“I know she’s good, Sir,” DeLaney said with an ever so slightly pronounced air of patience, “but she’s really not a reincarnated war goddess. She’s good, granted, but I’ve never quite understood why the newsies—theirs, as well as ours—fixate on her the way they do. It’s not as if she’d ever commanded in a real fleet engagement, even at Yeltsin’s Star, after all. I mean, compare her actual battlefield accomplishments to what someone like White Haven has done to us, and he doesn’t get anywhere near the press she does!”

“I never said the lady was a ‘war goddess,’ ” Tourville replied, then chuckled out loud. “On the other hand, that might not actually be all that bad a description of her, now that I think about it. And I know she’s not invincible, although the only time anyone on our side has ever actually beaten her, she was just a tad outnumbered, you know.”

DeLaney nodded, and actually felt herself blush a bit at the reminder that Lester Tourville was, in fact, the only Havenite admiral ever to defeat Honor Harrington.

“The truth is, though,” Tourville went on more seriously, “that she’s very probably the best—or, at the very least, one of the two or three best—tacticians the Manty navy has. Nobody on our side has ever come close to taking her in an even fight. Just between the two of us, I think from some of the things Admiral Theisman has said that he probably could have beaten her at Yeltsin’s Star after Operation Stalking Horse fell apart. But even if he’d destroyed her entire force, it still would have been a strategic victory for her. She hasn’t had a chance yet to show what she can do in ‘a real fleet engagement,’ and, frankly, that’s one reason I feel a little nervous about this whole thing. I don’t want to be the one who lets her notch up her first win on that scale. As to why the newsies ‘fixate’ on her, I guess it has to do with her way of always beating the odds. The fact that she looks damned good doesn’t hurt any, of course. But the truth is, I think even the newsies sense something about her. Something you have to meet her in person to really understand… as much as anyone can.”

DeLaney looked a question at him, and he shrugged.

“She has the touch, Molly,” he said simply.

“The touch, Sir?”

“The touch,” Tourville repeated, then shrugged again. “Maybe I’m an incurable romantic, but it’s always seemed to me that there are just some officers who have that little bit extra. Sometimes it’s just charisma, but usually it’s a combination of that and something else. Esther McQueen had it, in a way. Everyone always knew she was ambitious, and no one who wasn’t on her side ever really trusted her, but I think every officer who ever served directly under her would have followed her anywhere… until her luck ran out, at least. McQueen could convince you that she could do anything, and that you wanted to help her do it. But Harrington… Harrington makes you believe you that you can do anything, because she believes it… and then dares you to do it with her. McQueen convinced people to follow her; Harrington just leads them, and they follow her on their own.”