The Odysseus was feeding telemetry to its smaller sister ships, but other than the Hood, the flagship had no return feed from the Rogues, as that would potentially reveal their existence and location to any particularly savvy opponent.

“Prepare to fire,” Eric ordered. “Sweep the range between the targets and the Hood. Try to cover their withdrawal.”

“Aye Captain,” Milla confirmed. “Laser telemetry updating. Firing in twenty seconds.”

Eric nodded, almost tempted to hurry her along, but the telemetry update was important. They didn’t have IFF locations on three Rogues out there, and while those ships should be clear of the beam lanes, it was better to wait a few extra seconds to give them time to maneuver than to accidentally smoke one of the squadron’s own.

“Increase speed to flank,” he said. “Signal the others that we’re taking this fight up close.”

►►►

► The Odysseus surged ahead of her two fellows for an instant before they matched her speed, and then the trio plummeted faster through the void toward the bandit formation. Ahead, the light from the Hood caught up to them, showing the Rogue Class destroyer as it shifted to gleaming white armor and began to pull away from the fight.

The Hood’s reserves of pulse torpedoes were now gone, but it was clear that Captain Shepherd wasn’t entirely willing to give up the fight, because its t-cannons were swiveling onto target.

Faint tachyon surges puffed and vanished as the Hood fired into the ether, her space warp firming up as she began to accelerate.

Beams lanced out from the Imperial squadron, cutting through the space the Hood had just vacated as beams from the Odysseus cut back across the void and burned into hull matter, ejecting tons of vaporized material into the black as the fighting stepped up to a new level.

If the big ship sometimes seemed to flinch away from the blasts of its own accord, it was put down to mere jet thrusting from the explosive reaction.

►►►

IBC Shion Thon, Flagship, Third Reconnaissance Squadron

► Misrem seethed as new damage reports flooded her central command. Beams from the large battle cruisers were cutting deep into the armor of the ships under her command.

They’ve had this fight entirely too much in their favor to this point.

She continued to grit her teeth, eyes on the plot as the enemy cruisers entered into the optimal engagement range.

“All ships,” Misrem called, “reverse thrust, all available power! Weapons free! Fire at will! Launch parasites!”

There was no sensation of movement as the ships began decelerating at maximum thrust, the gravity shift taking care of any inertia that might otherwise have splattered them across the decks. Still, Misrem was well aware that she was straining the drive systems immensely.

Lasers cut through space as her squadron opened fire with no restrictions and the combat parasites detached.