And in any case staying above the planet in a lower orbit required limiting the velocity of the ships. Desjani accelerated Dauntless carefully, at a small fraction of her capability, using thrusters to cant the battle cruiser’s nose “down” toward the planet to compensate for the tendency of an object moving faster to rise to a higher orbit. With the Taon ships above them, the Alliance ships couldn’t rise far without appearing to threaten the alien force.

  Usually in space, higher velocities were effectively invisible to humans. Whether you were going one thousand kilometers per hour or ten thousand kilometers per hour, the view outside was the same, though at one hundred thousand kilometers per hour relativity was kicking in enough to distort the outside views a bit.

  But here they were only a couple of thousand kilometers from the planet beneath them, providing a clear reference as the Alliance ships spun around the globe. It was breathtaking, and a little dizzying.

  The Taon ships trying to block the Alliance task force were caught unprepared by the move, belatedly accelerating to match the movements of the human ships, but thrown off again when the human ships continued on around the planet rather than breaking quickly for open space.

  “We’re going to have the opening we need,” Desjani said.

  “Take whatever vector looks good,” Geary ordered. “We’ll work out the path to the jump point once we’re clear of the planet.”

  Another message from Lokaa came in. Humans hadn’t had any luck translating emotions amid the bony ridges on the Taon faces, but Lokaa’s mouth formed a straight line instead of the open oval that was apparently a Taon smile. “Where go human friend? Wish match movement. Fight enemy. Fight battle.”

  Even in the midst of everything else going on, Geary noticed for the first time that the Taon translator kept getting better but still didn’t seem to have any grasp of personal pronouns. Did that offer a clue to how the Taon thought? If so, he couldn’t waste time worrying about that now.

  “We do not want to fight this battle,” Geary told Lokaa.

  “Why not? Why not fight? Human have ship for war.”

  He decided to be fully candid. “Humans fight for reasons. For causes. For what we think is right. We do not know your cause. We do not know your enemy. We do not want to kill or destroy those we know nothing of.”

  It was easy to imagine Victoria Rione, or even General Charban, giving him a sardonic look in response to those statements. He’d told Lokaa what humans liked to believe about themselves. What they aspired to, but often failed at. But if he was going to give Lokaa a reason, he preferred offering an aspiration to confessing to human failures.

  After a long moment, Lokaa spoke again. “So human say.” A moment later that message ended as well.

  What exactly was going on with the Taon? Geary wondered. But he kept that doubt inside. There was enough worry around without him letting the fleet know he was uncertain about what was happening.

  “Here we go,” Desjani announced as Dauntless and the rest of the Alliance ships went past three-quarters of an orbit, the Taon ships commanded by Lokaa trying to catch up but open space ahead. She punched her thruster controls, pitching Dauntless’s bow toward the stars.

  It was time to get out of here.

  “All units in Task Force Alpha, this is Admiral Geary. Immediate execute accelerate to point two light speed at maximum sustained acceleration. I say again, immediate execute accelerate to point two light speed at maximum sustained acceleration. Continue to conform to Dauntless’s vector. Geary, out.”

  He felt the force of the acceleration pinning him to his seat as the battle cruiser’s main propulsion lit off at full power, hurling Dauntless away from the planet. All around her, the rest of the Alliance ships were doing the same, leaping outward at a rate of acceleration that caused the inertial dampers to whine in protest and set off stress warning alarms on every ship.

  “I love this.”

  Tanya Desjani had spoken in a low voice, but he’d heard her. Geary turned his head carefully against the g-forces pressing on him, seeing her gazing at her display with a fierce smile. “I hate to break up this moment between you and your ship, Captain, but the destroyers won’t be able to match this acceleration for long.”

  “I’ll be easing up the acceleration a bit in thirty seconds,” Desjani said. “I wanted to get off to a quick start.”

  “And put on a display for the benefit of the Taon.”

  “That, too.” She was watching her display still, a wary look replacing her earlier joy. “In a moment we’re going to see if they can match our acceleration.”

  Or exceed it, Geary thought. If that happened, he’d face some hard choices fairly soon.

  The Taon ships near the planet had been caught off guard again, but were now scrambling to re-form as they accelerated after the Alliance warships.

  Something about their movement bothered Geary, but it took a moment to realize what it was. “They’re matching us.”

  “In acceleration, you mean?” Desjani nodded, studying her display. Her initial calm acceptance of his words faded into a worried frown. “They’re accelerating at the exact same rate we are.”

  “Yes. What are the odds they’d have exactly the same capability as us?”

  “Pretty slim,” Desjani said. “That implies they’re holding back, not accelerating as hard as they could. But why? And why are they lining up to chase us instead of heading to intercept that enemy fleet that showed up? I thought those were Lokaa’s enemies. Why would they leave their planet uncovered while they chase us?”

  With Lokaa’s fleet staying at a fixed distance astern of the Alliance ships, the situation didn’t look too complicated. The Alliance task force was accelerating on a vector for the same jump point they’d arrived at, aiming to return to Dancer space. At point two light speed, they could cover the two light hours to that jump point in about twenty hours, but time required to accelerate, and then brake their velocity to point one light to enter jump, meant it would require more like twenty-three hours.

  Off the port bows of the Alliance ships was the new Taon fleet, the enemies that Lokaa had referred to. Those ships had come in at a jump point two point six light hours from the star, and after arriving had quickly accelerated onto a vector aimed at intercepting in its orbit the planet that the Alliance task force and Lokaa’s Taon fleet had been at. If the new ships held to that vector, they wouldn’t come anywhere near the Alliance ships. And there was no reason to expect them to change their vector.

  But since those warships were still close to two light hours from the current position of the Alliance fleet, that information was two hours old.

  “As of now, it looks like we’ve got a clean shot out of here,” Desjani said.

  Geary scowled at his display, mistrusting that good fortune and still trying to understand Lokaa’s motives. “The new Taon fleet. Call it the enemy Taon fleet. What happens if they alter vector to intercept Lokaa’s Taon when they see Lokaa’s ships are chasing us?”

  Desjani ran one hand over her display, her fingers moving rapidly as she made some swift calculations. “They’d catch Lokaa’s ships about twenty light minutes short of the jump point. If their acceleration and maneuvering capability is roughly equal to ours.”

  “How close would the enemy Taon get to us if that happens?”

  “A minimum of ten light seconds.”

  Geary felt his jaw tighten. “That’s too close for comfort.”

  “It’s way outside of weapons’ range,” Desjani pointed out. “Unless . . . you’re not thinking about helping Lokaa, are you?”

  “I don’t see how we can do that and stay neutral in whatever war is going on here,” Geary said. “We don’t need another war with another alien species. Especially after . . .” He let his voice trail off, not wanting to go down that road.

  “Permission to speak freely, Admiral.”

  He gave her an exasperated look. “You know you always have that.”

  She turned to look at him, her expression intense. “Admiral, you may be justly worried about getting us involved in another war, about what people would say if Black Jack found yet another alien race and promptly started fighting them. But I urge you not to make decisions on the basis of what people might say. All we can do is try to take the right actions based on our best estimates of what is going on and what is in the best interests of this task force and of the Alliance. But, whatever your decisions are, they shouldn’t be made because of worries about what some people might say. You’ve never done that. I advise you not to start.”

  “Thank you, Captain,” Geary said. “That’s good advice.”

  “In another hour and a half, we’ll see what the enemy Taon fleet did when it saw Lokaa’s Taon come chasing after us, and then we’ll have a better idea of what we need to do differently, or if we should just get out of this star system as fast as our ships can get us to that jump point. But there’s no reason to believe at this time that we’ll have to jump into the middle of someone else’s war instead of jumping away from this star system.”

  An hour and a half later, they had a reason.

  “The enemy Taon force altered vector when they saw us,” Lieutenant Yuon began. “They’re . . . what?”

  “Lieutenant?” Desjani prompted sharply.

  “They . . . they altered vector to intercept us short of the jump point, Captain!”

  “To intercept us? Not Lokaa’s Taon?” Desjani glared at her display, looking for errors in the estimate that weren’t there. “They are. Why in hell would they be trying to intercept us?”

  “Maybe they’ll adjust their vector when they see . . .” Geary shook his head in disbelief. “They stayed steady. They should have seen our exact vector by that time, as well as the exact vector of Lokaa’s Taon. But they’re on a clean intercept aimed at us.”

  “They’ll hit us twenty light minutes short of the jump point,” Desjani said. “We— What’s Lokaa doing?”

  “The Taon ships astern of us are accelerating,” Lieutenant Castries said. “At the current rate they will be within estimated weapons range in five hours.”

  “This is a setup!” Desjani said. “Admiral, Lokaa and this new force aren’t enemies. They’re going to hit us together.”

  “No,” Geary said, earning himself a disbelieving look from Desjani. “Captain, if that was Lokaa’s intent, why wouldn’t they be aiming to get within range of us at the same time as the enemy Taon force intercepted us? Why close the range hours before that time and make two separate, uncoordinated attacks?”

  She glowered at him, then at her display. “That’s true. Why would Lokaa have set up a perfect double attack and then blow it? But what is Lokaa doing?”

  “I guess I should ask,” Geary said. He called on the circuit Lokaa had always used, and received an almost immediate response. “Friend Lokaa,” Geary said, “why are you pursuing my ships? We only wish to leave this star system in peace.”

  “Human think odds bad?” Lokaa asked, the translated voice sounding strangely flat.

  It seemed curiously like a taunt, one schoolchild trying to egg on another.

  “It has nothing to do with the odds,” Geary said. “If we joined in with you against those you call your enemies the odds would be very good. We do not wish to fight in a war being fought for reasons we don’t know. We do not wish a battle here.”

  “Battle come. Will human in ships of war fight?”

  “We do not wish to fight,” Geary said. “We will defend ourselves if necessary, but only if necessary.”

  “So human say.” With that, Lokaa ended the call.

  * * *

  NORMALLY space actions allowed more time to relax the crews before a battle. But in this case, with possibly only five hours until Lokaa’s ships would be within firing range, and possibly less time than that if the Taon had superior weaponry, there wasn’t much time available for standing down the crews. “All units stand down from combat readiness to ensure that your crews are fed,” Geary ordered. “Get them what rest you can. Alertness meds are authorized. All units should be ready to return to full combat readiness in four hours.” Maybe that was too early, but if the Taon had any more surprises up their sleeves he wanted to be ready.

  Dr. Nasr came by the bridge to administer “up” patches to everyone to maintain alertness as their continuous time on duty went over the maximums allowed. Nasr paused by Geary as he slapped a med patch on his arm. “The Taon on the surface did not seem hostile to me,” he said.

  “How many lives do I risk on that judgment, Doctor?” Geary asked in a low voice.

  Nasr took a moment to reply. “I judged the Kicks based on what I saw of them. I am doing the same with the Taon.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.” As much as he respected Dr. Nasr, and his judgment, that seemed to Geary to be a very slim reed on which to decide the fate of a hundred ships and their crews.

  Unable to focus on anything else, he stayed on the bridge, eating ration bars and grateful that their taste wasn’t really registering on him.

  Desjani sat in her command seat next to his, her eyes on her display. Probably knowing he wasn’t in the mood to talk, or possibly not knowing of anything to say that would help him decide what to do, she remained silent.

  At the four-hour point all of his ships reported their full readiness for a battle he didn’t want to fight.

  He tried another message. “Lokaa, your behavior is threatening to us. We feel endangered by the approach of your ships of war. I request that you maintain your distance from my ships to avoid any possibility of inadvertent exchange of fire.”

  Lokaa’s arms shifted in what might have been a Taon shrug. “Why human friend talk of exchanging fire? Human said did not want to fight.”

  “We don’t know what you intend,” Geary said.

  “Friend trust friend.” With that, Lokaa ended the message.

  “The Taon ships commanded by Lokaa will be within estimated range in thirty minutes,” Lieutenant Castries reported.

  There seemed only one good option at this point: giving Lokaa an ultimatum. How should he phrase it?

  General Charban chose this of all times to call.

  Geary was moving to deny the call when he took a moment to think about it. Charban knew what kind of pressures he was facing at this moment. Charban had been in tough command situations. If he was calling, it must be for a good reason.

  Geary tapped the accept tab, angry at himself and at Charban.

  Charban spoke quickly, without any greeting. “Admiral, I see the Taon force tailing us is closing the distance. Are you thinking of establishing a red line that they must not cross?”

  “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m thinking of doing. I can’t let them get too close and do nothing.”

  “And what will you do if the Taon cross that red line?”

  Geary hesitated. “I’ll decide when that happens, based on the total situation.”

  “Admiral, as a former combat commander to a current combat commander, I urge you in the strongest possible terms not to set out a red line the Taon must not cross unless you have already decided what you will do if they cross it.”

  What kind of advice was that? Geary almost ended the call, but paused once more to think. Charban knew his advice wouldn’t be welcomed, but he was giving it anyway. “Why?”

  “Because once you declare a red line, you have made a decision,” Charban said. “A decision that if and when the Taon cross that line you will only have two options. Either open fire, and turn this confrontation into a hot war, or back down and do nothing, which will make you look weak and perhaps encourage the Taon to attack. You’ll have to do one of those two things. Are you ready to decide which one?”

  “No,” Geary said.

  “Will you be if and when the Taon cross whatever line you’ve established?”

  “Probably not. I hate having my choices limited, and I don’t like giving an opponent the power to force specific actions on me.” Geary paused to think again. “What’s my better option, General?”

  “If you look at the actions of the Taon up to this point,” Charban said, “they could be said to constitute a series of trust games. Will the humans accept the invitation? Will they bring a substantial number of ships into an unknown situation? Will they agree to go into low orbit about a Taon planet? Will they accept the local Taon fleet getting closer and closer and ending up in high orbit? Will they accept the invitation to send some of their people down to the planet? Will they open fire in order to evacuate those people?”

  “You’re saying this might be another trust game by the Taon? Closing on my forces like a pursuing enemy trying to get within range of their weapons?”

  “I am saying,” Charban insisted, “that we don’t know what they intend this time, but every prior time they have not opened fire on us. We were pretty well trapped while in low orbit with them in high orbit above us. Am I correct in that?”

  “If they’d chosen a surprise attack on us under those circumstances, it would have been a difficult situation,” Geary admitted.

  “If the Taon don’t want war, maybe they want to test whether we really want war,” Charban said. “Will we do the stereotypically military thing and start blazing away when things get difficult or scary? Can we be trusted to trust them? Or, if the Taon do want war, why haven’t they already hit us when we were in a disadvantageous position? Or perhaps their laws or their culture may demand that the other side has to fire the first shot, and they’re pushing to cause us to do that. Either way, we don’t want to shoot. And I say that as a man who lost far too many soldiers in ground actions against clever opponents, and knows that sometimes there is no alternative to firepower discreetly applied.”