Fifty reserve dreadnoughts formed a wall beyond the Outer Ice Rim. Their shared shield linked weapons, engines, and life support into one system.
That link was Wu Ji’s last advantage and his crews’ greatest danger.
Austin approached alone. The two plasma jets over his shoulders were locked to a narrow forward path. Behind him, rescue ships waited along a corridor agreed by both sides.
“Fifty ships across a public path,” Austin said. “That’s a hedge that needs trimming.”
Grand Marshal Lei Zhen appeared on the public channel. “Wu Ji has used the command codes to arm our external racks. Many of our crews refuse to fire. If we break the network ourselves, the surge may kill life support.”
“Can you mark the weapon trunks?” Austin asked.
“We can do better. We can open the maintenance diagrams.”
The diagrams came across. Independent engineers from Frost-Belt and three Concordat ships checked them together. Dara approved a cut plan that separated weapons from the rest of the network.
