The Perseus cruisers bore down on Kingsblade’s escort ships like hungry wild dogs. Just like Captain Hunter speculated, they weren’t set up for a ship to ship engagement and by now the Constellation’s sensor section had confirmed no known life forms were present on any of the Poseidon Task Force ships. They were fully automated and apparently functioning at only a fraction of their actual capabilities.

“Target engines and power systems. Energy weapons online. Secure from missile targeting,” Commander Hunter ordered.

“Acknowledged. Range closing to twelve thousand miles. Main battery lock acquired.”

“Configure the datanet on a rotating frequency. All transmitters quick quiet. Stand by.” Hunter authorized all the bridge consoles to deploy their short-range combat modes. The tactical station unfolded into its gunnery configuration. Lieutenant Mallory peered through the sophisticated optical pickups and placed her hands on the power and targeting controls.

“Firing range in ten seconds.”

The primary batteries of the starship Revenge glowed an angry shade of red as they drew power from her crash reactors. On the opposite side of Commander Hunter’s strike cruiser, the equally heavy weapons of DSS Spruance hummed with destructive energy. The Perseus formation sped across the Poseidon escorts’ course at more than 600 kilometers a second, seeking to intercept the Kingsblade’s heavier ships before they could come to the defense of their own battle group’s capital platform.

Moments before they broke firing range, more than 160 overloaded anti-matter warheads knifed through the three-cruiser attack formation and accelerated into their terminal approaches directly at the Poseidon vessels. The Kingsblade’s escorts were caught out of position and unprepared for Raymond Flynn’s brilliantly coordinated missile attack from the Constellation. Emergency point defenses frantically opened up on the fast-moving wall of destruction, but it was far too late.

The concept of a battleship escorted by capital missile platforms had a long and storied history in Skywatch. Many flag officers considered it their sacred duty to reserve a place at the table for the biggest ships and the biggest weapons. Meanwhile, space combat, like many other forms of tactical conflict, often favored three smaller well-coordinated ships to one large easily-targeted vessel.

Three of the four escort ships in the Poseidon squadron were heavily armed with powerful missiles that even a first year cadet knew would do them no good at all against Commander Hunter’s highly trained and nearly perfectly coordinated task force. It was the space combat equivalent of firing a Howitzer at a housefly, or bringing a bazooka to a knife fight in a phone booth. With all those enormous launchers taking up space, there was no room for adequate point defense. Big guns depended on little guns to protect them until they could locate a suitable target. Argent was such a target, but she was still two million miles beyond their maximum controllable range. Unfortunately, because Commander Hunter had closed range with their formation so quickly, Fury, Spruance and Revenge were approximately a hundred thousand miles inside their minimum range. Fully 85% of Poseidon’s firepower had been neutralized simply because none of the Kingsblade’s escorts could find a target.

The resulting battle, if what occurred could be dignified with that label, was short and violent. The missile cruiser Ceres was disemboweled and decapitated by Revenge in the first pass. The final ten-megaton proximity blast sent her twisted hull into an uncontrolled vertical spin before it tumbled off into space having failed to get off a single defensive shot.

A brief, savage confrontation between the Fury and the missile cruiser Leto left the latter vessel burning in space.

The third ship, DSS Aike, was set upon by most of the Constellation’s birds and annihilated in a multi-warhead detonation that spiked energy sensors as far away as Station 19.

Four capital missiles were launched at the Argent by the Poseidon formation. Three were shot down by the Spruance and the fourth was vaporized by reflex battery fire from DSS Ajax. It was the most one-sided deep space engagement in fleet history, even though it was really a victory of manned ships over scarcely more than autopilots.

Meanwhile, with Lieutenant Islington’s annoying little ship dodging in and out of range, and Argent pounding away on the Kingsblade’s reactors, the heavy battleship was beginning to show signs of fatigue. Her weapons were exhausted. She was underway, but her drive field was cutting in and out at only 28% of its maximum power levels. Her starboard battle screens were down and what was left of her forward screen wouldn’t survive another direct hit.

But Captain Jason Hunter wasn’t on the bridge to see the unfolding victory. At the moment it became clear the automation systems aboard Kingsblade would be unable to protect the ship from eventual destruction, the Argent Skipper was powering up the engines of a heavy paladin multi-role mech on Flight Two.

“Hunter to Bridge.”

“Bridge, McInerney.”

“Alright, Yolanda, make sure tactical keeps our ECM field at maximum. I’m betting her autosystems won’t detect us until it’s too late.”

“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking, what exactly are we supposed to do if the contact does something unexpected?”

“Do something unexpected back! Hunter out.” Jason switched the chunky attack vessel’s systems to internal power. “Madison, are you sure we can bring the Kingsblade’s systems under our control once we’re aboard?” The fusion engineer was busy fastening her shock harness in the cargo bay of Hunter’s mech.

“Affirmative, sir. Her power systems are just bigger versions of our own. She also has ten reactors instead of eight. Once my team gets to engineering, we’ll need about six minutes to gain control of the mains. Once we control engineering, it’s only a matter of time before we control the ship.”

“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Hunter sealed his flight suit and helmet. “Flight Operations, this is Intruder. Requesting jets at time out one seven one. Acknowledge.”

“Affirmative, Intruder. The board is green. You are cleared for launch.” The heavy turbine-enhanced power systems of Hunter’s mech roared to life moments before his main engines flooded the ship with a surge of energy. The corvette-compatible rail tunnel glowed with magnetic capacitance for a moment and then fired the paladin heavy mech into space.

Less than four seconds after escaping Argent’s drive field, Hunter’s mech began launching scatter flares. The tiny transmitters were similar to the larger and more powerful versions employed by Argent herself. They were designed to last only a few seconds, but during that time, they were capable of producing so much electronic noise and heat they could often distract enemy targeting systems long enough to prevent them from targeting an incoming ship. Once enough of them had poured into space from the paladin’s auxiliary cargo hold, Captain Hunter threw all the power he could spare to the sprint engines on the chunky little mech. The Intruder dove for the Kingsblade’s perimeter. Now it was a race. If the overloaded and likely malfunctioning autosystems aboard the heavy battleship barged through enough of the electronic firestorm to find the actual inbound target, one locked shot from the medium-range point defense batteries could cripple Hunter’s ship and quite possibly destroy it.

But the Captain was counting on his knowledge of what those autosystems actually prioritized in combat. From a tactical perspective, a tiny relatively harmless inbound paladin was no match for the teeth-bared 200,000-ton dinosaur behind it. Hunter knew the Kingsblade would concentrate her fire on Argent. A human crew would recognize the threat of an inbound mech and respond quickly enough to avoid it. An automatic system, however, didn’t have the experience or the awareness to change strategies that quickly. By the time the point defense systems’ targeting cleared, the Intruder was gone.

More accurately, the Intruder was now part of Kingsblade’s outer hull. Hunter had magnetically attached the paladin’s deck supports to one of the ship’s Brobdingnagian armor plates only a few yards from an external airlock. The battleship could still fire on Hunter and his crew, but it would be the equivalent of a human being using a hunting knife to stab a mosquito resting on their arm. The cure would be more dangerous than the pest.

After a few minutes of preparation, the Captain and his best damage control team were walking across the Kingsblade’s hull using magnetic boots to remain anchored to the huge ship’s armor.

“Sir, what do we do if we manage to get control? I realize we can render the ship harmless, but even if we split our crews, we can’t possibly man this vessel,” Madison asked.

“We may not need to,” Hunter replied as he knelt to activate the manual airlock controls. “Whomever or whatever automated this ship may not have had time to cover all their bases. If the command computer is intact, we’re halfway home. If their automation systems are sophisticated enough, we’re 90% home.”

“How do you figure, sir?”

The airlock seals opened and the mechanism unlocked the pressure door. “One of the advantages of being a flag officer, engineer. Argent’s command computer will verify my brevet rank. As the only authorized flag officer in the sector, Kingsblade’s core programming must respond to my lawful orders.”

“I didn’t know that,” Madison said with a tone of embarrassment.

“Hey, until a couple days ago, I didn’t realize the command operations manual was 1200 pages thick either.” Hunter groaned as he slid the two-ton outer hull port open. “A week ago, I was just another Captain. When I formed Strike Fleet Perseus, I got the key to the executive ice cream shop. Before, I just read the good parts until I got my own flag. Now I read the fine print. Blasters on half-power. I don’t expect us to find anyone but if we do, you’re all authorized to defend yourselves. Madison, get to engineering and at least get me positive control of the power systems. I’ll be on the bridge arguing with the command computer. Let’s move.”