“First, I think he’s too pissed off—and too convinced he’s right—to resist the bait,” Truman replied. “Second, the seed is planted. Even if he waits another few days—or even longer—sooner or later he’ll push a little too hard, and when he does, the trap will spring. And as for getting even with me—” She shrugged. “If he reacts the way I expect him to, he’ll cut his own throat. His career may survive it, but any move he ever makes to hit back at me will be seen as a vengeful senior trying to use his position to punish a junior who was simply doing her job when he made himself look like an idiot. Oh, sure, some people will figure out what really happened—and a few will probably realize it from the very beginning—but I’m not worried about them. The ones who figure it out will also know why I did it. They may not be exactly delighted by the spectacle of a captain helping a rear admiral shoot his own… foot off, and I could find myself in trouble at some point if one of them ends up on a promotion board evaluating me for my own flag, but I’ll cross that bridge when I reach it. Besides, I figure most of them will have realized how valuable the LACs are long before that happens.”

“And if you’re wrong?” Harmon asked quietly.

“If I’m wrong, my career is going to be very disappointing, by my family’s standards,” Truman said much more lightly than she felt. “I won’t like that, and neither will my parents. But they’ll know why I did it, and that’s enough for me. Besides,” she smiled, this time completely naturally, “at least this way I’ll still be able to sleep with myself… and I’ll still get that asshole Holderman, whatever happens. Believe me, Jackie—that by itself would be almost enough to make the whole thing worth it!”

Chapter Thirty-Two

THE alarm buzzed very quietly. Lieutenant Gaines would always remember that—how quiet it had been, how civilized. As if the central computer were merely clearing its throat politely to get his attention.

It was only later, in the nightmares that lasted for so many years, that he realized how utterly inappropriate that peaceful sound had been.

He reached out and killed the alarm, then checked the master plot. The cool K2 primary of the Seaford Nine System floated at the holo tank’s center, and he frowned as his eyes swept the sphere indicating the star’s hyper limit, searching for the icon that had to be there. Then they found it, and he nodded and began punching commands into his console.

The computers considered his instructions and obediently lit a smaller holo directly in front of him. It didn’t have much detail yet—just a single blur of light blinking the alternating red and amber of an unknown, possibly hostile contact. His gravitic sensors had picked up the FTL hyper footprint, but at anything over two or three light-minutes, even the best sensors couldn’t tell much about the sizes or numbers of ships which had created any given footprint. He needed individual impeller signatures before he could make that sort of estimate, and he waited patiently for the newcomers to light off their drives.