"You heard your commander," Makvern flared. "Go down and die for him, for his ambition and the fat pockets of his friends, if you want to. If you don't, take your ships out of formation and join us. Then we can all go home. Then--" "Destroyer Squadrons One and Two," Varsek's voice rolled inexorably on, "will attack the enemy ships at once, proceeding at individual discretion. You will use Type Two armaments--_these traitors must be destroyed_!" This time it was Varsek who broke the contact with Makvern, and it was as though by that gesture he declared them all dead. "Well?" said Wyatt tensely. "God knows," said Makvern. He began to rap out orders, preparing to fight his ships as well as he could. Wyatt withdrew into a corner out of the way and found Brinna there. She was regarding the preparations inboard and the movements of the fleet with an expert, eager, frustrated gaze. The realization of the defeat of her ambitious plans changed her, Wyatt thought, very little. "If _I_ had the command here--" she said, between her teeth. "I don't think you could swing the men in the fleet, if you had," he said. "Maybe even Makvern hasn't swung them--" It didn't look as though he had. The Task Force was breaking up in orderly segments, the heavy attack craft wheeling into position behind their destroyer screens, ready for the screaming plunge downward into the sky. And now from their stations at either side of the forward point of the fleet the two destroyer squadrons leaped toward Makvern's ships. "Type Two armaments," said Wyatt, "are the lethal ones, I take it. No polite stunning of the victim, just good honest annihilation." Brinna nodded, her hand closing unconsciously on his. Makvern was hunched like a bulldog in the forepart of the bridge, rapping orders. "Hang on," said Brinna. "We move." * * * * * They did move, roaring straight up in an effort to get above the oncoming destroyers. Wyatt could see other ships going up with them, while still others dropped and circled. They were trying some kind of a boxing-in maneuver, but the destroyer squadrons were old hands at this game too. They counter-moved with lightning speed. Wyatt did not see any projectile pass through space, but suddenly there was a silent blossoming of fire like the birth of a small sun and one of Makvern's ships ceased to exist in the time it took Wyatt to blink. "I believe," said Brinna in a steady voice, "that's the first time I have ever seen Type Two projectiles in use except on a test range." There was a kind of a stunned silence on the bridge. Then once more the ship was in tangential motion, and somebody began to shout, "Look at their formations! Some of Varsek's ships are pulling out--"