Firstborn

his sector were pressed. Dennison’s crew waited upon his commands.
    “Expand hologram,” Dennison said. “Revert to the main tactical map.”
    Two of the officers shared a look at the unconventional order. It wasn’t Dennison’s job to consider the entire battle. Yet they did as he asked, and the hologram zoomed back out to give Dennison a view of the entire battle space. He stepped forward—bits of hologram shattering against his body and reforming behind him—studying the ships in red. Varion’s fleet. Though the Silvermane wasn’t present personally, he would be directing the battle from across space. Dennison was finally facing his brother. The man who had never known defeat.
    The man who had killed his father.
    You’re not perfect,
Varion, Dennison thought.
If you were, you’d have found a way to bring our father to your side, rather than just blasting him in the forehead.
    Varion arranged his defense. Three prongs of fighters bracketing larger gunships formed the most direct assault in his direction. Something was off. Dennison frowned, trying to decide what was bothering him.
    “Kern,” he said, tapping a dot on the hologram, opening a channel to the admiral.
    “I’m rather busy, Dennison,” Kern said curtly.
    Dennison paused slightly at the rebuke. “Admiral,” he said, a little more formal. “Something is wrong.”
    “Watch your sector, Lieutenant. I’ll worry about Varion.”
    “With all due respect, Admiral,” Dennison said, “you just had me study this man for months on end. I know Varion Crestmar better than any living man. Are you sure this is the time to ignore my advice?”
    Silence.
    “All right,” Kern said. “Make it quick.”
    “The orientation of his forces is odd, sir,” Dennison said. “His fighter prongs have been deployed to focus on the eastern sector of the battle. Away from you. But the
Stormwind
is by far the most powerful ship in this confrontation—stronger, even, than Varion’s own capital ships. He
has
to deal with you quickly.”
    “He’s used this formation before,” Kern said. “Remember Gallosect IV? He focused on beamships first so that he could surround the flagship and take it from a distance.”
    “He had 2-to-1 advantage at Gallosect,” Dennison said. “He could afford to expend fighters keeping the flagship busy. He’s too thinly extended to try that here—by pressing to the east, he’s going to expose himself to your batteries. He’ll lose capital ships that way.”
    Silence.
    “You wearing your visor, Dennison?” Kern asked.
    “No.”
    “I thought not,” Kern said. “Put one on.”
    Dennison didn’t argue. The same aide walked back, proffering the equipment. Dennison slipped it on and saw a view from his fighter commander’s cockpit.
    “Here,” Kern said, through the earpiece, no longer using an open channel. “Look at this.”
    The right half of Dennison’s visor changed, showing a smaller version of the battle map. It was covered with arrows indicating attack vectors, and there were annotations around most of the vessels.
    “What is this?” Dennison asked.
    “Speak quietly,” Kern said in a whisper. “Not even my bridge officers know about this feed.”
    “But what is it?”
    “Intercepted
klage
communications,” Kern said softly. “This image is being sent from Varion to his commanders here. It’s how he commands—not verbally, but with battle maps outlining what he wants done.”
    “You can intercept
klage
communications!” Dennison said quietly, turning away to muffle his voice. “How?”
    “Varion wasn’t the only one who spent these last few decades working on technology,” Kern said. “We focused on communications and may have gotten the better end of the bargain, since it appears his shields are only effective on a personal scale. Our scientists developed a special bug that can work on a klage transmitter. The bug in Varion’s ready room, the one he thinks he’s so clever to have found, is just a red herring.”
    “Can you intercept the responses from Varion’s commanders?”
    “Yes,” Kern said. “But only if they come through the
klage
transceiver on the
Voidhawk
.”
    “And could we change the orders he sends?” Dennison asked.
    “The techs say they might be able to,” Kern said. “But if we do, we give away that we’ve been listening in. This gives us an edge. Read that map and tell me what you think.”
    Dennison zoomed his visor in on Varion’s orders. They were succinct