The toolbox contained nothing that would be of any use, and there wasn't anything else lying around that could have assisted either. Kirrik jammed the broken half back into place as hard as he could, replaced the cover, and gingerly turned the power back on.
"If we're lucky there might be enough contact for the shields to work intermittently," he told the bridge. "Or they may burn out totally."
There was nothing more that could be done than wait for the approaching ship. The Constrictor could easily have opened the distance between them, but the transport they were following showed no inclination to move any faster. The Vipers maintained their formation about it.
As it approached the scanners were able to take better readings of its course and speed and provide a better estimate of its intercept time, but they gave little other information. The ship was probably larger than the Constrictor, by an uncertain amount, although not as great as one of the massive Anaconda class freighters or a Naval cruiser.
Instruments recorded that the shields were functioning. During the wait Edwards' body was placed in the cargo hold where some of his crewmates paid him brief farewells.
There was some excitement as the approaching vessel crawled its way onto the short range scanners. The Constrictor was equipped with military grade sensors, and whilst old (and almost certainly illegally obtained) they could now begin to attempt some analysis of the ship.
The shield technology wasn't understood by the locals, and the Constrictor's computers were unable to read any such defences. Details about its overall size could now be more accurately determined, a very rough mass estimate made, and the amount of power needed to move it was calculated. Various readings indicated the state of the ship's power source, which was clearly capable of producing much more than was being put into the engines, but it would be impossible to find out more about weaponry until it was actually used.
There was no radio traffic between the fleeing transport and the intercepting craft, no threats or calls for surrender. Aeyris tried hailing it without success.
Before it came within firing range three of the Vipers suddenly broke away from their escort stations and rushed back towards the invader. The main screen on the Constrictor's bridge changed view to watch.
The three Vipers diverged to approach from different angles, gradually dwindling to specks in the rear view. With the zoom changed to maximum they could just be seen as tiny arrows. The mystery ship appeared to consist of two distinct sections, a conical nose joined by several struts to a more bulbous rear.
The Vipers struck simultaneously, lasers flashing out into the void. Their target refused to be intimidated, and flew on as if the attack had no power to harm it. The scanner showed a small object leave the vessel and speed towards a Viper, which swung around to face the approaching missile. At the last second the missile exploded, but the Viper carried on undamaged.
"Fancy shot," Marchero commented.
"It didn't fire a laser at it," said Silsi, who had been following the encounter more closely on her combat console. Sawaka concurred.
"A close-in missile defence system?" wondered Silsi.
"Must be," Aeyris said. "This might mean they don't have ECM systems. We could have an advantage here."
The Vipers continued their attack. Occasionally there was a laser burst from the larger ship as a target crossed the line of sight of a fixed weapon. There was also the odd strike from a smaller but more mobile gun, low powered but enough to eventually drive one of the Vipers to open the range to allow its shields to recharge.
The primary purpose of this laser was revealed when a missile was shot at the ship. It lashed out at the remote weapon and hit it on the fourth attempt, before returning to make opportune blasts at the nearest vessel.
"Right, that does it," Aeyris announced. "Silsi, turn to attack!"
Seeing this new and unknown threat, the Shriy craft turned slightly to point its primary gun at the Constrictor. An intense beam sprang from it, burning nothing as Silsi evaded. Both ships moved, the pirates' vessel trying to keep out of the line whilst closing to within its guns' range and the other one attempting to soften the approaching craft.
The next beam caught the nose of the somewhat unwieldy Constrictor. It juddered sharply and the viewscreen died before quickly flickering back into life. The fore shield indicator fluctuated wildly before settling down at three quarters of its previous level.
"So far so good," declared Kirrik.
"But that was some blast. I don't want to face many more of those with the shields in an uncertain state," Aeyris retorted, carefully watching the enemy and Silsi's manoeuvres. "Back off and take a wider approach."