On the other hand, holding to his present course pointed his vulnerable stern straight at her, and it was always possible she might pop a missile past his point defense and through the rear of his wedge to score that same lucky hit. The odds were against it, given the angle at which any missile would have to come in, but it was possible. Yet his after firepower was three times as great as Fearless’s forward armament, and he had missiles to burn, many times the number that could possibly be crammed into a Courageous-class cruiser’s magazines. That meant he could start firing early and hope he got lucky, whereas Harrington’s limited ammunition supply would force her to hold her fire until she could reasonably hope for a hit. And her ship’s greater theoretical maneuverability wouldn’t help her as long as he held the range open while he smashed at her.

The only drawback was that she might break off once she realized what she was up against, and if she did, he would have to let her go. He hated that. The instant he opened fire, she’d have proof he was armed. That would be bad. Not only would it give away the fact that Haven had armed some of its Astraclass ships as commerce raiders, but the fact that a Q-ship had been in the system would certainly be persuasive evidence that Haven had played a major role in fomenting the native unrest on Medusa. And if he opened fire before she did, then Haven would be guilty of committing the first overt act of war, as well. On the other hand, her only proof would be her instrument readings, and everyone knew data could be faked up. In effect, it would be Manticore’s word against Haven’s, and while that might be embarrassing to certain high-ranking jackasses who had planned this entire abortion, it wouldn’t necessarily be disastrous to the Republic. More importantly, it wouldn’t be disastrous to PMSS Sirius, the waiting task force, or Captain Johan Coglin.

No. Obliterating Fearless before she could tell Manticore—and the galaxy at large—that Sirius had been armed would be the best possible outcome, and if Harrington didn’t break off or if an opportunity to destroy her without jeopardizing his primary mission presented itself, that was precisely what he would do. In the meantime, he’d concentrate on discouraging her and keeping her from reporting back in case he did get a chance to kill her, but he’d do it while he kept right on running away… even if he did have the more powerful ship.

“Inform me when missile flight time drops to one-eight-eight seconds, Jamal,” he said. “And stand by to jam on my firing command.”

“Yes, Sir.”

The range continued to fall as Fearless’s greater acceleration boosted her speed relative to Sirius. It wasn’t a tremendous advantage at first, not when viewed against their absolute velocities, but it grew steadily, and a strange sort of tranquillity settled over Honor as it climbed.