aste from pole to pole. The vegetation of that planet had
been studied with interest, but the world itself was simply of no use to
anybody. Even the sun of the Glamis system was regarded with suspicion.

The fleet of Kandar made rendezvous at the galactic-north pole of the
second planet. On arrival the massed cruisers and battleships went into
orbit. The smaller craft went on a scouting mission, verifying that
there was no new colony planted, that there was no man-made radiation
anywhere in the system, that there was no likelihood of the fleet's
presence--or for that matter its continued existence--becoming known to
anybody not of its ship-crews.

The scout-ships came back, reporting all clear. The great ships drew
close to one another and small space-boats shuttled back and forth,
taking commanders and captains and vice-admirals to the ship, which, by
convention, was commanded by King Humphrey VIII of Kandar.

Captain Bors got to the conference late. There were some grave faces
about the conference room, but there were also some whose expressions
were unregenerate and grimly satisfied. As he entered the room the king
was speaking.

"I don't deny that it was a splendid victory, but I'm saying that our
victory was a catastrophe! To begin with, we happened to hit the
Mekinese fleet when it was dispersed and disorganized. That was great
good fortune--_if_ we'd wanted a victory. The enemy was scattered over
light-minutes of space. His ships could not act as a massed,
maneuverable force. They were simply a mob of fighting ships who had to
fight as individuals against our combat formation."

"Yes, Majesty," said the gray vice-admiral, "but even when we broke
formation--"

"Again," said the king, more fretfully still, "I do not deny that the
fighting ability of our ships was multiplied by the new way of using
missiles. What I do say is that if we'd come upon the Mekinese fleet in
combat formation instead of dispersed; if we'd attacked them when they
were ready for us, it would be doubtful that we'd have been so
disastrously successful! Say that the new missile settings gave each of
our ships fire-power as effective as two or three or five of the enemy.
The enemy was ten to one! If we hadn't hit them when they were in
confusion, we'd have been wiped out. And if we'd hit their fleet anyhow,
we'd be dead. We did not hit the main fleet. We annihilated a division
of it, a small part. We are still hopelessly inferior to the va