ere will be other moments, even
higher ones. Come, let's go inside. We have many plans to discuss ...
more duels ... more triumphs."

They all filed in to Kanus' huge, elaborate office. The leader walked
across the plushly ornate room and sat at the elevated desk, while his
followers arranged themselves in the chairs and couches placed about
the floor. Odal remained standing, near the doorway.

Kanus let his fingers flick across a small control board set into his
desktop, and a tri-dimensional star map glowed into existence on the
far wall. As its center were the eleven stars that harbored the Kerak
Worlds. Around them stood neighboring stars, color-coded to show their
political groupings. Off to one side of the map was the Acquataine
Cluster, a rich mass of stars--wealthy, powerful, the most important
political and economic power in the section of the galaxy. Until
yesterday's duel.

Kanus began one of his inevitable harangues. Objectives, political and
military. Already the Kerak Worlds were unified under his dominant
will. The people would follow wherever he led. Already the political
alliances built up by the Acquatainian diplomacy since the last war
were tottering, now that Dulaq was out of the picture. Now was the
time to strike. A political blow _here_, at the Szarno Confederacy, to
bring them and their armaments industries into line with Kerak. Then
more political strikes to isolate the Acquataine Cluster from its
allies, and to build up the subservient states for Kerak. Then,
finally, the military blow--against the Acquatainians.

"A sudden strike, a quick, decisive series of blows, and the
Acquatainians will collapse like a house of paper. Before the Star
Watch can interfere, we will be masters of the Cluster. Then, with the
resources of Acquatainia to draw on, we can challenge any force in the
galaxy--even the Terran Commonwealth itself!"

The men in the room nodded their assent.

_They've heard this story many, many times_, Odal thought to himself.
This was the first time he had been privileged to listen to it. If you
closed your eyes, or looked only at the star map, the plan sounded
bizarre, extreme, even impossible. But, if you watched Kanus, and let
those piercing, almost hypnotic eyes fasten on yours, then the
leader's wildest dreams sounded not only exciting, but inevitable.

Odal leaned a shoulder against the paneled wall and scanned the other
men in the room.

There was fat Greber, the vice