The renegade ships were German.

Then, without any order being given, first one Coalition vessel and
then another began to break formation and move back to defend their
comrades. Brunner had his answer, though he was too strangled by tears
to take it in. Liebenstein's battleship at last joined the others, and
turned to face the Enemy.

No more shots were fired. The Dutch returned to their homes.

........................................................................
......................

THE ABYSS

The final star gate was completed, and by all the signs, not a day too
soon. Swift-moving Soviet reconnaissance vessels moved with increased
frequency and boldness just out of firing range, marking the numbers
and combat readiness of the Third Fleet, and even, if they knew what to
look for, the progress of the Gate itself. Nothing else trackable
moved within the vicinity; but Hayes' knew this meant nothing. The
Russian anti-detection screens, as demonstrated by earlier encounters,
were vastly improved, and their four Supercarriers (by the latest
intelligence) were capable of full e-light warp from well outside the
arc of his surveillance. And at that speed.....

The Dreadnought remained still while her troubled mites hurried back
inside the womb, hopeful of escape. As if literally animal young, they
seemed to sense for the first time in their half-wakened minds the
presence of a shark, or some other dreadful creature, that shared those
depths with them, wishing them harm, and more powerful even than the
mother, who from time of first consciousness had been the very symbol
and embodiment of strength. Now into their dark hole she would crawl,
and emerge again far, far away.

*

The last chute was raised, and the goliath moved slowly forward,
gathering speed, eradicating the trivial miles which separated her from
the Gate, and from the possible undoing of the civilized world. Earth!
The hexagon was now clearly visible as it loomed larger and nearer,
surrounded once more by the dwarfed engineering vessels which had
shaped it, and with its might, burned out the hollow darkness beyond.
What would become of these, since the frame had been mined, with orders
to destroy it upon the passage of the Dreadnought, none could say.

Hayes leaned forward in martial attitude against the rail before the
screen, his lower jaw locking tight, then releasing, like a vise-grips.
Frank stood at his sho