Having returned from his visit to Bright Fortune, Sherman called for a meeting of all his fleet officers on the Battle of Kuzikos. He had a powerful personality and I'm sure he called for a face to face meeting because he thought he could strong arm us all into going along. While the commanders were somewhat encouraged by Bright Fortune's words, most were not quite ready to trust him.

"I've spent the last day and a half with Bright Fortune, and I'm convinced he has plans for us and eagerly wants us as his ally."

"And you think Moony is the only reason he has been acting suspiciously toward us?" Solomon asked.

"I'm certain of it," Sherman snapped. "I know Moony has been talking to the owner-operators, trying to get them to come over to his command."

"Do you think Bright Fortune will denounce him?" Ormond asked.

"Yes. That's why I've insisted that whoever is responsible be considered a traitor—not just to Righteous Ruler but to the fleet as well."

"I'm just not comfortable sending all the FCs over at the same time," Smith said. "His change of heart—if those things have hearts—seems a little too sudden."

"The logic is irrefutable," Sherman said, growing agitated. "It really is in our mutual best interest to work together. Anyone who has worked against that has undermined us both. I've made that clear to him."

Smith just shook his head.

"But I need you there." Sherman paused and took a calming breath. "After this, Bright Fortune is likely to want the fleet under the command of some one person he can trust. Even if Moony is arrested, that man has surrounded himself with other treacherous and deceitful men. I need the support of as many people as possible to secure the position. If I could pack that ship with every command officer in our combined fleets, I would."

I couldn't help but notice how he assumed we would all just naturally support his bid for leadership of the combined fleet. It was true that we had all largely followed him by unspoken agreement when Shines Like the Sun died. He certainly had more real battlefield experience than the rest of us—even more than his elder fellow Spartan Commander Smith. If he had a quick temper, it only seemed to be a problem in peacetime. In battle I never saw a more calm and self-assured man. In truth, though I enjoyed serving under Phil, he had difficulty dealing with some of the more unruly elements of his command, preferring to merely set a good example and withhold rewards from those who didn't support the team. I could never stand to serve under Sherman in peacetime, but in war, I couldn't think of a better commander.

* * *

"I don't want you to go," Phil said later. "I have a funny feeling about this." He had sat, lost in silent thought, on the shuttle back to the Athena. Once back in his quarters, he ordered me to stay behind.

"If you think it's a bad idea, then you shouldn't go either," I said.

"I have to." He gave me a smile meant to be reassuring. "I'm probably just being paranoid, but I don't want any of my fleet officers going just in case something goes wrong. There's still a lot of tension in the air between Moony's crew, Sherman's crew and the Cacks."

"I thought you were taking Cathrine with you."

"She won't actually be going to the meeting. I decided to position her nearby with some ships just in case. They'll just be visiting the merchants for supplies." He gave me a wink. "I suggested to the other fleet commanders that they do the same and they agreed."

"Let me go with you. Leave Cathrine behind."

"No. I want you here with the fleet."

"What about Harlow?"

"I want a strategist there in case I need someone to pull my ass out. Harlow is more of a logistics expert. That just leaves you and Cathrine and I need you here with the fleet."

"Chris?"

Phil laughed. "Chris Knight should have never left the fighter cockpit. I often think he would prefer to be back there."

I tried to think of some other option, but I had run out of ideas. All I could think was that I should go with Phil and Cathrine should remain here, but his mind was clearly made up. I told myself this nebulous fear was unreasonable, but it didn't help.

* * *

When the fleet commanders left to meet with Bright Fortune for their political showdown, I sat in my office trying to ignore my anxiety by losing myself in paperwork. I mostly ended up sorting through my personal files on the server and trying to organize them. I browsed through some old photos from my academy days and found a photo of Phil and some of my fellow student pilots the night we earned our wings. I don't know how much time I sat staring at it, wondering over the strange twists of fate which brought us so far from home and placed us in such straights. I remembered Dr. Swiftly and the kairogram I hadn't looked at since I left Sardis IV. I opened the file, looked at the complicated charts and probability scores and realized why I hadn't looked at it in a while. As I sat puzzling over my stunted futures an urgent message flashed on my display. It was Cathrine.

"...commanders arrested! The Cacks are attacking! Ken can you hear me? Put the fleet on alert!"

I punched up the executive command menus and slapped the FAS setting to Gamma.

Lights flashed and warning tones blared all around me.

"Cathrine, what's your status?"

"We were set up. They had fast attack craft hidden all over the place."

"Cathrine, can you hear me? What's your status?"

"We're pretty shot up. I've got a FAC on my tail right now. Think you can send us some help?"

I tried to call up a tac panel, but my cabin lacked both the bandwidth and display room for everything I needed. The cabin lurched as, according to alert status protocol, the spinning habitat portion braked and began to be retracted against the ship. "One moment, I'll find you some help," I said as I began to float away from the network console. I passed the com channel to my net piece and leaped for the door. As I shot down the corridor, pushing aside oncoming crewmen I flashed the bridge.

"Ken? Is that you? What's going on?" Commander Brennon asked breathlessly.

"Cathrine says she's being attacked by the Cacks. Find her ship, the High Victory, and move in to support it, now!"

"As you say."

"I'm headed to C&C. I'll be there in a minute."

The acceleration alarms sounded and the left wall turned, temporarily into a floor as the ship changed its heading. The alarm sounded for a second time and the ship leaped ahead under one G. I stood up and raced to the stairwell, leaping down the vibrating steps as the matter/antimatter engines shoved us toward the fight. I made it to the C&C and leaped inside my crash pod, only realizing I was not wearing my pressure suit when I absentmindedly checked to see that my missing helmet was secure.

I switched on all my displays and counted down the seconds of their delayed response by pounding my fist on the side of the pod. Once my tactical screens were up, I scanned for the High Victory but saw only debris and chaos. Cack FACs criss-crossed each other in counter rotating orbits, attacking anything that moved. Even the orbital defenses had come online, sweeping the debris fields with gamma ray lasers.

"Those bastard!" I shouted, realizing the Cacks seemed intent on ensuring that even the survivors of the destroyed ships were killed. I switched from gravimetrics, to optical, to radar, dialing up and down the spectrum as I cycled through my sensors, looking for any sign of our ships. I found a few fading transponders, but no ships.

Remembering the com channel I had opened with her, I tapped my netpiece. I had set it to record while I was talking to Brennon, but when I check, it had lost the connection. I reversed the recording to see what I had missed.

"Cathrine, can you hear me? What's your status?"

"We're pretty shot up. I've got a FAC on my tail right now. Think you can send us some help?"

"One moment, I'll find you some help."

"Hurry!"

The stuttered chirping of garbled digital signals sounded for a split second and the recording ended when the signal was lost.

Commander Brennon flash messaged me. "Uh, commander? We can't find the High Victory. Do you have a new target?"

A cold numbness washed over me and I suddenly felt like throwing up. "Any replies to our signals?"

"None."

She was gone. It was the only explanation. I wanted to race over to MP3 and sweep for survivors. There was still a real chance that her crash pod survived. The rules of modern warfare required the Cacks to retrieve it. Failure to do so was considered a war crime, but if they were attacking the survivors, it already looked like the Cacks were engaged in war crimes.

I swallowed past the constriction in my throat. "Fall back. Form up with the rest of the fleet." I scanned the orbit of MP4. All Cack military ships were curiously absent. I selected the nearest Lagrange point, suggest it as the fleet rendezvous point and we boosted out of MP4's gravity well.

The ships of the other fleets, scattered across the various habitats, were recalled and we joined up as many as were available. Commander Smith, who had not gone to the conference, had instead transited to the next system looking for supplies which had begun to grow scarce at Many Ports. I wondered briefly if he had anticipated this disaster and decided to get away while he had the chance. I didn't have long to worry about him as flash messages came in from every ship of the fleet asking what was happening. I recorded my reply to one panicked commander, attached what sensor and com logs I had, including my brief conversation with Cathrine, and copied it to every SC and fleet officer in the global address list.

We reseeded our EPRs, adjusted our formations to account for the missing ships and prepared for the fight to come. I expanded the picket of drone scouts and kept an eye on Bright Fortune's fleet at MP3 and then we waited.

We didn't have long to wait.

Three battle cruisers surrounded by a small guard of FACs came towards us at a leisurely one G acceleration. They identified themselves as Most Noble and two other friends of Shines Like the Sun, Swift Righteousness and Gift of God. They came, they said, bearing a message from Righteous Ruler to whatever commanders or other fleet officers might be available. Fleet Sub-Commander Maxwell and Fleet Sub-Commander Dexter who had served under Solomon and Sherman respectively, boosted out to com laser rang to meet with them. I ordered Brennon to take the Phoenix out with them so I could discover Phil's fate and, if possible, the fate of other survivors of the attack.

"Notice, He Who Looks Up. Sherman being tested and proved guilty on fraud and contract violations was executed. Providing witnesses evidence opposing him, Porter and Moony were commended to Righteous Ruler's service. About you, Righteous Ruler says Shines Like the Sun's death transports his assets and liabilities to Righteous Ruler including him with your contract. He choosed by order his right to Fleet reassignment to contol to him immediately."

I leaned back in the acceleration couch and rubbed a hand across my face. This was completely unexpected. I was wondering if the Cacks actually had a legal claim to us, if that claim might afford us some special protections and wishing I had a Cack lawyer, when Commander Dexter apparently recovered from his shock.

"Most Noble, you disgusting little bug! And the rest of you who called yourselves Shines Like the Sun's friends, have you no shame? You signed contracts and gave your oath to be our allies and now you have sided with that evil liar Bright Fortune, killed the men you swore your oaths to and betrayed the rest of us by taking our enemy's side!"

It was probably a good thing the Cacks never figured out the human social cues for anger and disgust. When Most Noble responded, he seemed genuinely puzzled. "But demonstrating Sherman conspired against Bright Fortune, Overbearing and the rest of us at the start."

I heard Dexter cursing in the background, but neither he nor Maxwell could frame a suitable reply. Still thinking of Phil, I cut in, "If, as you say, Sherman was guilty of violating the truce, then he only got what he deserved. But if commanders Porter and Moony are not only innocent, but helped you uncover this plot, then send them to us to advise us, since we can both be sure that they have everyone's best interest at heart.

Most Noble paused, listening to the translation, then stood speechless for a long moment. He turned to another Cack and clacked out something and the communication signal ended.

"Good one," Dexter grumbled.

"You exposed their lies all right," Maxwell added.

"Let's just wait and see what they say," I cautioned. I was actually hoping they were telling the truth. If Phil had a reason to suspect Sherman, he might have reported it. In that regard he was honest almost to a fault. If he's still alive, I thought.

We waited for nearly an hour after which the Cacks turned their ships around and left without another word.