Six hours should be plenty of time. He couldn’t imagine any circumstances under which the Alliance fleet would have more time than that to hang around the Casualty Flotilla.

“Wait!” That was Rione, leaning in to speak to Geary, her face intent. “Hold off on deciding to destroy Audacious that way.”

Geary sighed and spoke to the Marine again. “Belay that. Don’t set her for overload yet. Hold on a moment.” Then he turned to face Rione. “Why not blow up Audacious? Why let the Syndics have her back?”

“I’m not suggesting giving that ship back to the Syndics,” Rione replied coldly. “There are a great many Syndic warships in pursuit of us, and we could use any available weapon to balance the odds. Rig the ship so it will explode not at a set time but when the Syndics reoccupy it.”

He couldn’t avoid a grimace at the thought. Still, as distasteful as booby traps were, they were acceptable weapons in cases like this. Then another thought came on the heels of that. “Maybe we should rig all of the ships to explode their power cores when the Syndics reoccupy them.”

Desjani, overhearing, twisted her mouth in an annoyed expression. “Too bad that won’t hurt them until our battle in this system is over.”

“Well, yeah,” Geary agreed, “but it’s not like we can…” His voice trailed off, and he gave Desjani a startled look.

Her eyes widened. “All of those abandoned Syndic warships with functioning power cores. If we can rig the Syndic ships to explode when we want them to-”

“Like mines?”

“Exactly like mines! Huge mines set for proximity detonations! We’d just have to lure the Syndic pursuit force close enough to the Casualty Flotilla.”

“That’d be one hell of a minefield. Can we make it work?” he asked Desjani.

She spun to face her engineering watch-stander. “Lieutenant Nicodeom, give me an assessment of whether or not we can rig an abandoned Syndic warship to function like a mine, exploding its power core when a target enters an engagement envelope.”

The engineering lieutenant looked surprised, then thoughtful. “The easiest way to do it would probably be to use a mine fuse rigged to the power-core control systems. It’d take some work, Captain, because they’d have to adjust the smart fuse’s programming to reflect the estimated kill radius of the power core, factor in the time delay for bringing each ship’s core to overload, run some control cables, and work out the interfaces with Syndic core control systems. ”

“Where are the resources in the fleet to do that?” Desjani demanded.

“The best weapons engineers in the fleet are on the auxiliaries, Captain. That’s also where we’d get the mine fuses. You’d have to get the auxiliaries to the Syndic ship you wanted rigged with the fuse or else use shuttles to ferry personnel and gear from the auxiliaries to the Syndic ship.”

Desjani’s smile grew so broad it threatened to split her face. “Did you hear all of that, sir?”

Geary nodded, knowing that he was smiling, too. All four auxiliaries were with the Syndic warships of the Casualty Flotilla, right where they needed to be. “I think it’s time to call Captain Tyrosian. Hopefully her engineers won’t need specs for this rush job.”

Lieutenant Nicodeom spoke up again. “Captain Geary, sir, it’s a challenge. If they have to configure those fuses to individual Syndic ships and get them all rigged in a real short time, that’s the sort of challenge any good weapons engineer would do just for the love of it. Making something really big blow up in a new way? It doesn’t get any better than that.”

“Thanks, Lieutenant.” Geary punched the circuit to call Captain Tyrosian, then quickly explained what was needed. “Can you and your people do it, Captain Tyrosian?” he asked at the end. “I know this is a very difficult engineering challenge with a very short time line, and I’m told it’s the sort of thing only the best weapons engineers can handle.” He could scarcely be more blatant, but it didn’t seem to be a good time for subtlety. Besides, he was dealing with an engineer, so subtlety might well be wasted anyway.

Captain Tyrosian’s eyes, which sometimes seemed to glaze over when faced with operational matters, lit with enthusiasm. “Weaponize the abandoned Syndic ships? Proximity fuses? Do you want them linked and timed to create a mass detonation?”

“Yeah, that’d be great.”

“Consider it done, sir,” Tyrosian announced confidently. “When does it need to be in place?”

“About two hours.”

The engineer jerked visibly at that, then nodded. “They’ll be ready, sir.”

As the image of Tyrosian vanished, Geary glanced over at Rione. “Thanks for the idea.”

Rione raised both eyebrows. “Your idea seems to have considerably outstripped my modest proposal.”

“We wouldn’t have thought of it without your suggestion, ” Geary noted.

Desjani looked toward Rione and inclined her head slightly in silent agreement. Rione smiled stiffly back at her.

Pretending he hadn’t noticed the byplay, Geary studied his star-system display, rubbing his chin with one hand. “The problem will be getting the Syndics to enter the danger area when it counts. We’ll have to fool them without their knowing they’re being led that way. It won’t be easy.”

“I’m sure you can manage it,” Rione remarked.

“We already have decoys in place to lure them toward the Casualty Flotilla,” Desjani pointed out.

He frowned at the display, knowing that she meant the auxiliaries. Without its auxiliaries, the Alliance fleet would be doomed, certain to run out of fuel cells as well as expendable munitions long before it could reach Alliance space again. It made them critically important to protect, and the best possible lures for an enemy attack. “We already did that once at Sancere. Will they be fooled again?”

“We just have to do it differently,” Desjani argued.

“Got any ideas?” Geary asked.

As it turned out, she did. Not ideas that he completely liked, but enough to toss back and forth as they came up with a plan. Every once in a while he glanced at Rione to see if she had anything to add, but Rione was just gazing stony-faced at her own display.

“CAPTAIN Tyrosian, get any shuttles and personnel not engaged in looting Syndic repair ships or rigging up the hulks to explode to work doing highly visible plundering of materials off other Syndic shipping in the Casualty Flotilla.”

The engineer, doubtless ready to announce proudly the progress of the pillaging so far, froze in midword and looked confused. “Sir?”

“I want the Syndics to see us desperately grabbing everything we can,” Geary repeated. “Food and anything else. They need to think that you need to stay with the Casualty Flotilla as long as possible to grab as much as you can. We need to look desperate for supplies, Captain Tyrosian.”

“We… are desperate for supplies, sir,” Tyrosian protested.

Desjani barely avoided laughing, instead making a choking sound to one side that Geary ignored. “Captain Tyrosian, ” he explained patiently, “we’re going to keep your auxiliaries with the Casualty Flotilla long past the point of safety once the Syndic Pursuit Flotilla shows up. They’re going to be focused on you anyway, since your four auxiliaries are the most critical parts of our fleet. The Syndics need a plausible reason for your ships staying with the Casualty Flotilla while the Syndics come right for you. If they think you need to keep grabbing stuff off the Syndic hulks, it will provide that reason.”

Tyrosian took a moment to reply. “We’re bait again?”

“Yes, Captain, you’re bait again.”

The engineering officer looked depressed, but nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Needless to say,” Geary felt compelled to add, “we’ll do everything we can to keep your ships from actually being destroyed.”

“Thank you, sir. We appreciate that.”

“I will provide detailed maneuvering instructions for your ships once the Syndic pursuit force arrives and we know their movement vectors. Thank you, Captain Tyrosian. ”