then to death. His body lay still, and the sound was gone. The
landscape was as before.

Not only the Marshall, but all his men lay dead. The Armadillos were
as shadows of a dark, machinated dream. His orbiting fleet, as well as
the landing craft, stood emptied of life.

Simin crawled slowly out of the depression, and turned to Shin.

"Shannon's life has bought your freedom. Go, then find some way to
fight them again."

His life and energies spent, his quest ended, Simin opened his
foreclaws to the sky in a gesture of invocation. The body split apart,
and his spirit flew toward the stars.

Battle Plan

THE STAGE IS SET FOR CONFRONTATION:

1) P-K4*

*Chess moves. For greater understanding, may be read in conjunction
with a chess board.

The Belgian-Swiss Alliance had entered the movement on the side of the
Cantons. Indeed, they had taken it over. Those of broader vision had
suspected such a move was possible. That Cantos, a single
planet-colony of sixty million inhabitants, could hope to make more
than minor gains in that newly settled quadrant was somewhat doubtful.
The known galaxy was expanding, and the Cantons themselves had been
little more than blind, eager puppets, fed and encouraged from outside,
closely watched to see how far they could bend (or simply ignore) the
precepts of International Law. Though the damage they did was all too
real.

P-K4

As the inhabited regions of Space spread out and became more remote, so
the rules and niceties which had guided earlier colonization grew thin
and wore away. It was merely a question of how much aggression the
reigning superpowers would allow. The Four were still a force to be
reckoned with.

2) N-KB3

In the current balance the United Commonwealth held the greatest sway,
its advanced technology and more plentiful resources always keeping it
one step ahead of Soviet Space. The Americans had been the first to
colonize, and first in deep-space exploration, the advantages of which
were still paying off.

N-QB3

The New Japanese Republic---Empire, in everything but name---was
strong, but surprisingly benevolent. For the first time in its modern
history this serious, hard-working nation had the room and resources to
keep its naturally overachieving peoples busy and content. There was
no longer any reason for the underlying brutality of earlier Japanese
culture, and in truth many of the more aggressive soci