Talents, Incorporated by Murray Leinster — Read

The Mekinese did not display a sporting spirit. There were four heavy cruisers and eleven lighter ships of the _Horus's_ size and armament. According to current theories of space-battle tactics, two of the light cruisers should have disposed of the _Horus_ with ease and dispatch. It might have seemed sportsmanlike and certainly sufficient to give the _Horus_ only two antagonists at a time, which would have been calculated to provide odds of six hundred to one against it. Two light cruisers would have fired eighteen missiles apiece per salvo, which would have demanded thirty-six missiles from the _Horus_ to meet and destroy them. She couldn't put thirty-six missiles into space at one firing. She would have disappeared in atomic flame at the first exchange of fire. But the Mekinese were not so generous. They came up in full force loaded for bear. They obviously intended not a fight but an execution. Mekinese tactics depended heavily on fire-power of such superiority that any enemy was simply overwhelmed.

Their maneuvering proved that they intended to follow standard operation procedure. Light ships reached space and delayed until all were aloft. They formed themselves into a precise half-globe and plunged at top solar-system drive toward the _Horus_. This was strictly according to the book. If the _Horus_ chose, of course, she could refuse battle by fleeing into overdrive -- which would be expected to be the regulation many-times-faster-than-light variety. If she dared fight, the fifteen ships drove on. Mekinese ships never struck lightly. The fifteen of them could launch four hundred missiles per salvo. No single ship could counter such an attack. But even Mekinese would not use such stupendous numbers of missiles against one ship unless that ship was famous; unless rumors and reports said that it was invincible and dangerous and the hope of oppressed peoples under Mekin.