“Confirmed, Captain,” he said after another moment. “The drone that was supposed to take a low-orbit pass of the planet was lost before it reached the Darshik defensive perimeter.”

“That only raises further questions,” Celesta said. “Keep the rest of our drones on the line providing targeting information to the incoming missiles. The first volley will give us our answers without wasting another Jacobson. What’s the time to impact of the leading edge?”

“First missiles will impact in just under seven hours, ma’am,” Lieutenant Commander Adler spoke up. “We’re now receiving real-time telemetry from the weapons over the Link.”

“Let’s light her up,” Celesta said loudly. “Tactical, bring all weapon systems to full readiness and stand by to go active sensors. OPS! Tell Engineering that we’ll be maneuvering shortly. Helm, make sure the RDS is ready and that the plasma chambers on the mains are at full pressure.”

There was a chorus of confirmations as the bridge crew began feeding instructions down to their respective departments to shift the Icarus from a stealthy profile to fully combat ready. Celesta watched her terminal as all the indicators greened up, each indicating a tactical system that was reported as fully ready.

“Tactical, full active sensors,” she ordered once the activity subsided. “Begin high-power scans of our immediate—”

“Contact! Dead astern!” Adler shouted as the sensors went active. “Range is only one hundred kilometers!”

“Helm, ahead flank!” Celesta also shouted. “Tactical, snap fire Hornets, all aft tubes!”

“Aye—” Adler’s confirmation was cut off as the ship bucked, the deck heaving upward, and the sound of a massive explosion somewhere in the ship could be heard and felt. Alarms blared and everyone seemed to be shouting at once.

“Hornets away!” Celesta heard Adler shout.

“RDS pod was hit with … something!” Accari called out. “Engineering isn’t responding.”

“Track the hornets! OPS, jettison the RDS pod,” Celesta called as the first wisps of smoke could be seen coming in through the air handler vents. “Helm, all engines ahead emergency!”

“Main engines ahead emergency, aye!” the helmsman called. “Nav, please feed me course corrections and updates.”

“You got it!” the chief at Nav called.

“Three Hornets have impacted the target!” Adler said. “They’ve slowed, but are still moving to pursue.”

“RDS pod has successfully decoupled and has been jettisoned,” Accari reported. “Still waiting on a status update from Engineering and Damage Control.”

“Coms! Flash message to the rest of the fleet … tell the rest of the Ninth to check their six,” Celesta barked. “Helm! Come to port fifteen degrees by seven degrees declination and maintain acceleration. Tactical, fire at will … whatever you’ve got!”

“Remaining Hornets away! Tubes reloading,” Adler said as her hands danced over her station. “Helm, maintain current attitude … I’m going to let them have it right in the face with the aft laser batteries.”

“Holding course!”

“Ranging … firing!”