And we saw battles raging all around 3-Kilo, wave after wave of blue human lights pushing towards the core, but breaking against stolid red Xeelee defence perimeters.

‘This is the next phase of the war,’ Varcin said. ‘In most futures these assaults begin a century from now. We get through the Xeelee perimeters in the end, through to the Core - or rather, we can see many futures in which that outcome is still possible. But the cost in most scenarios is enormous.’

Dakk said, ‘All because of my one damn torpedo.’

‘Because of the intelligence you will give away, yes. You made one of the first uses of the monopole weapon. So after your engagement the Xeelee knew we had it. The fallback order you disregarded was based on a decision at higher levels not to deploy the monopole weapon at the Fog engagement, to reserve it for later. By proceeding through the chop line you undermined the decision of your superiors.’

‘I couldn’t have known that such a decision had been made.’

‘We argue that, reasonably, you should have been able to judge that. Your error will cause great suffering, unnecessary death. The Tolman data proves it. Your judgement was wrong.’

So there it was. The Galaxy diagram collapsed into pixels. Tarco stiffened beside me, and Dakk fell silent.

Varcin said to me, ‘Ensign, I know this is hard for you. But perhaps you can see now why you were appointed prosecutor advocate.’

‘I think so, sir.’

‘And will you endorse my recommendations?’

I thought it through. What would I do in the heat of battle, in Dakk’s position? Why, just the same - and that was what must be stopped, to avert this huge future disaster. Of course I would endorse the Commission’s conclusion. What else could I do? It was my duty.

We still had to go through the formalities of the court of inquiry, and no doubt the court martial to follow. But the verdicts seemed inevitable.

You’d think I was beyond surprise by now, but what came next took me aback.

Varcin stood between us, my present and future selves. ‘We will be pressing for heavy sanctions.’

‘I’m sure Captain Dakk will accept whatever—’

‘There will be sanctions against you too, ensign. Sorry.’

I would not be busted out of the Navy, I learned. But a Letter of Reprimand would go into my file, which would ensure that I would never rise to the rank of captain - in fact, I would likely not be given postings in space at all.