Fletcher continued to show the others their new paths as he worried about the future encounter. The New Men were out here, waiting, plotting and preparing. The realization brought a cold knot of doubt to the admiral’s gut, one that he worked hard to keep off his face.

Bishop was right about one thing. Fear was contagious. But so was courage.

Fletcher had to make sure the New Men’s coming trick didn’t steal the courage the Grand Fleet already possessed due to its exalted size. That’s what Bishop and Ko didn’t seem to understand. Humanity needed a giant fleet to give the soldiers enough courage to come out here in the shadows and face the impossible New Men.

-3-

Three weeks later, Fletcher scowled at a holoimage in his ready room. It showed the city of Caracas on New Venezuela III. Unlike anything else they’d seen in “C” Quadrant, the buildings were intact.

“This is from a strikefighter skirting the planetary atmosphere,” the briefing officer explained.

Fletcher made a pass in the air, bringing the holoimage closer. He spread two fingers, zooming in on the ground.

“There aren’t any bomb craters,” he said.

“No, sir,” the briefing officer said.

Fletcher continued to study the city. “I don’t see any traffic.”

“There wasn’t any, sir.”

“No?”

“According to the pilots—the Excalibur’s commander ordered a second pass. According to them, nothing moves on the ground.”

“Not even animals?” the admiral asked.

“Nothing, sir. It’s a ghost town.”

“I wonder why the New Men didn’t drop any hell-burners here. What’s different about New Venezuela III?”

The briefing officer shook her head, clearly not knowing.

Fletcher looked up. “What about the planet’s other cities?”

“They’re all like this, sir. Nothing stirs anywhere but there’s no sign of destruction.”

“Right,” Fletcher said. “I’m sending down a landing party. I want them to scour Caracas. I want to know what happened. I want to speak to a survivor. As far as I know, no one has survived a New Men-conquered planet. We may have just had our first breakthrough.”

***

The majority of the Star Watch warships in the Grand Fleet were presently in the New Venezuela System. There were three Laumer-Points here, all of them spread out. It meant days of normal space travel for the vessels to go from one wormhole entrance to another.

Only one carrier—the Excalibur—orbited New Venezuela III, along with several destroyers and two escorts. The rest of the fleet waited in the middle of the star system, ready to accelerate to a needed Laumer-Point in case a courier ship popped through and told them the enemy fleet had made its move against a different detachment.