Ballistic (The Palladium Wars), стр. 63

“Let’s make sure it’s the last one for that fuzzhead cruiser, too,” Bosworth said.

For the next four minutes, Minotaur’s AI played a cat-and-mouse game with the helm controller of the Gretian ship. The frigate changed course at random to throw off the intercept angles and force the enemy cruiser to respond with a new course change. But with the acceleration advantage the other ship had over Minotaur, it was clear that they’d run out of angles for course changes very soon. On the display, the bubble showing the projected range of the Gretian cruiser’s armament crept ever closer to the range of Minotaur’s own weapons. Physically, there was no limit to the range of a missile or a rail-gun projectile in a vacuum, but in practice, hit probability increased as distance decreased. The point-defense AI could fry warheads and dodge shells with near-absolute accuracy if the flight time of the incoming weapon was long enough.

“Twenty seconds until engagement threshold,” Mayler said.

“Open hatches on missile tubes one through twelve. Set tubes four and six to intercept pattern Theta Two Niner and launch as soon as they get in range.” Dunstan watched as the two range-marker bubbles approached each other’s thresholds.

“If we’re lucky, they haven’t had a software update for their point-defense AI since that ship was commissioned,” he said.

“Their PDS is a slug system,” Mayler said. “If the database is right, they never got directed energy mounts.”

“That’s good. If their point defense is all guns, it means they can run out of bullets.”

“Ten seconds. Standing by for launch on tubes four and six. Intercept pattern Theta Two Niner is laid in,” Mayler said. He was all business now, surrounded by half a dozen tactical subdisplays, a focused expression on his face.

“Let’s stick to the protocol. Give them a warning before we start flinging war shots,” Dunstan said. “But don’t let on that we know what they are.”

Bosworth nodded and opened the comms panel.

“Unidentified vessel on intercept course, this is the warship RNS Minotaur,” he sent. “Power down your drive and cease your approach immediately, or we will assume hostile intent and open fire.”

The reply came just a moment later. It was spoken in Rhodian, not run through a translator AI, and Dunstan could only make out a faint accent that could have been Oceanian or Gretian.

“RNS Minotaur, this is Valravn. Here is our counterproposal. Shut down your weapons grid and your active transmissions and set your reactor to standby. Comply in the next thirty seconds, and we will spare your crew. Fail to comply, and we will close in and destroy your ship, and every escape pod you launch. Valravn out.”

“Valravn?” Mayler looked at Bosworth and Dunstan.

“The Raven of the Slain,” Dunstan supplied. “From Norse mythology. If my memory serves me right. It’s been a while since I took that class.”

“Well, the Raven of the Slain just crossed into engagement range, sir,” Bosworth said. “One hundred twenty kilometers. What’s our response?”

“We will send it their way. Lieutenant Mayler, fire tubes four and six. Midshipman Boyer, hand helm control to the AI.”

Mayler flipped the safeties off the hardware buttons for the missile-launch tubes.

“Firing four. Firing six.”

The igniting drives of the heavy antiship missiles sent a low vibration through the hull. On the tactical display, two more icons appeared next to Minotaur and rushed toward the incoming contact.

“Missiles away at fifty g. Both seeker heads are tracking Sultan-2. Time to target, twenty-two seconds,” Mayler said. “Range is down to one ten. Sultan-2 is coming about to two hundred degrees relative.”

In response to the incoming missiles, the Gretian cruiser had altered its course to show its broadside to the warheads and bring the maximum number of point-defense guns to bear. From now on, it would be a duel between computers, both ships’ AI systems trying to outwit and outmaneuver each other, analyzing data and making decisions far faster than any human could.

“Fifteen seconds to impact. Sultan-2 has reduced their burn to under five g.”

“Diverting energy for their point defense,” Dunstan said. “I thought you said they didn’t have a directed energy PDS.”

“No, sir. And no way they could have gotten one fitted. Not in three months.”

On the plot, several new contacts popped up between Sultan-2 and the incoming missiles from Minotaur.

“Sultan-2 is firing at our ASMs,” Mayler said. “With their rail-gun mounts.”

“At that range? That’s a waste of slugs,” Bosworth said.

On the plot, the missiles changed course to avoid the incoming rail-gun fire. They weaved through the volley of tungsten slugs and reacquired their target with ease. Rail-gun shot moved at five kilometers per second, which was slow motion to a seeker-head AI at over fifty kilometers, when the computer had ten seconds to calculate an evasive maneuver.

“Welcome to postwar tech,” Bosworth commented. “Too bad about those five years of missed software updates.”

“Ten seconds to impact,” Mayler narrated the plot display. “Sultan-2 has increased burn to eight g again. Seven seconds. Five seconds.”

Maybe this won’t be a hard fight after all, Dunstan thought.

On the optical feed, the flank of the distant Gretian cruiser seemed to erupt into flame as hundreds of thermal bloom signatures lit up the hull. One of the missile icons disappeared from the tactical display in a blink. The other changed course, but a second later, there was a brief flash on the infrared spectrum, and the second ASM was gone from the plot as well.

“Both birds are down,” Mayler said. “Successful intercept by the enemy at two point five kilometers range. Doesn’t look like the ballistic debris scored a hit either.”

“Good gods, look at that point-defense fire,” Bosworth said. “That’s a lot of explosive shells. We’ll have a bitch of a time getting anything through that flak field. Modern seeker heads or not.”

“We have incoming,” Mayler warned. On the plot, a dozen contact symbols appeared next to the Gretian cruiser and rushed toward Minotaur. “They’re returning fire with their gun battery.”

Minotaur’s AI analyzed the incoming rail-gun rounds and maneuvered the ship to avoid them.