Edward Lewwel glanced at his display screen. He mentally plotted the course of a dozen ships, allocating their remaining warheads at spreads across the specific volume of space. Currently, it was empty. It had been his little talent at the Academy, anticipating the courses of ships in space. Even when his instructors had created a program to randomize a flight path, Lewwel had surprised them at how close he could match it.

But this was no simulation.

The five ships crept along the space lane, following a path that would bring them to the far side of Titan. Each one was armed with a deadly array of weapon systems and crewed by the Mute’s from the Outer Range Mining Colonies. Lewwel smiled. He enjoyed it when these renegade miners raided. It was practical training for his crew.

Lewwel was not concerned he was out numbered. The three ships under his direct command were the best the Addax Federation had to offer. They would not insult Lewwel by giving him low grade ships. Even if they knew the master strategist would find a way to win with them, they viewed such an act as a waste of resources.

A woman entered the bridge. She must be the new second mate, thought Lewwel. Her body was slim and fit, with bright shoulder length hair; she was a very attractive woman. Lewwel wondered if she was sent to frustrate him. She approached him and saluted. ‘Second mate Eve,’ she introduced herself as.

Lewwel nodded to her, paying as little attention as possible. He waited for the tell tale signs of someone uncomfortable in his presence, but she showed none. Lewwel was surprised. His own body had been mangled many decades ago. As a result, he was forced to have his upper body attached to a servitor hover pad. With his legs gone, and a crude mix match of machine and man many people had viewed him in awe and wonder. He knew they looked at him as a freak. But it didn’t matter much to him; indeed, at times he would get pleasure from watching their eyes widen at him when they thought he wasn’t looking.

‘Tell me, Eve, what do you know about space warfare?’ he said. She stayed silent. Obviously she had been warned about his provocative manner.

A flash on a navigation screen; somewhere on the bridge a small warning signal rang out. The enemy had fired a spread of missiles.

‘Deploy ECM and intercept with out own missiles. Target the space between the spread and explode manually.’ The order had come from Eve. He was pleasantly surprised at her forcefulness. The woman had clearly thought Lewwel incompetent.

‘Cancel that order,’ he said. She looked at him, and for the first time since she arrived, Lewwel saw emotion. ‘Sir, it would be advisable to destroy the missiles. If one detonated near us…’

He raised a hand. He didn’t need to say anything. Instead he hoped the demonstration would say all. Everyone on the bridge watched the screen, waiting for impact. Teams of weapon specialists too meek to counter Lewwel’s command, yet too fearful to speak out. The missiles cruised closer, sliding delicately around the edge of Titan. Forty kilometres, and they would detonate at the presence of Lewwel’s fleet. All hands braced for an impact.

The missiles sliced past. Each one flew to the point where it should have detonated, but none did. They simply cruised out, past Titan, through the fleet, and into the blackness beyond.

‘Bait, you see,’ said Lewwel, shattering silence on the bridge. ‘They fire dud missiles, wait for a response from our defences. Then they know we’re here and launch full, weapon grade spreads. We’d be dead in seconds.’ He enjoyed that look of surprise.

They watched the raiding fleet, which now seemed confident no one was hiding in ambush. They turned course slightly starboard, just as Lewwel had predicted. The course had exposed their engines and rears to Lewwel’s earlier spread predictions. The detonations would spark a vicious chain reaction, and if not destroying each of the enemy vessels, would certainly incapacitate them.

‘Helms, you’ll find an updated weapons spread configuration in the system. I want you to implement it immediately.’ Lewwel nodded and watched the young helms controller tap away at his pad. Within seconds, Lewwel’s own ship, Constant, launched several warheads. Following the lead ships example, the other two ships fired similar spreads at the same location. It took mere seconds, a short time in space warfare, before the first detonations showed on screen. A single warhead struck between two of the ships, ripping apart the great engines. Another explosion below one of those same ships tore the belly of it open, and Lewwel could see the ship venting atmosphere. The silent symphony of explosions detonated all around the volume of space where the enemy engines where, ripping apart the structure of the ships and crippling them. The next spread from one of the other friendly ships completely destroyed two of the enemy ships, and the three left had no option but to drift in space.

‘You see, Eve, in order to be on my ship, you must trust my choices.’ The woman looked at him, her green eyes burning into Lewwel. She didn’t act the way he intended.

‘Yes, commander,’ she said, nodding. ‘I apologise.’

Interesting, thought Lewwel. Maybe this one wouldn’t be so bad after all. On the bridge of Constant, they both watched dozens of shuttles depart from the carrier, filled with perhaps sixty expert marines. Soon, the three enemy ships would be in their control. Perfect, thought Lewwel. He had always wanted to see if the Greek’s old tactics still had merit…