th electronic signals, collecting the dead
and treating the wounded.

Communications lines opened between the fleets.
Admiral Selvin requested the INOR commanders to
order a stand down from all weapons. All Plutonian
Assault Force vessels were ordered to form up and
prepare for boarders.

Brad and Selvin stood in a corner of the command
deck, heads close. Brad drew an object from
a pocket as he spoke: the control for the
communications barrier Zolan had erected.
Selvin, hand to chin, stared at the device,
listening. He pointed to it, and then in the
direction of the companionway.

"Notify Camari," he said. "Now."

Brad nodded and raced away.

Chapter FORTY-FIVE

Camari's impassive gaze roamed the faces of the
Solar System's leaders at the conference table. The
discussions had quickly degenerated into an open
clash of wills between Camari and Narval. The other
INOR Chiefs of State sat back to enjoy the contest,
posing occasional questions to Camari or Narval,
or to both. All knew they were in a waiting game.

Camari went along, drawing Narval out. Each was
eager for a message from the Planet Pluto Special
Zone that would present a new reality and the
defining course for the conference.

Narval realized that he was being goaded by his
INOR allies to exacerbate the confrontation between
the Regions. Noting the time, he decided to drop
the first bombshell.

"We have been called together to prepare a course
for the future," he rumbled, looking about with
scorn. "Yet we of INOR sit here and quibble among
ourselves, lacking a unified will to confront the
UIPS directly and compel them to respect our
demands. The circumstances of the times call for
the raw strength of an iron fist, not for a press
of beggars with outstretched, pleading palms."

"I take exception," President Straber of Titan
leaned forward and waggled his finger at Narval.
"We are a confederation of nation-states. Are you
suggesting that we abdicate our sovereignty to a
single authority? If we were to do that we face the
same chaos that preceded the separation of the
Regions. We of Titan would find that intolerable."

Narval seized the moment to pave the way for
the supreme power he felt would soon be his.
The message from Drummer would surely come
within minutes.

"The old United Planetary System from which we
broke away," he countered, "was based on so-called
democratic principles and due process. The United
Planetary Sys