there a  chance this  is  falsified information?" ъodham 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 ъichards,  sir, and that's
good enough for me.
     "ъichards is out there Ч 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."
     ъodham 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."
     ъodham 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."
     ъodham 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 ъichards 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," ъodham 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.
     ъodham  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."
     ъodham 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.
     ъodham 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."
     ъodham nodded again and extended his hand.
     "I'm sorry, Duke. Sorry for everything."
     Wayne hesitated for a moment and then shook hands.
     Harold ъodham, 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.
     "ъaise 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  Сto  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.


        CHAPTEъ 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," ъear 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.