The Honor of the Qween

'Either way, it doesn't change our mission,' she said more crisply.

'No, but it may make our job a whole lot easier, Skipper.'

'It may, but I wouldn't count on it. If that's a purely Masadan crew over there, God only knows what they'll do. For one thing, they're probably a lot more likely to nuke Grayson if they get the chance. And inexperienced or not, they've got a modern battlecruiser to do it with. That's a lot of ship, Andy, and they made so many mistakes this time they have to have learned at least something from them.'

She leaned back in her chair, and her good eye met his gaze.

'If they come back at all, they'll come in smarter,' she said.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Thunder Of God arced her way through a huge outside loop in an effort to cut in behind her opponents, and damage control teams labored furiously. It took time to complete their surveys, but Matthew Simonds listened in weary wonder as their reports flowed into the bridge.

It didn't seem possible. Those hits would have destroyed any Masadan ship, yet for all the gaping wounds in Thunder's flanks, his broadside had lost only one missile tube and a single graser.

Simonds chewed his hate as his enemy executed her own loop inside his, matching him move for move, yet under his hate was a dawning comprehension of why Yu had been so confident he could destroy Fearless, for Thunder was tougher than the Sword had dreamed. A sense of his own power, his own ponderous ability to destroy, suffused his tired brain ... and with it came a sour appreciation for how clumsily he'd misused that power.

He checked the plot again. Two hours had passed since he'd broken off action, and the range was back up to sixteen and a half light-minutes. Workman assured him Missile Twenty-One would be back on line in another thirty minutes, but time was ticking away, and he was only too well aware of how he'd allowed Harrington to dictate the conditions of engagement. He had at least two days before anyone from Manticore arrived to help her, but she hovered stubbornly between him and Grayson, and he'd let her burn up precious hours in which he should already have been about God's Work.

No more. He stood and crossed to the tactical station, and Ash looked up from his conference with his assistants.

'Well, Lieutenant?'

'Sir, we've completed our analysis. I'm sorry we took so long, but—'

'Never mind that, Lieutenant.' It came out more brusquely than he'd intended, and Simonds tried to soften it with a smile. He knew Ash and his people were almost as tired as he was, and they'd had to run their analyses with reference manuals almost literally in their laps. That was one reason he'd been willing to waste time trying to outmaneuver Harrington. He'd been fairly certain the attempt would fail, but he'd had no intention of reengaging until Ash had time to digest what he'd learned from the first clash.

'I understand your difficulties,' Simonds said more gently. 'Just tell me what you've learned.'

'Yes, Sir.' Ash drew a deep breath and consulted an electronic memo pad. 'Sir, despite their missiles' smaller size, their penaids, and especially their penetration ECM, are better than ours. We've programmed our fire control to compensate for all of their EW techniques we've been able to identify. I'm sure they have tricks we haven't seen yet, but we've eliminated most of the ones they've already used.

'Defensively, their decoys and jammers are very good, but their counter missiles and point defense lasers are only a little better than our own, and we've gotten good reads on their decoy emissions and updated our missiles' exclusion files. I think we'll be able to compensate for them to a much larger extent in the next engagement.'

'Good, Lieutenant. But what about our own defenses?'

'Sword, we're just not experienced enough with our systems to operate them in command mode. I'm sorry, Sir, but that's the truth.' Ash's assistants looked down at their hands or panels, but Simonds simply nodded again, slowly, and the lieutenant went on.

'As I say, we've updated the threat files and reworked the software to extrapolate from our analysis of what they've already done. In addition, I've set up packaged jamming and decoy programs to run on a computer- command basis. It won't be as flexible as a fully experienced tactical staff could give you, Sir, but taking the human element out of the decision loop should increase our overall effectiveness.'

The lieutenant didn't like admitting that, but he met Simonds' eyes without flinching.

'I see.' The Sword straightened and massaged his aching spine, then looked over his shoulder. 'Is your course updated, Astrogation?'

'Yes, Sir.'

'Then bring us around.' Simonds gave Ash his most fatherly smile. 'We'll give you a chance to show us the fruits of your labor, Lieutenant.'

* * *

'They're coming back in, Skipper.'

Honor set her cocoa in the beverage holder on her arm rest, cocked an eyebrow at Cardones, then looked down at her own repeater. Saladin had reopened the range to almost three hundred million kilometers, but now she was decelerating towards Fearless at four-point-six KPS?.

'What do you think he's up to this time, Ma'am?'

'I imagine he's spent the last couple of hours thinking over what we did to him, Andy. If he's coming back for more, he must think he's figured out what he did wrong last time.'

'You think he'll try to close to energy range, then?'

'I would in his place, but remember the saying about the world's best swordsman.' Venizelos looked puzzled, and she smiled crookedly. 'The world's best swordsman doesn't fear the second best; he fears the worst swordsman, because he can't predict what the idiot will do.'

The exec nodded his understanding, and Honor turned to her com link to Troubadour. She opened her mouth, but McKeon grinned and shook his head.

'I heard you talking to Andy, Ma'am, and I wish you were wrong. Too bad you're not.'

'Even so, he probably learned a lot the last time, Alistair. If he has, he'll concentrate his fire as he closes.'

'Yes, Ma'am.' McKeon didn't say any more, but they both knew Saladin's logical target. Troubadour could take far less damage than Fearless, and her destruction would eliminate a quarter of Honor's launchers.

'Stick close. Whatever he's up to, it's going to open with a missile exchange, and I want you inside Fearless's inner point defense perimeter.'

'Aye, aye, Skipper.'

'Rafe,' she turned back to Cardones, 'call Lieutenant Harris to relieve you, then you and Carol get some rest. You, too, Chief Killian,' she added with a glance at the helmsman. 'We've got four or five hours before missile range, and I want all three of you sharp when it happens.'

* * *

Sword Simonds shoved himself firmly against the command chair's cushioned back.

Part of him wanted to wade right in, get to close grips with his enemies, and destroy them once and for all, yet he dared not. Harrington had handled Thunder too roughly in the first engagement. Prudence was indicated until he was certain Ash had made sufficient adjustments to their own defenses, so he'd ordered a turnover to kill their closing velocity and hug the edge of the missile envelope once more rather than get in too deep too quickly.

Harrington had turned away enough to extend his closure time, and he gritted his teeth as the long, exquisite tension tore at his nerves. She'd played her games with him for fourteen hours now, and he'd been on Thunder's bridge continuously for forty-five, broken only by brief, fitful naps. Now his