The Shion shuddered again as another laser burned through the armor and opened up three decks to vacuum, but she ignored it. The outer decks were nonvital areas and few, if any, crewmen were there now aside from damage-control personnel. They could burn through all that outer armor and vent thousands of tons of atmosphere to the deep void without significantly crippling her ships.

A yell went out from someone across the bridge. She didn’t know who and didn’t care as she spotted the cause. A beam from the squadron had reached out and sliced the enemy destroyer damn near in half, its reflective armor be damned.

“Good! Do that again!” she shouted. “And keep scanning for others!”

Beams were crossing one another as the three battle cruisers hammered toward them, the exchange of fire growing more accurate and intense with each passing instant. Enemy fire was still opening up the hulls of her ships to space, but it was no longer a one-sided exchange.

Trace reports were showing strikes on the enemy battle cruisers now, though their armor was significantly more capable than that of the smaller destroyer. Misrem was certain her squadron could open them up to vacuum sure as the void was cold.

“Make for the lead cruiser,” she said harshly as another shudder shook the deck under her feet. “Let’s make this personal.”

►►►

AEV Odysseus

► “The Hood is out of the fight!” Sams said. “They’re cut in half and drifting, Captain. Distress calls coming in now.”

“They’ll have to hold on,” Eric growled. “We’ve got problems of our own. Steph, it looks like the Imperials want to turn this into an old-fashioned furball. Oblige them.”

“Aye aye, boss man! Engineering, I’m going to need fast adjustment from you on the fly. We’re about to tangle with an enemy cruiser, up close and personal.”

“Roger, Commander,” the chief’s voice came back. “We’re ready. Manual controls to your station.”

“Roger, Chief. I have the conn,” Steph said as he brought up the augmented reality display over his primary readouts. “You ever see a ship this size do this?”

He pushed the engine power to full, swapping to reverse drives on the fly, then rolled the Odysseus to port as a laser swept in from starboard. The big ship responded on cue, twisting under the beam as the Bellerophon and Boudicca peeled away in opposite directions. A glancing beam reflected off the Odysseus’ armor, burning away half a meter before Steph hit thrusters and dropped the ship more fully.