"Kumiko, did you fix our inter-ship comm the way
Zolan told you to?"
"Fixed. They'll have to search and analyze dozens of scramble channels to find and fix on ours. We have a private and moving channel."
"OK. Check suits. Batten down and seal up. Now hear this."
Brad stroked control panel keys, switches and levers as he talked.
"Call signs: Hodak and I are One; Adari and Kumiko, you're Two, and Myra and Drummer, Three. The job is to keep 'em confused and stumbling over each other for as long as we can, and hope for the best. The capsule Adari slipped into your computer has the coordinates and formation we hope they've assumed. By now they're well into the faked redeployment. We're dealing in seconds, minutes if we're lucky.
"The deployment we triggered concentrates them in three sectors: Alpha, Beta, Gamma. Hodak and I will take Alpha, Adari and Kumiko, you've got Beta; Myra and Drummer to Gamma. Your sector coordinates are in the capsule; use standard locks to interface the coordinates with your ship's flight controls. Go for command decks, weapons control centers, thrusters or other vitals where disabling is money. Try for battle cruisers, but don't ignore other targets of opportunity. Keep your explosive decompressors and laser-quads at max. Talk as you work so we all know what's happening. Go."
The signals from Brad's control panel had their effect. The rushing sound of escaping air told them the huge portal was opening. Within seconds the battlefield stretched before them.
Brad hit the catapult release. The ship lunged forward. As it cleared the flight deck, Brad maxed the thrusters. Hodak glanced back over his shoulder.
"Two and Three are clear," he announced.
The three fighters skewed sharply toward their assigned sectors.