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I nodded. “I’m seeing something else here. Notice the position, course and speed of
the Worm ships?”

“Yes sir, I do see it. The Earth ships are moving slowly. I can only surmise that
one or more of them is damaged and unable to go faster. What is more interesting is
that the Worm ships are pursuing, but not overtaking the Earth cruisers. By my estimates,
they should have been able to catch and destroy them by now. They would take losses
in doing so, however, as there are now six Earth ships.”

“Right,” I said. “That’s how I see it. They’re chasing them out of their territory,
but not engaging. They want the Earth ships to keep running, but they don’t want to
lose any more of their own. The Worms are always aggressive, but they aren’t completely
insane.”

Sandra stepped up between the two of us and reached out with her long, lithe arm.
She tapped at the smoky region of metallic flecks in the distance. This caused the
region to zoom in, and we could see the third large cloud of ships coming our way.

“What I’m interested in is this group here,” she said. “You guys aren’t saying much
about them. They’re the big unknown. I can’t even see much detail on this display.
Are these ships really shaped like big barrels, or are they just not displaying correctly?”

“The range is too great,” Miklos explained. “The sensor systems need hours to draw
a precise image of a ship from that great of a distance. That’s why they look like
blobs or blips.”

Sandra nodded seriously. “So, in other words, we’ve got no idea what we’re facing?
All we know is that the Earth cruisers are heading right for them.”

“That’s essentially correct,” Miklos said, “right now they—”

“Colonel Riggs,” Marvin interrupted loudly. “There is an incoming message.”

“From the Worms?” I asked.

“No sir. It’s from the Imperial cruisers.”

“Let’s hear it.”

I heard music playing faintly. I frowned, looking at the walls around us. Marvin had
tapped the audio input into our walls, so the nanites vibrated, forming speakers around
us. The music was tinny, and vaguely martial in nature.

“This is an Imperial decree, being rebroadcast for the benefit of all Earth citizens,”
said a voice.

All of us were looking at one another in bemusement by now. The voice changed, becoming
rougher and deeper. I now recognized the tones and the down-under accent. It was none
other than Jack Crow.

“This is your duly elected leader speaking,” Crow said. “You’re ships are carrying
contraband, and are traveling in restricted space. The crews have been tried in absentia.
Unfortunately, they have all been found guilty as charged. You are hereby ordered
to halt your ships and set them adrift. All hands will then abandon ship to be picked
up by the approaching cruisers. Any vessel not complying will be destroyed. Only complete
cooperation will ensure your survival. Emperor Crow out.”

“What the hell is that about?” Sandra asked.

“I think we’ve flown into something we weren’t supposed to witness,” Miklos said.

I stared at the globular tank, trying to make sense of it all. Two groups of Earth
ships converging in the middle of the star system. The cruisers making this threatening
announcement—could it be?

“Marvin, the Worms said there were a lot of friendlies in this system, correct? Hundreds
of them?”

“The symbol used and confirmed repeatedly indicated a
whole
lot. Allies numbering between eight and several hundred thousand, yes sir.”

I turned to Miklos. “What if they were talking about that huge flotilla of ships out
there?”

“I suppose they could be. But if they’re allies, who are they?”

“Let’s look at the configurations. More data should be in by now.”

We examined the data defining the ships, and found it increasingly mysterious. The
design of these ships was unknown to us—if you could even all them “designed” at all.
Just as Sandra had first noted, they looked like a mass of barrel-shaped ships.

“Transports,” Sandra said aloud.

We all looked at her.

“Big cylindrical transports, like the ones the Macros build. But they aren’t as large
as that. All they have is some life support, enough power to fly and primitive navigational
equipment. They look like transports to me.”

I peered at the scopes and read the numbers carefully. I pulled up a yellow wireframe
schematic of the distant vessels and flicked at the image, spinning it around to examine
it. I nodded slowly. “Yes. You could be right, Sandra. But what is going on here?
Why are the cruisers telling them to abandon ship?”

“Is it even possible, what they promised?” Sandra asked. “If the people on those transports
halt and bail out, can the cruisers even carry them all?”

“Maybe,” I said, “if the crews are small. They would have to abandon their cargo,
however, whatever it is.”

Everyone puzzled over the situation for some minutes. As far as we could tell, nothing
changed during that time. The two groups of Earth ships were still on a collision
course, while the Worms followed the cruisers and we followed the Worms.

“What are your orders, Colonel?” Miklos asked.

“Let’s get into this game,” I said. “I’m not sure which side we’re on, or even who
all the players are, but I’m not going to sit here and let Crow dictate terms to the
people on those ships. I have a feeling they are disaffected Star Force personnel
trying to make it to Eden. Who the hell else would come out here all the way into
dangerous space on makeshift transports? In any case, we must intervene before something
horrible happens.”

“Besides, we could use more supplies and reinforcements, eh?” Miklos said, smiling
with half his mouth.

“Never even crossed my mind,” I said. “All engines go to full burn. Let’s catch up
if we can. Marvin, try to give me a tightly-beamed channel to the refugee fleet.”

“I’ll try Colonel, but the beam will have to pass directly by the Earth cruisers.
We will probably be overheard.”

I nodded. “Fine. Let’s put our cards on the table.”

The ship lurched and we all strapped in to endure heavy G-forces. At least I was in
good shape for taking this kind of punishment. The combined treatment of nanites and
Microbes had left my flesh dense and unfeeling. The crushing sensation that would
have left me breathless on the floor of the ship years ago now just made me wince
and grunt. I stood my ground and braced myself against the central console. I grimaced,
but the discomfort was minor.

Marvin opened the channel, and I thought for another minute or two before sending
my message. “People of Earth, we’re members of Star Force. We’ve taken an oath to
defend the lives of all humanity. If you need help, ask for it, and explain your situation
honestly. Colonel Kyle Riggs, out.”

I sat back after that and sipped a cool, caffeinated drink. The ball was in their
court now, and I had no idea how this was all going to play out. I would be damned
if I was going to watch Crow’s thugs blow up Earth ships for no good reason. Especially
not if they were trying to make the run to Eden.

Our radio signals had to travel across about a billion miles of space and back before
we got an answer. The return message came in about an hour after my own transmission,
due to the distance. The range was shrinking rapidly as our fleets converged, but
it was still tremendous.

“We’ve got an answer, sir,” Ensign Rodrigues said. “But it’s not from the big fleet—it’s
from the Imperial ships.”

I waved for her to put it through. The words echoed in our ship. Once again, a snippet
of martial music played. I was beginning to wonder if that was S.O.P for all Crow’s
ships now.

“Colonel Riggs, this is Commodore Decker. You have no mission here, and have been
officially deactivated. Star Force has been disbanded, and although I’m sure this
is difficult for you to accept, I implore you to do so, Dr. Riggs. If any of your
crew can hear this, they should know you have no authority, and they are under no
obligation to follow your orders. We would appreciate it if you withdrew from this
system. Any interference in Imperial affairs would be a mistake. Decker out.”

I glanced around the chamber at my staff. “How do you read that?” I asked.

“They’re scared and bluffing,” Sandra said immediately. “We should force them to surrender
and if they won’t, we should fire upon them.”

“I didn’t spend the last several years in space killing aliens so I could destroy
Earth’s finest vessels,” I snapped. “There has to be something better than that.”

Miklos leaned forward. “Sometimes, Colonel, unpleasant things must be done in order
to prevent more hideous unpleasantness. This is often the essence of a civil war.”

“I need specifics, people, not philosophies. In a few hours, we’ll be in range of
their heaviest beams.”

“I’ll give you a specific,” Sandra said. “Blow them out of space before they slaughter
those unarmed ships that are running to us.”

I had to admit, that was pretty specific. I nodded glumly. “We’ll wait to hear what
the second fleet has to say. They’re farther away, but their message should be beaming
in soon.”

In the next few minutes, I was provided with a new shock. The second voice that came
from the speakers was feminine and distinctly familiar.

“This is Captain Sarin of Star Force. I’m officially requesting your aid, Colonel
Riggs. We’re running from Earth, but we left with Crow’s permission. Now that we’re
out of the system it seems that he has changed his mind about letting us emigrate
to your system. I understand the situation more clearly now. He let us leave because
it would have been a PR nightmare to fire on Star Force transports. But now that we’re
out of range of Earth’s cameras, his thugs have orders to force us out of our vessels
and leave us adrift in space. We don’t have many weapons, but we will fight. It’s
up to you to decide whose side you’re on. Sarin out.”

Sandra stared at me. She looked troubled. I stood up slowly. This was big. I had to
think. I walked down the corridors to the mess hall and grabbed myself a meal. I chewed
and stared into space. Outside, the twin yellow suns known to us as Alpha and Beta
Centauri circled one another in a tight, timeless dance.

I felt I now knew why the Imperial ships had been so anxious to stop us. They hadn’t
wanted us to reach Alpha Centauri. We weren’t supposed to have met up with Sarin and
her refugee transports.

Sandra followed me and sat down. She opened a squeeze bottle of beer and pressed another
into my hand. We both drank. The nanites had gotten better at brewing, but we still
grimaced slightly with the first swallow. Beer from a soft bottle never tasted quite
right, but at least it was cold—refrigeration was one thing you never had much trouble
with in deep space.

“What are you going to do, Kyle?” Sandra asked quietly.

I looked at her. There wasn’t any anger or jealously in her eyes today, I was glad
to see. Often, Sandra could be petty and selfish when it came to sweeping events.
But this, I could tell, had gotten through to her. She wasn’t worried about Jasmine
and I. She was worried about thousands of lives.

“There are a lot of people out there on those ships, and they’ve been screwed over
by Crow,” I said. “The trouble is, I don’t want to declare war on Earth. Not now,
not ever.”

She nodded. “I understand that. It goes against everything you’ve tried to do. But
you’ve done it before. You killed the troops invading Andros Island.”

I nodded thoughtfully. “My hand was forced then.”

“Not really. You could have let the Pentagon have the factories. They would have made
you a consultant or something.”

I smiled. “I would have loved that, wouldn’t I? I suppose you’re right, I don’t have
any choice. I’ll have to do what I can to save Sarin and whoever is with her.”

“You know who they are. They’re loyal Star Force troops. They’re the ones that would
not submit to Crow, the ones you left behind on Andros when he seized power in your
absence.”

I felt a guilty pang. I’d been out on the frontier for a long time, not bothering
to think too hard about what was happening back on Earth. I’d been so busy planning
out future colonies and blasting aliens, I hadn’t kept Crow in check.

“What was I supposed to do?” I demanded, feeling a hot rush of anger. “One man can
only be in one part of the cosmos at a given time, no matter how talented he is. I
can’t fix every problem everywhere at once!”

She chuckled and patted my hand. “That sounds like my Kyle Riggs,” she said. “You
are forgetting something, though. You’re greatest failure as a leader is not delegating
authority. I’ve been reading books about it. This sort of thing happens often to capable
leaders, you know. The smartest and best know they can do the job better than everyone
else, so they micromanage everything. They spread themselves too thin and fail where
a lesser man might have succeeded.”

I stared at her for a moment. “Interesting theory,” I admitted. “And I know there’s
a strong grain of truth in that criticism. So, what do you think I should do?”