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keep his place at the controls.  The warrior worried that he had demanded too much of the engineer.  He worried that they had demanded too much from the mothership. 
    They were asking her to stop on a dime, and she was pissed. 
    The ship's anger and rebellion finally reached the point where death seemed unavoidable.  In that brief moment, Grant offered silent goodbyes to Avery and Eli.  He sent thoughts of apology, love, and regret to the men, women, and Telgorans who would soon die with him.  He thought of the billions on Earth who would have to stand up to the Minith.  Finally, he sent a prayer to the God he had abandoned in his youth.
    And then he waited for the end.
    But the end never came.  Instead, the ship took a breath.  Then she took another. 
    It took a few minutes for Grant to notice the change in her attitude.  At first he wasn't quite sure, but when the lights flickered and returned, he knew they had passed the worst of the storm.  The mothership was relaxing, shaking off the remnants of her anger and resistance.
    When the normal hum of the engines returned, Grant looked at the time.
    Twenty minutes had passed in mere hours. 
    "Amazing," Gee said.
     
    *     *     *
     
    Patahbay felt the tingling in his head moments after the ship stopped shaking.  He reached out to the Family surrounding him and found concurrence. 
    No words were required.  The fifty Telgoran fighters joined minds and reached out as a single unit. 
    The effort was sufficient. 
    They received instructions from the planet and nodded in shiale . 
    As the spokesperson for their group, Patahbay rose from the circle of Family and set off to find the general.
     
    *     *     *
     
    Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.  Although a uniquely human expression, the Minith would have understood its meaning perfectly. 
    When the mothership appeared on their detection systems unexpectedly, and—more importantly—only thirty thousand miles away, the well-trained operators knew they were facing trouble.  They did not know the extent of the problem, or its source, but it did not matter.  The training and protocols established by General Soo to protect the planet and their people from a potential Zrthn invasion kicked in.
    The Minith took immediate action. 
    It took less than sixty seconds for the operators to notify the top Minith commander on Waa, General Spaak, of the mothership's appearance.
    As General Soo's handpicked replacement during his absence, Spaak knew his duty and carried it out with similar efficiency.  Within three minutes, every military force across the planet was notified and mobilized.  Once that was completed, the general set off to notify his governor of the situation. 
    Between the initial moment of the ship's detection and Spaak's verbal notification to Governor Truk, less than ten minutes had elapsed.
     
    *     *     *
     
    Thanks to the device the Minith female had planted, Oiloo received the report at the same time as Governor Truk.  His surprise was nearly as great as that of the Minith leader.  He had not expected the humans—who else could it be?—to be so bold. 
    There was obviously more to these pale bi-peds than he had previously considered.  Who knew these formerly mild-mannered inhabitants from the farthest outpost in the galaxy could be so complex, or could behave so far outside the norms of their natural character? 
    Oiloo was accustomed to having more information than his opponents.  He was used to knowing their moves and their motivations as soon or sooner than they themselves did.  This nugget of information about the arrival of the humans near Waa was a perfect example.
    Every Zrthn was raised on the premise that knowledge is power.  It is a given that he who has the most knowledge of a situation is always in the best position to come out ahead.  It was why he and his people expended so much of their resources on intelligence techniques