The Honor of the Qween

the most likely threat parameters with simple three or four-pulse codes. They'll identify the threat's basic nature and approach in less than a minute. The drones can follow up with more detailed messages once we've started responding.'

'I see.' Matthews nodded quickly. 'And with that kind of advance warning, we can position ourselves to cut them off short of optimum launch range against the planet.'

'Yes, Sir.' Honor nodded to him, then looked at Admiral Garret. 'More than that, Admiral, we'll have time to build an intercept vector that lets us stay with them instead of finding ourselves with a base velocity so low as to give us only a limited engagement time before they break past us.'

'I understand, Captain.' Garret plucked at his lip, then nodded. 'I understand,' he repeated, and she was relieved at the absence of acrimony in his tone. 'If I'd realized you had this capability, I would have approached the entire problem differ—' He stopped himself and smiled crookedly. 'Of course, if I'd bothered to ask you, I might have known about it sooner, mightn't I?'

Honor saw amazement on more than one Grayson face, as if they couldn't quite believe what they'd just heard him say, and she wondered how to respond, but then he shrugged and smiled more naturally.

'Well, Captain, they say there's no fool like an old fool. Do Manticorans use that expression?'

'Not to senior officers, Sir,' Honor said demurely, and Garret startled her by bursting into laughter. His guffaws reminded her of a neighing horse, but no one could have doubted their genuineness. He couldn't get a word out through them, though he pointed a finger at her and tried hard, and she felt herself grinning lopsidedly back at him.

'Point taken, Captain,' he gasped at last, and there were smiles on other faces on his side of the table. 'Point taken, indeed.' He settled himself in his chair and nodded. 'Do you have any other ideas, Captain Harrington?'

'Well, Sir, as you know, we've evacuated our own noncombatants aboard our freighters.' Garret nodded, and Honor shrugged. 'Commander Truman's report included an urgent request for reinforcements. I'm certain that request will be granted, but those are slow ships, Sir. I'd have preferred to send one of my warships, but I can't spare Apollo if we may be facing two modern cruisers, and Troubadour's node damage would restrict her to impeller drive. More, she couldn't get much above the gamma band without reliable Warshawski sails. If one of your hyper- capable ships could be sent—?'

She paused, for Garret and Matthews were both shaking their heads. Matthews glanced at Garret, and his superior nodded for him to explain.

'We can do it, Captain, but our hyper technology is much cruder than yours. Our ships are restricted to the middle gamma bands, and our Warshawski sails won't let us pull anywhere near as much accel from a given grav wave. I doubt we could cut more than a day or so off your freighters' time. Under the circumstances, I think we'll be better employed keeping what's left of the Masadan Navy off your back while you deal with the Havenites.'

Honor glanced at Truman and McKeon. Truman gave her a small nod, and McKeon simply shrugged. None of them had realized Grayson hyper capability was that limited, but Matthews was right. The small time saving would be much less useful than the support of another warship here, especially since it was unlikely the Masadans would delay their attack more than another few hours.

'I think you're right, Admiral Matthews,' she agreed. 'In that case, I'm afraid all we can do is get our mobile units ready for action and deploy the RDs. Unless—'

Someone knocked on the conference room door, then opened it to admit the chatter of printers, and Honor's eyebrows rose. The newcomer was a white-haired man in the uniform of a Security general, not a naval officer.

'Councilman Clinkscales!' Garret exclaimed. He and his staff stood quickly, and the Manticorans followed them. 'What can I do for, you, Sir?'

'Sorry to interrupt you, gentlemen ... ladies.' Clinkscales paused, his fierce old eyes examining Honor and Alice Truman with frank but wary curiosity. He advanced and held out his hand rather abruptly. 'Captain Harrington.' She took his hand, and he squeezed hard, as if he were determined to reject the least suggestion that he was concerned about feminine frailty.

'Councilman Clinkscales,' she murmured, squeezing back with equal strength, and his mouth twitched into a wintry smile.

'I wanted to thank you,' he said abruptly. 'Grayson owes you a tremendous debt—and so do I.' He was clearly uncomfortable saying that, but his determination to get it out was obvious.

'I just happened to be there, Sir. And it was actually Nimitz who saved the day. If he hadn't reacted so quickly—' She shrugged.

'True.' Clinkscales gave a quick bark of laughter. 'Wonder if he'd be willing to join Palace Security?'

'I'm afraid not, Sir.' The undamaged side of Honor's mouth smiled, and she realized that he, alone of everyone she'd met since the attack, seemed unembarrassed by the condition of her face. Apparently once he decided someone was a real officer, he expected them to bear their battle scars the same way he would have, and she discovered that she actually liked this old dinosaur.

'Pity,' he said, then looked at Garret. 'As I say, I'm sorry to interrupt, but my people've got one of the Maccabean resource ship pilots, and he's singing like a bird.'

'He is?' Garret's eyes sharpened, and Honor felt a matching interest.

'He is,' Clinkscales said grimly. 'He doesn't know shi—' He stopped and looked at Honor and Truman, and Honor forced herself not to smile again.

'He doesn't know anything about the Havenite ships' actual classes,' the councilman corrected himself, 'but he does know that Masada's put in an advanced base in this system.'

'In Yeltsin?' Garret sounded shocked, and Clinkscales shrugged.

'That's what he says. He's never seen it, and according to his friends who have, it wasn't easy to build. But he does know where it is, and he says their `biggest ship,' whatever it is, may be in Endicott right now.'

'It may?' Honor leaned towards him. 'Did he say why?'

'Something about towing their LACs over here,' Clinkscales said, and Honor's eye widened in surprise. She'd never heard of anyone trying that! Which didn't mean it was impossible. And it certainly explained how they'd gotten them here. But if they had modern ships, why were they wasting time bringing over something as crude as Masadan LACs in the first place?

'How positive is he that she's gone?' she asked, shaking off the irrelevant questions. 'And does he know when she's due back?'

'He knows she was due to leave,' Clinkscales said. 'He doesn't know if she's still gone, but it occurred to me that her absence might explain why they haven't already attacked, and if it does, their continued lack of activity could be an indication that she hasn't gotten back yet.'

'It could be, Sir,' she murmured. She glanced at Truman and McKeon. 'On the other hand, we've been in- system for almost twenty-six hours. Even if she left just before we arrived, she should have had time to get back by now. Unless ...' She rubbed the numb side of her face, then looked back at Truman. 'Any idea what their transit time might be towing LACs, Alice?'

'I don't think there's any way to know without actually trying it ourselves. No one else ever did it, as far as I know. In fact, I don't think they could have, if Yeltsin and Endicott were any further apart. As for how fast they can make the passage, they'd probably have to take it pretty easy, but as for how easy—' Truman shrugged.

'A lot would depend on what they're using as a tug, Skipper,' McKeon offered. 'The mass ratio would be fairly critical, I'd think. And they'd have to use something with enough tractor capacity to completely zone a LAC, too.'

Honor nodded, still rubbing her dead cheek, then shrugged. 'Either way, just knowing where to find them should be a major plus. Assuming the information is reliable.'

She looked at Clinkscales, and the hard gleam in the Security commander's eye was almost frightening.

'Oh, it's reliable, Captain,' he assured her in a chilling tone. 'They've put in a base on Blackbird—that's one of Uriel's moons,' he added for Honor's benefit, and she nodded. That made sense. Uriel—Yeltsin VI—was a gas