“Your caution is admirable, Commander, but these gentlemen will become quite familiar with Ghost Rider over the next few weeks. For our sins, we’re slated to play test bed for the first fruits of that project, as well. That can wait until later, however. For the moment, what matters is that while you’ll be an asset to Minotaur’s own tactical department because of your, um, special knowledge, your primary duty assignment will be as Tac-One to the LAC wing.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

“As for you, Lieutenant Gearman,” Truman went on, turning to the tanned engineer, “you’re slated for the squadron engineer’s slot in Gold Squadron. That’s the command element for the wing, and I imagine you’ll be serving as Captain Harmon’s engineer aboard Gold One, as well. That seems to be the way things are shaping up, at any rate.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” Gearman nodded sharply, thoughts already whirring behind his eyes as he contemplated his new, totally unexpected assignment.

“And as for you, Lieutenant Takahashi,” Truman went on, fixing the junior-grade lieutenant with a stern eye, “you’re slated as Gold One’s helmsman. From what I’ve seen of your record, I expect you’ll be playing a major part in setting up the basic software for the simulators, as well, and I strongly advise you not to incorporate any elements from that ’surprise scenario’ you put together for Kreskin Field.”

“Yes, Ma’am! I mean, no, Ma’am. Of course not!” Takahashi said quickly, but he also grinned hugely at the thought of the marvelous new toys the Navy was going to let him play with, and Truman glanced up at Commander Haughton. The exec only shook his head in resignation, and she laughed mentally at his expression as he contemplated the beatifically smiling young lieutenant.

“All right,” Truman said more briskly, recapturing her audience’s attention, “here’s what our LACs will look like.”

She punched more buttons, and Minotaur’s holo vanished. A new image replaced it almost instantly—a sleek, lethal shape that looked as if it should have come from deep water with a mouth full of fangs—and all three of the junior officers straightened in their chair as its unconventionality registered.

The most immediately obvious point about it was that, except for the absence of anything remotely like an airfoil, the sharp-prowed vessel looked more like an enormously overgrown pinnace than a normal LAC, for it lacked the flared, hammerhead bow and stern of all impeller-drive warships. The next point to penetrate was that it had absolutely no broadside weapons bays—or point defense stations. But perhaps the most astounding point of all almost sneaked past unnoticed, for the vessel in that holo image had only half as many impeller nodes as it should have. No LAC was hyper-capable, so there had never been any need to fit them with the alpha nodes of true starships. But for over six centuries, a full strength drive ring for any impeller warship had mounted sixteen beta nodes. Everyone knew that.

Except that this LAC didn’t. There were only eight nodes in each of its rings, although they looked a little larger than they should have been.