She had watched as her fighter corps commander died. Ellian Junus had been the most gifted pilot she’d ever known, a master tactician. Yet, he’d met his match in a one on one contest against a Confederation pilot. Her people weren’t supposed to accord the Confeds any real respect as warriors, but even after she destroyed the enemy ship, she knew she would always think differently about them. She was about to do what she’d been sent to do, and her success would be the start of a new war. Part of her wanted to withdraw, to pull back to Alliance space. It would mean disgrace, the end of her career. Perhaps even a firing squad if she was found guilty of cowardice in battle. Was that too great a price to save millions of lives?

Uncle Taks…he saw some of this, and he tried to tell me…

Still, she knew that her mentor would be disgraced too if she withdrew. And for all she ached for the losses her people had suffered, for all the questions she’d begun to ask herself about the codes she’d followed blindly since childhood, she knew she didn’t have it in her to rebel. She was what they had made her, and if there had been another road, the branch to it was long behind her.

“All stations…prepare for battle.”

“All stations report ready, Commander.”

“Arm all batteries…prepare to fire.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Here I go, Uncle Taks. One more victory, a new round of medals, a promotion. More glory for the Regulli. And my gift to the Alliance. Another war.

She felt the force from the thrust pushing her into her chair. Invictus was damaged, but most of her batteries were operational, and the reactors were at almost ninety percent. They were fragile, held together by makeshift repairs, but the enemy was in far worse shape.

She’d watched her fighters attacking, braving the danger to fire their torpedoes. They had been trapped by the pursuing enemy interceptors. There had been no chance of escape. But it was one thing to acknowledge they were as good as dead…and another to order them to make suicide runs at the enemy vessel.

It was a testament to Alliance culture and training that she’d been able to give that order…and even more of one that the pilots had accepted it without question. She’d fought all her adult life, and she’d lost many subordinates, ordered them into desperate situations. But this was the first time she’d explicitly commanded her people to die for her. She knew she would carry the weight of it all her life, that she would never forget those few terrible moments.

“Firing range in three minutes, Commander.”

“Very well.”