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.Tens of thousands of ears listened.Even the least member of WarCrew was awake and on station somewhere."Holy shit," someone said."Look at that.""That" was the sort of firestorm about which WarAvocats had nightmares.The trap was obvious.And good.It was a sock into which momentum would carry the Guardship deeper and deeper while enemy fire grew more intense.XII Fulminata could not be seen.That Guardship was the focus of enough violence to fuel a small sun."We're starting to take fire."WarAvocat told the WarCentral duty WatchMaster, "Someone has been getting ready for a long time.There's no way out except through the other end.We can't even turn back because XXVIII Fretensis is coming in behind us.""Can we handle it, sir?""We'll find out.Maybe I should have allowed XXVIII Fretensis second honors."Data accumulated.The picture was not good.XII Fulminata had lost half its riders.The rest were damned unless recovered by VII Gemina or XXVIII Fretensis.XII Fulminata's screen could take no more strain, yet it faced worse fire ahead."WarAvocat." WatchMaster pointed.A swarm of fighters had broken away from XII Fulminata, headed for VII Gemina.Other viewscreens showed hordes of fresh fighters pouring out of remote chunks of rock.The enemy was committing reserves.The nearest gun platforms, already under fire from VII Gemina, began shifting to the incoming target."They're quick," WarAvocat said."Bet they've decided to forget capturing XII Fulminata and try for us.Comm.Anything from XII Fulminata?"No, sir.""That stubborn bastard." WarAvocat examined the latest.VII Gemina would have all its secondaries away before it had to hide behind its shield.If it had to."Sir, their screens are as good as ours," WatchMaster said."Damn!" So they were.XII Fulminata's secondaries had not been able to silence a single heavy weapon.VII Gemina plowed through wreckage left by XII Fulminata."Must have done a bubble launch.The crazy bastards.""Don't look like they had much choice.""Probably didn't."Screens threw up schematics of enemy vessels amongst the wreckage.Few were not of nonhuman manufacture.Probe delivered data on species spotted in the wreckage.Few were recognized by Gemina.They overhauled an enemy cripple of ridership size.A dozen Hellspinners whipped out.Three made contact, devoured half the vessel.WarAvocat nudged course slightly to pass a gun platform closely enough to use Hellspinners.Its screen was Guardship quality.But it did not withstand the barrage.VII Gemina's interceptors met the enemy attack ships.In seconds it was obvious the Guardship had the better pilots.But the enemy had the numbers advantage."They've been getting ready for a long time," WarAvocat muttered.Every weapon VII Gemina could target was in action.There was not yet enough incoming to mandate more than prophylactic screening.XXVIII Fretensis broke away.WarAvocat XXVIII Fretensis assessed the situation and ordered his fighters forward to protect VII Gemina so VII Gemina could support XII Fulminata.WarAvocat ordered, "Put out the mine cloud.If they come at us hard, we'll run behind screen till our support arrives."The mine cloud consisted of explosive packets that would orbit the Guardship on attenuated grav strings.XXVIII Fretensis began dumping velocity to deal with the enemy individually and to block access to the Web.There would be no escapes.The senior communications officer beckoned WarAvocat."Just got a squirt from XII Fulminata, sir.Personal for you.The signal was a mess.We'll have it together in a minute."So.WarAvocat XII Fulminata deigned to speak to his auxiliaries.Another voice: "Fighters coming in." WarAvocat faced a screen that segmented to portray multiple attacks."None of those are of human manufacture.Hold screen till the last second.All weapons are free."The fighters streaked in.Defensive fire reached out.Hellspinners rolled.One hapless pilot hit a mine.The screen snapped up at the last instant.It was too late for several eager pilots to avoid collision.WarAvocat asked, "How many did we get?""Six on the screen, sir.Eight in the mine cloud.Thirteen with fire.""Not bad." The enemy began sniping at the mines.They wanted room close to the shield."Watch for Lock Runners," WarAvocat cautioned.There would be soft spots in the shield while the Hellspinners raged.Most of the enemy fighters, though, went on to meet those from XXVIII Fretensis.VII Gemina's contingent were overhauling XII Fulminata, laying fire on everything in sight, doing damage wherever the enemy had his attention too obsessively fixed on XII Fulminata."Message from XII Fulminata is ready to run, WarAvocat.""Go ahead."It began with a visual collage showing enemy tactics, a grim variation on the Lock Runner theme.The Lock Runner would pop through and spray small caliber CT slugs.The Lock Runner would race in firing and just crash and blow up.WarAvocat XII Fulminata was terse."Our shield is destabilizing.It won't hold.We're going shitstorm.Good luck, VII Gemina.XII Fulminata out."WarAvocat muttered, "In character to the end."— 48 —Lupo Provik cursed, exasperated."Simon, I guarantee you I can't pull it off against three Guardships.They're eating us up.Will you get yourself into your damned Voyager and get out?"Tregesser wanted to find hope where there was none."If it suddenly goes our way, you can turn back.""What about you?""I'm covering you, dammit! I'll leave as soon as you're clear.Will you go? Do I have to drag you? You want to guess what it's going to be like here when these things realize they're all going to die?""All right.All right." Tregesser started moving."At least we gave it a try.""It'll help when we shop around Outside again.Go." Lupo scanned his data.Half his fighters gone.Half of everything suffering at least some damage.And that damned third Guardship just cruising in, doing execution duty, blocking the escape route.No point sending the signal that would free the troops to try for the tag end.He muttered, "But we weren't supposed to draw the whole damned fleet."He watched the Guardships till he received word that Tregesser's Voyager was clear and running into the void, headed out the end space's back door."Mr.Provik!" The tone jarred.It was one of total disbelief."What?""The lead Guardship has dropped its screen.""We broke through?""No sir.They shut it down.On purpose.""That's insane." He scanned the incoming data, looked for the error.It was not there.The Guardship was spewing more fire than it was taking.Its output was not falling off as it should.He checked the visual display.Pieces flew off XII Fulminata in all directions.He caught something, adjusted scale."I'll be damned."XII Fulminata was peeling itself like an onion, sloughing layers a hundred meters thick in chunks and sections as they were destroyed
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