Kevin Renner set his couch to full recline and closed his eyes. He heard Bury's voice, brisk but with a thread of fatigue in it. "Omar, we will need as many warships as can be assembled to accompany Atropos and Sinbad through the Sister..." And then it all faded out.
"Urgent message," the computer announced.
Renner sat up at the console. "Put it through."
Eudoxus showed on the screen. Renner punched in questions: Base Six was a bit under four light-minutes behind him.
"Kevin, the fleets of Byzantium are delayed. They will not reach the Sister in time to accomplish anything, Shall we send them elsewhere? Also, we have detected objects on an intercept course with Sinbad. Three unidentified ships on this vector." There was a twitter of binary data. "They should be twenty-six minutes from intercept when you receive this."
Renner thought it through, then sent, "I assume Byzantium is still your ally. Ask them and any other allies to join you at Base Six. Help to secure the Sister. We will look at your unidentified ships. Our present plans are unchanged. We will follow the Atropos group through the Sister. With luck you will secure the Sister from this side." Kevin thought for a moment and shrugged. Why not? "Godspeed." Renner clicked off. "Mr. Townsend?"
Freddy Townsend's picture said, "What's up?'
"Screen two." They studied the screen together. Black space and stars, and three dots approaching from low and thirty degrees off the port bow, a degree below the Pleiades.
"Sinbad's detectors haven't seen them yet," Freddy said. "Maybe now that we know where to look..."
"Right." Renner punched in commands. "Three targets acquired. Constant bearing, and closing, thirty thousand klicks. They're not throwing anything at us yet, Freddy." He watched violet-white lights weaving about him and said, "I'd say our allies are already alerted, but call them anyway and make sure Rawlins knows, too."
"Wake anyone else up?"
"Call Joyce." Bury was fast asleep. His readouts were a little jagged, a bit disturbing. The Moties slept, too, and Kevin considered. "We don't need a translator, do we?"
"Let her sleep. Death makes Glenda Ruth twitchy."
Joyce Trujillo was awake: Kevin could see her screen alight past the back of her head. "Hi, Joyce. Battle shaping up. Freddy, have you got any of the other ships?"
"Signal from Ten, but I can't read it. Warriors. I'm waking Omar."
"Swell."
Omar uncurled and sat up. What followed was a rapid exchange between Sinbad and its twenty small Motie Warrior fighter escorts. Omar said, "You are to be protected."
Irritating. Kevin said, "If I tell you that I am a Mediator-Warrior-"
"Ships Six through Twenty deployed between us and Bandit Cluster One. Ships One through Five in reserve. Expected attack at high velocity, two clusters of fighters around a fuel tank, expected to separate, plus a Master ship. These are some random ally of the Khanate, arriving late but obliged to protect the Sister from capture by East India and Medina."
"Much better, Omar. Might they be aware that the Khanate has abandoned them? Give me your best guess."
"They will not guess that, because the Khanate need not have told them what the Sister does. Ship One suggests you activate your Langston Field now."
Renner did that. Screens went black, then lit one by one as he raised cameras.
Violet lights were diminishing toward the Pleiades. "Omar, did all of our escort go off to fight?"
"Omar's off," Freddy said. "I see four Warrior fighters still with us, not holding any special position. Dammit-" He didn't have to finish. Glenda Ruth was watching Joyce's screen with bright eyes.
Joyce spoke to her, a near-whisper in the dark cabin. Kevin wasn't meant to hear. "Are we going to fight, do you think?"
"To fight, or to timidly hide behind our allies? Hmm." If Glenda Ruth hadn't meant him to hear, Kevin didn't believe he would have. "Joyce, we tried to put everything we know in the message to Weigle. We even duped your tapes as a supplement."
"'Even'?"
"Barring that message, whether or not it went through, everything mankind knows about Moties is right here in Sinbad."
Three enemy dots had become a spray of lights. Sinbad's Warrior fighters were dancing, an unpredictable pattern. The enemy began to dance, too. When the enemy is light-seconds away, it is possible to dodge laser beams.
"The thing is," Glenda Ruth said, "if Sinbad has to fight, it'll be a very bad sign."
"It's likewise true that my holos may be the most important thing to emerge from Mote system."
"Point."
"I've read about space-fleet engagements," Joyce said. "They all say the same thing. They'd be boring if they weren't terrifying. I didn't really believe that before."
The weaving lights of the enemy ships had converged to one blurred point and stayed that way. Renner frowned. What did they think they were doing?
They were withdrawing, the Warrior ships protecting the Master Sinbad's entourage were too many for them.
Bandit Cluster Two was bigger. They went past at six hundred klicks per, firing once. Cluster One's beams impinged on Sinbad at the same time, the attack easily absorbed by Langston Fields. Cluster Two decelerated to join One.
Atropos reached the Sister and took up station there, without incident, surrounded by East India Trading's Warriors and the remnants of the Crimean Tartar war fleet. The Medina outriders were already arriving.
A third Bandit Cluster arrived, too. With Cluster One/Two they gathered their forces into a complex pattern half a million klicks out and forward of the Sister, then held station.
Freddy Townsend recorded that and later played it for Renner at high speed. "Sir, it ought to make a pattern, but I can't see it."
"Omar, who are these?"
"Three families, one local, none of any consequence. The Khanate's contract to depart Mote system must leave enough wealth behind to back any number of alliances."
"Okay. There aren't enough to attack us. They're expecting the Khanate to come surging back through the Sister. Then when we flee, these guys block our path."
"What's in that direction?"
"It doesn't matter. They're not between us and what we want. They only think they are. Freddy, how close are we to the Sister?"
"Three hours, but we'll be going through at two hundred klicks per, unless we increase thrust. Another three hours if we miss the pass."
Bury was asleep. His telltales seemed to have settled down: he was resting well. Give him another hour, Renner thought. "Belay thrust increase. Omar, we need a conference with our escorts and allies. Freddy, please call Commander Rawlins."
"Let me be sure of this," Rawlins said. "We're going through the Sister. Me first, and I'm to try to protect the lot of you. What from?"
"Whatever the Khanate has left as doorkeeper," Renner said. "Opinion is divided on just how much that will be."
"Okay," Rawlins said. "Standard convoy escort through a Jump point. I can do that, but the Moties will have to cooperate. Shall we work out the courses, or will you?"
"Your job," Renner said. "I've been away from it awhile. You'll do it better. Now, we're six hours behind you if Townsend's maneuver works, thirteen if it doesn't. You'd better not wait. We'll follow you."
"Yes, sir. Okay, I go in and cover the forty-seven Motie alliance warships you're vectoring in. Then when we're all through, we make for Agamemnon at flank speed."
"Everything that gets through," Renner said. "You've got a copy of my report to Agamemnon. Relay that if you can. The important thing is to keep the Khanate from getting out to the Empire. Don't you agree?"
"Yes. All right. Sir. Okay, but there are too many ships for me to cover them all. I'll have to send some through in a dispersion pattern. I'll work out the course vectors and send them over within an hour. As for Sinbad, you're moving too fast, it would take hours to match velocities."