"Protective custody is the term I would use," Veidt offered, as though he had been scrolling through a phrase file. "As I'm certain Lord Exedore has already informed you, Haydon IV has left orbit and is accelerating even now. Surely you accept the fact that you never would have, been able to survive on the surface."

"Granted, Veidt," Miriya said. "We were brought down here for our own good; we've accepted that much. But does that mean we'll be released when we reach wherever it is we're going?"

Veidt's forehead pulsed with subdued light. "Not exactly. You see, it is important that you not be permitted to interfere with the successful completion of the secondary and tertiary stages. Therefore, you are to remain in protective custody until all post-Event phases have been carried out."

"But how long are we talking about?" Dana managed.

"As long as the operation requires," Veidt sent.

Max and Miriya stared at each other aghast. Exedore and Aurora assimilated the disclosure silently. Dana considered lunging for the hardwood war club she had stashed behind the couch.

"Violence should not be considered an option," the Haydonite said without facing anyone directly. "I should add that I have sought audience with Vowad."

Father of a sort to Sarna, Vowad was a high-ranking member of Haydon IV's Elite.

"And?" Exedore asked.

"He can do nothing. Offworlder contact has mitigated the impact of the Compulsion on Vowad as an entity, but he is still obliged to answer to the Elite, who have thus far remained fully responsive to the programming."

Dana felt her anger rising again.

"Perhaps I should remind you that one incident of violence has already been answered in kind," Veidt sent in her direction.

"The Karbarran vessel," Exedore said.

"Vessels, unfortunately. One Spherisian ship did, however, escape the acceleration unscathed."

"Has Karbarra been informed of the incident?" Max asked out of genuine concern.

"Yes, by the Spherisians themselves," Veidt sent. "In fact, there is some reason to believe that a Karbarran battle group is en route to Haydon IV at this very moment."

Max shot to his feet. "But you just said that interference couldn't be permitted! You've got to see that they're warned away.

Veidt grew quiet, as though accessing some remote mainframe. "I'm sorry, all of you. But it is apparently too late for that now."

At Admiral-Elect Lron's urgings, the Karbarran dreadnought had been named N'trpriz in honor of some Terran ship of primitive design. And while Commander K'rrk had not been against the idea at the time, he would have preferred a different vessel to call his own, a Sekiton-powered ship-ofthe-line with a proper Karbarran name. The Tracialle, if he bad had a choice or, failing that, the battlewagon Yirrbisst.

K'rrk sat in the command chair of the N'trpriz, shaking out the lingering effects of spacefold as his bridge crew fed him updates on the ship's position and readiness.

"Haydon IV coming into view, Commander," Mav reported from one of the forward duty stations. "All cruisers accounted for. Establishing matching velocity with the planet three point seven units, sir."

"Thank you, Mav," K'rrk said from the helm chair. "Let's have a look at it."

The artificial planet resolved on the bridge's forward screen, variegated, rotating, but atmosphereless. A celestial wanderer no longer, but more the starship it was. Parsecs distant from that which it had called its home star for a time, and still accelerating.

K'rrk cupped a paw around his muzzle in a contemplative gesture. Off to one side of the helm chair stood an enormous wooden wheel, a vestigial adornment overruled by Tiresianmade astrogational computers buried deep in the ship's heart but left in place out of respect for the Sentinels' "steamship," Farrago.

K'rrk turned to regard his science officer. "Could they be preparing to fold, Lorek?"

"A distinct possibility, Commander." "What do scanners show?"

"Areas of extensive surface damage," Lorek responded after a moment. By Karbarran standards, he was tall and lean, with mottled fur and a curious cant to the diminutive, mushroom-shaped horns set between his ears. "Glike appears to be completely deserted, sir, although bio-indicators are registering life signs in several subsurface chambers."

"Do we have a fix on whatever's powering the thing?" Kirk asked.

"Affirmative. All drive systems are controlled from a central AI nexus concealed under what used to be a system of reservoirs and interlinked canals. It has apparently been given the name Awareness, Commander."

"Defenses, Lorek. Shields? Antiparticle fields?"

"None that scanners can discern, Commander."

K'rrk growled with pleasure as he turned to the ship's communications officer. "Reeza, inform all battle group commanders to hold their positions."

"Done, Commander," she responded almost immediately.

K'rrk made an approving sound. "Open up a hailing frequency, Lieutenant. "

"Frequency opened to all traffic," Reeza told him.

K'rrk cleared his throat and slapped a paw down on the chair's translator stud. "This is the Karbarran starship N'trpriz. We wish to make contact with whomever is presently in control of Haydon IV." He repeated the request twice more.

"Incoming, sir," Reeza said as a synthesized voice speaking formal Karbarran began to issue from the bridge's communication ports.

"Attention, N'trpriz," the voice began. "Your vessel is being scanned. Do not, repeat, do not attempt to arm or deploy any weapons. "

K'rrk flashed his weapons officer a paw signal for restraint and patience. "Understood, Haydon IV," he directed toward overhead audio pickups. "With whom are we speaking?"

"You are in communication with Haydon IV's Awareness. State your purpose, N'trpriz."

K'rrk glanced at his crew, then said, "We must be permitted to establish a docking orbit around Haydon IV for the purpose of extracting our citizens,"

Ursine eyes fixed on the forward screen and speakers. "That cannot be permitted," the Awareness replied at last. "Your citizens are in no danger. Do not, repeat, do not attempt an approach or your vessel will have to be destroyed." K'rrk bared his fangs in a twisted smile. If the normally dour Karbarrans had learned anything from the Sentinels' victorious campaigns, it was that fate, destiny, could be grasped as one would a prize piece of fruit. And just now Haydon IV was that prize, a conquest that would consolidate Karbarra's power among the worlds of the Local Group and reward a certain commander with the dreadnought of his choosing for all subsequent sorties.

"Nonsense," K'rrk told the Awareness with a gurgling snarl. "Release your prisoners at once or suffer the consequences." He hit the com-interrupt stud and swung to Lorek. "Do we still have a fix on the nerve center?"

"Affirmative, Commander."

K'rrk struck the arm of the command chair with a huge fist, nonretractable claws finding their usual grooves. "Activate all electronic countermeasures and prepare for evasive action. Mav, prepare to secure us a counterrotational orbit at my command. Cano: target primary torpedoes ground zero on nerve center coordinates."

"We're being warned away, sir," Reeza said.

"Engineering," K'rrk growled across the com-line as the N'trpriz began to close on the accelerating sphere that was Haydon IV.

"Engineering here, Commander," a thickly accented Highlander's voice returned.

"We're going to try a hit-and-run, Rash. Will your engines back us up?"

"By Firrbisst, you know they will, Commander." K'rrk grinned. "All right, Cano, on my-"

A blare of two-note warning horns overpowered his words. "Commander," Lorek reported in an astonished voice. "Ship's auto-destruct has been armed and is counting down!"

K'rrk rose halfway out of the helm chair. "What?"

"Auto-destruct set for thirty units, sir."

K'rrk spit a curse at Haydon IV's on-screen image. "Toy with us, you will not! Mav, plot a course directly for the surface. I want us in this ship sitting right over the Awareness!"

"Twenty units, sir. "

K'rrk slammed a paw down on the chair's control panel. "Ship's computer," he said, catching a whiff of his own muskiness. "Abort auto-destruct sequence. Priority override, K'rrk-two-K'rrk-one, cancel."

Lorek entered a similar verbal code, and the warning horns were silenced. "Auto-destruct sequence aborted," Lorek updated.

K'rrk grinned knowingly. "All engines full reverse, Mav." The navigator tapped a flurry of commands into his console, then threw a wide-eyed look over his shoulder. "Sir, the ship isn't responding!"

"Rash!" K'rrk barked over the com-line. "Get your engines on-line!"

The chief engineer's reply was panicked. "By the UrFlower, we're trying, sir!"

K'rrk heard Lorek's sharp intake of breath under the blare of reactivated warning horns. "Auto-destruct reinitiated, Commander. Counting down from thirty units."

"Haydon!" K'rrk bellowed. "Mav: Return to previous course heading, all ahead full!"

"Twenty units, Commander."

"We've got full reverse, sir," Rash said proudly from engineering.

K'rrk's muzzle fell open at the sight of Haydon IV dwindling on-screen. "Full ahead! Full ahead!"

"No response, sir!" Mav said. "Ten units, Commander."

"Ship's computer," K'rrk sputtered. "Abort auto-destruct sequence. K'rrk-two-K'rrk-one. "

"You forget to say 'priority override'!" every officer on the bridge cried at the same time.

"Five units, Commander."

"Ship's computer," K'rrk started again. "Priority override-No! I mean Abort K'rrk-two- No, I-"

"Four units, Commander!"

"Ship's K'rrk Computer sequence-"

Mav and Cano had abandoned their duty stations and were approaching him with murder in their eyes.

"Abort, K'rrk! Abort"

"Three units."

"Cancel priority-"

"Two units."

Even Reeza had joined the mutiny, the claws of her hands poised over the helm chair.

"Arrrggggg!"

"One unit."

K'rrk was still butchering commands when the N'trpriz added its brief fireball to the heavenly sweep.

CHAPTER TEN.

One of the things I liked about having [Sean] Phillips around was that his relationship with Marie Crystal was even more confused than mine was with Karen [Penn]. But we were competitors from almost the first moment he set foot on Tirol. I had it figured then that the 15th thought they'd done the job the REF had been sent to do-cut the Robotech Masters down to size. After all, none of us [in the REF] had dealings with the Masters. As far as the Invid were concerned, the 15th had left Earth before their arrival and docked on Tirol after the Invid had already left. So of course I made a thing about talking up the Sentinels and what we'd been through on Praxis and the rest. But who could blame me when the 15th had gotten a bigger reception in Tiresia than the Sentinels had gotten when we'd returned victorious from Optera.

Jack Baker, Upwardly Mobile

Jack was first out of the launch bay, nine Veritechs formed up on his tail. Newspace veteran Jack in his scarlet Alpha, out into the fog that was not.

That was the real kicker, he told himself. That newspace, as Lang's Robotechs were calling it, felt more like a state of mind than a state of matter. Extravehicular, immersed in vaporless white light, you got the feeling you were not so much "out there" as you were, well, inside something.

Against the black star-strewn backdrop everyone was used to, you were occasionally overcome by the magnitude of it all. You could sense just how insignificant you were in the grand scheme, and it made for easy combat when one figured your single ship didn't amount to squat. (But jeez, how it could bring on the night, terrors afterward! That amoebalike sense of immersion, the loss of self . . .) That was where newspace was something else. Because in there-he might not say it, but he could not help but think it-one started to feel just too significant, as though every action one took set into motion a chain of immutable reactions.

The "fireflies" found by the fortress's bio-sensors were on-screen and closing on all sides. They winked light just like the real things, here one moment, gone the next, vaguely blue against the colorless, ambient glow of newspace.

"Command to Red Team leader. Do you copy, Red leader? Repeat, do you copy?"

The SDF-3 was a black slash at nine o'clock, the mecha constituting Red and Blue Teams circumferentially deployed like widely scattered paint flecks chipped from the ship's hull.

Jack chinned into the command frequency, opening a line to the Tactical Information Center. "Red One receiving you loud and clear, Command. What have you got for us?"

A video image of Colonel Vallenskiy's head and shoulders appeared on one of the Alpha heads-up display screens, strobing harsh light into the cockpit. "Nothing yet, Captain. Bio-scanners are still showing hot signatures but no profiles."

"Copy and confirm, Command," Baker said. "Sorry to disappoint, Colonel, but our view doesn't seem to be any better than yours."

"Roger that, Red leader. TIC requests you maintain present position. Let's see if they're willing to come into the playground."

Terrific, Jack thought. Just hang us out here like fresh meat. "This is Baker," he directed into the tactical net helmet pickup. "Maintain position. Lights alive at two thousand meters, all points and closing."