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PART V:
Interdict

The Preceptor studied the message from his agent on Terra. More from amusement than anything else. There was not much to study, really, once he'd read past the brief account of the arrival of an Interdict vessel at the Terra framepoint. He'd already passed the gist of that on to Pleniary-Superior Tura, but hadn't told her of the message's ending. She'd have been too outraged.

Just three words:

Position yourself now.

Not the least of the reasons that agent was the best the Preceptor had was that he was the only one who would ever dare send such a message. The Preceptor glanced at Tura, standing not far away waiting for his orders. The pleniary-superior herself, despite her rank and capability and self-assurance, would not have had the nerve to so instruct the Preceptor.

Not yet, at least. He had great hopes for her in the future.

"Our agent—ah—recommends that we position the fleet. I agree with his recommendation. See to it, Tura."

"Yes, Preceptor. The entire fleet?"

"Only the harriers, for the moment. If we need support vessels and lighter craft, we can add them later. Immediately, I will want to be able to overawe any resistance. For that, sixty-three harriers will do perfectly."

"And we will need them anyway," Tura observed, "if the arrival of the Interdict presages an assault by the Complete Harmony."

"Yes, that too."

She cocked her head slightly, tilting her ears. "But you do not want to intervene yet? The fleet is to remain here, at the framepoint connecting to Terra? That might be dangerous, Preceptor, if the Complete Harmony is on its way."

"Yes, it might. But I, too, in a different way, have no choice but to advance-by-oscillation. The Pluthrak must retain the lead here, not the Bond, or twenty years of work will go for nothing."

He deleted the message from his private holo tank. "And if Terra does not survive, so be it. Strategy is always a matter of weighing one risk against another."

 

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Framed