I stood on the bluffs overlooking the Martian colony of New Athens and admired the academy's spire through the colony's clear dome. Looking up, I saw the stars in the sky move. A handful of stars flared into life and began to fall groundward. As I watched, I realized they were missiles launched by Cack warships.

The missiles punched through the dome and lifted it on a fountain of fire. The rock jumped under my feet and a huge blast, thinned by the Martian atmosphere to a mere gale, flung a tidal wave of dust and smoke over me. Darkness blotted out the stars so that I could see nothing. I waited in the black, listening to the sound of my breath echoing in my power suit's helmet.

Doctor Powers, my father, my family, my friends—they were all dead. My father's company, Trans-Luminal Systems, the Academy, they were all gone. My life as a scholar, a future business leader, whatever it might have been, had just ended. Yet as I listened to my breath rasp in my helmet and felt my hands curl in their armored gauntlets, I was still, somehow, alive. I sensed the thrumming power of the suit seemingly for the first time. Looking up through the thinning clouds, I watched the Cack warship leave.

They had killed the old Kenneth Phon, I thought.

I don't think they'll like the new one.

I awoke with a start, lying on my bed in a flight-suit I hadn't taken off in at least twenty-four hours. All around me, the ships of the Solarian fleet drifted, unprepared, not even on alert. It was almost like we were just waiting for theCacks to stroll over and capture and kill us or torture us or sell us into slavery.

Enough of this, I thought and sat up. I stripped off the flight-suit, took a shower, shaved, fixed my hair and put on my best uniform. If I was going to die, at least I was going to look like an officer in the Solarian space force.

I could almost hear my father's voice ask me. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Doing what you always tried to teach me, father. I'm dealing with it."

"Don't fool yourself. You have no combat experience."

"And just who is going to send us a commander now?"

"Besides you're too young. Who is going to follow you?"

"And how old do you think I'll live to if I just hand myself over to the enemy today?"

This seemed to shut him up.

I left my cabin and flew weightlessly down the too quiet corridors. No one had bothered to restart the habitat modules' rotation, but at this point it was too late. We would soon be on alert. A strange peace settled on me as I entered the C&C. I imagined it must be something like the peace of a condemned man who knows all hope is gone. However I wasn't dead yet. I strapped myself into the crash pod, which still smelled of sweat and fear, called up the executive command menus, selected the fleet-wide setting and switched it to FAS Gamma. The alarms sounded painfully loud after the unnatural quiet of defeat.

I watched the bandwidth meters spike upwards as the AIs of the various ships of Phil's combined Solarian/Pentaminc fleet responded. Tossing and turning all night, I had only got about three hours of sleep. Now, as the sensor data began filling my displays and the fleet came alive, I felt fully awake for the first time in a while.

"Fleet Command! What's going on? Is it another attack?" came the frantic requests.

"One moment. Please stand by." I waited, smiling, as the ships checked in. After I had them howling on hold, I backed the alert status down to Delta and conferenced them all. "Gentlemen, it may have slipped your notice, but we are still, technically, in a state of war. Please have your ships form up in a defensive sphere. I'm calling a conference of all SCs in five minutes.

Brennon, at least, wasted no time forwarding my orders as the accelerations alarms sounded soon afterwards. Ship Commanders of other fleets started noticing something was up and calling to see what it was. I ignored them, knowing it was the best way to get their attention. Five minutes later, I set up the virtual conference space and the commanders came flooding in.

"Ken, what's happened?" Chris asked.

"Why did you raise the alert?" Commander Brennon asked.

"I couldn't sleep." I looked in amusement at the other commanders' faces. Even with some of the low resolution images, I could tell they were all exhausted and hopeless. Most weren't even in uniform. "Nor, I expect, could you. Just thinking of everything the enemy will do to us kept me tossing and turning and I didn't see any point in lying there like that."

A couple of heads nodded and one or two grunted in agreement.

"I noticed, while we were chasing the enemy all the way back to their home system, that they didn't stand and fight until they had made the best plans they could. But on our part, I don't see anyone preparing for anything but defeat."

Realizing that the threat wasn't immediate, the fear faded from their eyes which glazed over with despair and drifted downwards.

"What do you think will happen to us if we just surrender? You know what Righteous Ruler did to his own brother. What do you think he'll do to a bunch of aliens who tried to kill him, or worse, make him his brother's slave? Do you think he might make such an example of us that no one will dare even think of opposing him?"

I paused to let that sink in, but it didn't take long. They were all close to the bottom already.

"Believe it or not, I think things are looking up."

This got their attention and earned me some surprised, puzzled and a few annoyed looks.

"Perhaps you didn't notice, but the Cacks have some nice worlds and some pretty fancy stuff. While the truce lasted, I could only look on with envy at all the rich supplies and high technology around us knowing the only support we'd get was by spending money we didn't have for supplies we couldn't afford. Considering how bad things got, I used to fear the truce far more than I now fear war.

"Now nothing is off-limits, all Cack space lies before us and, as they say...to the victor belongs the spoils."

A few more faces looked up and I saw the first faint gleam of optimism in their eyes.

"And let us not forget that we are not alone here. Surely the Maker, who is in all places at all times, did not fail to notice how the Cacks violated their oaths of peace—oaths they swore in His name? If we who, despite our need, stayed true to our oaths and kept from taking what some might argue we had already earned, then who do you suppose He will favor? We already know that our crews are better disciplined, our attacks better coordinated and our fleets more professional and more experienced than theirs. If in addition to these things the Great Maker himself is on our side, whose side would you rather be on?

This got them talking enthusiastically. They almost sounded like the crew I had boosted with. I let them talk a minute to make sure the enthusiasm had spread as far as it would go before continuing.

"As obvious as these things are, I doubt we are the only ones to think of them. Then, by God, let's not wait for someone else to challenge us to do what needs to be done. Let us instead set the example and show we are best suited to lead!"

I watched them as they voiced their agreement. With only one exception, they looked ready to take on the Cack armada again.

"As for myself, though I was a fleet sub-commander, I would be willing to follow whomever you chose to lead us against the Cacks. But if you were to choose me I would not make excuses because of my age or experience as I think I know what needs to be done."

"I say we appoint Ken the new fleet commander," Brian said.

"I agree," Commander Brennon added.

They turned to sub-commander Harlow. He had been Phil's closest associate until I came along. The always serious Brian Harlow scanned the group then said, "I agree. I believe commander Phon is the best choice for the position.

Everyone, except for one holdout, talked excitedly about taking the war to the Cacks. Some were even cheering. But while most were calling to make me the new fleet commander, one commander was pouring his doubt out like water on a smoldering fire.

"You're mad if you think you can oppose the ruler. Our only hope is to come to some sort of agreement with him. Do you realize how many light-years we are from the closest Solarian colony? Have you any idea how many enemy-controlled transit stations lie between us and Sol? I don't think you can even count high enough to number all the ships closing in on us as we—"

"That'll be enough, sir!" I shouted, my clenched fists shaking at my sides. "Obviously you haven't been paying attention to what's been going on. Surely you were around somewhere when the ruler, flushed with pride from having killed his own brother, arrogantly demanded our surrender. Perhaps you remember how, when we assumed our battle formation, he sent messengers begging us not to attack him and bribed us with supplies until we agreed? And when our commanders went unarmed to the ruler's conference, trusting to Righteous Ruler's truce as you are recommending we do, what happened? Are they not even now suffering under Cack torture, unable even to die no matter how much they want to?"

I slammed my fist on my desk. My avatar imitated my move, though the gesture was lost on the others due to a lack of a table. "And knowing all this, you can still say that those urging us to defend ourselves are mad—that we should trust Righteous Ruler again?"

I looked around the conference room holding each of the commanders' gaze with my eyes. "Gentlemen, I suggest this man is unfit to command a warship. I don't know what colony he came from, but he's an embarrassment to the whole human race. I suggest we strip him of his command and put him in command of a kitchen. Let him serve food to the real warriors if he wants to be of any use to anyone."

Harlow shared a personnel file with the conference "He's not from a Solarian colony, nor from Terra itself."

A file icon appeared on my display. I opened the file and Commander James Ferrell's file held a picture of our coward's face. I also noticed that Commander Ferrell was one of a group of infants sent to live on the Cack home world as part of a cultural exchange of children.

"Genetically, he's human," Harlow continued, "but he's been raised to think like a Cack."

The commanders erupted, "He'll betray us all!"

"Traitor!"

"To the brig with him!"

The commanders, once they had arrested James and settled down, agreed to call a meeting of all the other fleet commanders, or where a commander had been killed, his sub. By this time the other ships had learned of the alert signal, seen our fleet's movements and were very anxious to learn what was going on. They responded quickly to our request for a conference and, despite being in the middle of the third shift, the various fleet commanders and sub-commanders were soon logging in.

Sub-Commander Harlow called the meeting to order. "Ladies and gentlemen, considering our current situation, we decided we needed to discuss our best course of action and thought we should include the other fleet commanders. At this point, I'd like to ask Kenneth Phon to repeat what he said to us.

I set the holographic projector to full opacity and scanned the despairing faces around me. They looked just like my own ship commanders had when I had first awakened them. I could feel my own energy and enthusiasm drain away. I was going to have to do it all over again. I was going to have to turn another group around, only this time the audience and the burden seemed greater. I took a deep breath and saw Chris, with a goofy grin on his face, slip me a thumbs up. Well, I thought, at least I have something to build on.

"There is one thing I think we can all agree on," I began. "Righteous Ruler and Bright Fortune have done their best to negate our truce." I paused to judge their reaction and got only grim agreement. "Considering they are doing their best to destroy us, I suggest we do our best toprevent that and, if possible turn the tables on them."

Yes, I was belaboring the obvious. The sad thing is I felt I needed to, to get their attention. Anything approaching military discipline had disappeared in the shock of the betrayal and the loss of our leaders.

"A great responsibility now rests with you. Your crews are watching. If they see that you are already defeated, don't expect them to fight either. But if you act confident and ready to take on the Cacks and you challenge them to do the same, you can count on them to do their best to follow your example."

This earned me some chagrined nodding of heads.

"In other words, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to earn those fat paychecks they give you commanders."

This brought some chuckles and a few changed expressions. Finally, they seemed to be listening.

"Since nothing is accomplished without leadership, our first order of business is to re-establishthe chains of command. Vacant positions should be filled by giving field promotions to the most qualified. Some units may have to be combined and others eliminated.

"Also, I'm sure you've noticed how dispirited the crews are. Routine duties are not being performed, repairs are not being made, many have reported in for sick duty or are not reporting in at all. In truth, I don't think much can be accomplished with the crews as they now are. But if we can keep them busy, get them thinking of what they can do instead of what will happen to them, then we have a chance. One thing we've already learned, fighting spirit is more important that mere strength of numbers. If the spirit is defeated, no force can stand, but if the fighting spirit is strong, any number of foes may be defeated."

Having woken them up at last, I sat down to give them a chance to do their jobs. A few commanders actually clapped and all seemed a little more hopeful.

Old Commander Smith of New Sparta threw back his shoulders and sat up straighter. "Until now, Commander Phon, all I knew about you is that you were a Martian. Having heard you speak, I wish I had a thousand more like you, then our fleets would be sure to have the right spirit." He turned to address the other commanders in v-space. "At this point, ladies and gentlemen, I suggest we all work to restore order in our fleets and fill the vacant posts. Then, when that is done, let us hold afleet-wide conference and see what we can do about getting this force moving again.