"Don't bother trying, General. He's got the ships and firepower to cut us both to pieces. The best thing you can do is guard the civilian retreat from Premislyde and Goethe. I'm afraid Athena must surrender." Itjes sighed painfully. "All right, then. Agree to capitulate your forces along with it, and stall on the rest for as long as you can." "I'm afraid I can't do that, sir." "Why not?" "He is not about to be detained, and I am not about to let him win this battle without the shedding of American blood." "Ivan, this is no time---" "This is bigger than both of us, General. They must know at the very beginning that they will be resisted every step of the way." "Colonel, it is pointless to die like this." "Sorry, Helmut. I have much work to do. Save as many as you can." He gestured to the chief scientist, and the screen went blank. He turned to Masaryk. "Is Hayes unloading yet?" "Just starting now, sir." They both watched as perhaps a dozen of the monolithic carrier's twenty chutes were lowered and the first wave of fighters, mingled with other, larger ships, came streaming off. "If that's the Dreadnought....." "It is." "They say she holds over three hundred vessels---cruisers and battleships among them. Twice the size of our entire fleet." "Are the evac ships off yet?" "Checking. The last one is just clearing now." "Give them thirty seconds to be off, then put the third robot battery in his face. I'm tired of looking at it." Masaryk waited, gave the order. P-B3 "Colonel, it's the Commonwealth commander." Dubcek shook his head. 27) N x P "Bel-Swiss destroyer group engaging." "Big surprise. Knock them out with battle cruiser two." R x N "Cat's out of the bag now," said Dubcek. "Hayes is making short work of our battleship. Poor bastards." 28) Q x R(ch) "He'll be coming after us, next." "I hope we didn't make him mad." Masaryk smiled. Even as they spoke, the great ship, anticipated by a swarm of torpedo ships and fighter-bombers, began to come forward, gathering speed as if to ram them from the sky. "Oh, Lord. Here they come." "Bring us forward! All guns open fire!" K-N2..... ........................................................................ ....................................................... INTERLUDE VOICES "Morgan? Do you love me?" He rolled away from her and onto his back, stared at the ceiling. The blanket was keeping him warm. "I don't know." He was not sure, only that he had never felt this way before. Maybe once, long ago, as a child. "Because I love you." "How can you?" Now that the rush of sexual elation was over he felt wounded, and as hollow and empty as a man can feel. "I don't know. But I do." He took her hand and held it, against his leg. The motion was mechanical, without feeling. "You sure it isn't something Freudian?" "Don't be stupid, Morgan."