In the blink of an eye, crimson energy shells broke free of the atmosphere and hurtled toward the Katai fleet, which was approaching at normal cruising speed. The dazzling light seemed to bathe their bridges in blood.
"High-energy reaction ahead! High-energy reaction ahead!" The Katai language, which sounded like the snarling of a large predator, rang across the bridge.
Colonel Inkwhiskers was stunned. He truly hadn't expected the weak Earthlings to open fire. Fortunately, as members of the Katai Royal Fleet, the ship's crew had trained hard and drilled for this kind of situation many times. Before the colonel could even give an order, the crew were already carrying out standard evasion and defense procedures.
"Deploy forward shields! All ships, maneuver one!" the colonel bellowed.
By this point in the age of spaceflight, fleet tactics had developed a complete set of standard procedures. They covered everything from cruising and concealment to bombardment and evasion. Maneuver one, of course, meant the standard evasion maneuver number one: the ship in the middle went up, while the ships on either side went in opposite directions.
The crew executed the order with practiced ease. In the vastness of space, the destroyers, each more than three hundred meters long, twisted through evasive maneuvers that only twenty-meter fighter craft could manage inside an atmosphere. A nearly transparent, pale blue shield sprang up in front of each ship's elliptical bow, forming a hemispherical dome.
Whoosh! The crimson laser beam skimmed past the ship's shield. The clash and neutralization of energy became a surging shock wave that shook the entire hull.
If the big cats aboard hadn't braced themselves for impact, they probably wouldn't have been able to stay on their feet.
"Shield strength down seventeen percent!" the ship's defense officer reported loudly.
Thank goodness. Just a scrape!