“I wouldn’t have wanted to either,” Honor agreed. Then she frowned. “Still, if your estimate of their own broadsides is accurate, then theoretically four of them could have put out three times the weight of fire they figured both of Ellis’s ships together could have laid down.”

“That’s why I said this incident wasn’t as bad as the last one, Your Grace. No shots were fired, and the Andies backed off. They didn’t maintain the full twenty million-klick separation Ellis had demanded, but they were careful to stay well outside anything approaching standard missile range. And eventually, they cleared Walther and went on about their business. Ellis had a couple of fairly anxious days first, but we got out of this one without any shooting. Which, given the disparity in the weight of fire, might indicate that they had orders not to pick a fight.”

“Um.” Honor rubbed her nose in more, then shook her head unhappily. “Actually, I think, Mercedes, we just lucked out this time. I think we had an Andermani squadron commander who wasn’t particularly eager to die for her Emperor and figured that at least some of her ships were going to catch it right along with Ellis’ battlecruisers if it came down to it. And if these people had orders not to pick a fight, what about those idiots at Schiller?”

It was Brigham’s turn to look unhappy, and she nodded slowly. The confrontation in the Schiller System had ended far less happily than the one at Walther. The Andermani senior officer in that case had seen fit to ignore the senior Manticoran officer’s warning to maintain separation when he caught the Manticoran patrol separated. Instead, the understrength three-ship Andermani division of light cruisers had continued to bore in on the single Manticoran heavy cruiser which had been operating in a detached role.

Fortunately, in that instance the Andies obviously hadn’t had any of their handy-dandy strap-on missile pods. The three light cruisers had continued to close, and the Manticoran cruiser Ephraim Tudor had opened fire when they approached to within fifteen million kilometers.

The brief engagement which followed had not gone well for the Andermani. Apparently, the best powered attack range for missiles carried by their medium combatants was no more than twelve million kilometers, for they’d closed to that range before launching their first birds. It also seemed obvious that Ephraim Tudor’s electronic warfare capabilities had been better than theirs. They’d scored three hits on the Manticoran cruiser, inflicting damage that was surprisingly light… and killing nine of her crew. Another seven members of her company had been wounded, but in return for that damage, one of the Andermani light cruisers had been battered into an air-leaking, powerless wreck. One of the others had also suffered serious damage to her impeller ring, judging by the drop in her wedge strength and acceleration, and whoever was in command on the other side had decided it was time to exercise discretion. Both of the light cruisers still capable of combat had rolled up on their sides, interposing the roofs of their wedges against additional incoming fire from Ephraim Tudor, and maneuvered to cover their crippled sister in their impeller shadows.