Astercourt gave Aurelian a sideways look.
"We are handling more than he expected."
"I never said otherwise."
"You looked surprised when we finished the first vote."
"Because you held it within an hour."
Meriel almost smiled. "That is encouraging."
Before the conversation could go any further, Eirenne contacted Aurelian through his private command link.
Solenne's patrol had reached the research convoy.
Aurelian kept his expression calm.
"Excuse me for a moment."
He stepped several meters away from the others and opened the tactical feed on a private display.
The fight had already started.
The two Compact light cruisers had refused Solenne's order to surrender and opened fire first. That decision had gone badly for them almost immediately.
One cruiser had already lost its shields.
The second was trying to stay between Solenne's ships and the research transport, probably hoping to give the transport enough time to escape.
It was not going to work.
