Admiral Pace stood with Sam Grant in the observation lounge and watched a frigate disappear into the beautiful, terrible wormhole as he listened to the command staff brief him on the incoming battle reports.

“Sam,” he said. “I hope that thing doesn’t kill us all.”

****

ESF Raymond – Earth Space Force Heavy Cruiser

Commodore Griswald surveyed the results of the barrage.

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“Attention, fleet,” said Admiral Pace. “You jump to Goultara in a couple of minutes. I remind you that this is a diplomatic rescue mission. You are not to fire on the Goultarans unless provoked by direct attack, and then defend yourselves only as necessary. Your mission is to demand the ambassador's release, not start a war.”

****

Eridani Cruiser Ragisy (in orbit around the Goultaran Homeworld)

“Captain,” said Tactical. “Advance commandoes report that a pair of Seed Ships just left the planet’s surface and look like they’re making a run for a destroyer in orbit. They’re probably moving Eridani prisoners off-planet.”

“We can’t let them do that. Target that destroyer and launch boarding shuttles. Attack plan Alpha, but continue sending dropships to the planet’s surface. We need to get them all landed before anything else goes wrong. Did our remaining troop transport get through?”

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“We need a new destination before we take off again because we definitely can’t go there,” said Carol. “They seem to already know what we’re here to do.”

“Agreed,” said Mayor Stafford. “As soon as we shut off the ID signal we were using, their forces stopped chasing us and started converging on the spot where our contact said we could pick up Elizabeth.”

“If it were me,” said Steve. “I’d also move the target.”

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The crowd force packed inside the ship cheered.

“They’re already on full alert; I guess they were expecting company. I see active hyperdrives everywhere.”

Helona’s hand flexed to tighten her grip on her spear, but her hands were empty. They'd stowed it for safe transport with the other more dangerous gear.

“We’re out of the nav hazard zone, jumping to the planet.”

After a quick hyperspace hop to orbit, Carol immediately rotated the ship toward the planet’s surface and then fired the hover thrusters, which suddenly bled off orbital velocity to crash-dive the ship through the atmosphere. Not since more than a year ago, when she’d rode an escape pod through the atmosphere of Feleg 3, had Helona experienced such a rough planetfall. She looked over at Carl.

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“Sir, this is Tactical. Four large human warships just arrived through the wormhole.”

Captain Peculis looked at the display.

“I see their hyperdrive signatures--cruisers. Do we have an analysis?”

“No, Sir, the signature isn't specific enough for exact ship class, and their light hasn’t reached us yet. They’re big, however. They're assuming equidistant positions just outside the wormhole’s hazard zone.”

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“Absolutely not,” said Admiral Pace. “We need to put on a show for the Eridani, and I can’t think of a better way to do that than to drop in on the Goultarans with a strong force and demand that they release Ambassador Trunketh and her escorts.”

“I’m not sure she’d survive that approach,” interjected Commodore Griswald. “We might lose her.”

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Griswald read the note, which had been translated into English by Britil’s staff. The Eridani were demanding joint control of the wormhole network.

Griswald pushed a button on his desk.

“Yes,” came the reply.

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“I agree,” said Admiral Pace. “After our frontal assault on the facility on Feleg 3 killed dozens of his people, they needed to be the ones to rescue their own, those who were left.”

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Helona squinted to see, but darkness ruled the room so entirely as to render her eyes almost completely useless. All she could see was the dim light of some control display off in the distance.

“Yeah,” said Carl from somewhere nearby. “I’m over here. Are you all right?”

She sat up and crawled toward him, but metal bars blocked her way. Then she noticed how little she wore and felt glad of the darkness.

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“Report, please,” she ordered.

“The ambassador surrendered her embassy and the human troops guarding her without bloodshed. I wish the other Earth officials had stayed longer. We could have rounded them up, too.”

“It’s probably for the best,” said Zenad. “The captain of Admiral Pace’s flag cruiser might have given us trouble if we had captured him, and then we would have had to kill people. Instead, he left and took his cruiser with him. Why have you covered her mouth?”

“You and I agreed that we should do this quietly...and she’s not quiet.”

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Commodore Griswald hated to have this fight with the Eridani ambassador. If Human and Eridani relations could break down this quickly between the two of them over the Seed Ship sighting, what hope was there for those who didn't love each other?

“You could have waited for complete information to pass along and not gone off half-cocked and jumped to conclusions,” he said. “You know how touchy things are right now, and you didn’t know who was on that ship, who was flying it, or why it was even here.”

“Half-cocked?” she said with a quizzical smile. “What does that mean?”

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“You drop in on our outposts, too,” said Admiral Pace.

Sam Grant saw Ambassador Trunketh roll her eyes and hoped he was the only one who noticed the gesture.

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“How should I know?” Carl replied, looking at the controls. “Before we went through the wormhole, I was able to broadcast a message to Wormhole Station, I think, but I'm not a pilot, and everything on this control console is written in Goultaran.”

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She wondered how long the other scars would take to heal. Steve had never liked her going off exploring on her own, but she'd considered the risk hers alone. She’d never realized that she could get so many other people’s family members killed.

“Hello.”

She looked up and saw a man standing in the doorway of her hospital room. He looked like a Fed from Earth.

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Commodore Griswald glanced out the big picture window of Wormhole Station’s dining area and saw the newcomer. He couldn't recognize the ship class but could see that it was clearly of Goultaran design.

Ambassador Britil and everyone else seated with them also saw it. She jumped from her chair, fists clenched.

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“Now what?” She said, looking at Carl.

Carl grinned and showed her his pistol as he set it to the railgun setting.

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“Doctor Thadfield,” said Carol, snapping her fingers. She turned to Agent Valkyrie. “We can’t let him get away. He’s the bad guy in charge here and knows stuff.”

“Thadfield isn’t a Goultaran name,” said Valkyrie. “You mean a human runs this joint, not the Goultarans?”

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“Yay!” she said in the sudden euphoria of being rescued. Then she remembered about the Containment Protocol that Thadfield had told her about. She also remembered that if she stayed, he would soon show up with a squad of sentry robots, probably stun her, and she’d wake up on Thadfield’s ship on the way to who knows where. Whatever colonists were left behind would be dead, along with whoever had just now arrived to rescue them.

She ran to the door.

“Lurch! Let me out!” She yelled, pounding desperately.

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She crawled out of her sleeping bag and slithered quietly to where she could lay her hand on the cold surface where Carl had slept. She found tracks he’d made earlier that night when he’d left, and then she remembered that he had gotten up about an hour before midnight to take his turn at the watch. He should have woken her an hour or so ago to take her turn. She leaped to her feet, heart pounding, grabbed her day pack and spear, and jogged swiftly out into the gathering twilight.

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“Did your people already search this area for Carol, Lieutenant?”

“Of course, they did, early on,” said Agent Valkyrie. “Also, many of the local security forces and a bunch of colonist volunteers.”

Helona shook her head.

“What about orbital surveillance?" she said. "You guys seemed pretty good at that during your operation at Sherry's house. You found and caught me easily enough.”

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