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engaged, the right wing of the squadron could attempt to outflank, and try to loop around to the rear of the enemy formation.
    Billy Caudwell watched with increasing satisfaction as the Alliance Eagle attack wings began to close the distance on the Ganthoran formation.
    “ How long until we can engage Trion Drives?” Billy asked.
    “ Another twelve minutes, sir.”
    Biting back his frustration and anger, Billy Caudwell watched helplessly as the Eagles closed the distance with the Ganthorans. For seconds that seemed like hours to Billy Caudwell, the small Alliance Eagle fighters on the three-dimensional War Table image rushed towards the advancing Ganthoran formation. Billy knew that it would be a straight direct rush to the Ganthorans until the weapon fire opened up. Once engaged, the Eagles would be in their element to dodge, weave and engage targets of opportunity until they either fell to the enemy’s weapons or broke through to the “Six Cigar” Carriers. But first, they had to run the gauntlet of the initial impact.
    “Ganthorans are deploying weapons, sir,” the WATO said.
    On the War Table image, Billy Caudwell focussed on the Ganthoran formation. With the magnification available, he could see rows of Ganthorans begin to extend the arms from the sides of their vessels. Each slowly extending arm carried one of the red tear-drop pods that carried the Screaming Death. As Billy stared at the vessels extending the weapon arms, it immediately struck him: Some of the Ganthoran vessels were not deploying their weapons.
    “They’re too close to each other, they’ve hemmed themselves in.” The realization dawned upon Billy that the Ganthoran Destroyers of the first three or four ranks were the only ones who could safely fire upon the Alliance Eagles. The heavier weapons of the Cruisers would be unable to deploy.
    “ Why haven’t they launched fighters?” Lokkrien asked quizzically.
    It was the same question Billy Caudwell had just asked himself.
    “Unless the Ganthorans believe that they can do sufficient damage with the initial contact to break and scatter the formations, then hunt down the survivors through their Destroyer formations,” Billy said.
    “ They obviously don’t know Third Fleet’s Eagle pilots,” Lokkrien said.
    “ Eagles within effective weapons fire range,” the WATO announced.
    The Alliance Eagles had closed to within five kilometres of the advancing Ganthorans. On the three-dimensional War Table image, it looked like the two forces would race towards each other and crash into each other in one massive impact. A heartbeat later, Billy saw that the Eagle images were opening fire. Tiny white beads of light darted forward from the six low-yield pulsar-cannon aboard each Eagle fighter. Twenty-four thousand pulsar-bolts were heading towards the front rank of Ganthoran Destroyers. Set on rapid-fire, the Alliance Eagle pulsar-cannon could fire six bolts per second.
    “Eagles are firing, sir,” the WATO said.
    Billy Caudwell never heard her announcement. For as the Alliance Eagles opened fire, so did the Pulsar-Cannon Turrets of the fourteen Star Cruisers. In an astonishing move, Admiral Parbe’an had ordered the Star Cruisers to fire down the channels between the three Eagle attack wings. Both high-yield pulsar-cannon on each turret had opened fire sending a massive broadside of one hundred and forty high yield pulsar-bolts screaming downrange towards the Ganthoran Destroyer screen.
    “Magnificent!” Billy marvelled at the action. “He’s got the drop on them.”
    Admiral Parbe’an was using some very creative gunnery to shatter the first ranks of Ganthoran defenders. Parbe’an had fired first in the hope that he could knock the Ganthorans off-balance and allow his Eagles to puncture the front ranks of Destroyers with as few casualties as possible.
    It appeared to be working. On the War Table image, the high-yield pulsar-bolts from the Star Cruisers were speeding down the two channels on