“All engines full reverse thrust, aye!” They were all thrown forward a bit when the Icarus groaned and shuddered as the main engines reversed thrust and began hauling them down from their relativistic velocity. It had been a move the enemy ship hadn’t expected as it put the Terran ship at greater risk from the ships ahead, but Celesta had no choice: She had to eliminate the closest threat before worrying about those still far out of range.

“Fire at will!” Celesta barked even as Adler adjusted her firing solution while the Darshik cruiser turned in and tried to chop its own speed.

“Missiles one and two away! Stagger fire, three-second interval,” Adler called even as the weapon telemetry and status appeared on the main display and the tactical computer added tracks so they could track their progress. Since the Icarus was still braking and the Darshik cruiser was still trying to turn in, the missiles closed the gap very quickly. The first missile was defeated by the enemy’s point defense, but the second slammed into the cruiser amidships, the hardened penetrator of the Shrike punching clean through the hull. The fission/fusion warhead detonated a moment later and the ship seem to expand slightly and simply disappear on the long-range optics.

“Holy shit!” Barrett said softly. “Must have hit them right in the sweet spot.”

“Helm, engines ahead full,” Celesta said, watching their velocity continue to drop as they streaked by the expanding cloud of debris. “Nav, begin final course corrections for Epsilon transition. Helm, at ten percent under transition velocity cut the engine thrust to zero.” She received a chorus of confirmations as she watched the Darshik picket line redeploy based on what they’d just seen. Their ships were a decent match for the more advanced classes of Terran ships, with comparable weaponry, but the Shrike missiles the humans built to kill a Phage Super Alpha were always deadly if they slipped past the defense screens.

“Their flankers are accelerating down towards us,” Barrett said. “They’ll begin to turn in once they feel like we won’t have the room to reverse course.”

Celesta just nodded in agreement. Barrett had been a tactical officer before serving as her XO, and his insights were born from extensive training backed up by combat experience so she rarely found reason to disagree with him, and this wasn’t going to be one of those times. It was clear the Darshik ships were moving with confidence as the ships protecting the edges began to push down to cut off any last-minute abort she might have planned.