Ean began singing to the sevens.
“Ship, prepare to jump,” Wendell said.
They entered the void.
In Aratogan space, all was quiet.
Somewhere, close to one of the weapons bays, Spacer Tinatin was talking to Spacer Qatar. “They didn’t want him on the Lancastrian Princess anymore, so they sent him to Confluence Station. But Confluence Station didn’t want him either, so now he’s here on the Eleven, until they can work out what to do with him.”
“You are full of it, Tinatin,” Qatar said.
On the Lancastrian Princess, Abram was back at his old desk in his and Michelle’s workroom, talking to Admiral Dirks, from Aratoga. Dirks must have been on Haladea III, for Ean couldn’t get any information other than what he could hear through line five.
“Now in Aratogan space. No ships close by.” Kari Wang used her human screens to tell her that. “Moving toward the battleground.”
“Thank you, Captain.” Abram looked toward Dirks’s screen. “We now have real-time communication with the Aratogan sector, Admiral. The comms is yours.”
“I could get used to this.” Dirks’s grin was a toothy baring of teeth. There was something about admirals. They showed more teeth than other soldiers. Maybe it was a seniority thing. He clicked on his comms, through to another admiral. A woman this time. “Brant. Dirks here.”
Ean sang the feed going to Abram’s screens onto one of Kari Wang’s screens. She nodded her thanks.
“This had better be important, Dirks. We’ve a situation at this end.”
“I know. We’re sending you reinforcements.”
“That’s going to be a lot of use. This battle will be over in six hours.”
Six hours. How did she know with such precision how long it would be?
Brant looked at the comms. “You’re in real time. You’re in the Aratogan sector?” She was animated suddenly. “What are you sending us? And how long will they be?” Ean heard her say quietly to someone, “Get Commodore Summers on the comms.”
“We’re two hours away,” Kari Wang said.
“Who in the lines are you?”
“Captain Kari Wang, ma’am. New Alliance governance fleet.”
Governance fleet? Ean had never heard of it. Neither, by her frown, had Brant.
“We are in the Aratogan sector and making at speed toward—”
“Kari Wang. The Eleven? You’re sending me one of the alien ships?”
“Affirmative,” Dirks said.
“Admiral Brant, Admiral Galenos here. Understand that this is a trial run. We are still testing the Eleven. Results might be unexpected.” A strong sound of Ean came through with that. “We ask that you give the ship space to do what it needs to do, and if Captain Kari Wang asks your people to do something, then they should do it. It will be for their safety. Sometimes our control is… erratic.”
“Give us access to that green field,” Brant said, “and I don’t care how erratic you are. Even the sight of the ship should scare them. Hell, it scares me and it’s on our side.”
“Command of the Eleven is yours, Admiral Brant.”
“Commodore Summers is the man in charge at the scene.” Brant switched in another line. “Are you there, Commodore?”
“Admiral.”
“Situation report.”
“We’ve ten enemy ships surrounding Asteroids 527 and 629,” Summers said. “Ships range from a two-hundred-crew Class Three warship to one-hundred-crew Class Five.” He put the data and maps on-screen as well. Ean pushed that through to the Eleven and to the Wendell. “These asteroids contain the offices and supply stores for the whole belt. If we lose them, we lose control of the asteroids. We’ve five Aratogan ships. With the exception of the ship I am on, all are smaller warships with less than a hundred crew. We have five battle cruisers two light-years away, but we can’t get jumps for them.”
“Sounds bad,” Brant said. “But you’re about to get reinforcements.”
“We’ll be glad of them.” Summers stumbled, then righted himself.
It took Kari Wang’s saying, “He’s under attack,” before Ean realized what had happened.
“They hit him?”
Kari Wang nodded.
Summers glanced over to where someone was giving orders, then looked back. “How many? What class? When will they be here?”
“One ship,” Brant said.
Ean didn’t need the image on Abram’s screen to see Summers wince.
But they didn’t have one ship, they had two. And one of them was effectively unarmed.
“Class—” Brant looked at Abram. “Does it have a class?”
“Eleven,” Abram said.
“Never heard of it,” Summers said. Then he did a double take, much like Brant had before. He looked from Abram to Dirks to Brant. “One of the alien ships?”
“Affirmative.”
“How long to get here?”
“One hundred and fifteen minutes,” Kari Wang said.
Ean tuned them out. He’d brought the Wendell along; he had to make sure Wendell and his crew were safe.
The conversation between the admirals, commodore, and captain was done. The Aratogans clicked off, leaving only the Eleven fleet ships online.
“Wendell,” Kari Wang said, “you should stay here. We’ll collect you on the way back.”
“No,” Ean said. “He should come inside the protective field.”
“I’ve been meaning to ask,” Abram said. “Was Wendell’s coming along an accident? Or deliberate?”
He hadn’t gotten Ean’s message. Another thing they knew now. You couldn’t send messages while you were in the void.
“We couldn’t set the jump on the Eleven,” Kari Wang said.
“I can see that might be a problem. I wonder how the aliens did it.” Abram gave a wry smile. “Maybe you should have used one of the media ships, Ean.” Ean wasn’t sure if he was joking. “This could be an impressive show.”
“Wendell,” Ean said, for Wendell wasn’t making any attempt to move.
“Sure, I’ll come along,” Wendell said. “But I’m not going in close. Not even to ensure my protection. Not at the speeds we’re traveling.”
“It was safe when the Lancastrian Princess did it.”
“The Lancastrian Princess wasn’t traveling at full speed toward a battle. No thank you, Ean. I’d prefer to take my chances following behind.”
“Not to mention he’ll slow us down,” Kari Wang said. Which was true, for the alien ships could travel twice as fast as the Bose engines could drive human ships.
Admiral Brant called back. Commodore Summers not long after. Kari Wang and Mael were soon deep in tactical discussions.
“War is mostly waiting,” Bhaksir told Ean. “With occasional exciting moments. Hanging around you, it’s more exciting than normal.”
Ean liked life quiet. The lines, his crewmates on the Lancastrian Princess — especially Radko, wherever she was—and the alien ships. His preferred adventures were discovering new things about the lines.
He listened to the lines and kept out of Kari Wang’s way.
Ten minutes later, a ship jumped into space close enough for the Eleven to register the lines. Then another. Then a third. The three of them started to move toward the Wendell.
“Damn.” Kari Wang didn’t sound surprised. She called up Wendell. “You’ve three ships closing in on you.”
“We can see two of them. Where’s the third?”