Aurora could see the turrets on the leading ironclads turning to track them. A few Procyon ships fired torpedoes, the rockets blazing out of their armoured tubes towards them, but even seventy percent of the Lyonesse's full speed was no crawl and Aurora knew that any torpedo hits would be a matter of luck rather than judgement.

"Let's give them a tweak, shall we," said Amelia. "Starboard guns, fire!"

Aurora's hand touched the trigger. The starboard batteries fired as one, the ship's automatic control systems producing a salvo more synchronised than any team of gunners could achieve. The shells flew wildly, none scoring any hits, but several Procyon ships took hurried evasive action to avoid them. Aurora hit the row of switches to activate the autoloaders to recharge the guns.

"Next salvo, aim for Boas' ship," said Amelia, spinning the wheel. "That first one was for show. The next one will have to count."

"Aye, ma'am. And so it will," Aurora promised. She watched the row of indicator lights on her console change to green as the guns reloaded. The incoming fire was intensifying as the Procyons found the range and the Lyonesse shuddered as their shells began striking home. Crossing the centre of the Procyon line, they were exposed to the maximum amount of fire. Amelia flinched as she saw a shell tear straight through the hull and detonate on the other side. She raised her telescope and scanned the Procyon flagship until she saw a familiar figure standing on its bridge.

"Boas..." she whispered.

"Steady, ma'am!" Aurora called. "Hold this course!"

Amelia put the telescope aside, nodded and gripped the wheel, trying to ignore the sound of splintering timbers. Something in the forecastle was hit, exploded and started burning fiercely.

"Fire as you bear, Ms Mayflower!" she shouted.

Aurora braced herself against the console and watched the enemy flagship as it bore down on them, bowchasers blazing. Switching the remaining starboard guns to single fire, she began mentally counting down the range.

"Now!"

The guns boomed out one after the other as Aurora fired them individually. She watched the tracers streaking across the etherium towards the target. Holes appeared in the Procyon battleship's sails and an explosion blossomed on the hull. Amelia grinned and raised her telescope again. The figure on the battleship's bridge was picking itself up off the deck and gesticulating wildly.

"Well done, lieutenant! I think he might have noticed us!"

The Lyonesse raced past the Procyon flagship. Amelia turned and laughed triumphantly as she saw the trimaran altering course to follow them.

"I knew it! Come on, Boas, you bastard! Come and catch us if you think you're fast enough!"

The Imperial warship shook as a heavy shell from one of Boas' ironclad escorts tore into it. Aurora heard a cracking sound as the mizzenmast was fractured below the deck. It creaked alarmingly under the stress of its billowing canvas. Aurora looked up at it in alarm and saw that Amelia had noticed it too.

"I think we'd better start planning our departure, don't you?" Amelia shouted.

Aurora nodded. "Yes, ma'am! I'll see to the longboat!"

"Very good!" Amelia locked the wheel into position and moved across the bridge, pausing to look behind her to see if the bait was working. The Procyon flagship was settling into position astern of them, guns spitting vindictively. The ironclads escorting it were lumbering into place on either side. To Amelia's satisfaction, the rest of the Procyon fleet seemed unwilling to abandon their commander and was hurriedly altering course to follow them. A glance at the fire control console vacated by Aurora told her that the guns were reloaded, so she fired them off again on general principle. She wasn't expecting to hit anything and was not disappointed, but the show of defiance seemed to attract the attention of a few more Procyon warships. Almost the entire enemy fleet was now chasing after them. Amelia allowed herself a grin and left the bridge, running down to join Aurora on the main deck. The younger felinid was crouched in the back of a longboat which had been blasted free from its mounting, working desperately to release it from the last chain.

"Report!" Amelia swung herself up alongside her.

Aurora shook her head angrily. "The clamp is buckled, ma'am! I can't free it!"

Amelia looked at the twisted metal and nodded. She swung the rifle off her shoulder and primed it swiftly. Understanding, Aurora scrambled out of the way and covered her face and hair with her blue coat. The crack of Amelia's shot was lost in a cacophony of sounds as Procyon fire hammered into the Lyonesse, but by the time Aurora looked up again the chain had been shot loose.

"Carry on, lieutenant," said Amelia calmly, putting the rifle over her shoulder again.

Aurora grinned and touched her forelock. Procyon shells were streaking overhead now, so thick that it was no longer possible to distinguish one ship's salvo from another. The flagship's foremast was hit and collapsed with a terrible splintering sound.

"She'll be down to less than half speed with all those sails gone, ma'am!" shouted Aurora.

"Then we'd best be going, don't you think?" Amelia stood up and grasped the ropes to open the longboat's single sail. It resisted at first before it fell open, catching the light and starting to glow. Aurora secured it as Amelia took up the controls and tested them carefully. The Lyonesse shook under the ferocious bombardment and began rolling, exposing her belly to the Procyons as her struggling engines began misfiring. Aurora could feel the flagship's death throes as an almost physical pain and tried to concentrate on the business at hand.

"We'll have to keep the ship between us and the enemy, ma'am," she said. "If they see us escaping..."

"I'm inclined to agree," said Amelia, gripping the throttle. "Keep a watch behind us and make sure we're screened. Oh, and I'd hold onto something, if I were you..."

The longboat leapt from the deck so quickly and Aurora cried out and fell, reaching out to the first support that came to hand. It took her a moment to realise that it was Amelia. She cried out again and pushed herself backwards, frantically apologising.

"Sorry, ma'am! I wasn't quick enough!"

Amelia laughed. "Not something to be concerned about right now, navigator!"

Aurora nodded and settled next to Amelia, looking back at the Lyonesse. The ship had rolled through almost ninety degrees now. The fire in her forecastle was spreading back along her length and flames were now billowing from her open gunports. To Aurora's surprise, a few of her cannons fired one last time. She knew it was an accident – a power surge caused by a Procyon shell hit triggering the guns that the few remaining autoloaders had been to rearm, most likely – but a part of her appreciated her ship's defiance. The Lyonesse died as she lived, militant and proud to the last. The Procyon flagship's batteries tore into her stern, exploding the cabins and sending a halo of broken glass flying into space. The ironclads' turreted guns pounded the Lyonesse from point blank range. Aurora saw one of the them break the flagship's back, the slender vessel taking on a distinctly bowed shape before her keel finally gave way in a bloom of flame.

"She's gone, ma'am!" Aurora shouted. "The Lyonesse is gone!"

The Procyons caught up with her, firing vindictively into the shattered hull even though it was clear that she was out of the fight. Ironclads bracketed her stern, pummelling it mercilessly until the engines exploded in a flash of brilliant blue. Aurora closed her eyes against the glare.

"Thank you," she whispered, thinking of the flagship one last time. "Thank you."

Amelia turned to look at her and put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly, but it was a fleeting moment before the seriousness of the situation returned and she reached down to cut the longboat's engine. The small craft began coasting along silently.

"Are they following us, lieutenant?" said Amelia.

Aurora, taking a small telescope out of a locker set beside the longboat engine, put it to her eye. "Not that I can see, ma'am..."

"Excellent." Amelia sighed with relief. "Hopefully that distracted the Procs for long enough for the task force to reform on Parliament."

Aurora panned the telescope around until she saw something that made her blood run cold. A single ironclad had broken away from the Procyon fleet and was heading straight for Parliament. The surviving ships of the task force had joined up with Hawkins' small squadron and were hurrying into position, but it looked worryingly like too little. Certainly too little to face the metal juggernaut that was powering towards them.

"There's an ironclad, ma'am," said Aurora. "It didn't follow us...it's heading for Mr Hawkins' ships..."

"What?" Amelia scrambled to see. "Blast it!"

Aurora looked desperately for a miracle as the massive war machine bore down on the scattered defenders. And then she saw it.

"Ma'am! Another ship!"

"Where?"

Aurora handed her the telescope. "Emerging from behind the ironclad, ma'am! It's the pirate flagship! I...I think she means to ram..."

Amelia raised the telescope and saw Silver's galleon, all sails unfurled, heading right for the ironclad's flank. The Procyon's turrets turned to face it and began firing, but the big ship was too close and moving too close. Great pieces of it were torn off, but still she stood on. Amelia saw longboats fleeing the galleon as her crew evacuated, but it was clear from the way she kept turning toward the ironclad that someone was still on board at the helm.

"Silver..." she whispered. "I never thought I'd see the day..."

Aurora couldn't see the sickening impact as the two capital ships came together, the pirate's reinforced serrated ram carving through the Procyon's armoured hull. But she did see the blinding fireball that burst out of the collision and she raised a hand to shield her eyes.

"What happened, ma'am? What happened?"

"He rammed it," Amelia closed the telescope, shaking her head slowly. "He rammed it..."

Aurora looked back at the Procyons. They were milling around the wreckage of the Lyonesse, apparently dumbstruck by the destruction of the ironclad. She took up the longboat's controls and pointed the bow back towards the Parliament.

"Permission to return to the taskforce, ma'am?" she said.

Amelia nodded. "Permission granted."

The engine fired up as Aurora opened the throttle. Amelia opened the telescope again and watched the Procyons carefully.

"Make for the RLS Victory, Ms Mayflower," she said. "We don't have much time. We bought a respite, not a redemption. The Procs will be back...and they still outnumber us."

"Some of the pirate fleet must still be intact," said Aurora.

Amelia snorted. "Without Silver to keep them in line, I've no doubt that those rats will abandon us. No, my dear navigator, I think the Navy stands alone again."

Aurora bit her lip. Ahead of them she could see the thin, defiant line of Imperial ships forming up. She steered for that one that looked like the Victory, but it was a long way away. The great Parliament, still billowing smoke from a dozen places, was lumbering to safety. But it was clear that it was too slow. Amelia hissed a curse as the Procyon fleet resumed its advance. Boas' flagship led the way, not waiting for the rest of the fleet to fall in around it. The other Procyon vessels were left scrambling and what was once a line abreast formation became line astern. But against the slender, battered Imperial opposition, Amelia knew it would be enough. Not even Hawkins could pull enough out of the fire to stop what was coming his way. She gritted her teeth and snarled with fury at being stuck in a tiny, unarmed longboat at a time like this.

"Ma'am?" Aurora tried to raise her arm to point, but winced at the pain it brought. "I see ships ahead. New ships."

Amelia whirled around and tossed the telescope to Aurora, who only just caught it in time. She relinquished the controls to Amelia and scrambled to the bow.

"Who can you see, navigator?" Amelia tried to keep the racing longboat steady, trusting in the younger felinid's more acute eyesight. Aurora raised the telescope and dialled the controls up to maximum magnification. A large group of ships was passing the retreating Parliament in the opposite direction. Their white hulls glowed.

"They're Imperial, ma'am!" said Aurora.

"Are they ours?"

Aurora tried to pick out the colours on the fleet's signal flags. "I...I think so, ma'am! It's the battlefleet!"

She watched in awe as the full might of Battlefleet Crescentia was brought to bear. Over a score of ships of the line advancing under full sail, gunports open. Dozens of smaller ships, from heavy fighting frigates to light torpedo boats, flocked around them. The subspace message Amelia had ordered just before battle was joined had been received and the fleet had piled on as much speed as possible.

"Well, well, well," Amelia smiled. "The cavalry arrives. And perhaps just in time, too."

"Ma'am?" Aurora turned to look at her.

Amelia took a deep breath and nodded. "Make for the fleet, Ms Mayflower. Let's turn the tide."

Aurora smiled back. "Aye, aye, admiral."

The Imperial reinforcements passed by Hawkins' few ships, heading straight for the oncoming armada. The Procyons were trying madly to bring their fleet into a fighting formation, but it was too late. Squadrons had been broken up, ships were straggling, commanders couldn't see their subordinates to signal them. The Imperial fleet began turning to present its combined broadsides to the Procyon flagship, still at the head of its column. Boas tried to turn his battleship to reply, but succeeded only in getting in the way of his own ships behind him. Two ironclads collided in their desperate attempts to avoid running down his trimaran, the nimbler Procyon ships managing to break out and unmask their guns but also exposing themselves to Battlefleet Crescentia's. Aurora couldn't hide a savage, triumphant grin as she saw what was about to be unleashed. She turned to Amelia, who was wearing the same expression, her teeth shining.

"Now, lieutenant," Amelia said, her eyes sparkling as they caught the light of the first salvoes. "The turning tide just became a flood. Make a signal to the fleet. It's time we got back into the fight."

She held out her hand, holding a flare pistol and offering the butt to Aurora, who took it and armed it.

"Yes, ma'am! Firing now!"

Aurora braced herself against the kick of the gun, but couldn't avoid a hiss of pain at the recoil. The flare was launched about fifteen metres from the longboat before it burst into a brilliant white. Shading her eyes, Aurora opened the gun's breech and loaded another cartridge, which she launched after the first one.

"Come on, come on..." Amelia narrowed her eyes and watched the fleet. "Someone must have seen that..."

A torpedo boat at the edge of the Imperial formation peeled away as if in response and began heading towards them, firing a green acknowledgement flare.

"Rescue is on the way, ma'am!" called Aurora.

Amelia nodded and steered towards the little ship. "I see it, lieutenant. Prepare to come alongside."

Aurora put the flare gun aside gratefully and stood up in the prow of the longboat, waving as the little warship approached. She could read the name Firebrand on the ship's bow and cupped her hand around her mouth as it came within range.

"Ahoy, Firebrand! Ahoy there!"

"Longboat aye!" came a shouted reply.

"Two to take aboard, sir!" Aurora called back.

"Two aye! Stand by!"

The torpedo boat cruised past them, braking thrusters firing. Muttering darkly, Amelia brought the longboat around and guided it up to the larger vessel's side. Spacers reached out with boathooks to draw it in, and ropes were quickly tossed over. Aurora caught one and did her best to secure it despite the pain in her arm. Amelia shut down the engine and stood up imperiously in the stern, looking up to the torpedo boat's bridge.

"Permission to come aboard?" she said sharply.

"Granted!" A man left the bridge and hurried down to meet them. "Are there any injuries amongst you?"

"My flag-lieutenant's arm could do with some attention," said Amelia, stepping onto the deck of the ship. "Are you coming, Ms Mayflower?"

"Yes, ma'am. Right behind you. But I can manage with the arm for now, thank you." Aurora stuck the telescope in her belt and followed Amelia. The officer who had greeted them, no more than a lieutenant, looked momentarily confused.

"Flag-lieutenant? But that would make you...you..."

"Admiral Amelia," said Amelia. "Well done, that man."

The human stared at her. Without her gold-encrusted hat and coat, her white clothes and tan fur stained with smoke and grime, and with a rifle still around her shoulders, Amelia looked nothing like her rank. The luckless officer glanced at Aurora and seemed to take some solace in the sight of the gold on her dress uniform.

"Er...right...Admiral. Um, welcome aboard...Lieutenant J.S. Wynn, 12th Torpedo Squadron, officer commanding RLS Firebrand at your service. Ma'am."

"Yes. You are." Amelia set off for the bridge, striding so quickly that Wynn had to scamper to keep up with her. "I appreciate your assistance lieutenant, but we're missing the fight. Turn this ship around."

"Er, right, ma'am. I mean, aye aye, Admiral." Wynn waved at his helmsman. "Bring her about, Petty Officer. Full speed."

Aurora looked around the deck. The torpedo launches were mounted outboard of the small ship's main hull, and the ship's single gun was mounted on a raised pedestal in the bows that could turn to face any direction. Small ships like this tended to have either excellent crews due to the amount of time they spent in space compared to the big, expensive ships-of-the-line, or else they had green crews drawn up from the reserves to fill the gaps. This appeared to be one of the latter. The gun's crew were hanging around it as if frozen, looking dumbstruck at Amelia as she mounted the bridge.

"Don't just stand there gawking, you lot!" Aurora snapped. "There's a battle to win!"

Amelia saw the helmsman staring at her as she reached the bridge and gave him a glare.

"You heard your commander, helmsman. Bring her about!"

The tone in her voice permitted no argument, and the wheel was already spinning in his hands before his brain engaged sufficiently to nod his head and form the words of an acknowledgement. But Amelia had already moved on, striding to the edge of the bridge and looking back at the battle unfolding behind them.

"Do you have a signalling system, Mr Wynn?"

"Yes, ma'am! Fully operational."

"Very good." Amelia glanced around as Aurora joined them. "Then signal Commodore Clendinnen that I am resuming control of the fleet. Transmit my command code. It's time we finished this once and for all."

Aurora raised the telescope to her eye. The first phase of the main battle was already over, and the number of Procyon hulks burning or drifting out of control was a clear indicator of who had come out of it the best. But the Procyon armada was already reforming around its ironclads as the Imperial fleet, its first pass complete, was heading away from it and towards the torpedo boat. Amelia narrowed her eyes calculatingly, knowing that it was only a matter of time before the Procyons got in behind her ships and could pick them off at will.

"Come on," she muttered impatiently. "Someone saw that..."

Aurora watched an acknowledgement flare rise from one of the leading Crescentia battleships as Amelia's resumption of command was seen. The last of the Imperial rearguard ships were already coming under Procyon fire from behind them.

"Acknowledgement from the fleet, ma'am," she said.

"Very good." Amelia nodded, straightening up quickly. "Now, then. Odds and evens to port and starboard respectively, squadrons in line astern. Reverse course on the leaders to encircle. Can you do that, Mr Wynn?"

"Er..." Wynn looked frantic.

Aurora smiled and touched her forelock. "If I may, ma'am?"

"Thank you, Ms Mayflower. You may indeed." Amelia inclined her head in thanks. "Quickly, now."

It took even Aurora a few moments to arrange the flags needed for such a complex order, but it was quickly flying from the halyard as the Firebrand raced back towards the action. Amelia drummed her fingers on the bridge rail tensely until she saw the fleet respond. The single line became two lines, which then split apart from each other like the opening petals of a flower. They doubled-back, reversing their courses so that even as Procyon fire on the back of the fleet intensified, the vanguard was already bearing down on them, the abrupt manoeuvre screened from Procyon view by their quarry in the rearguard. Instead of meeting them head-on, each line of Amelia's ships would now pass around the outside of the enemy formation. It was an easy trap to break out of, but the Procyons were hampered by their lumbering ironclads and were slow to react – too slow. Amelia smiled with satisfaction as the racing torpedo boat came towards one of the columns and began overtaking it.

"Textbook encirclement, ma'am," said Aurora, genuinely impressed. "I always wondered whether those diagrams would actually work."

"It helps when your opponent is as drearily predictable as Ambassador Boas," Amelia grinned. "Bring us into line astern of that capital ship, Mr Wynn. Let's not miss the fun."

"Aye, ma'am!" Wynn gestured to the helmsman. "Match speed! Hold six degrees port drift for thirty seconds!"

"Twenty-five," said Aurora, automatically. Wynn looked puzzled for a moment but then nodded.

"A...aye, ma'am. Twenty-five seconds. Stand by torpedoes! Stand by gun crew!"

The Firebrand slipped into the Imperial line just astern of a battleship near the head of the line. The broad stern on which the name Retribution was proudly displayed was almost as wide as the Firebrand was long, and Aurora found herself grateful to be in the capital ship's shadow.

"All ships may fire as they bear," said Amelia, who seemed to wear the same aura of invincibility no matter where she was. "Maximum impact."

"Approaching the Procyon fleet, ma'am," warned Aurora. She saw the opening shots exchanged as the forces converged once more. Procyon torpedoes lanced out and struck several Imperial vessels at close range. The Firebrand replied, her own torpedoes joining a salvo of others that sliced through the densely-packed Procyon ships. Aurora watched them find one of the great ironclads at the centre of the enemy formation and tear off one of its turrets with a direct hit. She grinned, the thrill of battle once again overcoming the throbbing in her wounded arm.

"A hit, ma'am!" she shouted. "A very palpable hit!"

"Very good, Mr Wynn!" said Amelia. "Keep it up, now!"

"Thank you, ma'am!" Wynn nodded. "Gunners, stand by!"

The Retribution opened fire, three decks of ordnance firing together. The range was so close that the muzzle flash and impact were almost simultaneous. Then it was the Firebrand's turn, the small cannon on its mount bucking as it spat its single shell into the enemy. The gun captain roared and the crew leapt into action to reload it. A second shell, and then a third, found their targets. Procyon return fire stabbed back at them, but it seemed as if the torpedo boat's small size was its salvation as the Retribution took the brunt of it. Aurora saw splinters burst from its heavy timbered hull before its guns spoke again. The Procyon armada was taking fire from both sides now as the other half of Amelia's fleet brought its batteries to bear, and Aurora saw Boas' three-hulled battleship struggling through the blizzard of flame. Its sails were ragged and it was listing heavily to one side with black smoke pouring from one of the outriggers. Even the ironclads were faring poorly, their hulls buckling under the sheer weight of the shells pounding them, turrets rotating madly to find their targets. The crackle of laslocks reached her ears and she turned to see Amelia directing the Firebrand's small contingent of marines in firing on the enemy, leading by example with her own rifle. A Procyon shell hit the torpedo boat's single longboat, moored in the centre of the deck, blowing it apart and sending burning fragments spiralling. Aurora saw them fall across the desk, sending the gun crew running for cover.

"Get those fires out!" she shouted, darting forwards. "Get them out!"

She grabbed a fleeing gunner by the collar and shoved him back towards his station with a snarl. Still running, she tore off her blue and gold coat and beat at a blazing piece of timber that had fallen in a pile of rope until it was out. Galvanised, spacers sprang into action, taking up buckets, even kicking flaming embers over the side. Aurora shouted encouragement above the din of the battle, directing the effort until the danger had passed. Wiping her brow, she turned and called up to the bridge.

"Fire's out, ma'am!"

"Very good!" Amelia paused to reload her rifle. The Procyon fleet had lost formation completely. Individual ships were attempting to close with the nearest Imperial vessel, ragged salvoes of cannon fire still spitting from their remaining guns. A burning cruiser was attempting to grapple with the Retribution, rocket-launched lines arcing out towards it. The fighting was too intense to allow Amelia to send any signals and she knew she had to place her faith in her ships and crews to do their duties. The Firebrand lurched underfoot as she fired her torpedoes again, one missing the flaming cruiser but the other striking it on the bridge, knocking the stern down. The Procyon ship's bows came up as it went into a spin, being hammered all the while by the battleship's gun. Aurora saw the figures of its crew falling off into space as its artificial gravity failed and she couldn't help feeling a little sorry for them. A Procyon destroyer tried to break the Imperial column astern of them but was intercepted by a frigate. The two ships came together with a crunch of timbers as the hulls met, the narrowing space between them ablaze with gunfire. Aurora saw a second frigate emerge from behind the first, raking the enemy destroyer from stern to stem before throwing her own grappling lines and pulling herself in, sandwiching the hapless Procyons. An ironclad in the heart of the Procyon fleet exploded, the fireball consuming two nearby vessels which couldn't escape in time.

"Take us out of the line, lieutenant," said Amelia. "This is no place for a torpedo boat."

"Right you are, ma'am." Aurora looked at Wynn. "May I?"

Wynn waved. "Be my guest."

Aurora nodded her thanks and took the wheel. She span it and enjoyed the speed at which the little ship responded to her commands. She took them out of the line, in the lee of the Retribution, before turning them back to face the battle. The other light Imperials ships were doing the same, darting back into the melee to pick off targets of opportunity as the bigger frigates and battleships hammered away.

"Torpedoes reloaded, ma'am," reported Wynn from the fire control console.

Amelia nodded. "Find us a target, Ms Mayflower."

"Yes, ma'am." Aurora scanned the enemy fleet. "Enemy heavy cruiser two points off the starboard bow."

Wynn nodded. "I concur, ma'am. She's a fine mark."

"Excellent. Take us in." Amelia raised her rifle. "Marines! Make ready!"

The ship's single gun fired again as the crew brought it to bear. Aurora gripped the wheel tightly and watched the range count down. The heavy cruiser was already under fire from two other Imperial vessels, but it had a few guns left to turn on them as they approached. Aurora tried to weave between the tracer shots as best she could, turning the wheel this way and that.

"Steady as she goes, lieutenant!" Amelia called. "Then hard a starboard as soon as the torpedoes are away!"

"Aye, ma'am!" Aurora narrowed her eyes, hoping that no Procyon gunner found their range in the meantime. The telltale kick as the torpedoes left the tubes was a welcome sensation as Procyon fire tracked them. A shell whistled through the sail, leaving a neat round hole with scorched edges behind. Aurora put the wheel hard over and began weaving through the lattice of fire coming at them. The torpedoes struck home with dull crunches, penetrating the enemy deck before detonating inside and tearing apart the heavy cruiser's vitals. It yawed drunkenly out of control, veering towards a Procyon destroyer and crashing through its rigging. Aurora joined in the cheers despite knowing that they were far from out of danger. A crippled ironclad, belching smoke from buckled hull plates, turned its turrets on them and fired a single ragged salvo. A shell hit the port yardarm and smashed through it without detonating. Aurora dropped as the shattered timber span through the air overhead, close enough that she could feel its passage. She got to her feet and turned to Amelia when a second enemy shell hit the little ship, throwing her into the wheel and forcing her to try not to scream as her injured arm took her weight. Her ears rang with the sound of the detonation and she covered her head as splinters fell around her, breathing hard until she was able to push herself to her feet.

"Blast it all," she muttered, looking around again.

To her surprise, the world had changed completely. There were cheers ringing out all across the deck, the ship's company standing and waving hats and weapons in the air. The ironclad which had hit them was gone, a cloud of oily black smoke, still highlighted with flame, marking its demise.

"Ma'am?" Aurora looked around to see Amelia shaking hands with Lieutenant Wynn before she descended from the bridge to main deck, raising her hand to acknowledge the congratulations of the crew. Aurora straightened up and saluted. Amelia returned the gesture.

"Well, now, lieutenant," she said, grinning, "What do you think of that?"

Aurora turned. White flags had broken out across the remaining Procyon ships like spring blossoms. Even the last of the ironclads now flew them from their smokestacks. Boas' battleship, broken and drifting out of control, had three of the flags flying from its masts. The shell which had hit the Firebrand must have been the last one fired. Aurora found herself laughing in disbelief as she realised what had happened.

"They're surrendering, ma'am!"

"Indeed they are, Ms Mayflower," Amelia grinned.

"Signal from the enemy flagship, admiral!" called Wynn.

Amelia nodded to Aurora, who picked up her telescope and put it to her eye.

"The Procyon Ambassador wishes to speak with the Imperial commander, ma'am," she said, watching the crippled battleship and smiling. "To discuss...a cessation of hostilities and safe passage."

"I'm sure he does," Amelia grinned. "Signal my readiness. He can come to us. And signal Mr Hawkins that he can escort the Parliament back into position."

"Yes, ma'am." Aurora touched her forelock and started towards the bridge.

"And lieutenant?"

"Yes, ma'am?" Aurora turned around.

Amelia grinned at her. "That," she said, pointing to the white flags on the enemy fleet, "is how you negotiate with a Proc. It looks like you'll be meeting the Queen today after all..."