Intrepid

But the Wasp stood between the jump point and the pirate, giving the latter only lousy choices. She could turn and run for the jump point across the system, giving Kris an easy up-the-kilt shot at her reactors. Or charge the Wasp, hoping to slip past her into the jump point. Or fight it out.

''The hostile's lasers are fully charged,'' Chief Beni said.

''Any idea how strong they are?'' Captain Drago asked.

''I'd guess five-inchers. And weak for that,'' the chief said.

''Your Highness, what are your orders?''

Kris thought about that for all of a second. ''He's not getting away from us, Captain. If he wants to dance, we dance, but he can't run.''

''Yes, ma'am. Weapons are online. They are yours, ma'am.''

The exact nature of the Wasp's registry might be subject to debate. What Captain Drago and Kris had quickly agreed upon was her weapons policy. Laying aim and closing the firing circuits would be done by a serving Wardhaven officer. One must respect international law … even if it was with a wink and a smile.

Lieutenant Kris Longknife, Wardhaven Navy, aimed Battery 1 for the tiger's mouth. It was about the right distance out from the bow's center to have the bridge behind it. Of course, if they were rotating their ship behind the shield, like Captain Drago was rotating the Wasp, burn through on the shield might hit anything—or nothing.

''Pirate ship Compton, this is your one and only warning. Dump your reactor, or I will fire on you,'' Kris said, voice cold with death.

Silence answered her.

''Prepare to change jinks pattern,'' Kris announced. ''All hands, prepare for radical evasion.''

On the bridge, people cinched in already tight seat belts. ''For what they are about to receive, may we be truly grateful,'' some wag muttered.

''Pirate ship Compton, I will fire on you at the count of three,'' Kris said into her commlink.

Obscenities were her only reply.

''One,'' Kris said. NELLY GET READY TO IMPLEMENT RADICAL EVASION ON MY MARK.

READY, KRIS.

''Two.'' MARK!

The Wasp shifted from a soft right climb to a hard left drop that left Kris's stomach somewhere a dozen kilometers away in the cold vacuum of space.

Where it was being fried by three laser beams from the hostile.

''Fire One,'' Kris said as she closed the firing circuit for the first of Wasp's pulse lasers.

The mouth of the tiger glowed, then fumed, and finally gaped as the Wasp's laser burned through the shield. To the void behind it. Yep, the ship was rotating.

And now it also started to jinks.

NELLY, EVALUATE THE EVASION PATTERN.

IT IS A BASIC ONE. I AM ALREADY FORECASTING IT.

Kris aimed her second laser for opposite the ragged hole in the shield that was already healing itself, blocking out the view of what lay behind it, ship or void.

At the last second, Kris played a hunch, changing her aim to the right paw of the tiger and firing.

The paint boiled off in a nanosecond, leaving the shield to burn and buckle. Thinner now from the loss of metal to Kris's hit and the effort to patch it, burn-through came quicker.

And raked the ship hull behind it before Laser 2 winked out.

''Compton, you are hit, and your shields are failing. Dump your reactor, and we will board and offer assistance,'' Kris said.

''Never,'' was the one-word reply.

And six lasers reached out for the Wasp from the wounded pirate. They were not so strong as Kris's ship's twenty-four-inch pulse lasers, but at this range, a hit by anything could slice the Wasp in half.

The ship jinked away from four of them. The fifth one spent itself on the shield, boiling off a few kilos of Smart Metal™.

The sixth one raked Wasp aft of amidships but missed engineering. At least the lights did not dim, nor did the reload light on Battery 1 slow its rapid climb from yellow toward red.

''Damage Control,'' Captain Drago demanded.

''Containers open to space. We're working on them.''

Captain Drago turned to Kris. ''Can you get this over with? I like my ship the way it is, not holier than thou,'' he said dryly.

''Firing Three,'' Kris said. She had Nelly widen the focus of the twenty-four-inch laser, raking a major portion of the shield. Damaged, it was now too thin to do much more than hide the bow of the pirate, providing a fan to cover the bare rear of the bridge.

As 3 winked out, all pretense at a shield vanished. The pirate spun on its long axis in full view. But not giving up.

Its capacitors began to recharge. A thin wisp coalesced to cover the bow. The tiger was back, a raised paw, the middle finger elevated in the universally recognized insolent salute.

''Some folks just don't know when to quit,'' Kris said.

''Leave us alone,'' boomed from the commlink. ''You get out of here, or a lot of people are going to die.''

''You're going to die,'' Kris pointed out.

''We got the crew of two ships on board. You shoot at us again, and we'll see just how much vacuum they can breathe.''

''Oops,'' Kris and Captain Drago said at the same time.