“We’re waiting to see if the Shrikes do any damage?” Barrett asked.

“Correct,” Celesta said. “We have to take something away from this disaster that will be useful to CENTCOM.”

The Icarus continued to fly unpowered as the bridge crew watched tensely, well aware that the data they were getting from the sensor suite on the enemy was at least fifty minutes old. Normally that would have been considered a significant safety buffer against Terran or even Phage ships, but new enemies also came with new and unknown capabilities. The fact they could seem to make entire ships vanish from within a star system was enough to make Celesta question whether their twenty-five light minute gap would be any real obstacle for them.

“Weapons impact imminent,” Adler gave the final warning. Since the Shrikes were smart weapons that would track and adjust to targets once they were locked on, and given the distances involved, it wasn’t uncommon for up to a five-minute variation from when they expected the weapon to intercept the target and when it actually did.

“Coms?”

“Still no response, ma’am,” Ellison said. He sounded tired and Celesta knew he wasn’t alone. During the engagement first watch had been on duty for thirty-two hours straight, and there didn’t seem to be any reprieve until they transitioned out of the system. With a completely unknown adversary she just couldn’t risk swapping out critical personnel like she would if it had been a Phage Alpha chasing her.

“The two straggling tangos are braking, reducing speed and—no, they’re veering hard off, ma’am. It looks like they may be trying to reverse course,” Adler reported. “The two others are still on a direct pursuit course. Weapons are running silent so I have no update other than I expect sensor returns on the detonation within ten minutes.”

“Nav, execute emergency warp transition immediately!” Celesta barked sharply.

“Aye aye!” the startled chief said. “Assuming helm control now.” They all felt the mains run to full power as the Icarus dipped her prow to aim down below the ecliptic plane and surged to their final transition velocity. It seemed like mere minutes before the vibrations ceased and Celesta could see on the main status board that they were being purged and secured from primary flight mode.

“Two tangos have appeared BEHIND us!” Adler said sharply. “Range is less than one hundred thousand kilometers!”

“Snap fire aft Hornets! Auto-target mode,” Celesta ordered. “Nav!”

“Standby for warp transition!” the chief shouted even as the forward distortion ring began to cause the main display to darken. There was a sharp bucking as the ship vanished from the system and, a moment later, a more pronounced shaking as she reappeared two hundred and fifty light minutes outside the Xi’an System.

“Report!”