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He punched the thruster controls—explosive force detonated on the starboard side of the ship.TheIroquois nosed toward Sigma Octanus IV.
“Course correction, Lieutenant Jaggers,” he said. “Bring us into a tight orbit.”
“Aye, sir.” He furiously tapped in commands, diverting engine output through attitude thrusters.
The hull of theIroquois glowed red as it entered the atmosphere. A cloud of yellow ionization built uparound the view screen.
Commander Keyes gripped the railing tighter.
The view screen cleared and he could see the stars. TheIroquois entered the dark side of the planet.
Commander Keyes slumped forward and started breathing again.
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“Engine coolant failure, sir,” Lieutenant Hall said.
“Shut the engines down,” he ordered. “Emergency vent.”
“Aye, sir. Venting fusion reactor plasma.”
TheIroquois was abruptly quiet. No rumble of her engines. And no one said anything until LieutenantHikowa stood and said, “Sir, that was the most brilliant maneuver I have ever seen.”
Commander Keyes gave a short laugh. “You think so, Lieutenant?”
If one of his students had proposed such a maneuver in his tactics class, he would have given them a C+.He would have told them their maneuver was full of bravado and daring . . . but extremely risky, placingthe crew in the ship in unnecessary danger.
“This isn’t over yet. Stay sharp,” he told them. “Lieutenant Hikowa what is the charge status of theMAC guns?”
“Capacitors at ninety-five percent, sir, and draining at a rate of three percent per minute.”
“Ready MAC guns, one heavy round apiece. Arm all forward Archer missile pods.”
“Aye, sir.”
TheIroquois broke free of the dark side of Sigma Octanus IV.
“Fire chemical thrusters to break orbit, Lieutenant Hall.”
“Firing, aye.”
There was a brief rumble. The screen centered on the backsides of the two Covenant frigates they hadpassed on the way in.
The alien ships started to come about; blue flashes flickered along their hulls as their laser turretscharged. Motes of red collected along their lateral lines. They were readying another salvo of plasmatorpedoes.
There was something there, however, that was too small to see on the view screen: the nuke. Keyes hadlaunched that missile in the opposite direction—but its reverse thrust had not completely overcome theirtremendous forward velocity.
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As theIroquois had screamed over the prow of the destroyer, and as they orbited Sigma Octanus IV, thenuke had drifted closer to the frigates . . . who had fixed their attention solidly on theIroquois .
Commander Keyes tapped his data pad and sent the signal to detonate the bomb.
There was a flash of white, a crackle of lightning, and the alien ships vanished as a cloud of destructionenveloped them. Waves of the EMP interacted with the magnetic field of Sigma Octanus IV—rippledwith rainbow borealis. The cloud of vapor expanded and cooled, and faded to yellow, orange, red, thenblack dust that scattered into space.