She glanced in his direction. “Courageous, but foolish. They would be better served if they withdrew from the system and fled to somewhere they could make a stand.”

Aymes nodded thoughtfully. “Agreed. Still, rushing to battle is not an Oather trait, is it?”

“Perhaps not, but then that only serves to support your anomaly story, Captain.”

“There is that,” Aymes conceded.

“We engage on schedule,” the navarch decided. “Issue the necessary orders . . . and Captain Aymes?”

“Yes Navarch?”

“Follow my ship’s lead,” she ordered. “Do not get in our way.”

►►►

PW Heral’c

► “They’ve accelerated,” the second announced as Kierna Senthe looked up. “Interception time has moved up.”

“I see it,” Senthe answered. “Hold course.”

“Captain, we have no chance against that force.”

Senthe turned to respond. “We had no chance against the Drasin. Miracles happen . . . And if they do not happen this time, then so be it.”

He scowled at the display, trying to decide the best point to meet the intruders. Not that there was a “best point” in this mess.

“Stand by for course alteration,” he said suddenly.

“Awaiting new orders, Captain,” his navigation officer answered, half turning.

“Adjust acceleration, reverse power by two-thirds, and bring us about to interval one ninety,” Senthe ordered. “Engage when plotted.”

The response took only a few seconds. “Course plotted and engaged.”

“That will bring them deeper into the system, to us.”

His second frowned. “This is a good thing?”

“It will also put our engagement point right at the edge of the planetary defense system,” Senthe said. “It will not even the game, but it should put some advantages into our hands.”

Not enough, he was certain, but then there was no possible way to win this fight. He just needed to do what he could to discourage their movement toward the planet, at least until the admiral could shake a few ships loose to cover the system again.

►►►

IBC Shion Thon, Flagship, Third Reconnaissance Squadron

► The interception moment was rapidly approaching as the target vessel shifted course on their screens, and Misrem eyed the new vector curiously for a moment as she pondered her response.

Tactics for combat within the gravity well of a star were inherently limited, but those limitations were often not as crippling as people tended to believe. However, even within those bounds, this particular maneuver was unusual.

“He’s not trying to evade interception. The change only alters contact by a very short time,” she whispered pensively, “so what are you up to, my poor friend?”

She shifted her focus away from the ship they were closing in on to the planet beyond and tipped her head slightly.

“You want us to waste time chasing you instead of focusing on the planet,” she decided. “Very courageous, my poor friend, but unfortunately for you . . . we have no interest in the planet—not this time.”

She lifted her head. “Shift course. Best-time interception. We’ll play his game. Let him lead us on a merry chase.”

►►►