“Oh, yes,” Singleterry said fervently. “Foolhardy is exactly the word I’d choose, Sir, and I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am to hear you using it under the circumstances!”

“I thought you might approve,” Dumais said dryly.

“And if it turns out this really is a merchie?” Singleterry asked.

“In that case, our options are a little broader,” Dumais pointed out. “First of all, a merchie isn’t going to argue with a warship if it tells him to heave to and be boarded. Secondly, we could put a prize crew aboard her and hand her over to Admiral Tourville. He could hold her at the fleet rendezvous indefinitely, if he had to, and the assumption when she didn’t turn up at her destination as scheduled would simply be that one of the pirates operating out here had picked her off. If we’re ordered to carry out the attack, he can release her after the fact with an apology and probably a fairly stiff reparations payment from the Government.”

“And if we’re never ordered to attack?” Singleterry asked very quietly, and Dumais grimaced again. He knew what she was really asking, because their orders had made it crystal clear that if no attack was ever launched, then Second Fleet had never been here. Exactly what the Republican Navy might be expected to do with a merchant ship full of people who knew Second Fleet had been here wasn’t something he really wanted to consider. Even so, he knew it would be far better for that to be a merchantman rather than a warship.

“We’ll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it,” he told his tac officer after a moment. “For right now, we have to concentrate on the matter at hand. If this turns out to be a merchie, we’ll put enough of our people aboard to make sure everything stays under control and leave her right where she is while we take Hecate on to the rendezvous and report in to the Admiral. If he wants her brought the rest of the way in to him, we’ll come back and get her. If he decides to shift the rendezvous, we’ll come back, take our people off, apologize politely, and decamp.” He shrugged. “It’s not perfect, but it’s the most flexible option we have, and the Admiral would expect us to show some initiative.”

“It sounds to me like it should work, Skipper,” Singleterry said thoughtfully.

“I hope so,” Dumais said cheerfully. “Because if it doesn’t, we’re going to have a hell of a time explaining to the Admiral why we couldn’t handle a single merchie!”

Chapter Forty-Six

HONOR stepped back and allowed Commander Denby to climb to his feet. The commanding officer of Werewolf’s third LAC squadron was a little slower than he might have been under other conditions, and he shook his head like a man listening to a ringing sound no one else could hear.

He dropped back into a ready position, but Honor shook her own head and removed her mouth protector.