The spacer flew out of the dining room's doors and hit the corridor wall. He was followed by a flying tray of food and another spacer who grabbed his uniform before he could hit the floor. She drew back her right arm to punch him in the face.

"What's going on here?" I demanded as I hurried toward them.

Seeing an officer's tab on my flightsuit—I had taken to wearing them of late to help restore the fraying order among the crew—the two spacers shrugged to a surly form of attention, their glaring eyes focused on the mess on the floor.

"I-I stumbled, sir" said the man who had hit the wall.

I caught the second spacer's eye. "And you?"

"I was helping him, sir," she said sheepishly.

I slowly drew my gaze across both the spacers and the plates spilled across the floor. "Clean this mess up. You know you're not supposed to have food outside the dining room."

"Yes, sir," they sighed.

"And I want you both to go to your quarters afterward. It appears fatigue has affected your coordination."

"Yes, sir."

I walked away shaking my head. This wasn't the first incident of this type. The long duty hours and the constant threat of impending combat was taking its toll. Even on their short and infrequent leaves, the escalating violence made me wonder if we'd kill each other before the enemy had a chance to try and do it for us.

I considered heading back to my own quarters, but I was too wound up to rest. I went to C&C instead. The net piece was probably just as effective for dealing with whatever messaging I required, but I called up every tac display and holographic monitor at my disposal anyway, comforted by the glow of the surrounding rectangles of light. Images of the research facility where we had stopped, vector plots of our circling ships and nearby asteroids, all neatly tagged and labeled, provided a comfortable illusion of order. The gnawing in the pit of my stomach emphatically suggested that the illusion would not last long. It might be fraying even now.

I considered messaging Cathrine, but we had just taken leave together and finished that date we had started back on Good Passage. It had seemed to go well, but we'd both been distracted with urgent problem messages. Then one of those awkward silences fell where neither one of us knew what to say. We ended up watching crewmembers singing karaoke in the bar which ultimately evolved into an improv talent show. It was pleasant but somehow vaguely disappointing at the same time. I'm not even sure what I had been expecting from our date, but I don't think it rose to her expectations either.

I flash messaged Phil. It took a minute, but he answered more quickly than I had expected.

"Ken, you're calling from C&C. What's wrong?"

"You're not answering my messages. What's happening?"

Irritation flashed on Phil's face, then quickly faded to lines of fatigue and worry. "I'm sorry Ken. I haven't been avoiding you. Things have just been crazy."

"No dissension in the ranks is there? Any fleet commanders backing out now that they know Sunshine's true plans?"

"No. Everyone is spoiling for a fight. In fact, if we don't cross into the inner sphere soon, I think they'll just rip out each other's throats."

"Oh? What's happening?"

Phil waived his hand helplessly. "I've got a dozen complaints about our men from the other fleet commanders. Everything from our ships taking more than our share of allocated supplies to an incident involving some of Sherman's spacers and an attempt to commandeer a pub on the research station."

I laughed.

"And then there are the complaints from the Cack merchants."

"Their complaints? They're the ones robbing our crew with their prices." I froze, noticing out of the corner of my eye something moving on the monitors.

"What is it?" Phil asked.

I cycled through a series of sensors, external cameras, and ship navigational displays. "It's the Black Adder."

"The Adder? Isn't she one of Moony's ships?"

"Yes. It looks like—she's launched breaching pods?"

"What? Why?"

I looked at Phil's exhausted face. "I don't know, maybe it's an exercise. Why don't you let me handle it?"

"Would you? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks, Ken. I owe you one." Looking relieved, Phil disconnected.

I sorted through the ship-to-ship com channels trying to find the one the Black Adder was on. Even seeing the list was one of the advantages of being a fleet officer.

"—right now! You haven't any right to hold him!" came the angry voice from one of Moony's breaching pods.

The Star Jumper, one ofSherman's ships, replied, "I repeat, back away from the ship or we will be forced to fire upon you."

"He was trying to stop the fight, he wasn't involved..."

I noticed the other breaching pods moving into assault position. This was going to get ugly fast. I punched up the com panel and paged the bridge. First officer Joanna Torres answered.

"Bridge here. What can I do for you C&C?"

"Go to FAS Delta and sound the acceleration alarm."

Torres blinked several times very rapidly. "I'll have to inform the ship's commander."

"You'll do it now on my authority. He'll find out soon enough."

"Yes, sir."

The lights flickered and panels that, until that moment had appeared as normal wall panels, suddenly lit up with an orange-red light and a FAS delta symbol appeared. At the same time sirens blared and two synthetic voices called out, "Fleet Alert Stance Delta. Danger is likely. All crew, prepare for acceleration."

"Do you have a course heading?" Torres asked coolly.

"Put us along Star Jumper's left side as fast as you can. Make us close enough I could lean out and kiss her hull."

"Yes, sir."

I turned up the volume on the com panel as the announcements blared.

"Let him go, or we'll come in and get him," one of the guys in the breaching pod threatened.

Alarms flashed on my tac display. Star Jumper had activated their targeting radar.

Somewhere bulkheads were sealing and umbilical tubes and cables were snapping free. The station ports master was probably freaking out. I could only hope he released our ship before we tore the docking clamps free.

A chime sounded on my com panel. Commander Brennon was calling. I tapped the connect icon.

"Phon! What are you doing commandeering my ship?"

"Sorry commander, I haven't time to explain. But I suggest you find something to hang on to." I killed the connection.

The Torchbearer leaped forward at something close to two gravities.

Torres re-appeared on my com panel a little stiffer than usual. "Sir, there's a breaching pod in our path."

"Put us between the pod and the Jumper. Nudge the pod out of the way if you have to."

"Nudge, sir? Yes, sir." Her tone sounded more like, I tried to warn you. Then, barely audible, "Man, is he going to be pissed."

The Torchbearer decelerated just as hard, causing my crash pod to rock forward on its hydraulics. I imagined a loud thump from hitting the pod, but of course the pod was nowhere massive enough to register against the Torchbearer's hull. It was probably even now shooting off in some random direction. That's when I realized the "he" Torres had been referring to was the pod's pilot.

A page icon buzzed angrily. The Star Jumper was trying to contact us. I took the call.

"Torchbearer! What do you think you're doing?"

"You looked like you could use some help, commander."

"I most certainly do not! Go away. We can deal with you too, you know."

"Now let's be reasonable—"

"Sir," Torres cut in. "The Jumper's got a weapon's lock on us."

The commander of the Star Jumper was already yelling at someone off-camera. "No, I didn't send for him! I'll take care of him, then you're next."

A new com panel opened with a page icon from one of the breaching pods. Without thinking, I accepted it and another voice began yammering at me. At the same time, threemore ships arrived. One was from Sherman's fleet and the other two were attached to Moony's fleet.

"Sir, I've got multiple weapon locks. It's from a squadron of Cack warships and they're approaching on an attack vector."

Oh, great, I thought. Now what?

Yet another com panel opened up, this one with a fleet command override. It was Shines Like the Sun.

"Sherman! Phon! You are committing ignorance! Undoing me is fighting among yourselves. We all will being undone. If making me your enemy, the Indwellers among us will destroy you."

Several tense moments followed where the push of a button could have ended the whole expedition, but then the Star Jumper took its weapons off-line. The pods withdrew and later Sherman agreed to turn the prisoner he had arrested over to Moony's custody. Moony also agreed to pay for the damages in the pub where the whole conflict started, but knowing his reputation, I doubted he intended to keep his end of the agreement.

* * *

The fleet eventually made it to a system whose name translated as something like Peanut. Lying deep in the nebula, the Peanut system was just a single spur off of a small ring of local systems. A single transit station connected these systems to the broader network of the inner sphere worlds. Anticipating the possibility of our arrival, The Cacks had withdrawn every space-based asset in the system, leaving the locals trapped on their world. They had even pulled the gate's defensive systems as if its defense wasn't worth the effort.

"If they're going to try to stop us, that's the place," Phil said.

Having always beenreticent with information about the worlds of the Moiarchy, only now did theCacks parceled out some additional maps of the local systems. We poured over thecharts trying to anticipate Righteous Ruler's actions and couldreach no other conclusion. If he intended to fight at all, it would have to bewhere the local ring of systems joined with the rest of the inner sphere. Oncewe were past that point, there were too many paths and too many transitconnections to bottle us up. The whole of the inner worlds would laydefenseless before us.

Every system we passed through as we navigated around the ring had been stripped bare. We stopped at the last system to allow the fleet commanders to complete their preparations for war. Soon the final battle to determine who would rule the Moiarchy of Those Who Dwell Within would commence.

The fleet commanders transmitted their updated battle plans and formations and Shines Like the Sun addressed the fleet. He appeared simultaneously on every display and smart surface on every ship in bright plastic plumage that was, if anything, brighter and more elaborate than ever. He clacked and chittered before the monitors while his best human translator, having been well briefed before the address, translated for the Solarians.

"Warriors of He Who Looks Up, I am not leading you into battle because I lack ships and crews of my own. No, the reason I sought your help was that I consider you to be more efficient and more effective than even large numbers of Those Who Dwell Within. I am counting on you proving you deserve the freedom that you enjoy from my father's Moiarchy.

"In order that you may know what kind of enemy you will be fighting, let me tell you of my own combat experience. Your enemy's numbers will be enormous, they will charge aggressively and their missiles and energy weapons will fill your displays and dazzle you. I am ashamed to say, however, that they will not fight well at all once you are inside the firing arcs of their weapons.

"The fleet of Those Who Dwell Within is comprised of dozens of space-faring species, each with their own languages and protocols. They cannot coordinate as you do, who effectively turn entire fleets of ships into a single massive weapon. They rely on their energy weapons and their speed. They hit and they run. They have no troopers as you do and so are unprepared to board your ships or resist your boarders.

"If you can hold your courage and your formations, and if the Great Maker aids me, I shall see to it that those of you who choose to go home will be the envy of his friends, while those who stay with me shall live like kings."

The crew had stopped in the midst of their duties, wherever they happened to be, to listen to the speech. A commotion erupted at the last comment and I actually heard cheering in the corridors of the Torchbearer.

"Now, no doubt, there are older and more experienced men among you who have heard similar promises from other employers who have failed to make good on them. They may even say that it is easy for me to make such generous promises now when the expedition is at such a critical point with battle is so near and that if things turn out well, I will quickly forget those promises."

Shines Like the Sun made a strange melodious hooting. The human translator laughed.

"Warriors! The Moiarchy of my father lies before us. It stretches across the galactic arm from the sparse outer worlds to where the radiation of the core makes habitation impractical. My brother's friends currently manage all the countless worlds between. When I am ruler, I will have to find people I can trust to manage them. As you can see, I am more afraid of running out of friends than I am of running out of things to give them. If we are successful and you wish to stay with me, each of you may well rule an entire world."

The crew exploded in cheers and shouts of approval. Not a single man or woman even remembered their prior fears of taking on the largest space force in the galaxy. The rewards about which they fantasized had driven out every other thought. Even the fleet commanders had such thoughts in the back of their minds as they discussed fleet formations and insisted that Shines Like the Sun's ship, Flower of Dirt, take a position safely behind the force.

"If authentically being a son of my father, forcing Righteous Ruler to the fight," Shines Like the Sun replied. "I doing no less intentionally being the one killing him."