On screen, a thin yellow line reached out from one corvette to the next. Radar showed an explosion of gases as Kris's laser slashed into the stem of her target. The Chinook took off in a wild gyrating spurt, then fell behind the rest of the formation as it lost acceleration.
''That's got to get their attention.'' Tom chuckled.
''Yep.''
''Thorpe, what the hell happened?'' came over the flag net.
Kris hit her commlink. ''This is Ensign Longknife, now commanding Typhoon. Your attack orders are illegal. You are ordered by Commander, Wardhaven battle fleet, to break off your attack run. If you do not, I will stop you.''
''Longknife? Where's Thorpe? Oh shit. Scirocco, and Hurricane, you will attack Typhoon. Division Two, continue your attack on the Earth fleet.''
''Well, you wanted their attention,'' Tom said, raising an eyebrow in resignation to the new mess his Longknife friend had gotten them into.
''Addison, aim us at Division Two. Tom, get ready to put metal between us and the flag.'' ''Yes ma'ams'' answered her. Kris hit her commlink again. ''All hands, this is Ensign Longknife speaking. I have relieved Captain Thorpe. Our attack orders are illegal. Commander, Wardhaven fleet has ordered us to stop the attack on the Earth fleet. I have just damaged Chinook, and we are now attacking the rest of Squadron Six. Whether you were in on the attack conspiracy or stand with Wardhaven, I suggest we all stand with the Typhoon, because otherwise, we're all dead. Longknife out.''
''Stirring words,'' Tom quipped.
Kris shrugged. ''Have to do. Addison, start jinking ship, zigging and zagging like you've never done before.''
''I'll ruin your firing solution,'' Addison pointed out.
''Ruin it. I'm more interested in us dodging their fire than us hitting them.''
''Hostiles are coming around, ma'am,'' Tom reminded her. ''They should be able to bear in five seconds.'' That was another limitation of the smaller ships. Cruisers and battleships had massive turrets that gave their lasers all-around bearings. The Fast Attack's twenty-four-inch lasers were limited to thirty degrees to either side of the bow. Kris used the time before attackers could touch the Typhoon to send four half-strength pulses at the four ships of the squadron's second division. She missed all, except maybe the Shamal. That didn't matter; getting their attention was more important. What was most interesting was the behavior of the Cyclone and Tornado. Both slowed, turned out of line and away from the Earth Battle Fleet. Bet there are some interesting discussions taking place on their bridges.
Kris's stomach jumped to her throat as Addison dropped the Typhoon. ''Missed us,'' he crowed.
''Turn us bow on to the Hurricane,'' Kris ordered.
''Bow on, aye,'' he answered.
''Moving metal to bow,'' Tom reported, moving liquid metal to where it was needed. Kris tried to line up a shot at the flag, but every time she was about to squeeze off a laser, Addison jinked ship. She dialed the energy on her twenty-four-inchers down to one-quarter power and snapped off a few misses.
''Sorry if I'm lousing up your shots, ma'am,'' Addison said.
''Keep it up. If I can't hit him, he can't hit me.''
Then the two attackers shot past the Typhoon, and Addison swung the ship to bring the bow back to face fire, but there was none. Both ships were headed for the jump point, accelerating for all they were worth. ''He's running!'' Tom shouted.
''Tom, get me a tight beam to the rest of Ron Six,'' Kris shouted as she mashed her commlink. ''Typhoon to rest of AttackRon Six. Please note that the flag is hightailing it for the jump point, and consider your own options.''
''Cyclone here. Ensign Santiago acting commander. We're with you, Longknife.''
''Tornado here, JG Harlan doing the temporary honors. Where do you want us?''
''Engage Monsoon and Shamal. Keep them away from the Earth fleet. I'll chase the flag.''
But Hurricane had gone to three g's on a zigzag course. The g's quickly stripped away her vector toward the Earth fleet and got her moving toward the jump point fast, while the zigzags did not offer Kris a good shot at the Hurricane's vulnerable engines.
For reasons known only to Thorpe, he had not rigged the Typhoon for high-g acceleration, nor did Kris remember any practice at higher than 1.5 g. For now, she held deceleration there and watched developments.
A couple of Earth battlewagons got one or two guns out of train. The Shamal and Monsoon found themselves the center of attention not only of their sister ships but also of a dozen Earth fourteen-, sixteen-, and eighteen-inch lasers. Had this slow reaction been spread over eight attackers, it would have been pathetic. It still was, but now it was concentrated on only two. The Shamal and Monsoon broke off and raced for the jump point, Cyclone and Tornado right behind them.
''Guess now would be a good time to report in,'' Kris said, tapping her commlink. ''This is Ensign Longknife, commanding the Typhoon calling any fleet commander on circuit.'' Her screen split as two faces appeared, one familiar, one very familiar.
''This is General Ho, Chief of Staff, Earth forces. Do you want to tell me what I just saw?''
''This is General Ray Longknife.''
''Mr. President,'' General Ho stiffened to attention.
''No, just General today, Howie, working with General McMorrison, Wardhaven's chief of staff. General, it looked to me like you just had your bacon saved by another Longknife.''
''Kind of looks that way from here, too, Ray.''
''Now General, you can sit over there and wait for another bunch of hotheads to do something stupid, maybe this time at us, or you can come over here and do what we both know must be done.''
''Ray, you know my orders are to wait for Mac to come here.''
''And Howie, you know Mac's orders are to sit right here for you. Now, just between us old warhorses, I'm getting tired of orbiting this worthless rock. There're asteroids whizzing around all over the place. I'm thinking of suggesting to Mac that he cruise his fleet over to Paris 8.'' Kris checked her board. Paris 8 was a gas planet about halfway between Alpha jump, where the Earth fleet was, and Delta jump with the Wardhaven fleet.
''I think I've used up enough fuel going in circles,'' General Ho said, looking off screen. ''Paris 8 looks like the only planet around that isn't in an asteroid cloud. I think I'll inform Earth I intend to use that planet for a temporary fleet base.''
''Pure coincidence.'' Grampa Ray grinned.
''Pure coincidence,'' the Earth general agreed.
''Now that we have that settled, Ensign, you have any problems?'' Ray said, turning his attention to Kris.
''Just the normal ones of a mutineer, like what to do with the old captain and who on board is with me.'' She shrugged. ''Do you want more prisoners?''
Grampa Ray pursed his lips at the hot potato she'd dropped in his lap. Was the battle only halfway over, or could she let the running dogs run and order beers all around? ''Kris, as much as I hate to say it, I think the Earth fleet needs to see us in hot pursuit. Also, I want to talk to the bastards who set this up. What did they think they were doing?''
''I've got the skipper, XO, and comm officer of the Typhoon under guard. I'll see what I can do about getting you Commodore Sampson. If you'll excuse me, sir, I'm going to be busy.''
''Understood, Longknife out.''
''Longknife out,'' Kris repeated, liked the feeling—and switched gears immediately. ''Helm, accelerate us smartly to one and a half g's. Make us a course for jump point Kilo.''