This one was a proximity warning calling her attention to her squadron, where one of the ships was breaking formation. Misrem forgot about the odd weapons fire for the moment and flipped to the squadron channel. “Aymes, get back in formation!”

“Break formation!” Captain Aymes was yelling over her transmission. “Break formation!”

“Captain, I’ll have you shot for . . .”

“Impact in three!”

Misrem twisted, eyes on the screens as the brilliant pulses of energy filled her displays.

“Navarch, they use antimatter!” yelled Aymes from the comm link.

She barely had time to remember the briefing on the original anomaly and how it had fought the Drasin before the incoming pulses spiraled erratically and slammed into her squadron with a fury unmatched by anything else in the universe.

Where the pulses struck, the armor they encountered didn’t simply fail but actively turned into explosive material that tore huge gaping holes out of the sides of ships. Misrem’s own ship bucked so hard under her that she was thrown to the deck, something that practically never happened to anyone. Under most circumstances, if your vessel moved enough to counter the effect of gravity stabilization, you were going to be paste on the deck—not merely lose your balance.

She struggled to her feet. “Report!”

“We’re losing atmosphere across fifteen decks, Navarch! Sealing affected areas,” the damage-control officer reported.

“Lock that ship in and return fire,” she roared.

A glance at the display showed the vessel no longer hiding as it turned away and began forming a warp singularity. The damnable thing looked positively cocky in gleaming white, screaming to the universe its defiance.

I’ll make you eat that defiance. She spat through gritted teeth as she held on to her seat against the continuing shudders of pain from her ship.

“As you command, Navarch . . .”

Beams lanced out even as another set of warning sounds filled the air.

“Weapon sign, Navarch . . . Brace! Brace! Brace!”

She grabbed for her station, but this time the impacts were barely felt as slight shudders through the deck. “What was that?”

“Physical strikes, Navarch. Hull breaches on four more decks, easily containable. We have laser strikes on ship three, Division Two . . . minor damage evident.”

“Minor damage,” she muttered. “Track and destroy that ship! Dispatch Division Two to finish it.”

“As you command!”

This is getting messy. The enemy had brought reinforcements, and they had effective stealth.

Her eyes widened and she muttered a vile epithet. “Scanners! All ships, look for any other hidden vessels!”

►►►

AEV Odysseus

► “They’re pouring on the power, Captain. Looking hard!”

Eric snorted. “After the Hood just dropped that bomb in their faces, I’m not surprised.”

That particular maneuver wasn’t exactly to plan, but he didn’t blame Ian for thinking outside the box. The original plan wasn’t going to be nearly as effective as they’d intended, not if singularity cores were reducing t-cannon effectiveness.