“You may think these… these toy boats are warships, Captain, but they’ll be worth damn all against an alert wall with its sensor and fire control net intact!” he snapped.

“I’m sure loss rates will climb against a prepared opponent, Sir,” Truman conceded. “No one has ever claimed they wouldn’t. Nor, to the best of my knowledge, has anyone ever suggested that ’these toy boats’ can substitute in close action for properly handled ships of the wall. But so far they’ve met every challenge thrown at them and performed even better than expected in almost every case. I submit to you, Sir, that Captain Harmon and her people have amply proved the first-stage practicality of Anzio.”

“You can submit whatever you like, Captain!” Holderman spat, and his eyes blazed dangerously. “Fortunately, the decision is the board’s, not yours, and we’ll continue testing the concept until my colleagues and I are convinced these things have some real value.”

“I see.” Truman regarded him with calm, cold dispassion, then shrugged. “Very well, Sir. I cannot, of course, fault your determination to do a full, complete, and impartial job of evaluating the concept.” Her voice might be cold, but the vitriol dripping from it could easily have stripped paint off a bulkhead. “In the meantime, however, Captain Harmon and her officers have a great deal to do to prepare for tomorrow’s exercises. May I suggest that you and I leave them to it?”

Holderman glared at her, but there was little he could say in reply. More to the point, she was Minotaur’s captain, and he, despite the difference in their ranks, was only a visitor aboard her ship. If she chose to, she had the legal authority to order him out of the compartment—or entirely off the ship. It would be a suicidal career move, regardless of whatever sponsors or patrons she might have attracted, but the look in her eyes suggested she might not care a great deal just at the moment. Nor would being the subject of such an order do very much for Holderman’s career. At the very least, it would make him a laughingstock. At worst, it might even convince people Truman was right about the LACs and that he was the one who’d been out of line. Which was ridiculous, of course, but not something he could afford to ignore.

“No doubt you’re correct, Captain,” he said, and if her tone could have stripped paint, his was a flat declaration that she’d just made a mortal enemy. “If you’ll have my pinnace called away, I’ll return to the orbital base to consult with the umpires about tomorrow’s exercise.”

“Of course, Sir. It will be my pleasure.” Again, the words were harmless… and the tone in which they were delivered was deadly. He glared at her, then turned and stamped out of the compartment.

Truman watched the hatch close behind him, then turned to give her breathless juniors a crooked smile.

“If I could have one more moment of your time, Jackie?” she asked politely, and twitched her head at the hatch.