He told himself he was being thorough rather than paranoid. A small anomaly in the plasma readings could mean anything. Perhaps one of the fleeing escorts had suffered some kind of reactor surge? Or damage from the asteroid field? Or simply mismanaged their engines? All were eminently sensible explanations for the spike in plasma output that had occurred a few minutes after the traitors had reached the cover of the debris cloud.

But it could have been the signature of a larger vessel powering up. A brief engine flare that would set it gliding through the augur-defying cosmic chaff.

Praxa­medes resisted the urge to confide his concerns with the deck officer. There was no need for Lerok to be distracted by his almost baseless suspicions.

Baseless? At what point did experience turn his instincts into reasonable suspicion?

There was also a deeper question that Praxa­medes was trying to avoid. If he brought the matter to the attention of his captain, what did he expect Aeschelus to do? A cursory look towards the videolith icons showed that Nem­etus’ force was now fully established on the target vessel. The vox-chatter suggested that resistance was light – his gambit to circumvent possible entrapment at the original target site seemed to be paying off.

Reflecting on Nem­etus’ course of action brought a stab of awareness to Praxa­medes. Should he have seen what his fellow lieutenant had noticed? The original landing zone was ideal in all respects, so did that mean it was false? It seemed highly unlikely that in the course of battle the enemy would have had the wit and means to fake a strike on the ladening hold doors on the off-chance that they would be boarded. The sequence of events to bring such a plan to fruition were dubious at best, and closer to nonsensical.

Praxa­medes found his thoughts racing, his cognition boosted by combat-enhancers even though he was not in direct conflict. While it allowed him to analyse the incoming data with the speed of a metriculating engine, without focus the overstimulation threatened to create patterns that did not exist.

‘Deck officer, attend please,’ said Praxa­medes, realising that he needed an outlet for his turbulent contemplations. By voicing them to Lerok it would force him to be more sedate in his analysis.

‘Yes, lieutenant?’ Lerok glanced at the terminal screen. ‘You’re re-running the augur returns from the battle?’

‘I am, but that’s not what I want to talk about. Bear with me while I indulge in a hypothetical.’

‘Yes, lieutenant.’

‘Assumption – the enemy created a deliberately inviting landing site for our boarding party.’ Praxa­medes moved to another console and brought up the schematic of the enemy ship. An armoured finger highlighted the original target area. ‘Conclusion – the enemy believed that it would allow them to control the route of the boarding attack.’

‘That was Lieutenant Nem­etus’ thought,’ said Lerok. ‘To set an ambush.’