The men around him took off, heading out of the bay at a run. Vadris Lon turned to look back at Lhora. “Come up on the bridge. I want you to witness this with me.”
They weren’t taking her prisoner?
“What about…?” She tapped the hilts of her weapons.
“Keep your hands away from them and don’t leave my side,” he sternly ordered.
Lhora hurried to catch up with him.
10
Attack
Vadris Lon didn’t take the wheel as she’d expected him to. Instead, he leaped up the short flight of steps to the top deck to view and direct from there. He gave her a quick jerk of his hand in invitation to join him, and she hurried to obey.
“Steady as she goes, Pullid. All ahead full!”
“All ahead full!” the man Lhora assumed was Pullid responded from his position at the wheel.
From her vantage point, she realized the Vadris intended to attack both ketches in a single fly-by. His timing had to be impeccable because there would be no second chance at catching the Tra’Mell by surprise.
As they drew closer, it became visibly obvious that theCleeda’scannon ports were open, proving Lhora’s claim that the Sarpi had prepared the artillery. If those cannons fired, they could easily take out all three Tra’Mellian vessels, or at least free his ship long enough to get away. Instead, the Sarpi had delayed giving the order.
Why he’d done so was the ultimate question.
She couldn’t imagine what was going on inside the Coltrosstian warship. A heartfelt wish washed through her as her thoughts focused on one person.Duren, please be safe. Please don’t be killed. Please survive.
“Brace yourself,” she heard the Vadris mutter softly. Outside the viewport, the cluster of ships loomed closer and larger. Moving over to the railing, she pressed her hip to it and held onto the bannister with both hands.
“Cannons ready!” Lon yelled.
“Cannons ready!”
“Harpoons ready!”
“Harpoons ready!”
“Twelve degrees port!”
“Twelve degrees port!” The man at the wheel began twirling it, his eyes locked on the instrumentation in front of him.
“Hold her steady! Fire on my mark!”
The ship angled slightly to bring its guns parallel to the enemy vessels. Lhora held her breath.
“Drop shields! Fire all!”
“Firing all!”
At the same time the weapons master acknowledged the Vadris’s command, the battlecruiser shuddered from the barrage. The view screen went incandescent from the glare, and the atmosphere within the ship rumbled. The vessel bucked as their cannon fire struck the two outlying Tra’Mellian ships, taking them out, and the Coltrosstian warship was hit with the backwash.
Lon rushed to the other side of the deck to view behind them. “Pullid, bring us about!”
“Bringing about!”
“Cannons ready!”
“Cannons at-ready!”
