“Yeah, sure. Not a lot, but enough.” He was lying to his friend. It had been days since he’d gotten even a moment of sleep.

“Bullshit.” It was a breach of protocol and regulations to call bullshit on your commander, but Barron knew Weldon had always fit uncomfortably in the military structure. And they had been friends since they were teenagers, sneaking out of school on crisp fall days to go hiking in the mountains.

“Here’s a deal, Doc, and it’s the best you’re going to get. Get off my back—and keep me awake and alert, no matter what you have to pump into me—and when this is over, I’m all yours. I’ll sleep, eat right, come down for you to poke and prod me to your heart’s content. After the battle is over.”

“Do you think you can just keep going like this endlessly?”

“What would you have me do? C’mon, Stu…you know the situation. It’ll be a damned miracle if we live long enough for any of this to matter.” His eyes darted around the bridge. He’d only meant that last part for Stu’s ears, but he’d blurted it out anyway.

“All right, Skipper. You know best.”

“Just focus on the wounded, Stu. I’m afraid we’ll have more coming your way.

“Ty…you didn’t cause this fight. The crew we’ve lost, the ones we still might lose…it’s not your fault.”

“I’m up here in the captain’s chair, Stu, so I’ll be damned if I know who else’s fault it is.”

Barron was staring at the display as he spoke, watching the last of his fighters engaging the incoming enemy strike. Jamison’s people were doing well, chasing down the less maneuverable bombers. But he could see some were going to get through. The strike force was too well led, its ships coming in on different vectors, from multiple directions. It wasn’t pilot skill that dictated some of the bombers would get through. It was pure physics.

“Gotta go, Stu. Good luck down there, my friend.”

“And to you, Ty. Godspeed.”

Barron turned back toward Darrow. He had a lot of confidence in his communications officer, but he missed Travis’s presence on the bridge. The two of them worked effortlessly together. She even had a way of communicating to him she thought he was wrong without letting the others know.

I need her down in engineering…she can do more to win this fight down there…

“Activate defensive batteries.”

“Yes, sir.” A few seconds later: “All batteries report armed and ready.”