came searing round the dark shadow

[suprunp]

As he watched, a thousand horribly beweaponed Zirzla robot starcruisers
came searing round the dark shadow of a moon, silhouetted against the
blinding disc of the star Xaxis, and the ship simultaneously unleashed a
vicious blaze of hideously incomprehensible forces from all its orifices
against them.
(The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; Douglas Adams)

What is "searing" supposed to mean here?

Thanks.

[5jj]

Presumably it means that they came round at a very high speed, sufficiently high (if there were air friction in space) to generate enormous heat.