bit."
     Rodham nodded and then shifted his gaze to Tolwyn.
     "What in hell are you doing here?" and his features went cold.
     "He was  here today as a  personal guest of  Admiral Banbridge when the
explosion happened," Duke replied.
     "You  have no security clearance," Jamison shouted.  "Grecko, get  this
man the hell out of here right now! I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out
that he had something to do with this bombing."
     "No, sir, he isn't moving."
     Jamison turned on Grecko in surprise.
     "Rear Admiral Tolwyn," and Geoff  was  surprised to hear Grecko use his
official and former title, "was acting under the direct  orders of the Chief
of  Staff  when he  violated the  cease fire order, with the intent  of thus
having a cover to subsequently engage in a covert operation."
     "If that bastard were alive right now, I'd see that he was  stripped of
his rank," Jamison snarled.
     Grecko stiffened.
     "That bastard, as you call him, ma am, was my closest friend. I'd  like
to suggest, ma'am, that you  go down to the  morgue and  tell what's left of
him that he's a bastard."
     "General, would you  explain  Tolwyn's  presence  here?"  Rodham asked,
stepping between the two as Jamison leaned forward, ready to explode.
     "The Chief of Staff suspected the armistice from the beginning, sir and
asked  Geoff to  volunteer  for  a  covert  mission.  If  the  mission  were
undertaken by someone already dishonorably discharged it would give us," and
he looked coldly at the President, "plausible  deniability if something went
wrong. Geoff organized the transfer of some of our demobilized assets to the
Landreich where the equipment could be kept on line and then went out  on  a
deep  reconnaissance  mission inside the  Kilrathi Empire. He  returned from
that mission and arrived here only minutes before the bomb went off.
     "We've  just received an official  protest over that escapade," Jamison
snapped  "The Kilrathi are screaming their  heads  off claiming that five of
their cruisers were hit in an unprovoked attack and destroyed."
     "What about Tarawa and Normandy?" Tolwyn asked anxiously.
     "They claim they got one."
     "Not a bad  exchange," Grecko said dryly. The  Kilrathi must be  damned
embarrassed, but Tarawa only reported three confirmed kills  for the loss of
Normandy and I'll take their word over the furballs'."
     "They're claiming the right, as  provided in the armistice, to hunt the
other  one  down  and  have  requested  information  regarding  the   ship's
location."
     Jamison looked over at Rodham who nodded sadly.
     "The Kilrathi have  demanded information  regarding the ship's location
and  destination. If we refuse to provide that immediately,  a condition  of
war might be declared."
     "Tell them to go burn in hell," Grecko said.
     "And besides," Tolwyn said  quietly, a  smile  creasing  his  features,
"those ships are not of Confederation registry."
     "Look, General, the armistice is hanging by  a thread," Rodham replied,
ignoring Tolwyn.  "First  the  violation  of their  territory and then  this
terrorist bomb plot to kill  the ambassador  and  make it look like the Cats
did it by killing some of our people as well."
     "Are  you trying  to  tell  us that some  of  our own  people  did this
bombing?" Tolwyn asked,  incredulous  that such  a suggestion could even  be
made.
     "Well, its one  serious possibility," Rodham replied, "and  we have  to
look at all angles."
     Tolwyn was about to  come back with a  rather  angry  and  very obscene
retort, but Grecko held his hand up for him to be silent
     "Sir, I would appreciate it if you took a look at this holo display and
the data printouts. We  just received it as a burst signal  relayed  in from
Tarawa  less than  a  half  hour ago. Their mission  was  to  follow  up our
suspicions regarding Kilrathi  construction  inside  the  Hari  sector," and
Grecko pointed to the three  dimensional projection, in  the middle of which
floated the images of the Kilrathi super carriers.
     Rodham went  over  and looked intently at the carriers, requesting that
the  computer  rotate the images  and  then provide data  on  mass,  length,
armaments, and projected fighter carrying capacity.
     Tolwyn watched the President closely and could  detect a paling  of his
features and more surprisingly a  nervous tic  at  the corner of his eye. It
was  obviously  a  hell  of  a shock for the  President, but he  had  little
sympathy  for him at this moment, still remembering how  not so long ago the
head  of the Chiefs of Staff, with tears of frustration in his eyes,  begged
for the armistice not to be signed, warning of what would be the end result.
Noragami was now dead as a result.
     "Is this genuine?"  Rodham asked  quietly,  now examining the map which
showed where the fleet was and projected times of arrival into Confederation
territory if an offensive were launched.
     "The  data was  burst signaled from Tarawa,  located  here," and Grecko
pointed  at the map showing  the last reported position of the carrier. "The
data was obtained from a deep reconnaissance probe  which ventured into Hari
space."
     "On whose  orders?"  Jamison  asked.  I  was  never  informed  of  this
escapade. Remember, I am  the Foreign Minister and if you were contemplating
a violation of the armistice I should have been informed."
     On the orders of  the Chief of  Staff," Grecko  said  coldly, not  even
bothering to turn.
     "Is there a  chance this  is  falsified information?" Rodham asked, and
Tolwyn could detect the  slight  note  of hopefulness  in  his  voice, as if
wishing that the entire problem would, simply be shown to be a hoax.
     "It was sent  in personally by Admiral Vance Richards,  sir, and that's
good enough for me.
     "Richards is out there þ I thought he retired?"
     Grecko merely smiled.
     "What you've  committed here is outright mutiny,"  Jamison snarled. "If
the  rest  of  the  Joint Chiefs  were  not already  dead  I'd  demand their
resignations as I am now demanding yours."
     Grecko turned slowly and stared at Jamison.
     "If you were not a lady," he said coldly,  "I'd  loosen your  teeth for
what you've done to us. If you want my resignation you can have it, but only
after we have a  full  investigation of  myself, the  Joint Chiefs and  more
importantly of you. Would you care to see the file military intelligence has
on you and  your suspected cooperation with  the Kilrathi in return for your
son?"
     Jamison turned towards the President.
     "I want him fired as of this minute and Tolwyn here put in jail pending
an investigation."
     Rodham looked  over at Jamison  in  confusion and then slowly sat down,
turning to look back at the holo.
     "Your report on the false signal and the Kilrathi message regarding the
antimatter warhead plant, does that fit into this?
     "It fits right in, sir," Grecko replied.
     "Sir, you  are looking at the beginning of  a full scale offensive with
an upgraded fleet," Tolwyn  said. "In less than a month the Kilrathi will be
above Earth demanding our surrender if we're lucky, though if past practices
are  any  indication  they'll  flatten  us  with  a full antimatter  warhead
bombardment and then come down to  gloat over the wreckage and tear out  the
throats  of  the survivors with their claws when  their  next Sivar ceremony
comes around."
     Rodham nodded slowly and  closed his eyes for a moment. Jamison started
to speak and the  president held up his  hand for silence. He finally turned
and looked over at Tolwyn.
     "You were the best fighting admiral in the fleet, Geoff. Banbridge told
me more than once  that he wanted you to  replace him as commander  of Third
Fleet when he retired."
     Geoff lowered his head, saying nothing.
     "Admiral  Tolwyn,  I am officially  pardoning  you for the  incident at
Munro. As of this moment I am reinstating you as  a  full admiral in command
of Third  Fleet,  with  the  mission  of  organizing  defenses  against  the
anticipated Kilrathi invasion. General  Grecko, I  am appointing you the new
head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in command of all Confederation forces."
     "Just what the hell is this?" Jamison roared.
     "Secretary  Jamison,  I expect  your resignation as  Foreign  Secretary
effective  immediately  and  also   advise  you  that  you  will   face   an
investigation.  I have refused to believe the allegations  made against  you
for too long. I think this matter has to be looked into." Jamison's features
flushed.
     "Harry, you can't do this," she said quietly, her voice full of menace.
     "I am the  President of the Confederation, and I  can damn well appoint
and fire my cabinet as I see fit."
     "And have  me as the whipping boy  for this situation?  Like hell. Your
charges against me are nothing but a smokescreen to shift blame. It was your
decision to sign the armistice."
     "Based  upon  the  information  you provided to  me regarding  Kilrathi
political intentions."
     "You're  the president, Harry,"  she snapped  coldly.  "The buck  stops
here, remember."
     Rodham lowered his head, nodding sadly.
     "Yes, it does. I fully realize that," he whispered. "And that is one of
the reasons I demand  your resignation. Admiral Richards presented me with a
report  more  than  six months  ago,  indicating  that you  might  present a
security risk since the capture of your son  and that the Kilrathi  might be
in contact with you for a possible deal."
     "Are you calling me a traitor?" Jamison roared.
     "Not yet," Rodham said quietly.
     "You want my  resignation,  well  you can go to hell. Make  it a public
firing in front of  the  press, and believe me, my side of the story will be
told as well."
     She looked around the room angrily.
     "I'll  see all  of you in hell," and she stormed out of the  conference
room.
     Rodham  watched her go and  wearily he  turned back  to face Tolwyn and
Grecko.
     "I'm sorry, Duke, you and the other officers were right."
     "Even if we turn them back, Mr. President, a lot of good youngsters are
going to die in the doing of it. We had them, sir, we had  them on the ropes
and we could have crippled them. Now it's the other way around."
     "You don't need to remind me, Duke."
     "I  do need to remind you, sir, Grecko snapped back. "It's always  been
this way. The civilians start to forget just how dangerous the world, or the
universe really  is. They start  to believe their fantasies, and then in the
end  it's the  kids  on the  front line  who pay for it. Well, sir,  on this
little  folly  the human  race might very well  become  extinct  before it's
done."
     Rodham started to speak and then stopped and looked away.
     "After I  take  care of Jamison,  I'm resigning as  President," he said
quietly. "Vice President Dave Quinson never did support this idea; he was as
much as public about it.  I think he could help rally our people better than
me."
     "I  think that's a good idea, sir," Duke replied,  his voice  cold  and
even.
     Rodham stood up and looked back at the holo display.
     "You know, Jamison will make this an ugly fight. It might slow down our
mobilization.  I'm therefore issuing  as  my final executive  order  a  full
mobilization of the  fleet, along  with  wartime governmental control of the
economy. Jamison is most likely running to the press right now so I'd better
act first. When I resign my cabinet will have to resign as well. Maybe it'll
clear the deck for Quinson."
     "A smart move, sir."
     Rodham nodded again and extended his hand.
     "I'm sorry, Duke. Sorry for everything."
     Wayne hesitated for a moment and then shook hands.
     Harold Rodham, shoulders slumped  in defeat, turned and walked  out  of
the room, not even noticing the salute of the two officers behind him.
     "I guess his heart was in the right place," Geoff said quietly.
     You  know what  they  pave  the road to hell with,"  Duke replied, "and
frankly, Geoff, I think we're all on a greasy slope  aimed straight into the
fiery pit."

     The Emperor, in an unusual gesture, ordered the screen removed so  that
he was fully visible to those who sat before him. As the two Imperial Guards
drew the screen back the clan  leaders went down on  their knees,  foreheads
touching the cool turquoise inlaid floor of the audience chamber.
     "Raise up your  heads, return  to your feet," he said,  and they did as
commanded.
     "I wanted you to gaze upon me, to dispel any  lingering doubts as to my
continued existence."
     They  stood silently, furtively looking from one to the other, but most
of them  finally turned their gaze upon Jukaga, who stood in  the  middle of
the group, staring straight at the Emperor.
     "You have  heard  the  rumors, and they are true,"  the  Emperor  said.
"Someone  indeed  attempted  the most  heinous  of  all crimes,  a crime  so
loathsome that there is not even a word in our own tongue to describe it, so
that we must borrow this word from corrupt and downcast races."
     He fell  silent  as if  waiting,  and  the  silence  dragged  into long
uncomfortable  minutes, as  if he  were  waiting for one of  them  to  throw
himself upon the foot of the throne in supplication.
     No one moved.
     "He shall  be found out," the Emperor finally said coldly. "Now  let us
discuss the war."
     The group visibly relaxed.
     "The fleet made jump  fourteen days ago from their  base, within  hours
after being discovered, and  is moving at flank speed to the  front. It will
arrive here at Kilrah later today."
     "Then it has begun," Vak breathed, trembling  with excitement and a low
murmuring of growls filled the audience chamber.
     The Emperor nodded.
     "We have placed blame, both for the bomb in their headquarters, and for
this other loathsome act, upon the humans."
     "Could it not  be, Jukaga replied, his voice soft and  even, "that both
bombs were indeed acts of humans?"
     "I heard  a report  that  you yourself said  that  the bombing of their
headquarters could not have been done by them," the Emperor retorted.
     "It is a mere  conjecture," Jukaga  replied, "for I  have not heard any
admission  that we planted the  bomb in their headquarters and thus  wrecked
the peace."
     The  Emperor smiled. Both he  and the  Baron  knew the real truth,  yet
neither could admit it.
     "I expect, Baron, that you will continue to keep them  divided  as long
as possible. Even now they still argue, though, before they shut our embassy
down and arrested the staff, we had information that they were mobilizing."
     "What of our spy?"
     "We have lost touch with  the  embassy and thus  no  longer have direct
contact. It is assumed that she is gone."
     "And what of the human embassy here on Kilrah?" Vak asked.
     "I  ordered their  throats  torn  out this morning,"  the  Emperor said
coldly. "In public we  are blaming them for the bombing of my cruiser. It is
a  convenient  excuse  now  to  treat   them  all  as  they  deserve:  total
annihilation, total destruction of every world they inhabit."
     Jukaga looked up at him in shock.
     "That was in violation  of the rules  of  war and  of  the  agreement,"
Jukaga snapped.
     "What rules of war?" Vak retorted. "There are no rules with such beasts
who have  lost whatever shred of  respect we once held  for  them. They  are
lower than prey and should be exterminated without thought or mercy."
     The Emperor laughed coldly.
     "I am sick to death of this human scum and the potential for corruption
that  they present  to us.  I am therefore issuing  the following order: all
human prisoners that we still hold as well as slaves  are to be slaughtered.
Secondly, the new fleet is  to be  armed with thermonuclear weapons that are
clad in strontium. These heavy weapons,  when detonated in the atmosphere of
a planet, will make uninhabitable. They shall be annihilated."
     As he  finished speaking he looked straight at Jukaga while  the others
in the room roared with delight.
     Jukaga  looked around at the clan leaders  and for the first time truly
felt as if  a distance had opened  up. If his plot  had  succeeded, even now
they  would be  turning to him for guidance.  Now instead they were eager to
close in on  him for the kill. But  there was  more. He felt a cool distaste
for  what  the  Emperor now  proposed. Though  he wanted  to  see the humans
humbled and defeated, he found that of  late he was  feeling  something  far
more, what could almost be called, if not a fondness, at least the beginning
of a respect. He knew he was  falling into a  trap, that if one studied  his
enemy long enough,  and came to know him, in the  end one would find things,
beliefs, and individuals  one could identify with. What the Emperor  was now
proposing was monstrous.
     "Such an action will arouse them  to a frenzy," Jukaga said. "They will
fight as they have never fought before."
     "They are animals to be hunted," the Emperor replied.
     "No, my lord."
     A stunned silence filled the chamber at his direct contradiction to the
Imperial word.  He did not care. How could he even begin to explain  what he
knew,  the countless examples of humans, motivated to fight  without thought
of self, fully willing to die fighting rather than submit.
     "Terror will not breed submission as it  did with others," Jukaga  said
quickly. "It will instead create a wish, as the humans put it  óto  take one
of the bastards with me.' "
     The utterance of an obscenity, which to the Kilrathi was  the most foul
of insults shocked the other clan leaders.
     "Do  what  is  assigned  to you, Baron," the  Emperor  replied sharply.
"Convince them to submit. Now leave me!"
     Baron Jukaga backed out of the room, barely inclining his head.

     Jason "Bear" Bondarevsky opened his eyes  as  the distortion field from
the transit jump settled down and looked over at his navigation officer.
     "Alignment correct, star lock confirmed, jump was on the mark."
     "Tactical," and  he turned in  his chair to look at the officer hovered
over the holo display of the sector.
     "Bannockburn  in position eighty nine thousand  clicks dead  ahead. Too
early to  tell yet,  sir,  on  passive  optical sweep.  At jump  transit our
pursuers, three  corvettes  and  one frigate,  were forty-two  thousand nine
hundred clicks dead astern and gaining at eight point two clicks a second."
     Jason nodded. There was time to scout around before worrying  about the
back door.
     "Flight deck."
     "Doomsday here, sir."
     "How are the birds?"
     "All fighters ready and armed, just give us the prey."
     "What about munitions?"
     Doomsday gave his usual glum look.
     "Enough for one more strike, sir. Eight torpedoes  are all we have left
for ship  busters. The  fighters  will  have to sortie  with  half  standard
missile and mass driver round bolts."
     "Standby."
     "Paladin on laser lock, sir."
     Jason looked  over at the communications officer and nodded  for her to
put it on the main holo.
     "How goes it, laddie?"
     Jason smiled. Even though he  was technically the commander of this two
ship fleet, he  knew Paladin would never follow protocol of address  and the
fact was refreshing.
     "Fighters are  up and armed.  Damage control's repaired the hull breech
in the port engine room."
     "And Vance?"
     "Madder than  hell. Seems Sparks broke one of  his computers  moving it
out, said  something  about the machine  costing just  under half a billion.
Sparks frowned, then said he could dock her pay if he was upset, but she had
fighters to service."
     "Good for Sparks.  She's  a  rare  lass," Paladin laughed  and then his
features went glum.
     "We've got some trade up  ahead, lad. Another cruiser just came through
from  the jump point  leading  back  to  Kilrah with two destroyers leading.
Looks like  standard tactical  for  more coming behind. I tapped  into their
comm channel and they're madder than hell and lookin for blood."
     "Can we run past them to our jump point?"
     "Just barely."
     Jason punched into the engine room.
     "Shovel  on  the coal  back  there.  I  want  full  thrust, fuel scoops
closed."
     "Close the scoops and we'll run her bone dry by the next jump.
     "Just do it."
     He switched back to Paladin.
     "Let's get the hell out of here, and hope they don't have more  waiting
at the next jump."
     "Laddie, from the looks  of It  I  think the whole Empire  is  gonna be
stirring to fry us."
     "Let's just hope Kruger figures a way to get us out of here.


        CHAPTER TEN

     Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn stood up  and  walked to the front of the room.
He looked down the length of the conference table and felt  a cold twinge of
pain. So many familiar faces were gone,  killed in the  bomb attack. It felt
strange now  to  be standing before this group; after all it was Banbridge's
job to run Third Fleet. He suddenly felt old  and very lonely. He pushed the
thought aside.
     "Good morning."
     He paused, reached into his breast pocket, pulled  out  an envelope and
opened  the letter.  A  paper  letter such  as the one he was  holding was a
wonderful  gesture  out  of  the past,  part of the old  traditions that the
military still hung on to.
     "By order  of the JCS, Admiral Geoffrey Tolwyn  is appointed  commander
Third Fleet  as of this date, with the primary mission of meeting, engaging,
and destroying  any  hostile  invasion  into  Confederation space  which  is
directed towards the inner  system of worlds.  You are  authorized to employ
any means necessary as outlined in Emergency Decree  394 issued this date by
the President of the  Confederation. Your command will include 3rd Destroyer
Group, Commodore Polowski commanding . . ."
     He paused and looked back up at the group.
     "Anyhow,  all of you  are  listed here," he  said quietly, "and if  you
aren't  listed,  I'm taking  you anyhow,"  and the room  echoed with nervous
laughter.
     Geoff activated the main holo screen  which displayed  the new Kilrathi
heavy carriers, while  a side screen displayed  the surmised position of the
fleet and its possible route into Confederation space.
     A low murmur of  voices filled the room as the dozen group and squadron
commanders, representing the  ships and Marine assault regiments  under  his
command examined the data.
     "Our  task  is to  meet  and  stop this force before it gains the inner
worlds of the Confederation."
     "Just how many  fighters  will  these  ships carry?"  Lyford  Beverage,
commander of the First Cruiser Squadron asked.
     "We're working off of only one intelligence sweep, a long range optical
examination followed by  a translight radar burst,  so our  data is sketchy.
Our evaluation  team believes they carry four launch bays, and  perhaps six.
It's hard to tell, since all the  ships were aligned identically at the time
we swept them so we don't have a full examination from all angles. Given the
mass of the ships, our  best guess is  two hundred and forty fighters, scout
and bomber craft, perhaps three hundred. Close analysis of the scan detected
five of the ships emitting infrared  signatures for functional reactors. The
other seven were cold."
     "Good lord, Geoff, if five of those things are coming at  us that means
we'll be facing upwards of fifteen hundred attack ships," Rear Admiral Allen
Zitek growled  from the back of  the  room, his speech computer  making  him
sound almost robotic. Zitek  had been  badly burned  years before leading  a
squadron against a Kilrathi carrier. It still amazed Geoff what the surgeons
could do if a man could be brought in while still alive.
     "Don't forget  that  the  Kilrathi  had a  minimum  of  nineteen  other
standard carriers  and at least twenty heavy cruisers  that  carried  thirty
fighters each. That comes to  over three  thousand seven hundred  additional
strike craft."
     There was a chilled moment of silence.
     "What  about  logistical  support,  supplies,  and  training  from  the
Kilrathi view point?" Duke Grecko asked from the back of the room.
     "That's the one hope," Geoff replied. "We now understand the mystery of
their  transport shortage and  their occasional  shortages of missiles. They
were straining their system  beyond the max to keep the war going and at the
same time building this new fleet in secret.  I've handed  this data over to
intelligence analysis, and I'm stilling  waiting for the full report. My gut
feeling  on it is that  they  couldn't fully do  both. I think they stripped
some  of  their best  squadrons off  their front  line carriers  during  the
armistice  and  shipped  the personnel out  to the new ships, replacing them
with new recruits. The burst signal from Tarawa already indicated a thousand
fighters  transferred  off  ships  that  had  been put  into their  inactive
reserve. I'm certain we'll see their best shot  from the new carriers, which
will be fully loaded for combat.  The rest of  the  fleet will be held in  a
secondary support role or open action on other fronts as diversions."
     "That still  would  leave a minimum  of fifteen hundred strike craft on
five carriers coming straight at Earth, not to mention what looks like close
to a hundred escort ships," Zitek replied. "And just  how many fighters will
we have to meet this?"
     "We can have five carriers fully  on line within two weeks, with  forty
one escorts, carrying a total of six hundred and eighty-nine strike craft."
     "Just five?"
     "Actually,  only two are on  line  and fully operational at the moment,
Geoff said shaking his head.
     "With crews working around the  clock and cutting a  lot of corners,  I
expect  to  see three more carriers ready to join the fleet by the  time the
Kilrathi  penetrate into Confederation space. It'll be forty-five days, more
like sixty, before our remaining carriers will be on line again."
     "Jamison  was  brilliant  pushing  that deactivation  through,"  Grecko
snapped and Geoff could only nod his head in agreement.
     The political arena with Jamison standing in  the center was now one of
absolute  chaos.  Less than twenty-four hours ago  Rodham had announced  the
existence of the Kilrathi super carriers and the  assumption  that Earth had
been directly  targeted for attack.  He then called  for  the  Confederation
Senate to renounce the armistice and to mobilize  for  a renewal of the war,
closing with his resignation as president. Minutes  later the vice president
was  sworn  in  and delivered a  sharp rousing  speech, demanding  that  the
Kilrathi open their  border  for full inspection of  the new fleet  or  face
offensive action.  It was all a  bluff on Quinson's  part, but  it at  least
sounded good. The Confederation had been thrown into a state of panic by the
announcement, with every holo reporter scrambling to put  their spin on  the
issue,  which ranged from "we've  been stabbed in the back  by the Cats," to
"the evil military was pushing for a war." The situation was further stirred
up by the Kilrathi reply that the bombing of headquarters and the attempt on
the Emperor's life were part of a military coup by pro-war officers and that
they were totally innocent of any wrong-doing.
     At first Geoff had naively assumed that this had closed the  deal, that
the Senate would vote for war and that the new president's  declaration of a
full military emergency would be observed.
     Jamison had  triggered near chaos instead. First she refused to resign,
even though Quinson  had appointed a new Foreign Minister. Next  she accused
the  military of conspiring to renew  the war,  a position that the Kilrathi
were pumping out through their propaganda agencies.
     The result  was that the Senate  had  still not declared war, wavering,
some  even  adopting the  Kilrathi  line, and demanding  that  the  military
unilaterally disarm.
     Quinson had stood firm, however, evoking  executive right to  order the
military  to mobilize for emergency action. The one restraint, however,  was
that such  an emergency did  not give the fleet  the right to take offensive
action.  Tolwyn had actually fallen  into  a  shouting match with the senate
military committee over  that point, wanting to  free  his two light escorts
that were operational for a spoiling and recon raid into Kilrathi space, but
he had been held back.
     Sometimes it really bites to be in the military," Polowski snapped from
the back  of the room.  "I'd just love to get Jamison onboard  my ship  as a
forward turret gunner's  mate when we charge those carriers and let  her see
what  her peace loving friends have done while  we slept,"  and there  was a
chorus of approval.
     Geoff held up his hand for silence.
     "Remember, we  are the  military.  Civilian politics is outside of  our
control and like it or not that's  a tradition we must observe. It's our job
to defend the Confederation from  the attack we all know is  coming, and I'm
counting on you to give it everything you have.  Some really  big damn fools
got  us into  this fix. The hell with  them, push them out of your  minds. I
want you to focus on the billions  of innocent people who will be under  the
Kilrathi antimatter bombs and the survivors who will face their knives if we
fail. The existence of the human race now hangs in the balance
     He paused for a moment. The words had come  out of  him, not planned at
all. In any other setting he felt they would  have  sounded worn. But it was
the simple truth: the actual existence of his entire species rested in their
hands. One  wrong move on his part and it  might all be over with. All of it
gone forever, two thousand years of England gone, a  cold  silence of death,
of extinction.
     I can't dwell on  this, he realized. It'll drive me insane  if I do, so
stay focused on the job and nothing else.
     He switched the holo screen  to a map of the inner core  of planets and
the jump lines leading out to the frontier.
     "The  Kilrathi have three main  lines of approach, all of which finally
come in here," and he pointed  to a blue white star  from which  radiated  a
number of jump lines. "Here at  Sirius and the jump point behind Sirius  the
shortest  routes of jump lines come together  and then  from there  straight
back to Earth. By  the shortest route, jump line alpha, it's ten jump points
from Sirius  to the  frontier, four  back to Earth.  The next route, beta is
twelve jumps to the  frontier and delta  is thirteen.  All  the other routes
meander back and forth. For the Kilrathi I think they'll be so confident  of
their  strength, and  also concerned about not giving us time to rearm, that
they'll come straight on in.
     "I propose to meet them in front of Sirius."
     "Geoff, that abandons several hundred inhabited colonies further  out,"
Polowski said quietly, "my own home of Planet Warsaw being one of them."
     Tolwyn nodded.
     "There are eighteen major jump  points leading  across the frontier and
several dozen  other  jump  points running parallel or  zigzagging back  and
forth. Before  the armistice neither we nor the Kilrathi had the strength to
simply go charging in, saying the hell with our rear and leaping towards the
jugular. They  now  do.  We  lack the strength of a major counter strike and
even if we did have it, it'd be weeks before we could even begin to move it.
By then  it'll be too  late. In  addition they can  hold a  number  of their
standard fleet carriers in reserve as a reaction force to counter even light
escort raiders the way we  had been using them in the past. We have  to fall
back and concentrate what assets we have. If we try  a  forward defense they
might swing around us."
     "Why not an offensive, Geoff? Split them  off  the way we did at  Vukar
Tag," Grecko asked from the back of the room.
     "It won't work this time, sir. Even if we took what  we  had  right now
and shot it straight in, their older carriers acting as a reserve would stop
us cold,  while the new  fleet would just  continue  on  into Earth. Second,
they'd see it for  what it was, an  effort to  split their offensive. They'd
ignore it and still bore straight in. What we have  to do  is seek a meeting
engagement with  their main fleet and stop it, that's the only viable option
left open to us."
     "So what about my home planet?" Polowski asked
     Geoff paused for a moment. The cold hard word for it was "abandon"  but
he could not bring himself to say that, or even really admit it to himself.
     "Mike, the  Kilrathi have two ways to  run this offensive. The first is
to break through our forward defenses, then spread out and start ripping the
colonial  worlds to shreds.  Every day that they do that is one more day for
us  to rearm and they  know it. The second way is to come charging  straight
in,  figuring they can mop up the colonies at their  leisure after  the core
planets have been destroyed along with the fleet."
     "I'm betting on the second method. It's sound militarily and  it's what
we would do: kill the home world and inner planets and end the war. The only
advantage we can hope for  is to stand and defend  as close to our main base
as  possible,  thus  stretching  their line  of  communication while we  can
continue to pour into action whatever ships come on line at the last minute.
It is the one classic advantage of the  defensive the ability  to fall  back
upon your base of supplies, and it's our only hope."
     "Easy for you  to say," Mike replied.  "My entire family's out there on
Warsaw, two jumps from the frontier."
     "Can  you propose any  other  alternative  given  what we  have?" Geoff
asked, his  voice filled with a genuine  concern. He knew he couldn't simply
order men to abandon their homes and  families. They'd have to be willing to
do it with the hope of final victory and then rescue, no matter how slim the
chance.
     Mike looked down at his memo pad and then finally shook his head
     "You're right, Admiral, its the only way," and  there was a soft chorus
of agreement.
     "I  wish we could inform the  governors  and  presidents of the various
colonial  worlds of our  strategic plan,  though  for security reasons it is
obvious  we cannot. For that matter, gentlemen, no one outside  this room is
to have any knowledge of what our strategy is.
     "That'll give  precious little warning to  whichever worlds are  in the
way of the fleet," Zitek said. "Even if they're coming straight  on, they'll
still dispatch some cruisers on the way in to scorch the planets directly in
their path.  They'll have to, they can t afford to leave potential  bases in
their rear.  Nearly every one of those outer worlds has at least one base on
them, the major systems garrisoned with troops and orbital bases. They could
stand against raiders, but not against what they'll be throwing in."
     Geoff  nodded grimly.  It meant that millions in the outer worlds might
die. He  could  only  hope that those  who  could get out of the  way would,
heading to remote areas of their world to wait out the attack. At least most
of  the worlds were sparsely populated,  with a lot of room to  hide. In the
early  days of the war the  outer  regions,  except for the Landreich on the
flank of  the Confederation, had been devastated, and billions had died. The
region had yet to recover.  It wasn't  until Sirius  was reached  inside the
area  never touched  by the  war,  that  the  major inhabited  regions  were
located.
     He could only hope  they had dug their shelters  deep enough to survive
bombardment.
     "So  the colonies  are  a  write off?"  Duke  asked quietly,  obviously
wanting to make the fact absolutely clear.
     "Local  guard units will be given  the discretion  to stay, but I  want
everything here for the major  showdown," and he pointed  at Sirius, hanging
in the middle of the holo. "Sirius is where the decision will be made."
     "What about the Landreich and Kruger?" Polowski asked.
     "I'll ask them for help  and  for the release  of the escorts we signed
over to them,  but I doubt old Kruger will  be  amused that once again we're
pulling a withdrawal due to strategic necessity."
     He could well imagine the explosion  that  would  be created  when  the
burst signal reached Kruger on that one.
     "Gentlemen, I want the fleet fully loaded and ready to move within four
days."
     The men looked at him incredulously.
     "Geoff,  it'll  be  eight, more  like  ten days  before  we get all our
personnel back in aboard ship," Zitek replied. "Even our active carriers had
half  their  crews on  leave.  Some  of  them  are  at  the far  end of  the
Confederation."
     "You'll find a  clause in  Emergency  decree 394A  that  allows for the
drafting of emergency replacements off civilian ships, and retired personnel
if need be for the duration of the emergency. Use it, shanghai your crews if
necessary, but  I  want full ship's  complements inside of ninety-six hours.
Now  let's get to work." The admirals and  Marine  officers filed out of the
room. Geoff looked back down at his memo pad, ready to feed in a long series
of orders. Looking up he saw that Duke had stayed behind.
     "Something's wrong, isn't it?" Geoff said, sensing that there  was  bad
news coming.
     Duke nodded.
     "I just got a signal in the clear from Kruger."
     "Go on."
     "He  told us and I quote  óyou  created this mess, you  solve it. Go to
hell.' "
     Geoff chuckled sadly.
     "Doesn't  the  damn  fool  realize,"  Grecko  snapped,  "that   if  the
Confederation goes down, the Cats will turn on him next?"
     "If  he comes to help  us,  he'll get hit from  the rear.  It's the old
classic  problem  of  frontier militia  being  called  up to  serve with the
regulars þ do you leave your homes open to attack  by marching off somewhere
else?"
     Geoff paused, realizing that there was something else to the message.
     "You're holding something back, Duke, what is it?"
     "He also reported, in the clear, that Tarawa  has failed  to return and
is assumed lost."
     Geoff remained standing, staring straight at Duke.
     "Damn this war to hell."

     Eyes wide with excitement and with the thrill of the hunt,  the Emperor
turned to face his grandson.
     "Magnificent, simply magnificent," he growled, turning back to look out
the  forward view port of  the cruiser that now served as the Imperial ship.
Less than a kilometer away, the Kilrathi Fifth Fleet of the  Claw  passed by
in review.  The light frigates,  corvettes  and three  destroyer  groups had
already passed. The last of the heavy cruisers was just passing to port  and
now the first of the new carriers, Hagku'ka, came into view.
     Every fighter  had been launched  and moved in  formation ahead of  the
carrier,  three  and  a  half  eighties  of  fighters  arrayed  in  eight  V
formations. The  bow  of  the  carrier  came into view, the heavy  durasteel
forward  edge  studded with quad mounted mass driver guns  and  anti-torpedo
launch tubes. Three launch decks, one on either side and one  topside opened
into the vast interior of the ship,  which was  mostly comprised of the huge
hangar bays, workshops, and armament storage areas needed for the fighters.
     Internal bulkheads had been double layered, compartmentalizing the ship
so that even  if the forward  end was  shattered all the way back amidships,
the aft half could continue to  fight.  Three  belts of armor sealed off the
outside of the ship from the interior so that if a torpedo did penetrate the
phase shielding and  outer  layer  of armor, its  detonation would not burst
into the  vulnerable inner  decks and fuel  storage  areas. Sealed  internal
access shafts even allowed for the  transfer of  fighters  from one  bay  to
another for launching if a bay opening were shut down. Just aft of  amidship
three more launch bays were mounted pointing aft, in  the same configuration
as  the forward half of the ship. The six Yatug class engines were  actually
buried  inside  the  ship,  wrapped  in heavy  armor,  their  exhaust  vents
tunneling through thirty meters  of ship  before reaching  open space. If  a
spread of  missiles were closing from astern, the engines could be throttled
off and  the exhaust  vents slammed  shut, the missiles impacting impotently
against heavy durasteel. The shields  could then be retracted, or if need be
blown clear and the engines unharmed, fired back up.
     The  first carrier  passed,  followed by  four  more  and  the  Emperor
watched, speechless. So this was the culmination of years of secret planning
and the stripping of the best resources of the Empire. All for this, a