The Drasin were far more tolerant of heat than any human.

Eric took a breath. “Alright. It’ll be a fight then.”

Steph half turned from the helm, puzzled. “Wait . . . why is the heat buildup so bad now? Both of us can go FTL using this drive. Shouldn’t we be able to withstand more?”

Eric raised an eyebrow, glancing back at the chief, who simply shook his head.

“I am afraid not, Commander. To pass light we must be outside the solar gravity field, or very nearly so. Right now we’re fighting both the common law of physics and the pull of the star itself.”

“As I said,” Eric repeated himself, “it’ll be a fight.”

“Sir, I don’t understand . . .”

Eric glanced over to where Milla was manning the tactical station, noting that she looked nervous, but not as bad as he might expect. “What don’t you understand?”

“Why are they overtaking us now? If you’re right, they need us. The need us to lead them to . . . well, wherever,” she said, brow scrunched up as she puzzled out her thoughts.

The whole point behind the captain’s plan was that the Drasin didn’t realize that they had already located the homeworld they sought. The whole point of running as a decoy was that the Drasin would have to follow, to seek their source of reinforcements.

So why would they suddenly force a battle now? It made no sense.

Eric just shrugged and smiled, sadly. “The transition drive, Miss Chans. They can’t let us reach the heliopause, and they know it. I gambled and lost. I hoped they’d let us get out of the system and lead them on a merry little chase, but they didn’t take the bait.”

“Oh. But then . . .”

“They’ll try to take us in one piece,” Eric said confidently, “probably hoping that they’ll be able to get intel from our computers, so we’re going to use that against them. There’s nothing harder than taking an opponent alive if he’s trying his damndest to kill you first.”

“Captain . . .”

Eric looked to where Admiral Gracen was standing. “Yes Admiral?”

“Should we not call for reinforcements? The other Heroics could respond . . .,” she offered.

“I will if you wish, but Admiral, if they light off their drives beyond Earth’s gravity, the enemy is sure to detect them . . .” Eric said slowly. “If that happens . . . they don’t need us anymore.”

Gracen sighed, but nodded. “A fair point, Captain.”