Honor Among Enemies

'Can we reopen them?'

'Not soon,' Tschu said grimly. He tapped a command into his console, then tried a second and grimaced. 'Looks like they only stopped where they did because their motors burned out. It could be just the control systems on the port door, I can't be certain from the remotes, but the starboard door's definitely burned. If it is the controls for the port one, we might be able to rig new runs and get it back open. That would give you two clear launch rails, but that hit ripped hell out of the hull, and I don't have any surviving visuals in the area to tell me how much wreckage is in the way. Repairs are going to take at least an hour, assuming they're possible at all.' He met her eyes squarely from her small com screen. 'Sorry, Skipper. That's the best I can do.'

'Understood.' Honor's mind raced. Her ship was pathetically slow compared to the Peep warship still charging towards her, the brutal damage to her port broadside reduced her close-range firepower by a quarter, and the jammed cargo doors amputated her ability to deploy pods. Even if Tschu had time to get the port door open again, she'd lost two-thirds of her long-range punch. Her chance to survive against a regular warship which got inside her missile envelope was virtually nil, and as the first Peep battlecruiser had just demonstrated, even a ship she managed to kill with missiles could still take Wayfarer with it.

She still had her second LAC squadron, that was why she'd exposed her port side, rather than the starboard launch bays, and she could use them here in the Selker. With them to support her, she'd be willing to take on a heavy cruiser even without her missile pods, but they wouldn't be enough against a battlecruiser. Even if she managed to destroy something that size, it would smash Wayfarer up so badly any of the other Peep warships could take her with ease.

'I've got Captain Fuchien, Skipper,' Fred Cousins reported, and Honor shook herself. She held up one hand at Cousins long enough to look Jennifer Hughes in the eye. 'How long before the Peeps come in on us?'

'We can probably stay away from them for another three hours,' Hughes replied. 'I don't know what happened to that heavy cruiser, she slowed down and dropped clear off the plot twenty-six minutes ago, but that second Sultan's coming up fast. Its a cinch she's got us on passive, and her sustained velocity advantage will run us down eventually.'

Honor drew a deep breath as her options clarified with brutal simplicity. It wouldn't be a heavy cruiser when the attack came in, she thought grimly, then waved at Cousins. 'Put Captain Fuchien through,' she said, and Margaret Fuchien's face replaced Tschu's on her com screen.

'Thank you, Captain...?' the civilian skipper said, and Honor smiled crookedly. There hadn't really been time for introductions before.

'Harrington, of Her Majesty's Armed Merchant Cruiser Wayfarer.'

The other woman's eyes widened, but then she shook her head, like someone shrugging aside an irritating fly.

'What's your situation, Lady Harrington?' she asked. Her own sensors had shown her the halo of atmosphere and water vapor which indicated massive hull breaching, and her optics showed her the gaping holes smashed in Wayfarers flank and port quarter.

'We've got at least a hundred and fifty casualties,' Honor told her flatly. 'I've lost a third of my port broadside and most of my missile capability. We're trying to get the missiles back, but it doesn't look good. If you're thinking we can fight them off, I'm afraid you're wrong.'

She felt the silence ripple out across her bridge as she said it. They'd all known already, but the finality of hearing their captain admit it aloud echoed in every mind. Fuchien's mouth tightened on the com screen, and she closed her eyes for a moment.

'Then I'm very much afraid we're in deep trouble, Milady,' she said quietly. 'My hyper generators seriously damaged. I can't climb any higher, and my downward translation rate's been cut by something like eighty percent. Anything more than that, and the entire system is likely to pack in on us. Which means we can't run away from them, either.'

'I see.' Honor leaned back, ordering her face to remain calm while a skinsuited Nimitz crouched on the back of her chair. Her link to him carried her bridge crew's fear, and the discipline which held it at bay, to her, and she rubbed an eyebrow, making herself think. 'In that case...' she began, when another voice cut suddenly into the circuit.

'This is Klaus Hauptman!' it snapped. 'Your hyper generator's not damaged; why can't you take our passengers aboard your ship?'

Honor's lips thinned, and her eyes hardened. Hauptman's presence aboard Artemis came as a complete surprise, but the abrupt intrusion was so typical of him that she wanted to hit him.

'I'm speaking to Captain Fuchien,' she said coldly. 'Clear this channel immediately!'

'The hell you say!' Hauptman shot back, but then he paused. She could almost see him throttling back his own temper, and his voice was marginally calmer when he went on. 'My presence on this channel doesn't prevent you from speaking to Captain Fuchien,' he said, 'and my question remains. Why can't you take us off?'

'Because,' Honor said with icy precision, 'our nominal life-support capacity is three thousand individuals. We still have nineteen hundred crew aboard, and our enviro systems have also been damaged. I doubt I have sufficient long-term capacity for my own people, far less the entire company of your vessel. Now either clear this channel or keep your mouth shut, Sir!'

Klaus Hauptman’s face suffused with fury, but he clamped his jaw, then raised his eyes from his com's blank screen to look at his daughter. No one else would have recognized the fear behind Stacey's controlled expression, but he knew her too well. He could almost feel that fear, and everything within him shouted to scream at Harrington, to threaten her, bully her, bribe her, if that was what it took to get his daughter to safety. But something in Stacey's own eyes froze the threats and bribes on his lips, and a dull, burning sense of shame he didn't really understand mingled with his rage when he looked back down at the com.

'Now, Captain,' Honor went on more calmly. 'What does your life support look like?'

'Undamaged,' Fuchien said, only her slight, humorless smile betraying her reaction to the way Honor had slapped her employer down. 'We've lost three beta nodes, some of our lifeboats, and ten percent of our point defense, but aside from that, and the hyper generator, we're in decent shape. So far.'

'What's your passenger list?'

'We're running light. I've got about twenty-seven hundred, plus the crew.'

'Understood.' Honor rubbed the tip of her nose, feeling Nimitz's whiskers brush gently against the back of her neck while his support poured into her, then nodded.

'All right, Captain, here's what we're going to do. I'm going to transfer all nonessential personnel to your ship, since you've got the life support to handle them. Then...'

'Wait a minute!' the interruption exploded out of Klaus Hauptman almost against his will. 'What d'you mean, transfer people to this ship?! Why...'

'Mr. Hauptman, be silent!' Honor snapped. 'I have neither the time nor the patience for your interruptions, Sir!'

Silence crackled for a brief eternity, and she returned her attention to Fuchien, whose face already showed the beginnings of understanding. In his stateroom, Klaus Hauptman swore with silent, bitter venom, furious at her tone. But then he looked up at Stacey again, and this time he saw something besides fear in her eyes. He saw... disappointment, and then she looked away from him without a word.

'As I say, I intend to transfer all nonessential personnel to your vessel,' Honor went on. 'I will also be detaching six LACs to support and cover you. As soon as the transfer is complete, you and the LACs will shut down all emissions. All of them, Captain Fuchien. I want you to turn your ship into a hole in space, do you understand me?'

'Yes.' The word came out of Fuchien in a near-whisper, and Honor made herself smile.

'Before you shut down, I'll deploy an EW drone programmed to match your emissions. Wayfarer will break away from you, taking that drone with her. With any luck, the Peeps will think we're remaining in company and leave you alone. As soon as you're certain they have, I want you to begin a gradual downward translation. Drop into n-space and stay there for at least ten days. Ten days, Captain! Repair