What hurt Vorgan's sleep most of all was the fact that he feared that Terra knew of the imminent invasion.
Terra knew, and that spoiled their sleep, too.
But they did not tell Vorgan that they knew. If the Lord of All had known for certain, he would have slept better, for the uncertainty would have been removed.
For four long months, Vorgan's vicious crew of Loard-vogh warriors drove through space, and then they deployed in battle array. Their nerves tautened, and the personal fighting ceased, for the chances of battle with a legal enemy stayed their hands against their fellows.
They knew that they were approaching enemy territory. Their first glimpse of trouble would be a mushrooming blast in the sky—or even several simultaneous explosions.
The first that went up would be a deadly signal that near by, or dead ahead, their hated enemy was making his advance stand. That was the gamble. They each pinned their hopes on being the watcher. Let another ship go up in fire and flame. In this game, where no man could help another, none even considered the idea of wanting death in preference to another. For one man's life was exactly as good as any other man's at this point—for until the initial shock wave hit, neither was doing a thing.
They were on the offensive, the Loard-vogh. They were breaching a system that their leaders feared enough to break the Master Plan and send forth a full grand fleet to take this sector that lay more than a thousand light-years from the frontier of Loard-vogh conquest.
As the Loard-vogh was on the offensive, the first move had been taken—by them. The next move was up to Sol. And that retaliation would take place soon was not doubted by any man.
Fifty light-years from Sol they slowed and alerted. They wondered, those leaders of that invasion, when the blow would fall. Was it wiser to wait until the enemy was alert? To wait until the enemy was waiting for the first detector alarm seemed brash. The Loard-vogh method was to strike like a hidden snake, and beat the enemy to the ground before he knew what was waiting for him.