Waddington gave it a second or two before nodding brusquely. "Done then, ma'am. For a quid. Right you two, follow me." The chief left with his guests in tow, and Halabi hurried on.

A leading seawoman announced the captain's arrival, but she bade everyone to keep working. It was always reassuring to get back into the CIC, even with the ship's offensive capability so drastically diminished. On the forward bulkhead of the hexagonal shaped center, six giant flat panels had been linked into one theater-wide display.

Four of the panels were presently devoted to the attack on the Trident. Two remained fixed on schematics of Axis deployments on the mainland. She could see as soon as she entered the soothing blue light of the center that even more units had been moved toward the French coast. Another Waffen-SS division had been billeted at Brugge in Belgium. Two regiments of Panzer Grenadiers had moved north from Amiens to Douai. And more radar-controlled antiair units had appeared around the ports of Le Havre, Dieppe, and Calais.

"Looks like they're warming up for the Cup, Mr. McTeale."

"Aye, ma'am," said her executive officer. "It's beginning to look like a right fucking teddy bears' picnic. The RAF is chopping into those wee beasties right proper, though." He nodded at the screen where multiple windows of cascading data clearly indicated that a substantial toll had already been levied on the attackers.

Before Halabi could concentrate on the readouts, however, her chief defensive sysop called out. "Captain, we have a development. Three hostiles approaching at low altitude, from one-forty-three relative, airspeed of eight hundred eighty kilometers per hour."

A low-grade jolt ran through the combat center-nothing that a stranger would notice, but enough for Halabi to pick up.

"Jets," she said without showing her surprise. "Ms. Burchill, reassign Drone Zero Three to the new contact."

A new window opened up on the four screens feeding coverage of the air battle. A real-time feed appeared, from a Big Eye that was keeping station at 110,000 feet.

"They're Two-sixty-twos," said Halabi. "A little premature, I would have thought. Intel, quickly, give me the E! News version."

A young lieutenant worked his keyboard, calmly but quickly. "In the Original Timeframe, first jet flight July eighteenth, nineteen forty-two, ma'am. Tests proved engines to be unreliable. They mostly remained so. Used as a bomber rather than a fighter. Not very maneuverable. Long, straight-line attacks with cannon when engaging Allied bombers."

"Posh indicates a ninety-eight percent probability that we are the target, ma'am," said Lieutenant Burchill.

"What does she say about the air screen's chances of knocking them down?"

"Less than thirty percent, Captain. She recommends that we designate for Metal Storm."

The big screen showed the three prototype jets slashing across the Channel at nearly twice the speed of the Hurricanes fighting it out thousands of feet above them.

"Designate them," said Halabi, "but let the destroyers and the shore batteries have a go first. They might have been able to jump-start these jets, but I doubt they've been able to build a decent Exocet yet. It might be another dummy run. A ploy to trick us into using up more of our war stocks."

"Posh is resetting the air screen, ma'am, based on probable attack vectors."

"Thank you, Ms. Burchill."

Halabi watched intently as the thirteen corvettes and destroyers emerged from the mouth of the Solent and spread out in a formation determined by the Trident's Combat Intelligence to provide the most effective interlocking fields of fire.

"The Daleks are locked and tracking, Captain," reported her defensive sysop.

Halabi threw a quick glance at a feed from the deck-cams, showing three Metal Storm pods that were deployed and making micro-adjustments as they awaited the order to fire. She wondered who had first nicknamed them Daleks. A Brit, probably. The name had never really caught on in the U.S.

Her comm boss appeared at her side. "Flash traffic from London, ma'am. A movement order, for you, from Downing Street."

"It can wait," she replied curtly. "I'm about to lose a bet with Chief Waddington. Comm, send a message to Fighter Command. Warn them about the Two-sixty-twos. Tell them they can counter for the jets' increased speed by using their superior maneuverability. I don't think it's going to be an issue today. But you never know."

"Aye, ma'am."

The distant thunder of old-fashioned ack-ack reached them through the composite ram-skin and monobonded-carbon armor of the Trident's hull. The air screen had opened up. She watched a top-down view of the ships as flame and smoke poured from Bofors and small-bore cannons and.50-caliber machine-gun mounts. Two armored motorboats appeared from the northwest quarter to lend their efforts, as well, although they weren't plugged into the air-defense grid that controlled the fire of the other ships and the shore emplacements.

"Splash one!"

A German jet erupted into a bright yellow ball of flame and oily smoke. A small cheer went up, but quickly subsided as the two remaining jets pressed on.

"Captain, Nemesis telemetry data indicates that a five-inch shell from HMS Obdurate took out the hostile."

"My compliments to Commander Amis," she said.

"Splash two!"

A second jet fighter disappeared inside a boiling cloud of burning debris.

There was no applause this time. The third plane continued on its course, ripping past the destroyers in a matter of seconds. On screen, the sparkling lines of white fire danced along the opposite sides of the defending ships.

"HMS Obedient got number two, Skipper."

"Thank you, Mr. Evans. My compliments to Commander Welsh."

Halabi took her seat in the center of the CIC and slowly rubbed her lips with one finger as she watched the last plane cross into her fire-zone.

"Intel, ma'am. Analysis indicates air-launched missile capability. Possibly prototype R-Four-M rockets, with a PB-Two warhead."

"Thank you, Ms. Burchill. Estimated time to release of hostile weapons package?"

"One minute, plus or minus ten seconds, ma'am."

"Service the target if it's still viable in twenty seconds."

They watched and waited as their defensive screen continued to hammer away at the bogy. Fixed antiair defenses on the Isle of Wight commenced firing, as well.

"Brave man," McTeale said as the 262 bored in at high speed on a long, straight line of attack.

"He's a dead man, now," Halabi replied. The blue-lit space momentarily shook due to the short bark of a Metal Storm pod that was unleashing a minimal burst. Forty-three rounds of hypervelocity ceramic slugs intercepted the fragile airframe at a combined speed of Mach 6, tearing it into metal confetti.

"Stand down the Daleks."

"Threat boards are green."

"Screen deploying to original intercept path."

Halabi continued to stare at the flat panel, where she had just watched a man die. "Was it worth it, Mr. McTeale? Three men and their planes to make us fire off another few dozen rounds?"

The Trident's XO pondered the question by examining his highly polished shoes. "I suppose, ma'am, that come the day we have nothing left in the cupboard, then yes, it will have been worth it. But not today."

"Captain, the initial attack appears to be breaking up and returning to base. RAF is pursuing."

"Thank you, Ms. Burchill. Let's keep an eye on them for now."

She remembered at last that her comm officer had given her a message from Downing Street. The piece of paper was crumpled in her hand. She unfurled the printout and read it while the tempo around her wound down a few notches.

"Mr. McTeale," she said somewhat irritably. "Have the air division warm up a chopper. Apparently I'm needed at high tea."