Help me " Then he saw the gun in MacMaine's hand and stopped. It was the last thing he saw before MacMaine shot him neatly between the eyes. Loopat, only half conscious, never even knew he was in danger, and the blast that drilled through his brain prevented him from ever knowing anything again in this life. Like a man in a dream, MacMaine went on to Hokotan's cabin, his weapon at the ready.

If he had known that such a weapon existed, would he have been fool enough to leave his people? With that secret, they stand a good chance of beating us in less than half the time it took us to wipe out their fleet or, rather, to wipe out as much of it as we did." "They got a new fleet somewhere," said young Loopat, almost to himself. Tallis ignored him.

Then, out of nowhere, comes a fleet of ships we didn't even know existed, and they've smashed us at every turn." "If they are ships," said Loopat, the youngest officer of the Shudos staff. "Who ever heard of a battleship that was undetectable at a distance of less than half a million miles? It's impossible!" "Then we're being torn to pieces by the impossible!" Hokotan snapped.