The drone was incapable of surprise. The sudden increase in acceleration of the pursuing ship did not surprise it.

It did, however, re-evaluate its plans.

If it had had more anti-matter fuel, it could have continued to accelerate.

But only enough anti-matter for the original acceleration had been provided.

It could rotate, present its massive frontal weapons towards the pre-dead ship.

And present its more vulnerable rear to the other ships of the pre-dead Fleet. An unsatisfactory solution.

The pre-dead ship could, conceivably, saturate the drone’s rear defenses, destroy the drive, which had no fuel remaining in any case and was thus useless. It could also destroy the computer which controlled the drone, rendering the drone’s defenses inert. However, even if the drone was totally fragmented, the pieces would still ravage the target world.

It was too late for the Fleet to prevent the destruction of their colony, no matter what they did to the drone.

The only truly indispensable task remaining to the drone’s computer was to record and broadcast all the information about the pre-dead it could gather.

In the worst-case scenario, the computer would just broadcast its final report early.