Disclaimer – Everything either does belong to Joss or it should. I’m just borrowing his shiny ‘verse for a while.

The 21st Lancers belong to the British Army so I’m borrowing them too. I hope they don’t mind.

* * *

“No captain can do very wrong if he places his ship alongside that of the enemy”

Admiral Horatio Nelson 1758 - 1805

* * *

INS Charybdis – Corsican Asteroids – Toulouse Sector – 2522AD

With the Admiral over on Scylla Captain Decker had a somewhat freer hand in the way he ran his own ship than the last time he had taken the ship into battle nearly two years ago against the IAV Pen Lung . Something of an aficionado of Naval Tradition Decker had always maintained the notion that if he ever got to take the Charybdis into a really decent action he was going to do the thing right.

‘Beat to Quarters if you please Mr Peters’ Decker ordered to his second in command. ‘All hands to Battle-Stations.’

Commander Peters activated the ships intercom and ordered the crew to battle-stations. The crew had already put on their lightweight EVA suits in case the ship was holed and now those in the sections more likely to suffer that fate pulled on their helmets and pressurised the suits. Buried deep inside the ship the Bridge crew kept their own helmets off for now but they were close by if needed. Nobody wanted to end their days in a vacuum with their blood boiling out their ears, as a way to go it took too damn long for one thing.

The difference between beating to quarters on Charybdis and her sister ship was that Captain Decker actually had someone rattle a drum while it happened. It was just a pity he couldn’t raise a Battle Flag and put a few snipers in the upper rigging whilst he was at it.

Commander Peters attributed it all to the Captain reading way too many Hornblower books as a child but had never mentioned this theory out loud.

‘Reactors One through Twelve powering up to ninety percent rated power Sir’ the Lieutenant in the