“Of course I am,” he replied.

“Do you know where it came from?”

“Well, no… no, I don’t,” he admitted.

“Back on Old Earth, one of the old wet navies had a tradition,” Jaruwalski said distantly, returning her eyes to the display. “I can’t remember which one it was, but it was way back before they even had steam ships. It doesn’t matter.” She shrugged. “The point is, that when one of their captains found himself up against an enemy he was afraid of engaging or figured he couldn’t fight effectively, he’d fire a single broadside—frequently on the disengaged side, so as to avoid pissing the enemy off so badly they shot back—and then haul down his flag as quickly as he could.”

“Why?” Gaines asked, fascinated somehow despite the disaster brewing in the display.

“Because hauling down his flag was the same as striking a wedge is today,” Jaruwalski said in that same detached voice. “It was a signal of surrender. But by firing a broadside first—‘for the honor of the flag’—he covered himself against the charge of cowardice or surrendering without a fight.”

“He—? That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard of!” Gaines exclaimed.

“Yes, it was,” she agreed sadly. “And it hasn’t gotten any less stupid today.”

· · • · ·

“What the devil do they think they’re doing?” Citizen Commissioner Randal demanded.

“I’m not certain,” Citizen Vice Admiral Shalus replied, her eyes fixed on her plot. Then she looked up with a bone-chilling smile. “But I’m not complaining, either, Citizen Commissioner.” She looked at her ops officer. “Time to optimum launch range, Oscar?”

“Seven minutes, Citizen Admiral,” Levitt responded instantly.

“Good,” Shalus said softly.

“We’re in range now, Sir,” Captain Tasco told Admiral Santino. “Shall I give the order to fire?”

“Not yet, Justin. Let the range close a little more. We only get one shot here, so let’s make it a good one.”

“Sir, from their acceleration curve they have to be towing pods of their own,” Tasco pointed out.

“I’m aware of that, Captain,” Santino said frostily, “and I will pass the word to fire when I am prepared to do so. Is that understood?”

“Aye, aye, Sir,” Tasco said bleakly.

“They must think they can hit us with one or two heavy salvos, then pull away with their compensator advantage,” Citizen Commander Levitt said quietly, and Shalus nodded.

She could scarcely believe anyone—especially a Manty—could be that stupid even when she saw it happening, yet it was the only explanation for their antics. They’d come to meet her decelerating task force, then executed a turnover of their own. The range was coming down on six and a half million kilometers, and her overtake speed had reduced to only four hundred kilometers per second. She could never overtake them if they chose to go to a maximum safe acceleration, which meant they were deliberately allowing her to edge into range of them.

Are they that confident of the superiority of their systems? she wondered. Nothing in our intelligence briefings indicates that they ought to be… but, then, we don’t know all there is to know about their R&D, now do we? But I simply can’t believe they could possibly have a big enough tactical advantage to justify letting us into range! At max, they can’t have more than forty-five or fifty pods on tow… and I’ve got three hundred and twenty-eight!