Eric shook his head slowly but didn’t waver from his focus. The small inner moon of the gas giant wasn’t so small anymore, and the satellite was growing very quickly as they closed on it.

An alarm sounded, startling Eric as he twisted around. “What is it?”

“We’re being actively tracked,” Ensign Sams blurted. “Coming from the gas giant. I . . . I didn’t see them . . .”

“Damn,” Eric growled through clenched teeth, pitching his voice low enough not to carry.

Of all the things he could have done, of all the times he could have chosen, he just had to send his chief helmsman and his chief tactical officer off on a checkout flight right before encountering a combat situation. Eric couldn’t blame Sams for missing the other pocket destroyers, not much anyway. He should have kept up on them himself.

“Light them up,” he ordered. “Full power, all active scanners. I want them having FLKs after this.”

FLKs, or funny-looking kids, was an old Blue Navy joke about what would happen if you ever seriously pissed off an Aegis destroyer back in the prewar days. The Aegis had a massive radar array, the AN/SPY-1, with a total power output of six megawatts. More than enough to mess up your DNA, as the joke went.

Six megawatts was insignificant compared to the power of the Odysseus’ primary array.

“If they turn off, let them go,” Eric said. “If not . . . fry them where they fly.”

►►►

PC Parasite Eight

► The hit was so powerful that it actually disrupted power to nonessential systems, throwing the command deck of the parasite craft into shadows briefly before backup power was rerouted from secure lines.

“We have been targeted, Subaltern.”

Hora Manau snorted. “Obviously.”

“They have not fired, Subaltern.”

“No, that was a warning,” Hora said into the open. “There was no need to hit us that hard just to acquire a weapon lock. They’re telling us that we are too small to bother with, unless we push the issue.”

The deck was filled with a long silence.

“W-what do we do, Subaltern?”

“Our duty. Signal Three, lock all weapons on the target, and prepare to fire. Inform Five that they are likely to have company very soon.”

►►►

AEV Odysseus

► “Live weapons in the clear, Captain!” Sams announced. “We’ve taken laser strikes, and there are missiles inbound.”

“Weapons free. Smoke them,” Eric ordered coldly.

“Aye Captain.”

The command went out from tactical straight to the aft transition cannons, and they swiveled around to the rear as the Odysseus hurtled onward. Two of the three barreled cannons adjusted minutely before they discharged.

Quietly.

Without fanfare or a blaze of flame and smoke.

Instantly, several light-seconds away, two parasite cruisers vanished in nuclear fire.

“Targets serviced.”

“Send trajectories of the missiles to point defense stations, then put scanners forward and stay on target,” Eric said. “We have people in the cold.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

►►►

Moon Surface