"We laid low. Got them moving in the wrong direction for a while," Freddy said. "Odds are they can recognize our exhaust, so we didn't give them one. Maybe they found Atropos's old-style Langston Field. But this much for sure, they're chasing us."
"Flattering," Glenda Ruth said.
Freddy didn't answer.
"Getting all our enemies into one bunch," Bury said. "It is not the first time. On Tabletop-but that was a long time ago."
"Yeah. Well, it isn't quite working," Freddy said. "We've got maybe a hundred twenty on our tail, out of a thousand. Three hundred kept going; they've just about reached the Bandit cluster. We still don't know what they think they're guarding, but never mind that. I've lost five hundred of the buggers."
Kevin Renner said, "They haven't disappeared. It only means they're not under thrust."
"What are they doing?" Glenda Ruth asked.
Freddy shrugged. Kevin said, "Something else. Something interesting."
Horace Bury spoke suddenly. "The thing to remember is that we've won."
Joyce said, "I beg your pardon?"
"The Khanate Axis will not pass Agamemnon. Will not burst free into the Empire. They can never reclaim that option. Now their only hope is to replace the Medina Alliance. Well, what of that? They must reproduce Medina's agreements and fulfill them as best they can. They must even be over cooperative, to cover promises they might be expected to remember."
Joyce thought that through. "But they'd have to kill us all. And our friends."
"Silence every voice, yes. But the Empire of Man is safe now. The Mote will be organized according to our wishes and custom. We have won that war now," said Horace Bury. "We have protected the Empire of Man, indeed."
And Kevin Renner was trying to swallow a laugh; but why?
Wait- "You could do it!" Joyce cried. "I mean, I'm being very unprofessional here, but-if push came to shove, if they've got us in a box, you could still negotiate. The Empire could get what it wants from the Khanate instead."
They were looking at her. Joyce was sorry she'd spoken. Nobody spoke until Renner said, "Yup."
"Would you? Rather than, um, die?"
"No."
Now the eyes turned away, and only Glenda Ruth sighed in relief. Joyce thought, Why not? and said, "Okay."
"We don't want to teach the wrong lesson here, Joyce. Treachery can become habit-forming."
Five days: part acceleration, part coasting, Sinbad and Atropos led the enemy fleet across Motie space. Five days to observe, not just the battle, but the people.
Freddy Townsend was busy, too busy to talk... but it was more than that.
Freddy was avoiding Glenda Ruth, just a bit. Joyce was willing to learn why, but she hadn't thought of an excuse to probe. And Freddy would clam up a bit when Joyce was wearing her "reporter" hat.
But he would talk to both women. Joyce found herself coming on to him a little; when she caught herself at that, or when Glenda Ruth did, she would back off; but she could loosen his tongue that way. There was so much to understand, and Freddy was her best source of information.
"But this is the part we're wondering about," Freddy said, and with a woman peering over each shoulder, he moved his cursor about the screen. "Here, a quarter of the fleet turned around to chase us. Another third went on to join the Bandit cluster, the Khanate allies that never went through. What are they after? Why did they think they'd find Sinbad and Atropos in that direction?"
"Fuel," Kevin Renner said without turning around. "They must be desperate for fuel by now. They're trading time for fuel."
"The rest of them turned off their drives. That lasted for hours. Then we got this." Freddy put the cursor on a tight pattern of blue-white points, like a cityscape or the work lights on a half built factory. "And that's been following us, changing as it goes."
Again Kevin spoke without turning. "We think those ships are all linked up into one framework. They'd have broken up some ships to build it. It took them ten hours. Then they came after us."
"If Empire ships tried that, they'd come apart like nose wipes in the rain," Freddy said. "Even so, they're only doing a fifth of a gee. Hundreds of ships are following them from Bandit cluster, linking up."
"Fuel ships, of course. I bet they're dropping stuff on the way, too. Empty ships. Spare troops. They'll keep some framework to make their structure stronger. Unless I'm crazy. Jesus, Freddy, I wish we could see that thing better."
"It looks a lot like Vermin City, backlit," Freddy said. "Not much pattern, and that changes every minute. Okay, Joyce, Group A is still in the lead. They'll reach us first, yes? We have to outrace them."
"First, but with dry tanks. Group A can't maneuver," Kevin said. "That's not going to hurt them, unfortunately, because they've guessed where we're going. Group B might get to us late, but with fuel to maneuver."
"You're guessing, Commodore."
"But it's what Moties would do," Glenda Ruth said. "The ships they start with won't be the ships that attack you."
"Keep a watch. I want to close my eyes for an hour."
"Yessir. Hold it! Commodore?"
Drive lights flared where the cursor lay. "I see it," Kevin said. "See if you can get a better picture. I have the watch."
"What is it, Kevin?" Bury demanded.
"Won't know for an hour," Renner said.
They were building a sketchy dinner when they heard Freddy whoop. Joyce reset the oven before she followed Glenda Ruth.
Freddy was grinning. "Sanity check. We've been right all along. What do you see?"
Behind the tight pattern of blue lights that was Khanate Group B was a looser pattern, a score of drive lights well spread out and shifting in intensity. Kevin said, "Two of those just went out. Shot down by our guys?"
Freddy looked. "Our allies aren't anywhere near. It's possible of course. Warriors are just bloody damned good at killing...Enhanced view, Screen Two."
"Right. Khanate rescue ships, Freddy. They're towing that cylinder now. Rescue or salvage. And the rest are still coming... and there goes another pair. They're merging. Group B must be leaving garbage and personnel clear across the sky."
"That'll hurt ‘em."
"It will if our allies have anything to say about it. They're losing mass, losing numbers, losing firepower, all to get the fuel to reach us. You agree? It's us the Warrior ships are after. The Empire ships."
"Yes sir."
"I should talk to Atropos."
Joyce found the next hour even more confusing. It was frustrating: she had her news equipment, nothing was being kept from her, but she wasn't getting a story she could tell.
"The only thing that still concerns me is this," she heard Renner telling Atropos. "When we go through the Crazy Eddie point, we have to know that no Master ship has given the Warrior ships new orders. Otherwise we'll be abandoning the Mote system to the Khanate."
And that made sense, but how to lay it out for a viewer? If we lose, you'll never know it. Even we may never know. If we returned via New Cal and that little orange star, a year from now we could be talking to a replacement Eudoxus speaking for a replacement Medina. All Moties look alike, but these are the good guys and-?
"Maybe later," she said to Bury. "Maybe I'll understand later."
"And perhaps you never will," Bury said.
"If we lose-"
"Yes, of course, but even if we win. It has happened to me." And he launched into another tale of his terrible past, a skewed view of Empire history that Joyce could never have bought with pearls and rubies.
There had been incidents. Sometimes the Khanate fleet beamed laser light at them, forcing Sinbad and Atropos to take turns shadowing each other. Renner and Townsend had at first considered this a mere annoyance.