With a thought, I brought up the schematics of my Augmentation. The details filled the VR space as far as the eye could see. With a brief flash of regret for giving in to my initial, instinctive response with Guy and Quick watching, I pulled things back down to a high-level overview. Six major call outs surrounded a wireframe drawing of my body, each one denoting a system added during my fourteen minutes of hell in a box.

I pushed away the details of my Musculature, Skin Field, and Telepathy and focused on my Power systems. Where I expected a single system, my essie had broken it down into three interconnected, yet distinct sets of plans. The fusion systems I expected, a pair of Tokamak reactors where my kidneys had been. The kidneys themselves now lurked between the reactors and my spine. Something looked off about the individual reactors; instead of a single torus, each sported a pair, one positioned to spin inside the other like a gyroscope.

The next callout showed the reason for the unusual Tokamak configuration. Nestled within each lay my secondary power source, a pair of antimatter reactors. Each could produce enough power to run a suit of Armor. Not just normal Marine armor either; one of the pair could easily supply power for a big monster like Guy's Dragon tagged monstrosity.

"Why do I have a pair of antimatter reactors?"

The answer came from my essie and my First at almost the same time, Quick's deep rumble merging seamlessly with my essie's seductive purr.

"Redundancy."

That answered the question I'd asked, but still left me in the dark about what I needed to know. "Why do I even have one antimatter reactor? Don't most naval Augmentations make do with a single standard Tokamak?"

My essie remained silent, letting my First remind me he'd planned on becoming an Armorer before being shanghaied into Command. "The field, sir." At my questioning look, he elaborated. "You're aware the most efficient shape for a field is spherical, right?"

I nodded and said, "what about toroid?"

"That's second most efficient, and actually more common just because it's easier to make a flat surface out of lots of small parallel toroids than it is out of even more, even smaller spheres. Those shapes aren't energy efficient, but they're still required for some applications. Anyhow, that's one of the reasons Imperial capital ships are spheres, because some fields you just plain can't use multiples, like the fields for pocket jumps."

"Okay. I took the basic Armoring course as a third year Middie, I remember that much."

"Really, sir?"

I frowned at him. "Yes. I remember my Armoring course. I had a good memory before Augmentation."

"Not what I meant, sir. Most Command track don't take Armoring until Middie year eight at the earliest. Some even wait for Senior year eight, or weasel out of it entirely. By testing out, I mean." His frown told me all I needed to know about his opinion on those command cadets, no fancy telepathy-induced expression interpretation required.

"This is my first time around, Quick. I can't test out. I want to take my Command courses as a Senior. More sim time."

"Wanted." I winced at the mildly phrased correction.

"No, Quick. Get this straight. I haven't graduated school yet. I'm Captain, and I'm going to be the best Captain I can be, but I still need to finish my education if I'm going to be the best Captain I can be."

"I respectfully disagree, sir."

I turned to Guy, who flinched and looked at the floor. "Sorry, sir. I've been in long enough to sort the sheep from the goats, sir. You're," he waggled one hand in front, "probably closer to a Lieutenant than a Captain overall, because of the lack of experience, but you've got a lot of raw talent and you're not leaning on that talent. You're working like one of the guys who doesn't have any but wants the big chair anyway."

I stared at the top of his head until he muttered 'sorry' again, then turned back to Quick.

"You neatly evaded my question. Why do I have an antimatter reactor?"

"Well, sir, I don't know what exactly you specced out for, but part of it included a skin field instead of the basic Naval bubble or even the basic stacked toroid cylinders formed into a human shape that Marines use. That dramatically increases power consumption. You still might, and I stress might, have gotten by with a pair of Tokamaks, but your spec didn't use less powerful generators. You have, fundamentally, an array of full power toroid generators across your skin, each one focused on a point about," he held up one pinky and pointed at the nail, "this big."

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"And each one draws enough power to cover a full-grown human?"

"More like two or three, really. The typical bubble shield is enough to cover your arms fully extended over your head. Call it a meter and a half radius from your geometric center."

"Oh. Well... That's interesting. So, it looks like I'll be shutting those down for the duration."

Quick blinked, then leaned over to focus on my wireframe. "Uh, I highly discommend that, sir."

"What? Why?"

"Short version? You're using field interactions to stabilize your bones. Without them, you're going to start breaking things. At a guess I'd say long bones first, but your ribs might go if you're really making an effort."

I closed my eyes and counted. When I reached twenty, I gave it up and, with my eyes still closed, spat out, "Why did you stick me with this flaming clutter of a design?"

My own voice, eerily similar to the sirens in my head, echoed back at me. You will get me out of this box in under sixteen minutes, or I swear to God you will live just long enough to regret it.

The air rushed from my lungs in one explosive breath. I coughed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. I folded to the virtual deck, the tiles unnaturally smooth and slightly soft under my knees.

"I guess that's it, then. We can't jump fast enough to get away with me draining power like this. I'll..." My gut tried to rebel, but I refused it. I clenched my teeth, inhaled through my nose, and tried again. "I'll put myself in power save mode in a stasis pod. Quick, I'll tell you what I know and what I've guessed, but it'll be up to you to get us back to the fleet. I..." I stopped, unable to continue. In VR, each second gave me minutes of apparent freedom, and I needed to savor each and every one before I locked myself in a box full of slime again. Kneeling on the floor, I accepted defeat, and the weight of command slipped from my shoulders. Not that it mattered; my imminent entombment weighed so heavily I couldn't stand, even in the unreal confines of VR.

"No, sir."

I twisted my head around to look up at Quick. He crouched next to my wireframe, his eyes wide as he pulled various layers away and expanded others. Squatting down on his haunches he resembled nothing so much as a mountain towering over me. My eyes narrowed to slits at his casual defiance, and I wrenched my back upright and pulled myself around to face him.

"What did you say to me, Quick?"

"No, sir. You're as essential to our escape as any other component, sir. I could almost keep up with your maneuvers and placements in that last battle, but that's kind of the point. I could almost keep up. I couldn't have planned or executed that maneuver if you'd given me days, but you... You just did it, like breathing. We need that level of competence in our commander, not to mention the level of confidence in our Captain, if we're even to have a hope of escaping this ambush." The entire time he spoke, his hands continued to dart through my wireframe, examining various parts and pushing them aside. He'd long since gone beyond the level where my own Armoring expertise could interpret the symbols and shapes, so I just glared at him and waited for his explanation to make the slightest bit of sense.

"What are you talking about, Quick? Our fleet supply train got ambushed, but that happened... what? Days ago? Weeks? Do we even know, yet?"

Guy's interruption pulled me from my angry fugue, enough to push myself fully to my feet and face him. "We're still in the ambush. We're nearing the edges, but we haven't escaped yet."

He looked at me, one eyebrow cocking. "Are both of you clutterheaded now? We're hitting a lot of random patrols, so we're obviously in 'Sect space, but soon Echidna will find a couple reference stars and we'll know which direction to head to get home."

"No. Delnot. You need to face this, or when I go into sleep mode you'll start arguing with Quick and do something stupid. This wasn't an ambush directed at a single support fleet." As I spoke, ideas born from my experiences in Commandant De'Lann's head crystallized into a coherent whole. The absurdity of it overwhelmed me, and I sank back to my knees, laughing. "It was an ambush for a single ship. For Tiamat."

Now even Quick stopped his tinkering to stare at me. "Sir? Are you sure you haven't slipped into power save mode again? Why would the 'Sects organize an ambush on this scale to kill a single ship?"

"Deep Stand."

Emotions flickered across Quick's face too fast for me to consciously register them, but the fact that I could see them at all showed me their intensity. He nodded just as Delnot's mouth dropped open in shock.

"You think that's what this is all about? Revenge?"

I shook my head. "I have no idea why they're so fixated on Tiamat. I only know there's no other explanation for their actions. I can't think of another reason they'd fixate on her except Deep Stand."

"What about Deep Stand?"

"How well do you know the battle?" I knew it in far more detail than I wanted, thanks to Grace's inherited memories. They flashed through my mind's eye now, pink light still blinking in the corner of my vision as the entire battle evolved in seconds from a skirmish to an ambush to a pitched battle between the First Dragon and what looked like the bulk of the 'Sect swarms. Outnumbered, outgunned, with no respite in sight, I watched the battle unfold just as Tiamat had described it a few days and an eternity ago.

"Not that well. It's ancient history, and I'd slotted that for my final Senior year."

"Well, the point is..."

"Captain. You're needed on the bridge. The Insectoid reinforcements have arrived."

"Right. Short version. We're still not out of the trap they set for Tiamat."

"But... Tiamat is dead."

Delnot had just jumped on my last remaining ounce of patience, flattening it. "Try telling them that."