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rest of the data. They
hadn’t come in where he’d predicted – almost, but not quite. They were at the
far side of the envelope. This left them with a free run in towards the
carrier, or it would have, if Crineal’s squadron wasn’t bearing down on their
flank. He wasn’t between them and the Annihilator, but then the Axes weren’t
between him and the Archers, either. He smiled grimly, those bombers were about
to be in a world of hurt. After that it was going to be their turn to take some
licks as the Axes turned on his squadron. The rebel squadrons only had thirty
fighters a piece, but that was enough to give them better than a two-to-one
advantage.
    “Hera
Squadron, this is Delta leader. Alpha through Epsilon flights target the
nearest squadron of Axes with missiles; everyone else target those Archers.
Once the missiles are away then everyone go for Archers and rake them with
everything you’ve got. We need to wipe them out on the first pass. After that,
it’s all defensive until reinforcements get here. No stupid risks. Attack
formation Omega One. We’ll keep it simple.” He switched channels. “Annihilator
Flight Control, this is Hera Leader. You have bandits incoming, one wing of
Axes and one squadron of Archers. We’ll be dealing with the Archers as primary,
but then things are going to get a little warm for us. Appreciate any help you
can send. Hera Leader out.”
    “Roger
that, Hera Leader. Chronos and Hecate are scrambling now. ETA one-five minutes,
repeat one-five minutes. Flight Control out.”
    Crineal
checked his tactical display and saw that everyone was registering missile
locks as they slipped into the attack formation. Even before the last Hunter settled
into place, pairs of missiles were streaking from each ship. He watched the
display and saw the rebel formations line up for their attack run and then
start to scatter as their sensors picked up Hera Squadron’s missile locks. The
Axes began to pull around in high G turns whilst the Archers just went
everywhere as they tried to lose the incoming missiles. As torpedo platforms
they were good little ships; as acrobatic craft, they left a lot to be desired,
and right now that’s exactly what they needed to be. The space in front of
Crineal’s Hunter erupted in balls of light as missiles found their targets. His
sensors fed him updated information: fifteen Archers were gone, six more were
crippled. Seventeen Axes were just wreckage, too, as they had practically no
chance to make any evasive maneuvers before the missiles were on them. Then
Crineal’s squadron was within laser range of the Archers. Each Hunter was armed
with four laser mounts in addition to the two missiles. Bolts from the laser
cannons lashed out at the remnants of the bomber formation. Three of the
crippled Archers died and four more, untouched by the missiles, ran into his
squadron’s massed laser volley as they tried to twist away from the missiles
chasing them. Crineal heard a few whoops of triumph from some of his pilots,
but most were quiet. The old timers knew they were about to be hurt. They’d
sacrificed their position to take out the threat to the carrier. Now there were
Axes sweeping around in front of them and more curling in from behind. I’ve
been in better spots, he thought.
    “This
is Delta Leader. We’re going to try to blow through the Axes in front and then
make a run towards the carrier. We’ll break off and get back in close to them
as soon as they come around behind us for a missile lock. We’re just playing
for time here, no heroics.”
    The
Axes in front swept in and opened up with their own lasers. Crineal’s formation
answered them. He felt his ship shudder as it took laser hits, and then they
were through. His shields were weakened, but he was otherwise in one piece. Not
all his people were that lucky, Iota Two was gone as was Alpha Four. Several
other ships had sustained hits, some serious. Red damage indicators were
streaked across his