rt distance from him, churning with emotion.
They were drawing closer. As so many times before they would pass
through. But this time, on the other side would be.....

A succession of brilliant white lasers leapt out of nowhere and
converged upon the cold blue Frame, which in turn glowed sullenly from
within, convulsed, blew outward and came apart. The Gate was
shattered, and would no longer serve.

"Reverse thrust!" someone shouted. The engineering vessels, of their
own volition, had begun to scatter in all directions. Two seemed
partially crippled, and one moved not at all.

Hayes let out a sound more bestial than human, after which he bawled,
"Where did those shots come from!" A technician turned towards him as
if to answer, but his face was deathly white.

Hayes strode toward him with his arm raised, as for a blow. "OUT with
it!"

"From the Dreadnought, sir."

"From WHERE on the Dreadnought!"

The man hesitated, and Hayes really did strike him. He wiped the blood
from his mouth, and with his eyes to the floor said numbly,

"Auxiliary Laser Deployment."

As if cued by these words, the young officer that Hayes had berated on
the eve of the Schiller conquest rose and came forward.

"I did it, you dirty old son of a bitch. You're not going to destroy
MY home." He whirled to address his stupefied compatriots, who had
turned from their stations to face him. "It's all been a lie! Stone
didn't order any of this, and Plant didn't kill him. It was THAT
bastard," pointing, "and Hesse that---"

He never finished the sentence. Hayes, purple with rage and every vein
of his forehead bulging, struck him a savage blow across the head with
a conduit wrench, the first object that came to hand. The man fell
limply forward, not quite unconscious, emitting a weak grown of pain.

At that moment two MP's rushed into the room, and Hayes ordered them to
lift him by the arms and turn him around. The pistol that he always
carried at his hip he raised and held at arm's length. It was clear
that he meant to shoot the man.

"Stop it!" cried Frank suddenly, rushing between them. "You can't just
kill a man without a trial. . .for doing what he thought was right."
It was equally clear that Frank himself was unsure of the truth, and
had been unnerved by the youth's allegations.

"Who the HELL do you think you are?" bellowed the other. "Giving ME
orders! Stand aside or I'll kill you both."

This was too much for