Other SG ships had their two-mile hulls overcrowded with attachments: weapons, nav-gear blisters, ultraspace communications pods, all lorded over by control stations that were like small cities covered by canopies made of superglass. The ShadoVox did not look like this. Its huge wedge shape was slick, polished, a fuselage unbroken except by the smallish control-deck bubble up front. The ship's blended body broke with centuries-old tradition. As a result, it was sleeker than any warship in the Galaxy.
It was also one of the most powerful. Despite appearances, the ShadoVox did carry weapons — nearly twice as many as the other designs currently dominating the SG's outer forces. Its weapons stations were recessed into its body, to be revealed only in the event of combat. With one command, Joxx's majestic ship would be bristling with Z-gun barrels and space-torpedo tubes, thousands of them up and down the fuselage. They would appear as if from nowhere, and whenever this happened, the ShadoVox's outer skin would turn from dazzling white to sinister gray.
At this point, many adversaries — if they were still in one piece — simply fled. Indeed, for all the space trash Joxx had actually fought out on the Fringe, twice as many had run away. Occasionally, he would give pursuit. Toying with the fleeing ships, he used some for target practice. Others he just let go. Those who stood and fought always lost for three simple reasons: Even out of Supertime, Joxx's weapons were twice as fast, they could fire twice as far, and he could see an enemy twice as quickly as they could see him.
Not a fair fight, really.
But nothing was fair in war.
After three days in flight, the ShadoVox had reached the outer edge of the Moraz Star Cloud, the band of star systems that made up most of the mid-Two Arm.
The first star system out here was Moog-SRX; its one and only planet was called Cubes. The name had nothing to do with climate; it was a reference to the thousands of clubs dotting the planet's surface. Practically the only drink available in these places was slow-ship wine poured over cubes of nitrous oxide-vapor ice. The result was a concoction sometimes called superbooze.
Cubes was a favorite of Joxx's crew. It offered drink, pretty holo-girls, and exotic food galore, yet it was not as funky as some planets on the far side of the star cloud could be. The ShadoVox arrived, unannounced, just about midnight. Joxx ordered the ship parked in orbit and allowed anyone not on duty to crash the planet.
He and eight of his staff officers flew down to the city of Keex; it was the capital of Cubes and a place famous for its soaring emerald towers and elegant tropical setting. There was a casino in Keex known as the Ice Dust'. It was where the beautiful people from the outer star cloud came to gamble and canoodle. Joxx was very well-known here. When he breezed through the front door, a squad of groveling robot waiters descended on him immediately. He was ushered to one of the best tables in the high casino. His men were given bottles of the best slow in the place (Joxx did not drink) and one hundred thousand aluminum chips each, courtesy of management.
The Ice Dust was an enormous multilayered place set into a cliff that looked out over a clear blue sea. One side of the high casino was made entirely of superglass. The view was incredible. Fifteen thousand people could fit inside this section alone, with room to spare. It was usually raucous, no matter what time of day.
The club was curiously subdued this evening, though. Joxx noticed it the moment he sat down. The place was nearly filled, but instead of the crowded hovering dance floor, the spinning gaming tables, and the nonstop squeal of holo-girls, the grand parlor was almost hushed tonight. A few people were dancing, a few were gambling. But many patrons were huddled in small groups in the corners, drinking quickly and conversing in whispers. There was a strange feeling in the smoky air, highly unusual for the Dust.
Joxx ate dinner but left early. He found many of his troops had returned to the ship early as well. He spoke to a few of them. They reported the planet seemed bummed out all over. Why? It was hard to tell. Confiding in anyone wearing a uniform was just not done out here on the mid-Two Arm.
The ShadoVox left orbit early the next morning, its captain and crew still puzzled.
Its next destination was the Stygnus-Malone twin star system, also known as S&M-2.
This place was considered a little rowdier than Moog SRX. With thirteen in all, its planets held more people and there were a fair number of industrial worlds interspersed with the club planets and floating casinos.
It was a 226-light-year jump over from Cubes, a trip of about two hours. Cruising in Supertime, the ShadoVox's pilots were able to look out on the space lanes plied by much slower ion-ballast ships. These star corridors were busy. Seeing a dozen or so civilian interstellar vessels during a two-hour trip would have been considered normal. The ShadoVox's helmsmen saw hundreds.
All shapes, all sizes.
All heading in the opposite direction.
The ShadoVox reached S&M-2's capital planet to find every one of its spaceports was jammed with ships.
Its docking facilities were so crowded, the ShadoVox couldn't find a secure place for one of its small shuttlecraft to set down. It was as if every flat piece of ground on the planet was overcrowded with spacecraft of all descriptions. The regular spaceports were absolutely overflowing with people. And sensors indicated that every planet in the system was just as crowded, if not more so.
"What's going on?" Joxx called down to one of the
##ShadoVox's recon craft as it sped across the planet in very low orbit. "Who are all those people?" The reply came back: "More refugees."
The ShadoVox blinked back into Supertime and proceeded to its next station point, a star system called Gyros 6. Its capital planet was a major shipbuilding world.
It was more of the same here — a lot more. This planet was so jammed with refugees, just about every available landing space on its surface and in orbit was taken up by some kind of spacecraft, many of them little more than interstellar boltbuckets.
The ShadoVox didn't even bother to stop. It flew on, concern rising among Joxx's shipmasters. Obviously something catastrophic was happening farther up the Two Arm— but what? Local communications above Gyros 6 revealed an ocean of panicky voices, talking about nothing except when the next flight out would be leaving and whether they could get a seat on it.
Joxx considered sending people down from his ship— either commandos or spies — and beating the information out of someone. But instinct told him to stay cool. Sending knuckle breakers below might make a bad situation even worse. He had to avoid spreading rumors at all costs, ones that might cause an all-out midarm panic. For this same reason, he was reluctant to send anything citing these concerns back to Earth;- even in secure channels, such a report would be a bombshell if it fell into the wrong hands.
He would have to move farther into the star cloud and see for himself what was causing the rout.
So he pressed on.
The ShadoVox made the final 359-light-year leap, reaching a system known as Starry Town. This was the last populated area in the mid-Two Arm and only about fifty light-years away from where the two isolated listening posts went curiously silent. In between was a section of space known as Thirty Star Pass.