“We are being hailed again,” Kanchumurthi said from his console. “It’s the Aspire.”

“On screen,” Sulu said. She had been communicating with the fleet for most of the day, ever since she had transmitted word of Tomed’s attack. She made her way down to the lower section of the bridge and stood beside the navigation station. On the main viewscreen, the starscape disappeared, replaced by the image of a long, wide bridge, at least half again as large as that of Enterprise.Alert lighting flashed red there as well.

In the center of the scene, in a command chair with a high, tapered back, sat an officer Sulu did not recognize. He had thick brown hair, and his heavy eyebrows, mustache, and beard covered a great deal of his face. Sulu could not see his mouth, but his flat, circular nose, wide and upturned, along with his deep-set eyes, identified him as a Tellarite.

“Commander Sulu,”the man said. “I am Captain Renk of theU.S.S. Aspire. We received your message regarding the attack on Foxtrot Sector.”He hesitated and glanced around his bridge. Many of the officers there, Sulu now noticed, had their eyes cast downward. “My crew,”Renk said. “We are…”He could not seem to find the proper word to describe what he wanted to say, but his meaning was clear.

“I understand, Captain,” Sulu said. “The crew of the Enterprisefeels the same way.”

Renk nodded, accepting the sentiment. “Have you heard yet from Starfleet Command?”he asked.

“Not yet,” she said, “but we anticipate a response soon.” Any orders from Starfleet would come from the officer responsible for operations in this and the neighboring sectors: Admiral Mentir. Sulu actually hoped not to hear from him. If the Starfleet vessels amassed along the Neutral Zone received either the command to advance or to retreat, then it would mean that Captain Harriman’s plan had failed to provide the outcome he had expected—the outcome for which he had risked so much.

“I’m sure you’ll keep us informed,”Renk said.

“I will, Captain,” she said. “In the meantime, maintain battle stations.” As the commander of the Starfleet flagship, Sulu also functioned now as the de facto leader of the battle group. Renk nodded once to Sulu, and then to an officer on the Aspirebridge. The transmission ended, the starscape appearing once more on the viewscreen.

“Captain,” Tenger said, “sensors are picking up movement along the Klingon-Romulan border, not far from Federation space.” Sulu moved back up to the raised outer section of the bridge and over to where Tenger worked his panel. She studied the display he had configured, and now saw not only Federation and Romulan space, but Klingon territory as well; the lines of confluence of all three powers hung in space not far from Foxtrot Sector. Several more Klingon vessels had moved into the area, bringing the total to twenty-one. As she’d expected, her transmission to the fleet and the subsequent gathering of Starfleet forces along the Federation side of the Neutral Zone had not gone unnoticed by either the Romulans or the Klingons.

Shortly after Enterprise’s arrival here, an Ivarix-class vessel had appeared in nearby Romulan space. They had made no attempt to contact Enterprise,and Sulu had not tried to contact them. In the intervening hours between then and now, more and more ships on both sides had moved into position along the Neutral Zone, and in the last few hours, Klingon vessels had also begun arriving in the region abutting both Federation and Romulan space.

Sulu looked up from the tactical display and over at the main viewscreen. She considered the massive amounts of weaponry now aimed in each direction, and wondered how long she would have to wait. Captain Harriman’s entire plan had been predicated on how this military buildup would end. As long as Chancellor Azetbur remained in power—and Starfleet Intelligence did not believe she faced any imminent threat of removal—Harriman believed strongly that he knew precisely what would happen. He had, in fact, believed so strongly that he had been willing to endanger his own life and the lives of others, and to cause anguish throughout the Federation and the Romulan Empire—anguish that would not soon be forgotten by either side.

Sulu stepped away from Lieutenant Tenger and began walking the perimeter of the bridge. She paced past the engineering stations and the starboard turbolift, and then past the main viewscreen. As she neared the sciences station, Ensign Fenn peered up at her, a stony expression on her face. Sulu noticed the bandage still on her finger. “How are you feeling?” she asked, motioning toward Fenn’s hand. In the next couple of months, she knew that the young woman would have to take a leave of absence from Starfleet, so that she could return home to undergo the Shift.

Fenn lifted her arm from her console and looked at her finger. “My pain seems inconsequential right now,” she said.

“I know, Borona,” Sulu said, putting a reassuring hand on Fenn’s shoulder. “I know.” And she thought: Thishas to work.The sense of loss engendered by the supposed attack on the Foxtrot outposts would be far too high a price to pay for this not to work. She understood Captain Harriman’s belief that the reality of peace, and of the saving of billions of lives, would be worth that pain, and she even agreed. But she didn’t know if she agreed that merely the possibilityof peace was worth it. For if war could not now be averted—

“Captain, we are being hailed,” Kanchumurthi said again. “By a Klingon vessel.”

Sulu felt her eyebrows rise on her forehead, not in surprise, but in hope. It took an effort for her to remain calm. “Put them on screen,” she said.

As she headed back toward the command chair, the image of a multitiered Klingon bridge appeared on the viewer, the dark atmosphere almost brooding. Atop a raised, thronelike chair sat a large, thickset man, the silver metal torso of his uniform appearing to strain along its seams. Pulled back against his head, his hair might have been long or short, she could not tell which. His dark beard and mustache were well defined, even against his swarthy complexion. “I am General Kaarg,”he said, “of theI.K.S. NuH Bey’.”

“Commander Sulu, of the Enterprise,”she said, standing before her command chair.

“We have monitored your transmissions,”Kaarg said. “As I’m sure you intended us to do.”

“Yes, General, we did,” Sulu admitted freely. “We wanted everybody to know what happened, and to know that weknow what happened.”

“Indeed, everybody does,”Kaarg said. “Four Klingon warships, on patrols near our borders, registered the Romulan vessel on long-range sensors. They witnessed the attack.”

“The cowardlyattack,” Sulu said pointedly, and then thought that she shouldn’t have. She did not need to over-play her hand.

“I must admit that I do not always share the opinions of Federation citizens when it comes to matters of cowardice or honor,”Kaarg said. “But in this case, I have no choice but to agree.”

“I’m pleased to hear that, General,” Sulu said.

“I would imagine that you are. And as I’m sure you know, Chancellor Azetbur has been quite clear in stating the Klingon position regarding hostilities between the Federation and the Romulans.”

“I do know that,” she said.

“Good,”Kaarg told her. “Then I will not now have to explain myself.”He looked to his side and barked an order, and the image of the Klingon bridge vanished from the screen, replaced by the starscape.

“Captain,” Tenger said at once, “I’m reading movement along the Klingon border.”

“Give me a tactical display, Lieutenant,” Sulu said. “On screen.”

The readout Sulu had viewed at Tenger’s station now appeared on the main viewer. The red sweep of the Neutral Zone still flowed through the center of the display, Federation territory marked on one side and Romulan territory on the other. At one end of the Neutral Zone, the expanse of Klingon space began, and there, the phalanx of ships had begun to move, advancing toward the area where the three territories intersected.