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system was already sounding Battle
Stations and the bridge staff were frantically trying to determine
exactly what was going on or had happened over there. Rhodes
quickly recovered, only to freeze and stare as a projectile,
glowing red on the screens and streaking straight for them,
suddenly dissipated. Small pieces of it sparked and trailed and
tumbled out of existence.
    “ All crew! Hang on! I
repeat, hang on! Two degrees-to-port! Pitch, down, three degrees!”
    The missile sailed over
their heads, and they stared, fixated, at the screens as it
sputtered out, its chemical engines apparently hit, spewing gases
and going into a wild spiral. Nike resumed its course on the right flank.
    “ We’re under attack,
sir!”
    “ Where did that come
from?” Their automated short-range defense system, a simple
rail-gun shooting bits of soft iron wire, had hacked it down.
“Back-track!”
    “ Yes sir!”
    The path of the known projectile
showed the enemy off to the left and behind the Fleet
units.
    The Commander gave curt orders to all
ships as Rhodes’ mind and eyes worked furiously.
    “ All ships. All ships.
Take evasive action.” The convoy’s vectors on the navigation screen
broke sharply in a pre-arranged pattern, all of it worked out
beforehand although few seriously thought it would be
used.
    They had been mistaken about that. The
changes in vectors were necessarily minute, for none of the
civilian ships were stressed for high-g. It was forlorn hope that
it might spoil the aim of an unseen enemy or make it harder to
acquire and track targets.
    They held their breath and
waited.
     
    ***
     
    All the captains were on
the Open horn,
all speaking at once.
    “ One at a time, please.”
Making a slice across his throat, the Commander looked at Captain
Rhodes. “Go ahead, sir.”
    Marko turned the civvies down to a
dull roar and awaited further instructions.
    “ Demon.
Report.”
    “ Draco destroyed by
torpedo, sir. We are looking, sir. There’s nothing out there
according to our systems.”
    “ Bullshit.”
    “ I know, sir.” Captain
Yazici was shaken by the sudden destruction of Draco, a sister-ship of the Earth’s
brand-new D-class frigates.
    While not a personal
friend of Captain Seong of Draco, three hundred and forty-two people had just
vaporized.
    Rhodes turned to Allen.
    “ How in the hell did they
do that?”
    “ Stealth technology,
sir.”
    That much was obvious, but
they should have been detectable by alert military systems and
personnel. After five months in dry-dock, every system on
the Nike was
state-of-the-art. All systems were scanning and pinging, every
second and every millimeter of the way.
    “ What are your
instructions?” The communications officer had a point.
    The civilian ship’s captains were
scared shitless, and someone had to take charge. Rhodes was the
Flag.
    “ All right. We’ll re-form,
only this time in extended formation. I want five hundred
kilometers of separation, and they will still be within our
protection envelope. Demon and Eutropius will continue the escort.
The course remains unchanged.”
    Fleet replenishment
ship Eutropius was lightly armed and at least capable of defending itself.
    The fleet ship also had all the
updated detection and properly-encrypted communication
systems.
    The faces onscreen nodded, not a lot
of enthusiasm to be seen there, but they were all professionals.
They would do as they were told.
    Almost three-quarters of the way to
their destination, they didn’t have the reaction mass to turn back
or do a whole lot of sudden maneuvering.
    As things stood, Nike and the other Fleet
units were limited to the speed of the slowest member of the
convoy.
    “ Orders, sir?” Commander
Allen gave the chop signal to the communications
officer.
    “ Yes. Signal all ships. We
are breaking off to look for survivors—” A hush fell over the
bridge crew on hearing that.
    Allen himself looked very
solemn.
    “… and we’re going to take
a look around out