"Two targets confirmed so far, sir," OPS reported. "No reaction from the enemy ships yet."

"Target both…two Shrikes each," Risher said, his heart pounding. Wolfe's plan was working. If they didn't detect the laser emissions hitting their shrouds, it was unlikely they'd detect the missiles coming at them until it was too late. The newest software for the Shrikes had them flying on internal guidance not going to active acquisition until they were almost on the target.

"Shall I fire, sir?" tactical asked.

"Not yet, Commander," Risher said. "There's more than two out here. Let's wait until we've scanned more of the sky."

Over the next ninety minutes, the taskforce divided the search area Wolfe had given them and scanned about sixty percent of it, finding seven targets in total and one possible that Risher decided to have the Katana target anyway. None of the ships seemed to be reacting to their presence, thanks to the power of the Super Valkyries' warp drives. Any radio transmission from the cargo convoy warning that they'd changed course wouldn't arrive for another twenty minutes assuming they transmitted it as soon as the destroyers hopped away.

"Coms! Send to all ships: fire at will," Risher said.

The call went out on their open Bluebird channel, and all four ships launched Shrike ship-to-ship missiles at their unsuspecting targets. The bright plumes of thermal energy from the first stage boosters still didn't get their attention as all eight targets sat motionless.

It was almost forty-five minutes after the launch when OPS announced they'd received an encrypted radio transmission that had originated with the incoming cargo convoy. While the crypto section worked on decoding it, Risher figured it was only a normal status update since there was still no response from their targets.

If Wolfe had been correct, then repositioning these ships would be such an ordeal they would want confirmation on the Wolfpack's new position before committing to breaking down their stealth shrouds and firing their drives back up to creep to a new ambush location.

"Coms, message the Saber and ask what they would like done to the cargo ships flying downhill towards us once our missiles have hit," Risher said.

"Admiral Wolfe wants you to contact him personally once we've destroyed the targets here," the coms officer reported. "He would like as detailed a postmortem done with remote sensors as we can manage on the ships, and then he will decide on the next move."

"Copy that," Risher said. He'd hoped Wolfe would tell him to head back uphill and take out the remaining Alliance interlopers in this system, but he could see the wisdom in being patient. Those cargo haulers weren't escaping anywhere fast and, from what he'd understood from their last conversation, the Saber was stuck down near the base while the Marines ran a ground op.

"Missiles going active," Tactical reported. "Targets are responding! Two are coming about!"

"Too little, too late," Risher whispered as he watched the drama unfold on the main display. They'd closed to within two hundred thousand kilometers to the enemy formation so the Broadsword's powerful optics showed a multi-spectral composite image of one of the ungainly ships trying to turn in on the incoming missiles while retracting their stealth shrouds. The motions were so slow and clunky it was obvious to Risher the enemy hadn't quite perfected this class of ship yet. They must have rushed these first ships into service to counter the technological advances by the Federation.