First Principles: Samair in Argos: Book 3 by MICHAEL KOTCHER

with bombs didn’t stop it and now we’re down two shuttles, to say nothing of the new damage.  We can’t even jump to hyperspace now.”
                  Stella just looked miserable, unable to say anything.  Vincent sighed, leaning back in his chair.  This day just kept getting worse.
     
    ~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~
     
                  “We hurt them, Colonel,” Paxton crowed from the tactical station. 
                  “But our shots didn’t even penetrate their shields,” Gants said, pointing to the display. 
                  “No, sir, they didn’t,” Hakami replied.  “But they shunted all their power into the shields, which supercharged them.  They stood up to two of our salvos, but then only a few seconds later all of the shields on that side of the ship collapsed.”
                  “We shot through?”
                  But Hakami shook her head.  “No, Colonel.  They failed.  I think they pumped everything into the shields and the equipment couldn’t hold up under the strain.  The fact that they just rolled ship to present us with the opposite side seems to confirm that, sir.  I think all the shield nodes and power relays burned out.  They’re not going anywhere anytime soon, sir.  Without shields, they’re helpless and they’re stuck out here.”
                  Gants nodded.  “No jumping to hyperspace.”
                  Hakami grinned.  “No, sir.  And if I’m right about the damage, it won’t be a quick fix, either.  That’s probably two weeks worth of work.”
                  “Good.  I think it better that we’re not destroying civilian shipping, even if it is an FP ship.”  Gants saw others on the bridge nodding their agreement.  Not that he needed their approval for his actions, but it was good that he had it.  Also, this was a warship, a ship meant to defend the system.  He had no problems engaging the company warships, but shooting up freighters left a bad taste in his mouth, even if it had been his idea in the first place.  He was glad that the bulk freighter had gotten off with only light damage.  “What’s our distance from the mining station?”
                  “Five hundred thousand kilometers, Colonel.”
                  “And where’s that blasted corvette?”
                  “They’re turning back to engage, sir,” Hakami reported, shaking her head in disbelief.  “They’re bleeding air in their central spine area and have lost flanking shields, but they’re coming back?  What the hell, Colonel?”
                  Gants shook his own head.  “I don’t get it either, Lieutenant Hakami.  But if they want to die, I’m more than willing to accommodate them.”
     
                  “Captain, I have to protest this action,” Chief al Fakhir stated again.  He had returned to engineering and was in the process of rerouting power to the shields, the fore and aft ones anyway.  The port and starboard shields covering the spine were completely down, the nodes damaged.  That would be a big job to fix.  “Even if your special weapon works the way you hope, it won’t destroy that ship.  I’m not even sure it will disable it.”
                  “Thank you, Mister al Fakhir,” Tamara said shortly.  She plopped herself back into her command seat on the bridge.  “I understand that this is a dangerous maneuver and I know how badly we’ve been hit.  But they’ve already fired on us, and they’ve fired on one of the civilian freighters.  I can’t let that stand.  This is an illegal and unprovoked attack.  We have to respond.  I just wish that we had more ships.”  She silently cursed her decision to hold off on building the second corvette.  The manpower issue hadn’t changed, they didn’t have the people to crew that ship, but having a second ship to