“Thank you, Your Grace. We couldn’t have done it without the intelligence Commander Reynolds provided, though.”

The captain was obviously extremely curious about just how that intelligence had been developed, but he showed no disappointment when Honor failed to enlighten him. He hadn’t really expected her to… and she had absolutely no intention of telling him that she strongly suspected the information supporting Operation Wilberforce had come from a proscribed band of terrorists via a security firm on permanent retainer to a recently elected Member of Parliament.

“A successful operation is always the result of a lot of people pulling in the same direction at the same time, Captain,” she told him instead, “and you and LaFroye were the ones at the sharp end of the stick.” Not to mention being the ones whose careers would have gone down the toilet if our information had been wrong. “In addition, your capture of the Wayfarer has given our intelligence on slaving operations in the Confederacy what may turn out to be an even bigger boost than any of us had expected. Under the circumstances, you and your people deserve the credit for a job very well done.”

“Thank you, Your Grace,” Ackenheil repeated, and then gestured to the young woman at his side. “Please allow me to introduce Lieutenant Commander Zahn, my tac officer.”

“Commander,” Honor nodded to the Sidemorian officer. “And if I remember correctly, your husband is a civilian analyst attached to the Sidemore Navy.”

“Yes. Yes, he is, Your Grace.” Zahn seemed astonished that the station commander had made the link, and Honor hid a small smile at her reaction.

“Well, Captain,” she said, returning her attention to Ackenheil, “I understand Commander Reynolds dragged the two of you aboard the flagship to tell us what the Andies have been up to.”

“Actually, Your Grace,” Reynolds told her, “it was Captain Ackenheil who came to us.” Honor glanced at him, and the intelligence officer shrugged. “As soon as I heard what he had to say, though, I knew you’d want to hear it firsthand, without waiting for his report to wend its way through the normal channels.”

“If your brief summary of it was as accurate as usual, then you were certainly right,” she told him, and looked back at Ackenheil. “Captain?” she invited.

“If you don’t mind, Your Grace, I’ll let Commander Zahn describe what happened. She was on Tactical at the time.”

“Fine.” Honor nodded, and moved her gaze to Zahn. “Go ahead, Commander.”

“Yes, Your Grace.” Honor could taste the youthful Sidemorian’s nervousness, but if she hadn’t been able to sense the emotions of others directly, she would never have guessed that someone as outwardly calm and composed as Zahn felt at all uncomfortable.

“Thirteen days ago,” Zahn began, “we were on station in the Brennan System. We’d been there for five days, and we were scheduled to depart in another three. It had been a thoroughly routine patrol up until that point, although we had picked up a few suspicious movements in-system.”