So far his own people were not involved. His troops-even his aerial units-were still aboard their transports, parked some four hundred miles out. Apraxin's main force had destroyed the Wyzhnyny system defense force in the near fringe, and one of her battle groups provided cover against a small planetary defense flotilla hiding in warpspace.

The planetary assault force had already begun pounding the Wyzhnyny on the ground. Pak could see where a "Dragon"-a heavy bombardment ship-had stomped what once had been major Wyzhnyny installations. Leaving fine rubble and bare ground, churned in places, seared in others. That phase was over now. Two marine "wolf packs"-squadrons of heavy, "Dire Wolf" ground-support floaters-were down there raising hell with Wyzhnyny armor hiding in the woods, plus whatever Wyzhnyny aircraft they could find.

He'd locked the real-view scene on one of the wolf packs, following it. It was guided by two newly placed surveillance buoys 360 miles out, protected from ordinary target locks by electronic gnomes, and from ground-launched rockets by riding constantly changing, randomly generated coordinates. (The Wyzhnyny buoys had been clinkered, to sink, then free-fall as they lost their residual AG.)

He'd seen one Dire Wolf destroyed by ground fire. Radio traffic reported two others downed. The marines' good services came at a price.

His waiting troops, he supposed, were getting restless. Some no doubt eager to experience action, use their hard-earned skills. They were young. Others just wanting to get the waiting over with. He was in no hurry to land them. Let the wolf packs finish off all the Wyzhnyny armor and air units they could find. Apparently the Wyzhnyny didn't have concealment screens. His own concealment-screen generator had been delivered barely before he'd left Luneburger's World.

It had occurred to him that military technology was restricted by more than the limits of science. Culture and history entered in-what your philosophies allowed, especially religious philosophies; to what degree creative imagination and innovation were given play; who you'd fought, and when, and under what circumstances.

If there's a technological mismatch down there, he thought, I hope it's in our favor. He especially hoped the aliens didn't have nuclear weapons. He was reasonably sure Admiral Apraxin didn't. That even the Commonwealth didn't.

New Jerusalem:

Encounter In Space

Vice Admiral Carmen Apraxin-DaCosta had been born with more than her share of intellectual and leadership potential, and grew up in a family tradition of service in the fleet. Even as the fleet shrank to become a simulated fleet, existing in the real world as no more than light squadrons sent to hunt pirates. A remote ancestor had been Fleet Admiral Gavril Apraxin, who'd served during the Troubles. Hero of the Lesser Congeries, and postmortem scapegoat of the President Akiro disaster.

In childhood she'd pretended-believed?-she was that remote progenitor, reincarnated-the sort of thing children often play at mentally-but she never thought of it anymore. She was Carmen Apraxin-DaCosta, with her own life to live and her own career to fashion. Things she'd done conspicuously well.

On her flagship the Uinta, her attention was on something much more urgent. She'd just emerged from her closing jump to the New Jerusalem System, and shipsmind had promptly reported an alien pentagonal battle group-the Wyzhnyny system defense force-also in the inner fringe, only 189 million miles away. At the same time, shipsmind tagged each enemy spacecraft by its complex electronic signature, each a composite of several system signatures. It wasn't as definitive as fingerprints, but between overhauls it was reliable.

Shipsmind had also registered the Wyzhnyny's small planetary guard flotilla, parked only 90,000 miles off New Jerusalem. It was large enough to be seriously dangerous to a planetary assault, but far too small to threaten her task force. She'd ignore it till she'd dealt with the more potent system defense force.

Meanwhile she ordered the planetary assault force to generate warpspace and head insystem, getting it out of what she hoped would prove the primary danger zone. Sending one of her three battle groups as escort. She hardly considered moving against the system defense force. Almost surely it wasn't where it seemed to be, or wouldn't be for long. Because shipsmind hadn't registered it in real time; the finite speed of light got in the way. Given the distance, her current read showed it as it had been seventeen minutes earlier. So she would wait.

She was right; ten minutes later the aliens disappeared from her screens. They were nearly seven minutes under way, almost surely headed for either her main force or New Jerusalem, presumably the first.

She presumed correctly. In just six minutes they appeared abruptly in F-space, but not all in one place. Their commander realized he was seriously outnumbered, so his battle group emerged as five subgroups, in five locations around the human perimeter. Each subgroup consisted of a battleship, with a screen of what Apraxin thought of as cruisers and corvettes.

It was a far more favorable tactical situation than Spanish Soong had faced, and Apraxin was ready with more than shields. Six weeks earlier, via savant, Soong had sent Charley Gordon's detailed suggestions and instructions. Afterward she'd spent several days with her AI chief, programing and installing it all in Uinta's shipsmind. That had been followed by weeks of simdrills, as she rode hyperspace toward the New Jerusalem system. They'd emerged in F-space 280 billion miles from New Jerusalem, for an astrogational read and to re-form formations. While there she'd uploaded Charley's "export" system to her fighting ships; it was designed for use without Charley at the helm. Then they'd done simdrills together.

Everyone was enthused with the new battle system, with the admiral less expectant than most. Simulation was simulation. Reality was reality.

Almost at the instant they emerged from warpspace, the Wyzhnyny launched an all-out attack. But except for selecting their opening gambit, they left their actions entirely to their battlecomps, coordinated by their flagship's battlecomp. Even against Apraxin's superior force, that opening gambit provided an initial advantage. But the twists and turns of battle required better extrapolations and coordination than the Wyzhnyny flagship provided. Apraxin's Liberation Task Force won decisively. Of the ten battleships she'd committed, seven survived, along with twenty-three of thirty cruisers and thirteen of twenty corvettes.

During the battle, several Wyzhnyny ships had ducked back into warpspace, and not all had returned to resume action. When it was over, Uinta's shipsmind "accounted" for them all, based on their signatures. When last seen, those not definitely accounted for had already been rated seriously damaged, and were probably no longer functional, lost irretrieveably in hyperspace.

It appeared to be a wipeout, but Apraxin accepted her success guardedly. The purpose of the Wyzhnyny's system defense force had surely been to protect their colony from incursions. And given that purpose, if she'd been the Wyzhnyny admiral, she'd have broken off contact as soon as it became apparent her force would otherwise be wiped out. She'd have disappeared into warpspace with what she had left, to begin a guerrilla campaign, harassing and bleeding the human invaders. In fact, that kind of warfare had been her greatest worry-hers and War House's.

That the Wyzhnyny admiral had pressed his attack till his force had been destroyed was suspicious. What had she missed? What ace had he hidden under the table? Or did he simply lack flexibility? She'd keep her force alert.