Hold fire

"Hold fire."

That order made no sense. They were right there! It would just take a single shot to render them without thrust, making catching them easy. What was Diane thinking? Just as you were wondering that a private channel opened, the caller being none other than the captain herself.

"I'm sorry Catherine. I can't order them attacked. If I shoot an unarmed vessel in a situation where nobody has been killed or even put at risk, and someone dies my crew could be charged with ****. We're going to pursue, if we catch them we'll try to disable their engines with nonlethal **** and board them. Just sit tight down there until we come back. I promise we'll do our best. Diane out." You were going to be left down here. Not just you but everyone with you. You had total faith in your second in command Sierra Haley but to be surrounded by evidence of your failure while someone else sought retribution on your behalf was a cold feeling. You wanted to tell Diane to damn the consequences and shoot but you knew she wouldn't listen. It was her ship. Her word was law.

You knew she wouldn't be able to catch them. They had an acceleration advantage and they didn't need to run for long to reach a jump point. As you felt another of your **** soldiers try to paw at your armor to try and get you to fuck her ass you felt anger. Not just at those who did this but at Diane as well for not doing what had to be done. You would not forget this betrayal.