Cobra Outlaw by Zahn Timothy

Author:Zahn, Timothy [Zahn, Timothy]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Baen
Published: 2015-02-03T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

During the three days the Dorian floated silently in the darkness nine million kilometers from the Trofts’ flicker-mine net, Barrington had spent some of his idle minutes running calculations on the likely moment when his ship would find itself plunged into battle.

Two of the numbers were straightforward. It was easy to calculate how long it would have taken the Hermes to arrive at Aventine from the point where the Dorian had dropped it, and equally simple to figure the time it would then take for the trip from the Cobra Worlds’ capital to the flicker net.

The other two numbers—how long it would take Commodore Santores to read Barrington’s report, and how long it would take him to decide on a course of action—were far softer numbers. Still, Barrington had spent a fair amount of time interacting with the commodore on the voyage from Asgard, and he had a pretty good feel for how his superior thought and acted. The timing would also depend on other factors, such as whether the commodore had been on duty when the report came in, and whether other matters on Aventine might be competing for his attention. Ultimately, he ended up with a probable six-hour range.

One hour before the shortest and most optimistic of his calculated times, he raised the Dorian’s readiness level from Battle Preparedness Two to BatPrep One.

Commodore Santores had apparently assigned a high priority to the Dorian’s situation. Exactly ninety-two minutes later, the Hermes hit the Trofts’ net and was yanked back into space-normal.

“It hit about fifteen percent off the center point,” Commander Garrett reported. “As close to a dead-center hit as I’ve ever seen. If we’re still looking for proof that the net was intended for us, this is as good as we’re likely to get. Range reads out at a hair over nine-point-three million kilometers.”

Barrington nodded, automatically converting the number to thirty-one light-seconds. Everything they were observing was therefore half a minute out of date. “Enemy response?”

“Both warships are moving in for the kill,” Castenello called. “Two is closest; it’s on the far side of the net and will be in laser range in six minutes. One is on our side and about four minutes behind it.” He threw Barrington a dark look. “Unfortunately, One is the closer target.”

Barrington stroked a finger thoughtfully on his lower lip. Unfortunate, because while One would be the easier of the two for the Dorian to tackle, it was also the smaller threat to the Hermes. If Barrington chose to engage One, Hermes would be alone as it faced off against Two.

There was, of course, a standard tactical response to this kind of situation. Barrington would normally bring the Dorian into the battle with a microjump that would take it into toe-to-toe range with Two and attempt to put Two out of action before One made it into range. If he succeeded, then it would be the Dorian and Hermes that would be double-teaming One instead of being on the receiving end of such firepower concentration.

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