That could work, Dax said, seemingly impressed.

  Why I told you the plan, Becker said. You would have to time it perfectly, though.

  You’ve given me hope, Dax said. I appreciate that.

  I love to help, Becker said. It gets me right there, you know. He gave Dax a mental image of him tapping over his heart with his fist.

  I know what you want in return, but I can’t tell you the assault fleets’ assembly points.

  No? asked Becker. You refuse to think about them, do you?

  I’m sorry. I will not think about them.

  That’s too bad, Becker said. I’m glad to help you, anyway. It was a pleasure meeting you, Senior Dax.

  Sensing the Spacer adept and then Venna approaching mentally, Becker’s shadowed mentality zipped away from the cloaked saucer ship and sped back to his body in the darter.

  One of the hardest things in the world for anyone to do was to not think about a thing. In the very act of telling yourself, “I will not think about that.” One thought about the thing. The way to not think about something was to concentrate on things you loved. You had to forget about not trying to think about the thing that you didn’t want to think about.

  Of course, this meant that Dax had indeed thought about the assembly point locations of the other assault fleets. Becker had seen and then memorized the locations.

  Back in his body, Becker sent a telepathic thought to Captain Maddox: I have it, Captain. I have it.

  -66-

  After speaking for a short time with Becker, Maddox had Meta patch a call through to Admiral Jellicoe. In moments, Jellicoe, smiling broadly, answered the hail on the main screen on the bridge of the Hernan Cortes.

  “Sir,” Maddox said, “we need to speak with the Lord High Admiral immediately. This is urgent.”

  Jellicoe stared at him. Perhaps the captain’s earnestness threw him off.

  “Even though we’ve just won a glorious battle in the Solar System, the fight against Leviathan is far from over,” Maddox said. “I’ve just received intelligence regarding five new locations where Leviathan assault fleets are waiting to begin their campaign against us.”

  “What are you talking about?” Jellicoe said. “We just destroyed Leviathan’s invasion fleet. The great threat is over.”

  “No,” Maddox said. “That was only a small part of the invasion fleet. For reasons that I won’t explain now—how I know, that is—Leviathan made a half-hearted attempt against us. We just witnessed it. This was a piecemeal attack only. There are one hundred and twenty-five more maulers waiting to attack Earth.”

  “You’re out of your mind,” Jellicoe said. “One hundred and twenty-five? That’s two and a half times more than what hit us today.”

  “Exactly,” Maddox said.

  Jellicoe stared at him, his eyes darting back and forth, perhaps searching for the joke. Instead, he must have seen the captain’s grim seriousness.

  “That’s…that’s insane,” Jellicoe said. “If one hundred and twenty-five maulers attacked us now, they would annihilate the Grand Fleet and destroy the Earth.”

  “Yes, yes,” Maddox said. He closed his mouth and strove to remain calm, forcing himself to sit back in his chair. “You need to call Admiral Haig and explain the situation to him.”

  “Me?” Jellicoe said.

  “I doubt Haig will listen to me,” Maddox said. “He’s more likely to listen if it comes from you.”

  Jellicoe laughed bleakly, shaking his head. “You misunderstand the situation. I’m in disfavor, bad disfavor.”

  “Haig heeded your warning about the attack.”

  Jellicoe nodded. “Haig listened to that. The destruction of my task force convinced him. The destruction of the task force also cast me into disfavor. Losing an entire task force does not endear one to their superiors. I’m now the last person Admiral Haig wants to speak to.”

  “I know Haig doesn’t want to speak to me,” Maddox said.

  “Make that the second to last person then,” Jellicoe said. “It’s true he hates you even more than me, probably doubly so because you were proven right about all this. No, Captain. Haig is in his moment of exaltation. He’s not going to listen to any dire warnings of supposedly more maulers out there.”

  “Haig is in exaltation even with the destruction in Rio de Janeiro?”

  “No, not that,” Jellicoe said. “That is a fly in the ointment.”

  Maddox could see that the loss of the task force had shaken Jellicoe to the core. It weighed on his mind and maybe even tormented him. Not even this victory, nor Jellicoe’s role in it, restored the admiral’s confidence. That meant Maddox needed a different avenue to approaching Haig.

  “Can you patch me through to General Mackinder?” Maddox said.

  “Mackinder? Sir, I’m on the outs with him as well. I’m in the wild lands in a political sense, persona non grata. My days in the halls of power—I’m just glad we won today. That was thanks to your efforts. I’ve miscalculated concerning you, Captain, have done so badly. I feel poorly about that.”

  Maddox nodded. “Noted. How can I convince Haig we need to take the entire fleet and launch it at five separate places?”

  Jellicoe shook his head. “It’s foolish to think Haig will listen to you. I can assure you Haig would never think of taking the Grand Fleet elsewhere and leaving Earth defenseless. The fleet is recovering from its losses. We’ve taken losses even though we’ve won a tremendous victory. I doubt anyone would agree to move the fleet.”

  “Is that your final word,” Maddox said.

  “It’s not as if I disagree with you. I’m just saying Haig won’t listen to me.”

  “I understand, Admiral,” Maddox said. “Thank you for your time.”

  “Is there anything else? I feel obliged to help. I want to help.”

  Maddox shook his head.

  Jellicoe nodded in turn, and he seemed sad. He then motioned to someone on his bridge and the connection ended.

  Maddox bent his head in furious thought before looking up at Galyan, who watched him.

  “Do you know where Haig’s flagship is?”

  “I do indeed,” Galyan said.

  Maddox stood. “I need to go directly to his flagship and tell him about this. Inform Keith of Haig’s position. We’re going to move there.”

  “Is that wise, Captain?” Galyan said.

  Maddox made a face as he stared at Galyan. He’d given a direct order and Galyan had questioned it. This time, though, the question was critical and it must have struck true. Maddox abruptly sat back down. If Galyan’s point was that Haig might intern him, it was a valid one.

  “Meta, hail the Lord High Admiral,” Maddox said.

  “Yes, sir,” Meta said.

  She tried. She tried more. Then she spoke to someone. Afterward, Meta turned to Maddox. “I’m afraid the Lord High Admiral is too busy to speak with you.”

  Maddox sighed. He’d expected that. “Meta, patch a call through to the flagship and tell them this is an emergency. It may mean the fate of Earth and of Star Watch.”

  Meta nodded and tried again.

  To everyone’s surprise, maybe except for Maddox, the Lord High Admiral appeared on the main screen. Haig sat in his command chair, and he looked victorious, proud, grinning.

  “All right, Captain,” Haig said over the screen. “What is this you’re trying to say? That there are more of these maulers out there?”

  “Exactly, sir,” Maddox said crisply. “There are five more assembly points. This fleet, the Seventh Assault Fleet, the one you just annihilated, came from the Zakym System, five hundred light years from Earth. The Leviathan fleet has been assembling there for over a year. I have also discovered five other assembly points. There are twenty-five maulers at each of them. If we use the nexus and create a hyper-spatial tube, we can strike with the massed battleships. That means we can annihilate Leviathan’s forces piecemeal, each one at a time. That will end this round of assaults from Leviathan.”

  “Come now, Captain,” Haig said in a jovial tone. “You’re going to tell me that Leviathan had one hundred and twenty-five more maulers ready. If that were true, why did they attack us with only the forty-seven? That makes no sense.”

  “You’re exactly right, sir, it doesn’t make sense. It happened because Venna the Spy—”

  Haig held up a hand, interrupting. “You’re not going to repeat that insane idea Jellicoe tried to sell me earlier?”

  “Was it insane?” asked Maddox. “The maulers attacked in the Solar System. One got through to Earth—”

  “I know that,” Haig said, interrupting again. “I hold you responsible for the antimatter strike against Rio. If you would have given me better intelligence—”

  “Sir,” Maddox said, interrupting because the words needled him. “I tried to tell you…” Maddox forced himself to calm down. He had to sell Haig on this. Nothing else mattered. “Admiral, you won a great victory today. I know the Grand Fleet took losses, and I know many ships are strained. Their cannons and other systems are nearly burned out or already being replaced. But we must take what we have and—”

  “Hold it right there, mister,” Haig said. “I run Star Watch. I’ll decide what the Grand Fleet must do. I won’t have a mere captain dictating to me.”

  “I apologize for my choice of words,” Maddox said, trying his best to sound contrite. “You’re right. You’re in charge of Star Watch and the Grand Fleet.”

  Haig scowled at him, only partly mollified. “I’ve won an amazing victory against the assault from Leviathan. Now you come to me with this cock-and-bull story of one hundred and twenty-five more maulers, two and a half times more. You’re actually telling me that those of Leviathan were too stupid to assemble all their ships and attack as one?”

  “No, sir, that isn’t what I’m saying.”

  “Oh?” Haig said, raising his eyebrows. “Then I must be hard of hearing, because that’s what I heard you say.”

  Maddox cleared his throat and forced himself to speak slowly and calmly. “What I am trying to say is that Leviathan had a plan, a good one, but due to unforeseen events, they unleashed a power they didn’t reckon on.”

  “No,” Haig said, shaking his head. “I’m done listening to your harebrained stories. I’ve heard quite enough from you.”

  “Sir,” Maddox said with an edge, “I was right the first time, in the beginning. You’re blaming me but I was right then and I’m right now. If nothing else, send an expeditionary force and give me the command. Give me all the Bismarck-class battleships—”

  “Oh, is that all you want?” Haig said, interrupting.

  “Give me something so I can attack these assembly points before the separate maulers join into one force. We must hit them before they can do this.”

  Haig stared at Maddox, stared longer. Finally, the admiral turned away. He shook his head. He jumped up from his chair. He paced around the command chair three times before he looked at Maddox again.

  “Is this really true what you’re saying?”

  “It is,” Maddox said.

  “How do you know?”

  Maddox debated about what he should say. “Becker.”

  “Becker,” Haig said. “Right, right, you mean that telepath. That means Becker must still be free. I want him in custody now, Captain. Do you hear me?”

  “I do, sir. You’ll be glad to hear that I’ve already sent Becker back into the Antarctica Prison Complex.”

  “What?” Haig said. “You did?”

  Maddox knew this was a risk, a big one, but he didn’t know what else to do. Thus, calmly, he said, “It is logged and recorded. If you’ll check the prison records—”

  “No, no, I’ve got too much on my plate for that nonsense,” Haig said. “Becker is really back in stasis?”

  Maddox had guessed Haig’s reaction correctly. He needed to seal this for the moment. “I said I would return him, and I have.”

  Haig appeared dubious. “Becker gave you this information before you sent him away?”

  “He did, sir.”

  “Where did Becker get it?”

  “From hidden Spacers who watched the battle,” Maddox said. “And from the one named Venna.”

  “Are you lying to me?” Haig said.

  “I am not, sir,” Maddox said, knowing he was going to catch hell for this later.

  “Very well,” Haig said with a sigh. “You were right about too much. I can’t afford to ignore this information. I will reassemble the fleet. Come to the flagship, Captain, and we will speak on this more.”

  “Begging your pardon, sir, I think it’s better if I remain aboard Victory. We don’t have time to waste, you understand?”

  Haig pointed at and stared at Maddox. Maddox stared right back. Haig dropped his hand, no longer pointing.

  “If you’re right, then we have to snatch victory out of the possible jaws of defeat.”

  “Yes, sir, and may I add, sir, that you’re on your way to achieving the most spectacular victory Star Watch has ever made. You have the needed information, and often these battles are a matter of intelligence—”

  “Don’t lecture me, Maddox. It’s boring and unbecoming. I’ll get the ball rolling. Give me the first assembly point.”

  Maddox did so.

  “I will check that with the Pluto Scanner,” Haig said.

  “Sir, it will not be visible to them. Those of Leviathan are using inhibitors to stop us from doing that.”

  Haig frowned. “If they’re using inhibitors, how can we possibly create a hyper-spatial tube to reach them?”

  “We’ll have to come from farther away, and hopefully accelerate fast enough to catch the maulers by surprise.”

  “Very well, I’ll give your scheme a try. If it fails, though, you’re cashiered from Star Watch.”

  “I understand, sir.”

  With that, the meeting ended.

  -67-

  Now began one of the most complicated and fascinating mini-campaigns in Star Watch’s history. Moving rapidly, the Lord High Admiral Haig gathered one hundred and fifty battleships, the best and the least damaged. He ordered them near the Builder Nexus between Earth and the Moon.

  The first hyper-spatial tube extended to the Vincent System, 600 light-years from Earth. Victory led the way as the Patrol scout. The rest of the battleships followed. They reached a bleak star system with a massive black hole in the distance. They had arrived on the other side of where the supposed twenty-five maulers of Leviathan waited, the First Assault Fleet. That, at least, was according to Becker’s data.

  Maddox led the assault in Victory, and the fleet came around the black hole, building up velocity the entire way. The one hundred and fifty battleships rushed at the twenty-five waiting maulers. Star Watch gained surprise, although three maulers managed to escape through star-drive jumps. The battleships of Star Watch annihilated the rest.

  The jubilation and intoxication were intense. The realization that the maulers had been here as predicted sobered the Lord High Admiral.

  Haig soon called Maddox via the main screen. “Give me the next assembly point.”

  The entire expeditionary force used the nexus’s hyper-spatial tube, going back to near Earth. After a ten minute wait, they used another hyper-spatial tube to the Tahir System, 492 light-years from Earth.

  This system had a red supergiant, with an amazing number of Jovian gas giants in the system. Once again, twenty-five maulers of Leviathan waited. This was the Third Assault Fleet. Once again, the Star Watch battleships raced in. Four maulers escaped this time. Five battleships exploded. On others, generators blew and shields failed.

  The battleships had been under strain from three deadly engagements. Each time, Star Watch had been victorious. Each time, the formidable might of Star Watch, like a mailed fist, met a small number of maulers and smashed them.

  Galyan’s reminder to Maddox was of World War II. The Japanese Empire had often concocted elaborate and intense invasion schemes. Particularly at the beginning of the Great Pacific War, the Japanese military pulled off amazing tactical victories. However, at the Battle of Midway, the overly complicated plan went awry. The American fleet carriers smashed the might of the great Imperial Japanese Navy. In a sense, Leviathan, with its superior strategists, had developed an exceedingly intricate plan.

  It would have worked, Maddox realized, except fate had thrown a monkey wrench into it. The Phantasma Synth Crystals shattered, and Venna, or whatever she was, was created from the shards. That had changed so much.

  Once more, the Star Watch vessels used the hyper-spatial tube, returning to near Earth. Men were ragged, throwing up, some with bloody noses, a few with brain aneurysms, dying.

  The hyper-spatial tubes and constant battles were taking their toll. The servicemen and women weren’t used to jumping so often, so quickly. That was a Patrol specialty.

  Even so, Maddox was telling Haig via the main screen, “Sir, this is the moment. We’ve taken losses and the men are tired. Still, we must strike hard and fast and finish it, if we can.”

  “Yes,” Haig said, “yes.” The excessive use of the hyper-spatial tubes was affecting him, too.

  The fleet used a hyper-spatial tube once more, finding an enemy fleet of maulers exposed and surprised. The battleships left them as junk in space. This time, none of the maulers escaped.

  Although exhausted, the men and women of Star Watch now better understood their enemy and his potential strategies for escape.

  At this point, however, Haig said, “No, we cannot jump anymore.”

  “At least take us back to Earth,” Maddox said.

  Haig stared at the captain for three full seconds. “Yes… I suppose you’re right.” Haig cleared his throat. “Tell me, Captain, did you really send Becker to Antarctica?”

  “Of course,” Maddox said, as his heart rate increased. He kept his features placid, though.

  “You know what the penalty is for lying?”

  “I do, sir.”

  Haig nodded. “Very well, let’s go back home.”

  This time, Victory didn’t lead those going home. Before Victory entered the hyper-spatial tube, a darter, in camouflage mode, left the double-oval starship and sped away.