Free Virtues of War by Bennett R. Coles Page B

then,
“This incident will be reported to my government. Over.”
    Thomas let out a long breath. “Centauri warship, roger. I am steering well clear of you and will continue to monitor this circuit. Terran warship out.”
    The camera showed the frigate make an obvious gesture of turning away and its vector began to point away from
Rapier
.
    Breeze watched it go. She felt her teeth chattering inside her helmet, and she kept her hands firmly on her console.
    “Wow,” Chief Tamma said finally, “you don’t see that every day.”
    “Sir,” Katja said, “all sections report at battle stations. Shall we stay closed up?”
    In reply, Thomas activated the ship-wide intercom.
    “This is the captain. We have just avoided an incident with a Centauri frigate. Through… diplomacy, the incident was halted before it became actual combat. The danger has passed and we will revert to regular cruising watch. That is all.”
    Katja followed this with the standard call to secure battle stations and for Bravo Watch—Breeze’s watch—to close up. All through the ship, Breeze knew, the crew members were stowing the emergency equipment they had just pulled out, and muttering about getting back to their racks.
    Around her on the bridge, no one moved.
    She unsealed her helmet and lifted it off, feeling the cool air against her sweaty hair. Chief Tamma and Katja both pretended to study their consoles.
    Thomas was looking right at her. “NavO, what happened?”
    She took a couple of breaths, fighting down the awful feeling in her gut. She replayed the sequence of events in her mind, recalling that their orders were to observe the frigate, but not interact.
    “Sir, I was conducting passive observations of the Centauri ship when I noticed that it was closing us. I… altered fifteen degrees to port to maintain our distance but it changed course again to close. I saw two objects release from its hull and come at us at high speed. I wasn’t sure what they were, so I brought the ship to battle stations.”
    His gaze was unsettling. She couldn’t tell how much he believed her.
    “Lieutenant Brisebois, all Centauri ships carry robot sentries with them.” His slow, careful tone was insulting. But she forced herself to keep quiet and listen. “These are small, unmanned craft with basic sensors and weapons. They act as scouts and as defense—they are not used for attack.”
    “Well, I couldn’t tell what they were!” She felt humiliated, especially with Tamma and Katja watching.
    Thomas nodded. “Chalk it up to experience. Centauri missiles have active seekers that’ll light up your EM alarms like Christmas. Did you see any alarms like that?”
    “There was some alarm. I didn’t have time to tell what it was.”
    “Probably the fire-control radar,” Katja offered.
    Oh, and now the jar-head is an expert at space combat. Breeze could feel herself getting hot in the spacesuit. “There wasn’t time,” she said, forcing her tightened lips to form the words.
    Katja’s smug reaction deserved a smack.
    Thomas, however, seemed to relent.
    “For the safety of the ship, NavO, you did the right thing… under the circumstances. But I want all three of you to study up on Centauri tactics and equipment. They seem to be sending more and more ships to Sirius, and we’ll probably bump shoulders with them again.”
    “Yes, sir,” Katja said immediately.
    “Yes, sir,” Tamma echoed.
    Breeze bit down what she really wanted to say.
    “Yes, sir,” was what escaped her mouth.
    “OpsO, Pilot, that’ll be all.”
    The others took their cue, powered down, and left the bridge. Breeze fumed silently as she waited for the airlock door to close behind them. Arguing with Thomas wasn’t the way to go, she knew, and she forced her anger down. This was a moment for deep regret and humility.
    “Captain,” she said, looking up at him with her eyes wide, “you have to understand—”
    “You stupid fuck.”
    She stopped dead, her apology forgotten. She