ed before them.

Soon this, too, was parted. Stars returned to the sky, along with the
gold-orangish hue of a nearby planet. And behind and to one side of
them, though still far off, a detachment of the Coalition Fleet whirled
about and began to pursue. From the orbit of the planet as well, rose
a small and desperate defense.

Hayes' voice boomed on the intercom, superceding sectarian commanders.
"All vessels prepare to attack. Chutes one through twelve lower and
discharge. Enemy at five o'clock, bearing 3 - 4 Mark. Outward
batteries key on planetary forces. Give 'em hell boys; this one's for
real!"

Within minutes over two hundred fighters, cruisers and destroyers had
emerged from the death-womb of the Carrier, formed into squadrons and
flotillas, turned to face the enemy and begun to move forward. That
number again, including the four titanic battleships, were held in
reserve.

The straggle of fighters and destroyers from the planet's last line of
defense the launched ships ignored altogether, these being handled
easily by the multitude of blazing turrets aboard the Dreadnought. One
or two handfuls managed to elude fire long enough to harry the rear of
the advancing ranks; but these were little more than beetles biting at
the legs of wolves. A single heavy cruiser would turn its guns in
their direction, and end forever the one-sided argument.

The ships that advanced to meet them were more formidable. Suspecting
a move of this kind (but needing to suspect a dozen other possibilities
as well), the Coalition had detached eighty vessels, nearly a quarter
of its strength, to patrol the area, and defend Friedrich Schiller, the
beloved and irreplaceable East German home planet. And when the time
came, though sleep had been scarce and tension high, they were ready to
fight. Consisting mainly of German forces, they needed no
high-sounding words to give blood in defense of their homeland.

In open Space battles of this kind, where there was no constricting
lattice of energy fields to hinder movement (as at the Battle of
Athena), the aggressor held the decided advantage. For here there was
no barricades or tactically advantageous points, only a three
dimensional sea of emptiness in all directions, here and there pricked
by planet islands, themselves destructible and a hindrance to mobility.
For this reason both sides had attempted to charge, and the resulting
collision of forces at once split the conflagra