“The strike force is approaching the enemy battleship, Commander. They are being pursued by a small number of Confederation fighters. The rest of our squadrons are still engaged with the enemy. The battle is…apparently even, the end result still in doubt.” Invictus’s executive officer was clearly trying to hide the surprise in his voice, with limited success.

Kat heard Wentus’s words, and she understood his disbelief. The forces engaged in the dogfight were roughly equal in numbers. And Alliance forces didn’t fight to draws, not when they matched their enemies in strength. They had a sixty-year tradition of victory, an imperative to win at all costs. Yet, every report from the battle still in progress suggested a stalemate. At best.

Her thoughts were elsewhere when Wentus made his report. She had a choice to make, whether to press forward, gamble and take some risks, or stay where she was, exert caution, and wait.

There was no question what Alliance orthodoxy demanded. She knew where the enemy was, and she had the advantage. It was time to advance, time to go in for the kill. The enemy’s fighters and her own were locked in a struggle to the death, and soon all the engaged forces would have to break off to refuel and rearm. She still had two squadrons moving in against the enemy vessel, and unless that battleship had more fighters in reserve, there was no chance Invictus would face the same kind of attack. Not if she engaged now, before the surviving enemy fighters could land and rearm for anti-ship strikes.

The way was the way, and its demands were clear. She knew what she had to do. But there were doubts as well. She was beginning to truly respect this enemy commander, seeing in his actions a mirror image of herself. She tried to imagine his responses to her actions. What would he do if Invictus moved forward, closed to firing range? Would he stand and engage? Accelerate and seek to whip by her ship, limiting the immediate combat to a single pass? Or would he withdraw, run?

And what would her fighter strike accomplish? She wanted to wait, to be sure her squadrons caused enough damage to give her a clear edge in the fight to come. But if she waited, she might allow a wounded enemy to pull back…or to recover and refit its surviving fighters, even launch a desperate attack against Invictus with its rearmed squadrons.

Kat had never had difficulty making bold decisions before, but now she was torn. She tried to tell herself she was overestimating her opponent, but the doubts remained, nagging at her, even as she made the only choice she could.

“Prepare for full thrust maneuvering. All personnel to battlestations.”