When he glanced up, Kazimir saw Icalanise was a slim tawny crescent overhead. The New Storm seemed to bulge out of the Great Northern cloudband. He'd been watching the moon-sized storm growing for two centuries now, absorbing all the smaller storms it clashed with to become the largest of all the gas-giant's cyclonic swirls. Human starships flittered around the orbital cluster of stations and micro-gee factories like a metallic shoal, mostly Navy craft, with a few commercial freighters and passenger ships. High Angel was still the largest navy port in the Greater Commonwealth. Its residents took a lot of pride in that, supplying a disproportionate amount of officers.

Kazimir gathered his thoughts and returned to his big white desk. The office's ancient tragwood furniture really was aesthetically awful, made worse by the clinical glowing walls and ceiling. But he did concede it was comfortable as he sank back into the cushioning.

'Convene the ExoProtectorate Council, he told his u-shadow. The office dissolved from his natural vision, leaving him in the perceptual conference room with its white and orange furniture (not much of an improvement on his own, he reflected sadly) looking out over the tempestuous furore of the Millavian plains.

Gore and Ilanthe appeared first, sitting next to each other. The Accelerator faction representative had changed her appearance since the last meeting, allowing her dark hair to hang down to her waist in a single tail wrapped with red leather bands; she wore a stylish black dress of horizontal pleats. She nodded politely to Gore, who was in his golden incarnation, dressed in a perfectly tailored tuxedo.

'Any news of Justine? Ilanthe asked.

Gore's gaze flicked to the chair Justine had occupied last time the Council convened. 'Nothing. I guess we'll have to wait to see if the Second Dreamer deigns to reveal anything to us.

Crispin Goldreich arrived. The ancient Senator gave Justine's chair a look. 'Gore. Kazimir, he said formally. 'My sympathies to both of you.

'Yeah, thanks, Gore said.

'I prefer to consider her successfully positioned to assist us further, Kazimir said. 'She has achieved something remarkable, after all.

'Yes, Crispin said sheepishly.

Creewan materialised in his chair, to the left of Kazimir. The Custodian faction member gave the Admiral a formal bow. He hadn't completed the motion when the Darwinist faction representative, John Thelwell, arrived in a seat on the opposite side of the table. The two of them always seemed to appear at the same time. Kazimir wondered idly if there was some kind of alliance involved, though how such diverse factions could find any common ground was a mystery.

'Aren't you going to activate Justine's ANA personality? John Thelwell asked in some surprise.

'Why? Gore asked. 'Her actual is still alive. Duplication is still our biggest anathema, isn't it? Or have you converted to that pervert multiple philosophy.

Thelwell threw up his hands. 'Fine. If that's how you want to play it.

'If you're ready, Kazimir said. 'I have the secure link to the Yenisey available.

'All right, Gore said. 'Let's take a look and see what the Ocisens have come up with.

Captain Lucian was proud of his small crew. For nine days the Yenisey had flown in pursuit of the greatest fleet of warships the Ocisens had ever assembled. If intelligence summaries about the Starslayer class ships was correct, then not even MorningLightMountain had enjoyed this level of firepower to deploy against the Commonwealth. Unsurprisingly, then, tension on board had been building as they closed on the fleet. Yet he considered they'd coped remarkably well. This mission wasn't anything they'd expected or trained for, however as one they had risen to the challenge. Toi, the systems officer, actually relished the chance to confront the Ocisens.

'They've learned nothing in five hundred years, she said. 'They genuinely believe we're just a bunch of decadent animals who got lucky on the technology front. We are the classical immovable object in their way, and all they do is crack what passes for a head against us. They don't try to learn or adapt.

'This fleet is proof they have tried to think round the problem, Kylee, the first tactical officer argued. 'They saw what they needed to overcome us, and they set out to obtain it. That's adaptive.

'They set out to steal it, Toi said.

'Negotiating an allegiance is hardly stealing.

'I don't believe they could do that. They found the leftovers of a post-physical, and bootstrapped themselves up a whole weapons-level.

'Even that's pretty adaptive.

The argument had been just about continuous. The four of them had completely different positions, not that it interfered with their tasks. Although Lucian was slightly concerned about Gieovan, the second tactical officer, whose solution to the whole Ocisen problem was unpleasantly crude. He would be allying himself directly to the Accelerators at download, Lucian decided, if not the Isolationists or possibly the more radical Darwinists. For a moment, he did worry about confronting the fleet with Gieovan's hand on the trigger of their formidable arsenal. But none of them ever allowed their personal views to affect their professionalism. He was confident they'd deliver the result Admiral Kazimir had tasked them with.

For eighteen hours they'd flown beside the Ocisen fleet in stealth mode, and monitored the alien warships. To Lucian's huge relief, they were all Ocisen.

'Unless they've got stealth, Kylee pointed out after the first hour.

'You can't stealth a continuous wormhole drive, Gieovan countered. 'In any case, you can only minimalize the hyperdrive emission and damp down its distortion effect. You're never truly stealthed to a top-level sensor array. Detection and concealment technology are a constant race for superiority.

'But we're not registering anything? Lucian asked.

'No, captain, Gieovan. 'We could use more active scanning, of course, but that would give us away.

'Let's not make this any more difficult. Continue monitoring their communications. We need to identify the command ship.

The Ocisen fleet hierarchy was of course a replica of their imperial structure, with the Emperor's nest having ultimate authority. Individual captains had very little leeway. Consequently the communication traffic reflected that, with one ship issuing orders to everyone else. There was no cross-ship chatter.

Once they'd identified the command ship beyond any doubt, Lucian called Admiral Kazimir and received authorization for the interception.

'Knock them out of ftl, Kazimir said, 'and deliver our warning. They are to turn around or every ship will be disabled.

'I'm not quite sure we can achieve that, Lucian said. 'The Yenisey packs a hell of a punch, but there's over two and a half thousand ships out there, including nine hundred Starslayers. If even twenty of them combine, they can get through our shields.

'Lucian, I could never countenance disabling the fleet in deep space, not when they're already so far past the Empire's boundary. They simply don't have the ships nor resources to mount a viable rescue operation. The crews would perish. That is not something I wish to have on my conscience, nor that of any of my officers. No, today is simply a reminder of our technological superiority. I suspect it will have to be repeated several times until they realize they cannot physically achieve their goal.

'Understood, sir, Lucian said with some relief.

The four of them settled on their couches in the main cabin, and merged with the smartcore. It gave them a perceptual viewpoint from the front of the fuselage. Yenisey curved away beneath them, the main hull was a fat cylinder eighty metres long, with a conical nose section. Midships sprouted three radial fins supporting bulbous weapons nacelles, each of which curved down to a sharp point. A uniform luminous blue representation of hyperspace flowed around them, as though they were some yacht sailing an ocean.