ights appeared on the circle. Thane spun around to the visiscreen.
The lead battle squadron of the Darzent Fleet had appeared there
simultaneously, surfaced in space. Seven of the battle cruisers fired
as one, and were joined by all the firepower of their escort ships.

The disrupter blasts, joining together, created a blinding sun in
empty space. It was there. It was gone. And then just dead, empty
space again, but without the slightest hint that the lead squadron of
the mighty Darzent Fleet had ever been there. Thane quickly looked
over at the galactic map to see if they could have managed to get back
into warp-line drive. No, there were no lights below the circle of the
confluence. But another light was approaching from above, still ten
light years away. Thane turned back to the visiscreen just as the
second division of Onzar's fleet opened fire on the surfacing Darzent
forces. Again utter annihilation.

The battle continued, with more surfacing squadrons, more eruption,
disappearing suns. Thane turned away, losing interest in the
well-planned slaughter. Here, a parsec away from the Onzar system,
they were well outside the intersystems communication jam. Selan's
horrified attention was still completely on the battle. Thane stepped
back into the communications section of the scout and flicked the
powerful space set into life. Static from the now almost constant
disrupter blasts ripped and crackled across the hum of the set. There
was just a chance, he considered, that he could get the relay station
at Kadenar.

He worked rapidly, setting the frequency, the directional beam, the
gain control. It was only a question of time before the detector would
pick up the clear beam on the Onzar fleet, even in the midst of
battle. At last it came through.

Across space, the automatic code responder finally could be heard.
Thane gave his own code and said, "A direct to Garth. Top urgent."

"That code has been changed," the mechanical voice replied at once.
"Give current code."

"But I've been out of touch," Thane said, "and this must go through."

"That code has been changed," came the same, unvarying reply. "Give
current code."

It was no use. With the mechanical monitor working he'd never get
through. And of course they would have changed his code, after his
disappearance and reported death. He began to talk rapidly giving his
instructions. He couldn't get through to Garth, but there was the
chance that someone would se