The Insurrection

They're rearming somewhere, and I'd bet they've got replacement fighters stashed out there, too. Ali of which supports your theory: this was carefully pla

It's no last-minute improvisation." Trevayne's officers and advisers exchanged looks and glanced covertly at the admiral, who leaned one elbow on the polished tabletop and thought@u Finally he leaned back and rapped the edge of the table with his light pencil, breaking the grip of the silence@u "Very well. Matters have gone pretty much as expected, in the sense that the rebels haven't committed major forces to defend either New India or this system. They've fought token holding actions, forcing us to expend munitions and inflicting maximum losses in a shot time before withdrawing.

"We also anticipated that our advance would expose the fleet train to flank attacks through warp points leading to rebel systems off our line of advance. Again, no surprises @u.. except possibly for the weight of the attacks and the fact that they're also using these deep-space bases Admiral Sanders and Commander Kirilenko have hypothesized to operate inside the systems we've reoccupied. And, of course, for the number of escort carriers-or whatever--they've committed." He paused and looked around the table. "Now, what do these facts, taken together, mean? I realize one school of thought holds that our rapid advance means the rebellion is collapsing like a house of cards.

That, I'm sure, is Captain Waldeck's view," he added with a crooked smile. "But I don't believe it. These raids show too much forethought, and they're being pressed too aggressively; we're clearly not fighting a beaten enemy. I still think the decisive battle will come at Zapata, whatever anyone else believes, but in the meantime we can expect more of the same at Sagebrush.

"Therefore," he continued, "we need to further reinforce the escort elements for the fleet train.

Commander Lundberg is quite correct about the state of our missile supply--we mst-both restrict our expenditures and safeguard our existing supplies. For this purpose, I intend to detach Admiral Stoner's light carriers." "Carl won't like it," Sonja Desai foretold.

"He'll ricochet offthe bulkheads," Sandoval added, earn- ing a glare from Desai.

"I know. I also know our carriers are already stretched thin, but it can't be helped. Supplies are our Achilles heel, and whoever's orchestrated the rebel strategy has grasped that fact very, well." Trevayne had a pretty definite idea who that person was, but he kept it to himself.

"We may as well face the fact that whenever the rebels finally decide to offer battle in earnest, they're going to greatly outnumber us in fighters. Our great strength is our battle-line." (the finest in the Galaxy, he thought, but silently; he didn't want to add to the general cockiness.) "It's more important to assurt ourselves of an abundant supply of missiles--especially HBM'S--FOR THE decisive battle than it is to hoard fighters that won't, after all, be able to go toe-to-toe with their opposite numbers on even terms." Heads nodded around the table. Then Yoshinaka spoke lip.

"Admiral, another concern is the relatively heavy losses among our scout cruisers. We're not exactly oversupplied with them to begin with." "True," Trevayne acknowledged. "Of course, you ex- peet high losses among them due to the nature of their missions." Deep within him an old pain stirred briefly. He sternly suppressed it.

"Yes, sir," Sandoval said. "Of course, the scout cruiser types won't like it at first.

They're a bunch of hot dogs... almost as bad as fighter jocks," the former fighter jock added. "But give them some rebel fighters to chew on, and maybe an escort carrier or two, and they'll come around." "Also, Ian," Sanders put in, "we don't need them for recon just now anyway. We've already probed Sagebrush, and I gather we shouldn't need scouts there." He looked to Sandovai and Yoshinaka for confirmation. "We should be able to go through that system rather easily and quieldy." Sandoval gri

Impossible, that was, for most people. Sonja Desafs lips, always thin, became practically invisible, and they barely moved as she clipped out, "Admiral, ff you'll excuse me I think I'd better get back to Togo. The shuttles should have landed by now, and the reports will be coming i." She carefully did not glare at Sandoval.

"I think we've about finished anyway," Trevayne said, and turned to Yoshinaka as Desai rose. "I'll be on the flag bridge for a while, Genii. There are still a few loose ends to tie together before I can turn in." He smiled ruefully.

"Y'know, we can use robot probes for reco

INFERNO The quiet buzzer seemed raucous in the darkened cabin, and the tiny woman in the bunk opened her eyes in- stantly, reaching fo, r her eom key.

"Yes?" "Message from Maovi, sir. Rim units are emerging from Sagebrush." "Thank you, Bob." Vice Admiral Li sat up and reached for her battle uniform. "Composition?" "They wasted a lot of SBMHAWK'S on the decoys, sir, then the battle-line came through. They're reforming now." "Good. Ask Admiral Tsing to meet us on Flag Bridge." "Yes, sir." Hah sealed her vac suit, and lifted her helmet from the bedside table. Her cabin door opened silently, and the Marine sentry snapped to attention. She nodded courteously as she passed him; her conscious mind never even noticed him.

Trevayne studied the big visual display unhappily. Zapata's G2 sun was a distant, unwinking flame, and the flotillas of Fourth Fleet glittered with its feeble reflected glow.

Why did the sight fill him with foreboding? Was it the unexpected lack of resistance? His drone probes had reported two dozen type four OWP'S and extensive minefields covering the Sagebrush-Zapata warp nexus. That had been enough to draw the fire of almost all of his remaining SBMHAWK'S, but there had

He brooded over the display, pondering the system spread out before him in miniature. This warp point lay nearly in the system's plane of the ecliptic, as did his destination--the Iphigena warp point. But they were almost diametrically opposite one another, and between them was the i

Having the sun directly between him and his destina- tion was a

But where was the opposition?

He knew he would encounter some fortresses, at least, at the Iphigena warp point; there'd been a couple there even before the rebellion, and the rebels must have reinforced them. After all, that warp point was far closer to the sun than most less than ten light-minutes beyond the asteroid belt, in fact. The rebels couldn't have failed to construct some asteroid fortresses, the cheapest and in many ways best kind.