Dead Reckoning

The Outer Rim built the Free Radical to prove something about engagement timing: if you can choose when and where the fight happens, you've already won half of it. Thane found the argument convincing. He found the dark matter thruster less convincing, by which he means he cannot source one in Sheratan and has accepted this. The dark matter drives and titanium alloy couldn't be sourced in Sheratan. Speed dropped from three to two, which Thane noted and accepted. What he didn't accept was the Outer Rim's approach to armor — the Free Radical carried the minimum necessary, on the theory that speed would handle the rest. Thane added what the Rim left out. The rebuilt hull is heavier, slower, and harder to kill than the original, which reflects his priorities precisely. Navigators use dead reckoning when there's no reference point: no landmarks, no charts, no signals. You know your speed and your heading, and you calculate from there. Thane operates sixteen systems that appear on no major traffic survey. His targets don't see him coming because there's nothing obvious to track. He knows where they're going to be. He calculates from there.