Free Edge of Redemption (A Star Too Far Book 3) by Casey Calouette

loaded. The passages echoed as the airlocks sealed throughout the ship.
    “We’re green for blink,” Huron said.
    “Ms. Shay, you call it.” William said as he engaged the weapons program. Lines of contingencies rolled and flowed before him. He caught bits and pieces of it, mass driver executions, if-then statements, missile protocols. It was a dance and he liked to watch it play out.
    “Here we go,” Lieutenant Shay said softly. She slapped the console.
    The displays blinked to white and the starscape shifted. Sensor arrays waited, each sucking in every bit of information they could. In the span of a few milliseconds every instrument absorbed every bit of local space. The starscape was calculated, observed, and the position verified.
    Then the mass drivers opened fire.
    William could almost sense it before they blinked. His fingers danced on the console. The commands between the bridge crew were rapid. The data was still coming in and already the mass drivers had halted and quieted. The initial wave of violence stopped.
    The displays showed nothing more in the immediate vicinity. The blink had brought them a step closer to a barren system with nothing but automated mining systems. Clouds of debris twinkled in the dim starlight.
    “Clear, Captain,” Lieutenant Shay said. “Here’s the vid.”
    One of the screens blanked out followed by a shift of starscape. Red icons were overlaid onto shadows scattered around the ship. A group of four Sa’Ami striders had been barely a kilometer away. Acceleration icons flared followed by an immediate juking and dancing. Mass drivers opened up a moment later and the targets were vaporized.
    “That was quick,” Huron said, as the playback cycled once more.
    “Go live, Ms. Shay, make sure nothing else is nearby. We’ll cover an AU or so before they come in.” William looked up to the system chart.
    The ship released a trio of energy bursts that scattered in all directions. The energy ranged through various spectra and cast out at the speed of light. It plunged through the emptiness around them and returned scattered signatures of dust, micrometeorites, and the accumulated debris of space travel.
    “Clear,” Lieutenant Shay said.
    “Can they blink?” Huron asked.
    William had been afraid that they could. He pictured the striders attacking away from him and began to scratch the palm of his augmetic hand nervously.
    “Blink!” Huron called out. The display lit up with both the Core personnel carrier followed by the bulk of the Grouper a second later.
    Comms chatter tore through the silence from both ships. “They’re on us!” a voice howled from the Grouper .
    “There!” Lieutenant Shay called out and zoomed in on the outside of the Grouper . A pair of large striders leaped along the top of the shipping containers. Each was humanoid and massive with an elongated bulb hanging off the back.
    “ Grouper , seal hatches,” William called as he keyed up the weapons program and fired.
    A pair of mass drivers stitched rounds into the Grouper . The first strider tumbled away with the bulbous back slapping against it. Sparks and delicate flame erupted.
    The second strider leaped and powered down at an odd angle. It had fired a grav drive and pushed itself behind the mass of the freighter.
    “Roll Grouper ! Roll!” William yelled.
    “You’re shooting at us!”
    “Shut up and roll!” William yelled again.
    “Blink!” Huron yelled.
    The form of the Gallipoli appeared a kilometer on the opposite side of the grouper.
    “ Gallipoli is priming weapons,” Lieutenant Shay said. “We’re in line.”
    William calculated the ordinance; he could take a few rounds. “ Gallipoli ! Fire mass drivers on the strider assaulting the Grouper !” He leaned forward and watched. Every beat of his heart was like a hammer in his ears.
    The Gallipoli wore meager armaments, barely enough to show her as a truly armed corvette. But even with a handful of mass drivers, it would be enough.
    The