“Repeat that,” Kier said. “I am not sure I heard you correctly.”
“The Star Controller Auberon had fired a salvo of missiles, Director,” War Advocate Ro reiterated.
“At whom?” Kier asked, utterly at a loss.
There was nothing there. Unless this was another one of those damnable mine fields. That had been a terrible surprise, once they reviewed the logs and realized that hidden mines had been responsible for a significant portion of the incoming fire on Steadfast in Honor and Steadfast in Surprise. All the terrible savagery from those fightercraft had gone after Steadfast in Pursuit.
Neither ship had been terribly damaged, but the shock had been sufficient to throw all of their timing off. The squadron had jumped clear rather than blunder deeper into whatever sudden mischief Keller had prepared.
They could always attack from other angles. Eventually, Kier could annihilate those damnable snubfighters, possibly by just plowing through them with the DEMP on Steadfast in Surprise and then picking off the ragged survivors one at a time.
Keller would either have to face her in the ruins of the fighter craft, or lose a significant portion of her force, too afraid to rescue them.
But what was Keller firing missiles at?
There was nothing there. And Kier could easily remain away from the line of the drones themselves, in case they were somehow seeding more mines for her force. Or something.
This was not the Imperial way, damn it!
“Director, the missiles appear to be targeted on Trusski itself,” War Advocate Ro said.
“From here?” Kier let her surprise show through. “They will take days to get there.”
“Agreed,” the War Advocate said. “Nonetheless, that appears to be the target, a ballistic launch at where Trusski will be in roughly three days.”
What did Keller gain, lobbing missiles at the planet that Steadfast at Dawn could smack down at her leisure?
Of course.
Trusski had no orbital defenses, except Steadfast at Dawn.
Was Keller firing a final, angry insult across space, so Kier would have to hunt down missiles rather than attack the fighters? She could do both. Hop in and slaughter the little hornets, then hop over and destroy the drones.
What was that woman’s game?
Worse, had she launched other missiles? Kier had no way of tracking all the places that Keller’s force might have jumped, until all the sensor logs reported in, tracking all the ghosts of insertion and emergence as they overlapped.
Hours would pass in the meantime. Would any have hit the planet while she was out here stalking?
And where would Keller be hiding?
Kier had never felt this level of paralysis in command.
Imperial tactics had always been laughably simple. Had she grown complacent? Was this what a worthy foe looked like? Should she order Steadfast in Pursuit and Steadfast in Duty into the battle, damning the costs? Or send them to protect the planet from bombardment?
Spies like Daniel St. Collins had reported the utter, blinding rage that the orbital bombing of St. Legier had evoked. Was this some manner of payback?
“Director, if I may offer a thought?” the Crew Advocate spoke up in a quiet, almost diffident voice, polite, but not afraid. It was so rare that he spoke during these situations.
Kier nodded, aware that she had already started down a mad rabbit hole, trying to outguess this new foe.
“This was her intent,” the man continued, gesturing to her and the War Advocate. “Confusion in command. I would wait in ambush for you along that flight line, hoping to goad you into chasing meaningless missiles in the process, and turning your back.”
Kier saw the rightness of Crew Advocate Ko’s supposition so hard it nearly hurt.
“War Advocate,” Kier said. “We know the range of those Primary beams. Assume she wants to optimize them and is waiting. We will retrieve Steadfast in Pursuit and Steadfast in Duty and go into battle as a single unit again. From Energiya, I want a spiraling series of jumps until we find her along that path, then we will pounce on Auberon and focus all our firepower upon that vessel. Ignore the cruisers and the escorts. We will come back for them after we destroy Keller.”
“So it shall be, Director.”