This week with Arlene and Jeff:
...While the target practice had been going on, there were always at least two interceptors with their tractor beams spread wide, catching and gathering up the debris from the exploded asteroids. Eventually, all ten ships working together pushed the debris cloud into an orbit that would ultimately spiral it into the sun.
The debris removed from the range, the interceptors formed up and headed back toward Earth at a quarter light.
Aboard the alien craft, the Second Officer finally relaxed in his seat. "Our tractor beams would never spread that wide and still have enough energy to gather up the destroyed asteroids," he said with a sigh that he barely managed to hold in check. As far as our AI could tell at this range, they missed only a few times, if any, and their approaches were at enormous velocities, even though they frequently changed direction or even reversed course. Course changes seem to make no discernible difference in their speed. They are instantly going in a different direction at seemingly any speed they have chosen.
"If they are going to change directions without slowing, and in the process, they can also instantly change their speed should they want to, there is no real way to determine where our weapons are to fire. By the time we can track and fire, they will be somewhere else. It would be suicide to enter into combat with them."...
Have a goodun;
Roust