The enemy fleet was a scattering of black dots across MGC-R31's orange-white glare, visibly receding with Sinbad's velocity. They'd positioned themselves well, Renner thought. Just sunward of the Sister, to foul an intruder's sensors; near enough to blast them at point-blank.
Atropos was glowing far brighter than the little sun. Nothing smaller than Atropos would have survived this long, without Atropos itself as shield. Too few Medina ships were adrift behind Atropos, firing around the shield, easing back. When Atropos went, they'd go, too.
It was going to be tricky. The Moties aboard were no use at all. Sinbad's computers were Navy quality, three independent systems, each working the same test problems until they all got the same answers-and they weren't getting them.
"Townsend!"
"Sir?"
"Get the Flinger going! Hit that Motie fleet. Especially the big ship."
"Will do. Launcher self-check. In order. Erecting." The Field blinked for a second as the loops of the linear accelerator eased up through the black energy shell. "Launcher outside Field. I'm getting direct camera information. Trajectory analysis-"
Sinbad was flashing past the battle. They had almost no time.
"Trajectory computers give divergent answers!" Freddy shouted. "Rape it. Launching. Stand by!"
Sinbad recoiled. Then again. "On the way. Automatic loaders are working," Freddy said.
A muted keening sound had to be coming from Glenda Ruth.
"Stand by," Freddy said. "On the way. Dispersion pattern. Continuous fire, stand by!"
There was a floodlight glare from every screen, then all screens went dark. "They hit us. That's it for the cameras," Freddy said. "Captain, the Flinger's dry. We'd have to bring it in to reload."
"Never mind."
Bury was trying to crawl up Kevin's ankle with just one hand. "Bring it in. Kevin, bring it in!"
"Okay, I'm doing it. Lie still, Horace." Unseen, the loops of the Flinger were sinking through the Field into the hull.
"Superconductor," Bury said.
"Ah." Sinbad's finger was a linear accelerator made with Motie superconductor. That was why it hadn't melted in the glare of Khanate lasers. If it wasn't withdrawn, it would conduct the energy of the laser attack into Sinbad.
"We're still getting relays from Atropos," Renner said. The relays would be progressively out of date as Sinbad moved away from the battle. "And I've got a camera on-line."
Someone, human or Motie, made a strangling sound. Glenda Ruth wailed again. The black beyond the windows began to glow dull red.
An image formed on Renner's screen, a composite of the relay and direct observation. It showed a cluster of Motie ships receding as Sinbad moved past the battle. Beams reached from three smaller Motie ships toward Sinbad. Six others held Atropos pinned like a bug. One of the Motie ships attacking the Imperial cruiser was nearly as large as Atropos.
"Blue field," Renner muttered. Give him another five minutes. Then he's gone and so are we.
"Five. Four," Freddy counted. "Three. Two. One. Zero. Maybe the timer's off. Or the trig-"
Something flashed intolerably bright beyond the larger Motie ship. The larger Motie ship went from green to bright blue, expanding. Another flash. Another. The blue shaded toward violet.
"Jesus, Horace," Renner muttered. "Fifty megatons? More? How long have we had those aboard?"
"You would not..." Bury's voice was weak but held a note of ironic triumph. "You would not have approved. At what those cost I nearly did not approve myself."
"It's working!" Joyce shouted. "They're not attacking Atropos anymore. They're-"
She fell silent. Two of the Motie ships flashed violet and beyond and were gone. The largest ship was now glowing blue-white, and Atropos was firing at it. "He can't last," Joyce said.
The big Motie ship flashed and vanished. Now a score of bright dots clustered around the fading glow that was Atropos and accelerated toward the remaining Tartar ships.
"Sinbud, this is Atropos."
"Go ahead, Commander."
"Well done, sir. We've won this battle," Rawlins said. "The Moties can clean up the rest of their blockade fleet. Sir, there was no opportunity to contact Agamemnon. I suggest you do that."
"Right. Carry on, Rawlins. Townsend!"
"Here."
"Find Agamemnon. Send that message."
"On it."
"You fight like vermin," Harlequin said with contempt.
Jennifer flinched at the insult, then wondered at its meaning. But the Mediator had kicked himself aft without giving her a chance to reply. Now the Moties huddled, chattering, and Jennifer turned back to the display.
There had been a battle. Ships had died. It looked as if the intruders had won.
Harlequin was back, with the Warrior hovering behind her. "I apologize," the Motie said. "I understand now. You throw away resources like vermin, but it is not that you are animals. You have endless resources."
"If you win everything you want, your descendants will think the same way," Jennifer said.
"Yes. Our battle plan has changed, Jennifer, We no longer believe we can pass to New Cal."
"Surrender," Jennifer said. "Accept the Crazy Eddie Worm. No Motie need die because there are too many."
A wave dismissed the notion. "We have considered this. There are domains to be fought for, and we may yet win."
And Mediators speak for the Masters. "You can't win. The Empire has-you've seen the resources we have. This hasty little expedition. A civilian ship was enough to harm your war fleet and alter your plans, and you haven't seen what the Empire can do! Harlequin, talk to your Masters!"
"I have done so. You have none of your altered parasite. There is no time to test it, and your altered parasite might well be fiction." Harlequin might not even have seen her reaction. "In any case, our options are not ended. Your representatives have made agreements with our rivals. Medina Consortium, Pollyanna calls them. Very well, we need only conquer Medina and take their place. Then we will have a gripping hand on the vast resources offered by your Empire."
This at first seemed ludicrous to Jennifer. "All Moties look alike?"
"We must assume that you passed messages describing your situation, describing promises made to Medina Consortium, describing battle plans. But if we silence every human voice, and if we make our rivals extinct, who will tell your Masters which of us was Medina Consortium?"
Jennifer sensed that her answer would be taken very seriously; so, very seriously, she thought it through.
"What if you fail? One voice could destroy you all."
"Humans are conspicuous. They require their special life support systems. We will find you."
"What are you going to do?"
"It is done. Our Warriors will follow your human-built ships and destroy them. Others may remain on Medina's major carrier, but my Warrior adviser calls it a mere hydrogen snowball, conspicuous and slow, easy to capture."
She's crazy! But all Moties look different. It's no better than looking all alike. It could work, Jennifer thought. And Harlequin knows I believe it might work. Damn. "What of us?"
"We may have need of you."
"Of course." If the Khanate failed, she or Terry would convey surrender terms to the Empire. So, they would be the last to die. I have to think. There must be some way to convince them that this is madness. "Crazy Eddie."
Harlequin had not mastered the art of appearing to shrug, but her inflection conveyed the same sentiment. "As you say. These are Crazy Eddie times. But time is short, and if we seek this option, we must seek it now. We will speak later."
Freddy Townsend said, "Sir, I have some other ships in view. Interested?"
"No. Find Agamemnon."
"Waiting."
"Making coffee," Joyce said. "Strong, with hot milk?"
Freddy said, "If Agamemnon has shields up, I won't find it, period. What if we just beam your message at the Jump point?"