"We need to get close to a Thuranin battlegroup, so I can access current intel. Right now I'm guessing at disposition of forces in this sector, that makes it dangerous for us to be wandering around the galaxy in our pirate ship."

Simms explained her objection. "To avoid danger, he wants to get closer to a Thuranin battlegroup. I thought this merited your attention."

"Good call," I agreed. "You do, uh, see the problem, Skippy? Right now, all the Thuranin know is one of their star carriers has gone missing. Aren't they going to get concerned when we mysteriously show up on their doorstep, then jump away? You do plan to jump us away, right?"

"Yes, of course, dumdum, and I have a plan for that. If I have to explain everything to you, we'll never get anything done. Uh!" He shushed me as I was about to speak. "Let me talk before you waste my time with stupid questions. When we jump in, I'll alter our jump signature and engine emissions to make us appear to be a Jeraptha light cruiser, which is the type of ship the Jeraptha commonly use to shadow enemy battlegroups. Our stealth field will disguise the hull outline enough that the Thuranin sensors won't detect that we're a star carrier, if we don't linger too long in one spot. And we won't. Genius, huh?"

I wasn't convinced. "Won't the Thuranin send ships to attack us?"

"Of course they will, a Thuranin battlegroup keeps frigates and destroyers on alert to chase away enemy ships. Not a problem, we'll hop around with micro jumps until I've had enough time to break into the database of their command ship."

"Hop around?" I shared a glance with Desai. “I thought ships took a long time to recharge their engines between jumps?”

Skippy replied smugly. “Most ships do, I reprogrammed our jump engines so they now work so efficiently, they can perform small jumps on a partial charge. You're welcome, by the way.”

“Perform multiple jumps on a partial charge, which a real Jeraptha light cruiser can’t do, right?”

“Nope. The Jeraptha aren’t quite as stupid as the Thuranin, but their engines aren’t much better. Another example of my awesomeness.”

“You’re kind of missing the point, Your Royal Awesomeness. If we’re doing things a Jeraptha light cruiser can’t do, the Thuranin are going to figure out real quick that we are not a Jeraptha light cruiser.”

“Shit.” Skippy said simply.

I winked at Desai. “Yeah, shit. I thought you’re supposed to be a genius?”

“I’m not a military strategist, Colonel Joe, that’s supposed to be you. Ok, hmm, how to fix this? Uh, all right, how about this? Each time we jump in, I’ll slightly alter the jump signature to make us look like a different Jeraptha warship. It is common for the Jeraptha to use multiple picket ships to shadow an enemy force.”