Captain Edward Lewis commanded Cygnus Nine, a Bentonian scout fleet serving within the Paladonian military. The assignment ahead of him would define his command, though none of his crews yet understood how completely.

The fleet consisted of three destroyers and a single cruiser. Most of the vessels were hundreds of years old and regarded by much of the Paladonian military as obsolete—useful for patrol duty, border sweeps, and little else. At present, the four ships were moving toward a distant energy signature recently detected by their long-range sensors.

From the bridge of the Paladonian cruiser Feral, Lewis opened a holo-channel to the commanding officers of the three destroyers.

“All ships will maintain standard formation,” he ordered. “Remain uncloaked and keep shields raised. Several T-Challa scout vessels have been sighted in this sector. There are also rumors that the Tofs may have established a colony somewhere out here, but as usual, no one seems to know where it is.”

Captain Michael Johnston, commanding the Paladonian destroyer Hamilton, leaned back in his chair. “Ed, even at maximum speed, we’re still three days out. We haven’t detected another energy signature from that sector. We could be wasting our time.”

Commander Octavius Aiello of the destroyer Dena joined the discussion. “If anyone believed this was a real threat, I doubt they would have sent us without reinforcements. According to the latest intelligence report, there isn’t another Earth or Paladonian vessel within a week’s travel.”

Commander Loriel Cassini, the newest officer in Lewis’s command, spoke from the bridge of the Evans. “We’re a patrol fleet, not a battle group. We investigate, report what we find, and get out.”

Lewis grimaced. “Commander Cassini, since you’re new to this command, let me make something clear. If circumstances require us to place ourselves in harm’s way, that is exactly what we will do. If you’re incapable of following me into combat, perhaps you should request another assignment.”

Annoyance flashed across Cassini’s face. “I have no problem risking myself or my ship, Captain. I do have a problem throwing lives away over a meaningless piece of rock that serves no strategic purpose. Whatever your opinion of me, I follow orders.”

Lewis gave her a thin smile. “Then I expect you to follow mine to the letter, regardless of your personal opinion.”

Before Cassini could respond, Aiello turned toward someone outside the holo-field. “We just detected another energy surge from the system.”

Lewis looked to his sensor officer. The man shook his head, confusion evident on his face.

“We didn’t detect anything aboard the Feral,” Lewis said.

Johnston glanced away from the channel. “We caught a faint reading, but not enough to tell us anything. The Dena is the newest ship in the fleet. Her sensors are probably better than the rest of ours.”

Aiello studied the data scrolling across his display. “Whatever it was, it was brief and extremely powerful. The source appears to be near the fifth planet.”

Lewis considered the report for only a moment. “All ships increase to maximum speed. Mike, transmit our findings and intended course of action to Bentonia.”

Johnston nodded. “Will do, Ed.”

Over the next two days, Cygnus Nine detected several additional energy surges near the fifth planet, but every attempt to gather more detailed information failed. The closer they came, the more obvious it became that something was deliberately interfering with their scans.

٭ ٭ ٭

The patrol fleet finally dropped out of hyperspace at the edge of the system. A detailed scan showed that the fifth planet was habitable, but several overlapping masking fields concealed much of the surface and near-orbital space.

The Dena’s newer sensors penetrated portions of the interference.

“Captain,” Aiello reported, “we’re detecting debris fields around the planet. At least one vessel was destroyed here.” He paused while the computer analyzed the material. “The debris contained ferrous anatanium magnetic alloy. It was one of ours—possibly a Tof vessel.”

Cassini looked up sharply from her station. “We’re receiving a low-frequency holo-transmission from the surface. The signal is badly degraded, but it appears to be Tof.”

Several tense moments passed as the Evans attempted to isolate the message.

“We can make out only one word,” Cassini said. “Attacked.”

Lewis straightened in his command chair. “All ships, defensive pattern Omega.”

Johnston’s expression grew serious. “Ed, let me approach first. There’s no reason to send the entire fleet in if this is a trap.”

Lewis disliked the proposal, and Johnston knew it. Still, one destroyer would present a smaller target and might draw out whatever was hiding behind the masking fields.

“I’m not happy about it,” Lewis said, “but go ahead. Take it slowly.”

Aiello interrupted. “I’m detecting multiple energy-dampening fields on the surface. I’m also reading several faint energy sources positioned around the planet.”

The Hamilton broke formation and moved toward the fifth planet.

“Probably some Tof experiment gone wrong,” Johnston said. “I’ll reach orbit in ten minutes.”

Cassini turned to consult her first officer, then faced Lewis again. “Captain, my first officer believes the energy readings surrounding the planet could be cloaked ships.”

A knot tightened in Lewis’s stomach. “Mike, I’ve changed my mind. Return to formation immediately. Something about this isn’t right.”

Johnston frowned. “Ed, we’re almost there. Give me five more minutes.”

Lewis surged to his feet. “Mike, get back here now!”

Before Johnston could answer, four T-Challa heavy cruisers uncloaked around the planet. A super dreadnought appeared behind them, its massive hull blotting out the stars.

All four heavy cruisers opened fire on the Hamilton.

The first volley collapsed the destroyer’s shields. The second and third tore through her engines. A fourth barrage ripped open several decks and left the Hamilton drifting, crippled and burning.

“Mike, get off that ship!” Lewis shouted.

Johnston reappeared on the holo-channel, blood running down one side of his face. Smoke billowed across the bridge behind him.

“Ed, get out of here. I still have most of my weapons and maneuvering thrusters. I’ll buy you as much time as I can.”

“Mike, abandon ship now!”

Johnston cut the channel.

The Hamilton fired every remaining torpedo and discharged her sole operational medium cannon at the nearest T-Challa heavy cruiser. The attack caught the enemy crew off guard; they had assumed the devastated destroyer was already dead. The volley collapsed the cruiser’s shields and tore into its bow.

The four T-Challa cruisers answered at once.

With no shields and no engines, the Hamilton could do nothing. The combined barrage ripped through her hull, and the destroyer vanished in a massive fireball.

Aiello stared at his sensor display. “Captain, we detected multiple shifts from the Hamilton to the planet’s surface. Some of her crew may have escaped.”

“That super dreadnought is moving behind us,” Cassini warned. “If we don’t leave now, we never will.”

Lewis lowered his head for a moment. When he looked up, his decision had been made.

“Then we never will. All ships maintain Omega formation.”

The Feral took the lead while the Dena and Evans rotated around the cruiser in a tight defensive pattern. Together, the three surviving ships charged toward the four T-Challa heavy cruisers.

Like their Earth counterparts, Paladonian vessels possessed a significant range advantage over T-Challa warships. Cygnus Nine opened fire before the enemy could respond, concentrating on the cruiser Johnston had already damaged.

The Feral was an aging but heavily armed Paladonian cruiser. Two heavy turrets mounted three cannons each. Eight medium turrets carried two cannons apiece, and more than thirty torpedo launchers lined her hull.

Thirty high-yield torpedoes streaked away from the Feral. Twenty-six struck the damaged heavy cruiser, crippling the vessel and sending it tumbling out of control.

The Feral immediately shifted her forward batteries toward a second cruiser. Three heavy plasma charges and eight medium charges crossed the distance, followed by torpedoes from the Dena and Evans. The combined volley collapsed the cruiser’s shields and ripped into its superstructure. The vessel stayed intact, but barely, and fell away from the fight trailing fire and debris.

The three Paladonian ships continued forward while their weapons recharged and their launchers reloaded. The T-Challa cruisers accelerated to close the range. Behind them, the super dreadnought began circling around the Bentonian fleet, positioning itself for the kill.

Before the enemy heavies entered their own effective range, the Feral and her escorts fired again. More than forty torpedoes converged on the first crippled cruiser and tore the ship in half.

The two undamaged T-Challa heavies focused everything they had on the Feral. Their technology was inferior to that of Earth and the Paladonians, but it remained deadly. Thirty-eight torpedoes and sixteen plasma charges raced toward the cruiser.

The Feral’s defensive cannons destroyed more than twenty of the slower torpedoes. The Dena and Evans eliminated eight more. Ten warheads reached the cruiser and drove her shields down to twenty-one percent.

The plasma barrage arrived seconds later. The helm threw the Feral into a hard turn, but nine charges struck. Her forward shields collapsed, and explosions tore across the bow.

“Break Omega!” Lewis ordered. “Attack pattern Comanche!”

The Dena and Evans separated from the Feral and rolled around one another in a rotating assault pattern. Both destroyers focused on the same T-Challa heavy cruiser, launching twenty-two torpedoes while charging directly toward it with every medium plasma cannon firing.

Each destroyer carried only three single-cannon medium turrets and fifteen torpedo launchers, but together their concentrated assault was devastating. The cruiser’s shields failed, and the remaining torpedoes smashed into its weapons and engines.

With her forward shields gone, the Feral fired on the last undamaged heavy while turning broadside to bring her full batteries to bear. Plasma charges hammered the T-Challa vessel and ripped open large sections of its superstructure.

All three surviving cruisers were badly damaged but still dangerous, and they turned every working weapon on the Bentonian patrol fleet. The Dena and Evans evaded the ragged counterattack, then drove another volley into the heavy they had already disabled; the ship exploded under the assault. Without slowing, the two destroyers swung onto the crippled cruiser that had drifted from the fight earlier and finished it as well, tearing it apart in a spreading cloud of fire.

The final T-Challa heavy cruiser struck back at the Feral. Several plasma charges hit the exposed bow, destroying forward torpedo launchers and tearing deeper into the cruiser’s superstructure.

The super dreadnought closed rapidly.

Lewis ignored it for the moment. At near point-blank range, the Feral discharged all six forward heavy cannons into the last cruiser. The blasts punched through the enemy hull and vented most of the ship to space. Seconds later, the final T-Challa heavy cruiser broke apart.

The Dena and Evans immediately turned toward the planet. Their scans located Bentonian crewmen from the Hamilton, along with Tof survivors from the colony below. Both groups were under heavy attack from T-Challa ground forces.

Lewis turned the battered Feral toward the approaching super dreadnought. He knew the old cruiser had no chance against it.

“Aiello, Cassini, take your ships into the atmosphere,” he ordered. “Clear the ground forces and recover everyone you can.”

The Dena and Evans accelerated toward the planet while the super dreadnought turned broadside, bringing its enormous arsenal to bear on the lone Paladonian cruiser.

The Feral fired every torpedo and plasma cannon still capable of operating. Her longer range allowed her to strike first, but the barrage barely disturbed the super dreadnought’s shields.

“Load every antimatter nuclear warhead we have into the forward torpedo bay,” Lewis ordered.

A weapons officer looked back at him in disbelief. “Sir, the launch system is destroyed. We have no way to fire them.”

“Then don’t launch them,” Lewis said. “Just get them into the bow.”

Another officer called out, “The dreadnought will enter weapons range in sixty seconds.”

Lewis activated the shipwide channel.

“All hands, this is the captain. We have survivors on the planet’s surface. They will be killed unless we stop that super dreadnought. I intend to ram it with the Feral. All nonessential personnel are ordered to the escape pods or to shift to the planet. Everyone else may remain and join me in one final mission—one final battle. We are going to die, but we will die for a reason.”

Six antimatter nuclear-tipped torpedoes were secured inside the ruined bow as more than a thousand crew members abandoned the doomed cruiser. Some launched in escape pods. Others shifted directly to the planet’s surface.

The Feral maintained a continuous barrage against a single section of the super dreadnought’s port shield while closing the distance. The concentrated fire weakened that shield by twenty-six percent, but it did not fail.

Then the super dreadnought entered weapons range.

More than two dozen plasma charges and fifty torpedoes erupted from the T-Challa vessel. The Feral drove straight into the storm, maneuvering violently as Lewis tried to keep her aligned with the weakened section of the enemy shield.

Several plasma charges struck the cruiser and collapsed her remaining shields. Four torpedoes slammed into the unprotected hull, destroying her last operational weapons and laying waste to the upper decks. Large sections of the Feral opened to space, but the cruiser continued forward on momentum and maneuvering thrusters.

Another plasma barrage struck the bridge. Emergency force fields snapped into place, but most of the bridge crew died instantly.

Lewis was thrown from his command chair. His right hand was gone, and severe burns covered his head and neck. Somehow, he remained conscious.

He dragged himself toward the helm as warning alarms screamed through the shattered bridge. The super dreadnought filled the forward display.

A final wave of plasma fire tore through the Feral before she could reach the enemy hull. The old cruiser broke apart and exploded.

The six antimatter warheads detonated within the blast.

The Feral was still too far away for the explosion to destroy the super dreadnought, but the combined detonation hammered the weakened port shield and overloaded the T-Challa vessel’s weapons. Its shields collapsed, and its offensive systems went dark.

٭ ٭ ٭

In the atmosphere below, the Dena and Evans strafed the T-Challa ground forces surrounding the survivors. Plasma fire swept across enemy positions until the remaining attackers scattered or died.

Both destroyers landed and began taking on survivors. Bentonians from the Hamilton and Tofs from the devastated colony raced aboard. Escape pods from the Feral descended around them, while crew members who had shifted to the surface joined the evacuation.

Within ten minutes, both destroyers had reached capacity. They lifted from the surface and accelerated toward orbit.

٭ ٭ ٭

Cassini stared at the crippled super dreadnought. Its shields and weapons remained offline. Beyond it drifted the expanding debris field that had once been the Feral.

She opened a channel to the Dena. “Octavius, I want to attack that ship.”

Aiello’s face appeared on her display, his expression hollow. “Commander, I want vengeance as much as you do, but we don’t have the firepower to destroy it. We might damage it further, nothing more. We need to recover the escape pods and get these survivors home.”

Cassini looked once more at the wreckage of the Feral and the Hamilton. Lewis had accused her of being unwilling to risk her ship for others. Now more than a thousand survivors were alive because he had refused to run.

She lowered her head.

“Recover the pods,” she ordered. “Then take us home.”