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of the Sky are both about ready to sail. They are now armed with six 21-inch pulse lasers and six 6-inch long guns.”
    “Better than the blackhearted Empress’s ships, but we only have two to her three.”
    “Yes,” the admiral agreed. “It might be better for us, but it would still be a bloody mess.”
    “It seems to me that we need to figure out some way not to fight this battle.”
    “That would be my first choice,” the admiral agreed, “but how?”
    “What if the two Sovereign s pass themselves off as Attacker and Kamchatka ?”
    The admiral frowned at Vicky. “ Attacker has twelve 8-inch lasers. The Kamchatka is older, but she has twelve 9.2-inch lasers in her main battery. Older. Slower to recharge. Still, with the Retribution backing them up, I’d be reluctant to get in a fight if I only had the three Wittenberg s. But how would anyone mistake the Sovereign s for heavy cruisers?”
    “Computer, get me Lieutenant Blue.”
    “Yes, Your Grace.”
    “I need to pass off two armed merchant cruisers as the heavy cruisers Attacker and Kamchatka . Any suggestions how I do it?”
    “Well, Your Grace, it’s against the law for a ship to squawk as another ship.”
    “What if I didn’t care about that law?”
    “Assuming the sensors aboard the cruisers coming in aren’t any better than the sensors on most Greenfeld ships, it should be pretty easy to mess with them. I’ve always wanted to try it, but, you know, ma’am, it being illegal and all that, I’d never think of actually doing it.”
    “Which is to say that you’ve never done it for very long and gotten caught,” Vicky said dryly.
    “Not more than a few seconds, ma’am.”
    “Can you do it for several long hours?”
    “Most certainly,” sounded boyishly eager.
    “Admiral, could you advise the skippers of the necessary ships that we will be making some unusual modifications to them in the next hour.”
    “Unusual or illegal?”
    “No need to put too fine a point on it, is there?”
    “Of course not, Your Grace.” With a grin, he tapped hiscommlink. “Bruno, have I got some work for you, and it’s not even all that illegal.”
    Vicky went over to the bulkhead that separated her day cabin from her night cabin. “Computer, show me the system with all the ships under way in it.”
    The bulkhead screen came to life. There was only the one dot representing the incoming six ships from her stepmother.
    Mannie now came to stand at her elbow. “What are you thinking of?” he asked.
    “How to not fight a battle but win one anyway,” Vicky said vaguely.
    “To use cunning rather than brute force, huh.”
    “Something like that,” Vicky admitted. “Kris Longknife does this all the time. This is the first time I’m trying my hand at it.”
    “You going to go charging out at them?” Mannie asked.
    “If I did, the admiral here would tan my bottom, right?”
    “I don’t know about your bottom,” the admiral said, carefully, “but I would strongly recommend against you charging at the incoming ships. Once you shot past them, you’d have a hell of a time turning around, and they’d be closing on St. Petersburg and this station with a free hand.”
    “I did learn something following Admiral Krätz and Kris Longknife around,” Vicky said. “Never let the enemy get between you and the base you have to defend. No. We stay here for as long as I dare. I just wish something would force them to tip their hand . . . give away their intentions.”
    The admiral’s shrug was full stoic.
    Then the jump coughed out a new set of dots.
    “The heavy cruiser Biter has just entered the system,” Vicky’s computer announced.
    “I think I hear a hand tipping,” Vicky whispered.

CHAPTER 6
 
    “ T HE Biter was escorting a trade convoy on a swing through Good Luck, Finster, Ormuzd, Kazan, and Presov,” the admiral said, as freighters followed the cruiser through the jump.
    “So those cargo ships are loaded with crystal and rare earths,” Vicky