Barron sat stone still, his eyes unmoving, locked on the enemy ship. He realized he didn’t have the answer to his own question. Was he bluffing? Or would he have what he needed to win?

He wouldn’t know, not until the very end.

*   *   *

“More readings, Commander. The enemy ship is leaking reaction mass. We’re also getting clouds of radioactive materials.” Wentus sounded like a predator, hot on the heels of its wounded and bleeding prey.

“Very well, Commander.” The readings suggested the Confederation ship was crippled, bleeding air and fluids. That should have made her feel more confident, but it didn’t. She didn’t trust her adversary. He was smart, she was sure of that, in many ways, a match for her. Was he really trapped, on the verge of destruction? Or…”

“Commander, we’re getting strange data from the probes…intermittent readings, almost like shadows…”

“Cut forward thrust!” Then, half a second later, “Now! Bring us around one hundred eighty degrees and decelerate at full.”

Wentus looked stunned, but the officer knew how to obey orders, and Kat’s tone had been deadly serious. “Cutting thrust, Commander.”

Kat felt the weightlessness of free-fall for an instant before the ship’s compensators reacted to the change and restored some semblance of artificial gravity to the bridge.

“Re-orienting now, Commander. Commencing full deceleration.”

Kat leaned back as she again felt the pressure of maximum thrust. It forced the breath from her lungs before, once again, her ship’s dampeners intervened, absorbing much of the direct force.

“Probe data directly to my screen.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Kat watched as the reports came streaming in. It was just as Wentus had reported. Vague contacts slipping in and out. No real data, just a series of intermittent presences.

Stealth tech…something out there is cloaked.

The Alliance was behind the Confederation in such technologies, there was little question of that. She’d run into stealth tech before, fighting against the Unaligned Systems. It was expensive and complex, and…

What would they be trying to hide out there?

“Optiomagis, I want more thrust, now. Increase reactor output, regardless of risk.”

“Y…yes, Commander.” Wentus repeated her commands, clearly unnerved by her obvious concern.

“And I want those probes on maximum power. Burn them out, but get me a better look at what’s out there.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Kat watched on the screen as the shadowy images stabilized…and more appeared. Dozens, perhaps a hundred. She felt a cold feeling in her gut, and she fought back a wave of fear.

Mines.

“Activate all defensive batteries! Target those objects. Now!”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Evasive maneuvers. Steer us clear.”

But she knew Invictus’s velocity was too great. She’d accelerated at full power to close with the enemy, and now her momentum was taking her right into the minefield ahead.