The Dragon Never Sleeps

— 130 —

WarAvocat grew uneasy as VII Gemina drove nearer and nearer Canon's heart. That Outsider watcher had dropped away, but watcher or no, his intention must be apparent.

If he was indeed too late... For what? That was the question.

For the Ku, too late could mean too late to abort his attack. But that was not the mission VII Gemina had assumed. He was going to get Kez Maefele and rob the Outsiders of their most potent weapon. He need not be too late for that.

But he remained uneasy in the way he did when he left his quarters sure he had forgotten something important but could not think what it might be.

Even putting Gemina onto it surfaced nothing to justify his uneasiness.

What sort of reception would be waiting? Material losses at P. Benetonica would restrict his options. He consulted Gemina and the Deified, put together a straightforward consensus plan of attack.

VII Gemina would go in screened, thrash around till the Ku was spotted, then would chase him till he was caught. Those new ships were nimble, but they had to put into a station sometime.

With slightly over eight days on the count, Seeker reported the Ku's arrival at the S. Alisonica anchor point. An hour later he reported a big burst of coded transmission throughout that region.

"Are they jumping off early?"

Seeker did not know.

Soon afterward the Meddinian stopped reading anything. The implication was that the Outsiders were all in starspace and communicating by normal means. Which in turn implied that the attack had begun.

WarAvocat became more uneasy.

Next day Seeker reported catching the tail of a brief signal from behind. It could have originated anywhere between VII Gemina and the nether face of the Outsider empire.

Forty-six hours later he reported a similar unrangeable signal.

The record passage for a Voyager running from T. Rogolica to the Barbican was forty-three hours and some minutes.

Moments later VII Gemina ripped past an Outsider sitting in a turn node. It blatted a signal. Seeker reported it as a number.

Little things. Little things. WarAvocat was tempted to cancel.

VII Gemina broke away from the Web expecting anything. And found nothing.

Capitola Primagenia had been attacked but not destroyed. The Outsiders had pulled out. Losses on both sides had been heavy, those of the Outsiders apparently heavier than they had expected. But a triumph had been within their grasp.

And they had gone.

Everyone began pestering WarAvocat about tactical dispositions and relief efforts. He shut them out and brooded, sure he was one piece short of a complete puzzle.

The last Outsider, another damned watcher, handed him that piece. It sent a message. The dragon has taken the poisoned bait. Now it is too late. Success is assured.

"Aleas! Get over here. It's Starbase!" he roared. "Damn his black heart!"

Aleas stared."What are you howling about?"

"What's been nagging me. What I'd forgotten. The Ku always used decoys. You never knew what was real and what wasn't. He led us here. He knew the Meddinian was reading his signals. Now we're too far away to get into his hair at Starbase. That watcher is mocking us because we can't do anything but go back and count the cost." He started stomping around WarCentral, indifferent to the disapproval of the Deified.

"You're not going to charge back there after him?"

"Damned right I am!"

"Isn't that message supposed to make you do that? We go, the fleet jumps back in here?"

WarAvocat stopped stomping. She was right.

He grinned.

VII Gemina climbed onto the Web but moved only a short distance. Two minutes after Seeker reported a bleep of a signal from the watcher, the Guardship broke back off on top of the Outsider, unleashing a Hellspinner storm so intense not a thought escaped.

WarAvocat disposed his secondaries and waited.

Only two ships survived his ambush.

VII Gemina clambered onto the Web cursed by Capitola Primagenia's bureaucratic legions for leaving them to fend for themselves.

Now for the Ku.