it, but for a second there, they’d actually been afraid that the aliens would prove to be juggernauts, somehow able to take everything they could throw at them and keep on coming.

Evidence that they weren’t was the most welcome news the team had heard yet.

Stephanos grinned. “All right…Lock on and let fly. I’ll cover you from here.”

He listened briefly to the acknowledgments and watched the rapidly expanding contrails of the three fighters as they roared into the now one-sided battle. Five minutes later, the battle was over, and the four flyers rocketed back to rendezvous with the main group.

Stephanos watched the small signals representing the combatants converge on his screen. He knew that the Angels could handle the alien fighters in one-on-one, but they were outnumbered by the swarm that preceded the alien capital ship.

On the Odyssey’s bridge, Captain Weston watched the four lights blink off his tactical display with no small amount of satisfaction. Good job, Steph.

“Commander Roberts, signal the Archangels’ main group and tell them to prepare for an artillery barrage. We’ll thin out their opposition for them,” he ordered, leaning forward and designating corridors along the path between the Odyssey and the alien ship.

“Yes, sir.”

A moment later, the commander turned back from his station. “They report ready. Tactical is coordinating firing vectors with them now.”

“Good, tell them to fire for maximum effect when ready,” Weston said, sitting back in his chair as his stomach churned. He watched the tiny lights that showed the Archangels and wished that he were out there with them.

Outside, the Odyssey’s primary laser array began to glow as the massive energy banks were charged in preparation for the battle ahead. Seconds later, the massive weapons opened fire, aiming straight into the ranks of the Archangels and, beyond them, the enemy fighter craft.

As the laser crossed the stellar void, the Archangel squadron split smoothly apart, allowing the powerful energy beam to slice through the space they had previously occupied. The enemy craft were not so fortunate.

A dozen of the small enemy fighters went up like matchbooks in a furnace as the Odyssey’s big guns cut a swathe through their ranks. Most of the rest were caught in the explosions of their comrades as the tight laser beam vaporized fighter after fighter with its lethal glare.

By the time Stephanos had rejoined his team, the Odyssey’s judicious use of its long-range cannons had evened out the odds in the coming battle considerably. With war whoops echoing across the tac-net, the Archangels plunged back into the fray, their weapons blazing as they engaged the enemy.

The silently screaming turbines of the Archangel squadron left rapidly dispersing twin contrails of expanding plasma in the vacuum of space as they roared through the Drasin fighters, wreaking havoc through the aliens’ formation as they worked to clear the path for the Odyssey.