Siing paused for a moment. “I will have those compiled as quickly as possible and sent to your station. Please, Commander, do not try these sorts of maneuvers without close communication with engineering. We will have to compensate very quickly for any fluctuations.”

“Wilco, Chief,” Steph said as the other two pilots nodded in agreement.

They were pilots. Crazy was part and parcel of their résumé; stupid wasn’t.

►►►

► “The way I read the situation, Commodore,” Captain Roberts, commanding the Bellerophon, said in his wooden way, “is that time is against us, no matter how you slice this. Unless the distress calls are after an accident, we’re going to be riding in late.”

“Agreed,” Eric said. “I’m hoping that we’ll at least be able to track any ships leaving the system if we’re that late, but we might get lucky too.”

Roberts didn’t look happy about that last bit. Luck wasn’t something he wanted to be counting on, but he’d been in the service long enough to know that sometimes that was precisely what things came down to.

Fortune favors the bold.

Not his personal motto, but it did have some merit. You couldn’t get lucky if you didn’t take any chances.

Of course, the reverse is also true. Nothing wards off bad luck like good, solid preparation. This thought was far closer to Roberts’ personal beliefs.

Unfortunately, he knew his former captain well enough to know that given the option, he was going to take the long shot and do his utmost to make it pay off. For whatever problems Roberts had with Weston, he did respect that in the man. He may be willing to take a chance, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do everything possible to hedge his bet at the same time.

“Understood, sir,” Roberts said. “The Bellerophon stands ready.”

“As does the Boudicca, Commodore,” Captain Alexander Dogavich said firmly. “I am concerned about this deep transition you have planned, however.”

“The Por-Que system is relatively barren: few planets, only a single gas giant, and it’s been heavily mined for quite some time,” Eric said. “That’s going to reduce the gravitational variables we have to calculate. We can do this, captains.”

“It is not a question of whether we can, Commodore,” Dogavich replied. “It is a question of whether we should. However, that is your call. After this mission, all three of our ships and the Rogues will require fairly extensive refits, you are aware?”

“I am.”

“Very well. Then I have no objections. We do our duty.”

►►►