Free Tactical Error by Thorarinn Gunnarsson

that could peel the quartzite shell right off of these
invincible monsters, together with the incredible destructive power of the
Starwolves’ conversion cannons, had made it possible for the Kelvessan to
fight these immense engines of war.
    Even so, carriers and Fortresses had fought only five times in the past
twenty years, to the destruction of two of the larger ships. The Fortresses had
countered the Starwolf advances by flying and fighting only in groups of at
least three. The Starwolves could have pressed the issue by attacking the Union
ships in their own battle groups, and Velmeran had sometimes thought that he
should. But the Fortresses were a force to be considered even for the Wolf
fleet, and he had no wish to engage these ships except under circumstances
entirely of his own choosing, when he could press every advantage. At the same
time, the Union was very reluctant to press these very expensive machines into
battle situations where they could be destroyed, and they could usually be
bluffed into withdrawing by a Starwolf carrier taking a determined posture. But
once a trio of these ships were entrenched in close orbit, a lone Starwolf
carrier was usually the one to retreat.
    The Methryn continued her determined rush at the enemy ships, a swift run
that Velmeran hoped would be taken as a prelude to the launch of the missiles
that would crack the quartzite shields of the Fortresses. She would have made a
very inviting target, except that she was still well out of range. At the very
last moment, just before she would have come under fire of hundreds, if not
thousands, of powerful cannons, she turned sharply and shot away at an angle.
The Fortresses turned as one to follow.
    As the Methryn retreated, a simple, brief signal was broadcast from the
Fortresses, intercepted by the slender antenna that the spider drone had put
through the door of the transport bay. The signal was received by the small
transceiver that had been left in the shadows of the bay, relaying to the
little automaton a message that would not have otherwise penetrated the
ship’s shielded hull. Deep within the interior of the carrier, the drone responded
to that message in an abrupt and violent manner, exploding with tremendous
force, taking out a length of the main switching core, the one vulnerable link
in the Methryn’s power grid.
    The entire ship was plunged into a moment of darkness as the entire main
power network failed. The Methryn’s engines and defensive shields powered
down, and even the ship’s atmosphere and gravity were lost. On the
bridge, Valthyrra’s camera pod sank slowly to the deck as her entire
computer network went down. After a moment the ship’s emergency backup
systems came on line, restoring a minimal environment control and lights. A few
seconds later, backup generators powered up to restore Valthyrra’s main
functions. She at least was self-contained, but even she could do nothing with
a dead ship.
    “Valthyrra, what hit us?” Velmeran asked. He watched as
Consherra abandoned her station without a word, hurrying to main engineering.
    “Nothing hit us,” she replied absently. Her camera pod was
returning slowly to position as her primary attention remained elsewhere,
exploring her self-diagnostic network. “Something internal failed. My
main switching core seems to be down. That is damned peculiar.”
    “Why?”
    “Because it is a relatively new unit,” she explained.
“That unit is not prone to sudden failure, and it was inspected recently
with no sign of any problem. Chief Engineer Tresha is inspecting the damage
now.”
    “An explosion has shattered the main link of the switching
core,” Tresha herself reported immediately. “The explosion has
every appearance of having occurred externally, although there is nothing
anywhere near that could have caused such an explosion. I would say that it
looks very much like sabotage, if I thought that anyone could get on board this
ship.”
    It had happened before,