He heard her shouting orders over the still-open channel. Then he flipped to the shipwide line. “Attention all personnel. We are about to do an emergency reactor restart. We are likely to experience radiation leakage in multiple locations. Pay attention to your rad detectors. Abandon and seal off all non-essential compartments that are affected.” He paused for a moment then added, “It is my honor to be your commander. I won’t lie to you. We’re in a tough spot. But if we pull together, if every man and woman does his best, I have no doubt we will prevail. Now, I need everything each of you has to give.”

He cut the line, slumping back in his chair. He didn’t like lying to his crew, but he knew that was what they needed from him now. And much of what he said was the truth. He did believe his crew was the best in the Confederation. But he still had doubts about the outcome of the battle. He could rally his crew, but he couldn’t fool himself. The odds were long. Still, none of that mattered. He was a Barron…and no matter what he was facing, he was determined to make that mean something.

Are you with me, Granddad? Because I sure could use your help now…

“Two minutes, thirty seconds to firing range.”

Barron took a deep breath. “Fritzie…now…we’re out of time.”

“Just a few more seconds, sir.”

Barron sat motionless. The bridge was silent. It seemed as though no one even drew a breath.

The seconds passed, slowly, torturously. Then: “Restarting reactor A.”

Barron sucked in a deep breath. In a few seconds his ship would have power. Or he would know the battle was truly over.

He stared around the bridge, waiting. And then the main bridge lights came on. His eyes darted to his screen, to the power level monitors. Reactor A showed as operational, producing power at eighty-eight percent.

“Fritzie, you’re a sorcerer, do you know that?” His eyes were still on the display, watching as the radiation reports scrolled down the screen. There were leaks, a lot of them. In the compartments of his ship, from engineering to weapons control to the AI core, his people were at their posts, ignoring nearly lethal concentrations of radiation. He was overwhelmed, with pride in the men and women he commanded, and with sadness, bitterness that such fine officers and spacers of the Confederation were slowly dying, even as they executed his commands.

Just win the fight…Stu and his people can treat the radiation cases…

“Two minutes to firing range, sir.”

“All available power to engines, Lieutenant. Maximum thrust, directly away from the enemy.”

“Maximum thrust, Captain…now.”

Dauntless shook wildly, and Barron felt the pressure of the acceleration pushing him back into his chair for a few seconds before the partially-functioning dampeners kicked in and brought some relief.