She felt a momentary flash of anger, a reaction to Wentus’s strident tone. Her exec was a gifted tactician, an accomplished warrior. She respected him, and she had some vestigial affections for him too. She considered herself fortunate to have him on Invictus. But now she saw him differently, and she found herself repelled at the herdlike behavior he displayed. That all of her crew did.

She knew she was as much a product of Alliance culture as they were, but as she looked around the bridge, she saw no doubt, no hesitation. Just mindless adherence to the propaganda they’d been fed their entire lives.

They are what they are. It’s not their fault. And are you better, superior in some way because you question things…and then follow the same doctrine they do? Or are you worse?

“Two minutes to firing range.”

“Active scanners on full. I want the damage assessments updated every thirty seconds.” Her scanners had picked up the torpedo hits, and the last fighter impacting into the enemy vessel. The energy readings were massive, and the damage had to be too. But that was all conjecture. And she wasn’t going to underestimate her enemy.

Not this enemy…

“All batteries are to open fire immediately upon entering range.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“All damage control parties to their stations.” Her crew expected to move into range and dispatch a crippled enemy. But Kat wasn’t so complacent.

Even a mortally wounded animal is dangerous. More dangerous…

“Yes, Commander Rigellus.”

She stared straight ahead. Kat had gone into battle many times, but she was edgy now in a way she’d never been before. She could feel it in her gut. But her devotion to duty was in control.

“Launch a spread of probes, Optiomagis. I want an intensive scan of the enemy vessel and the space in front of us.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Kat could tell Wentus thought her caution was excessive. But right now, she didn’t give a shit what he thought.

*   *   *

“We had to handle it manually, sir, but we got it done. All units are away, and we got close to the deployment plan. At least, I think we did.”

Barron had his hand on the earpiece of his headset. “I don’t know how you did it, Atara, but it’s just one more reason I’m fortunate to have you as my exec.”

“I wouldn’t trade it for any posting in the fleet, sir.” A short pause. “We did suffer two casualties, Captain. Specialists Linmore and Halston. The bulkheads down here are badly stressed, and one of them gave out. They were both blown into space before we could get to them.” He could hear the pain in Travis’s voice. He knew she blamed herself for the dead crewmen.