The light-speed signals took time to reach deep into the system since the unknown ships had arrived only a few hours earlier. That meant, of course, that the enemy ships had been compiling imagery on his vessel from the moment they arrived. His Heral’c had been there for days, so light was streaming out for the viewing.

He blinked as the imagery appeared on the screen, his eyes widening.

“Those are Priminae cruisers, are they not, Captain?” his second asked, confused.

“We don’t have that many cruisers, Corva,” Senthe corrected, shaking his head. “Did you read the Terran reports from the Drasin encounters? The one with the stellar construct?”

“I did, Captain.”

“Remember the unknown ship?”

Corva frowned. “Yes, but there was no description.”

“Yes, there was,” Senthe said. “Call for a full alert. Bring our weapons to full power now.”

“Yes Captain . . .” His second sounded bewildered, but the orders were dispatched and the Heral’c wound up from high alert to combat alert.

“Give me a signal back to Por-Que,” Senthe said. “Have all planetary defenses marshaled. They are not to permit those ships to close.”

“As you say, Captain. I still don’t understand . . . ?”

“Those ships match the configuration of the suspects behind the Drasin,” Senthe informed him. “I do not know why they are here, but I do not believe it is for a friendly visit.”

►►►

IBC Piar Cohn

► Aymes found himself staring at the display as they completed their imagery refinement of the target ship. The gravity scans were a match, but the range of error on scans conducted that far away were too large for him to be sure.

When the images had first been compiled, his fears had lessened. The configuration of the ship and its armor seemed to be a match.

Even so, there was something nagging at him.

Aymes supposed that it didn’t matter much at this point, as the Third Recon was committed to an engagement. The navarch had made her decision, and honestly, he didn’t fault it. Either way, the system was a target of opportunity that was too good not to take, especially considering only a single ship lay in defense.

The anomaly’s armor was fascinating, he had to admit, presumably an example of some sort of molecular-level transformation able to perfectly mirror laser energy. It had a flaw, however, if he was reading the situation correctly. The transformation took time, a measurably short period that was still significant. That, combined with the fact that lasers had different frequencies, meant that in a fight, two or more ships could overload the armor. One on one, the armor was impervious, but against a group—that was a very different story.

“The enemy vessel is coming out to meet us,” he noted, speaking over the tactical network to Navarch Plotu. “They have to know they’re outmatched.”